Reflective Teaching in ELT: Obstacles and Coping Strategies

The present study aimed to document the constraints and limits in applying reflective teaching principles in ELT settings in Iran from the teachers’ perspective along with solutions and coping strategies to help remove the obstacles. 60 teachers teaching general English at 6 language institutes were selected through convenience sampling. First, the teacher participants filled out a reflectivity questionnaire. 49 were found to be reflective, from among which 25 participated in the semistructured interviews. Inductive analysis procedure resulted in the identification of 3 broad categories of obstacles of reflective teaching including institutional problems, self-directional problems, and problems with reflective teaching principles. In addition, for each category, solutions were offered by the teachers. Findings have implications for policymakers, administrators, and supervisors of language institutes, ELT teachers, and teacher educators to help foster reflectivity.