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چکیده
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ABSTRACT Recent research has widely underscored the pedagogical benefits of applying reflective principles. Taking account of the significance of teacher reflection, the arising crucial issues concern the potential challenges to reflective teaching and the role of educational variables in its actualization. Accordingly, this study sought to pursue twofold purposes. Concentrating on the educational context of Iranian public high schools, it aimed to explore EFL teachers’ perception of fundamental challenges to reflective teaching and the possible associations between teacher efficacy, job satisfaction, contextual variables and teacher reflection. The participants were 304 public school teachers. In order to gain insight into the EFL teachers’ perception of challenges to reflective teaching, an open-ended survey was developed. The participants’ reflective teaching, sense of efficacy, and job satisfaction were respectively measured using Reflective Teaching Instrument (Akbari, Behzadpour, & Dadvand, 2010), Teachers’ Self-Efficacy Scale (TSES; Tschannen-Moran & Hoy, 2001), and Teaching Satisfaction Scale (TSS; Ho & Au, 2006). The contextual variables were assessed through Skaalvik and Skaalvik’s (2017) measures, which evaluate teaching context with regard to the five variables of teacher autonomy, supportive social climate, time pressure, student demotivation, and student discipline problems. As to the qualitative data, the participants’ responses to the survey were subjected to thematic analysis following the phases established by Braun and Clarke (2006). Regarding the quantitative data, the collected data were analyzed using Pearson product-moment correlation and standard multiple regression. The qualitative phase of the study led to the extraction of five broad categories of challenging obstacles including challenges relevant to teachers, educational system, political system, students, and inherent nature of reflective practice. The results of correlational analysis revealed significant relationships between the independent variables and teacher reflection. Teacher efficacy moderately and positively correlated with reflection. Strong positive relationships were found between teaching satisfaction, teacher autonomy, and reflective practice. A small positive correlation was found between supportive social climate and reflection. There was a moderate negative relationship between student demotivation and reflection, and the variable of student discipline problems strongly and negatively correlated with reflection. The results of multiple regression indicated that the independent variables made statistically significant contributions to the prediction of teacher reflection. Underscoring the role of administrative authorities and educational planners in the actualization of reflection, the findings called attention to the importance of teacher educational programs and the necessity of effective monitoring systems supervising public school teachers. Keywords: Reflective teaching, EFL teachers, Perceived challenges, Teacher efficacy, Teaching satisfaction, Contextual variables
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