Chapter One Literature Review

1.1 Definition of Related Concepts
Reflection (Nachdenken, DE) originated in Western philosophy. TheWestern philosophers discussed it as the spirit of the event andintrospective approach. The concept of reflection has different definitionsfrom ancient to present days. In the west, John Locke, Georg WilhelmFriedrich Hegel, John Dewey and other scholars have studied reflection.John Locke thought that there were no principles of talent inpeople's mind. He figured out that reflection was a mental activity, and itwas involuntary and distinct from consciousness. He rejects the notionthat human knowledge and moral capacity are innate, arguing that the individual should be regarded as a tabula or blank sheet instead. Weunderstand the world through our own senses and experience of the world.However, Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel has a different view onreflection. He thought that reflection was the movement of negation ofnothing, "without passing over to nothing, back to itself, thereby equatingwith itself.Following John Locke and Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel's view ofreflection, John Dewey defined the reflection in his book How Do WeThink- as "active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief orsupposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support itand the further conclusions to which it tends". He thinks that reflection isvery important in teaching, it causes us to extricate from the pureimpulsion and the pure irrevocable motion. Dewey believed that thereflection was not one set of technologies which can wrap up simply forteachers' utilization, but was one active way to face the question and theresponse.
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1.2 Review on Teaching Reflection
In this part, we have a view on teaching reflection abroad and athome, including the process of teaching reflection, type of teachingreflection, level of teaching reflection and angle of teaching reflection. The early studies about teaching reflection are British John Loke andBenedietus Spinoza, the two people once have the detailed elaboration onthe reflection or the introspection. But most experts who are engaged inthe teaching reflection studies regard John Dewey as the first ancestor,they thought it was he who was the first person to make the elaborationon the reflection system. In 1830, John Dewey defined reflection as"active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposedform of knowledge in the light of the ground that support it and thefurther conclusions to which it tends". In the historical process ofteaching reflection, the western scholars' research mainly focus on thetwo degree of reflection connotations and reflection practice. At present, foreign scholars conduct research around the following aspects:
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Chapter Two Theoretic Basis

2.1 Frankfurt School's Critical Theory
Reflection means criticism which is an expression of reflectionprocess. Chinese and foreign academics advocated critical reflection, butit formed a system in 1930s by Germany's Frankfurt School whoco-founded a series of complex system of critical thought. Throughouthistory, the development of critical theory has undergone two stages; Thefirst stage is based on Max Horkhaimer (1893-1973) as the representativeof the critical theorists. They understand correlative dependence betweenspirit and the basic structure of society by social psychologicalmethodology, which combined the Marx's social theory and Freud'sspiritual analysis. They thought that the subject of freedom andconsciousness itself was not absolute, and the reform must get rid of thesocial and mental limits. The second stage is based on Habermas as therepresentative of the critical theorists, who focus on the ideology criticism. They started from criticism which considered as twisted ideology, thuspeople have a clear understanding of distorted self-awareness. It is knownas the enlightenment, and it is also the internal premise of individualfreedom and self-decision. They claimed that people gain true liberationwhen they take actions freely to explore his unique potential. In a word,the critical theory with the sensitive soul insights into anxiety and despairof human experience in the process of industrialization, with theoverwhelming courage and full of passion criticizing the drawbacks ofmodernism. It has brought unprecedented dawn to people in thedehumanizing circumstances caused by technology and civilization, andhas inspired the twisted mind in the dire straits. It pointed out that theindividual life should seek the value of existence and spiritual pursuit.Critical theory aims to promote the process of self-reflection and removebarriers in the human self-consciousness development. It has the dual roleof enlightenment and liberation.

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2.2 Polanyi's Tacit Knowledge Theory
In 1958, The British scientist, philosopher Polanyi figured out theconcepts of explicit knowledge and implicit knowledge. The key point ofPolanyi's theory of Tacit Knowledge is that, we know more than we cansay. He thought that the so called explicit knowledge refers to theexpressed knowledge by written text, diagrams and mathematical formula.Comparing with explicit knowledge, implicit knowledge refers toknowledge which has not been expressed in words or other forms. Thiskind of knowledge is unclear, unspeakable, and still in a state of silence.Therefore, implicit knowledge is also known as tacit knowledge. Explicitknowledge is just the tip of the iceberg, but tacit knowledge is the mainbody of knowledge. Some related research shows that, tacit knowledgealways dominates people's actual behavior. Tacit knowledge theoryreveals that the humanistic education is different from some unique localnatural science education, humanistic knowledge learning focuses on the capability of tactic knowledge more. Therefore, Teachers' educationalknowledge also can be divided into two categories. One is the knowledgeof educational science knowledge which can be expressed and transferredby words and symbols, it is explicit knowledge. The other is theeducation practice experience, this knowledge only can be sensed but notbe expressed. Teachers acquired and formed it by understanding andintuition in practice activities.

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Chapter Three Methodology........ 43
3.1 Research Design ........43
3.1.1 Research Questions........ 43
3.1.2 Research Subjects........ 44
3.1.3 Research Instruments........48
3.2 Research Procedure........ 51
3.2.1 Data Collection........ 51
3.2.2 Data Analysis ........52
Chapter Four Results & Discussion........ 55
4.1 Teaching Reflection Level in Rural Middle Schools........ 55
4.1.1 The Overall Teaching Reflection Level ........55
4.1.2 Differences in Teaching Reflection Level........ 56
4.2 Factors Influence English Teachers' Teaching Reflection ........61

Chapter Four Results & Discussion

4.1 Teaching Reflection Level in Rural Middle Schools
In this part, at first, we will present the overall level of teachingreflection in rural middle schools. Then the differences in teachingreflection level will be listed later. According to the questionnaire in the first part of the assignment ofradio, the score with a point value in full mark of 125. From thetable4.1.1-1，we could see that, the lowest level of reflection scored 56points, the highest level of reflection scored 117 points, the average levelof reflection scored 87.63 points. From the table 4.1.1-2, we could see that 72.3% English teachers'teaching reflection level is between practical action and critical reflection.In general, the level of English teachers' teaching reflection in ruralmiddle schools is relatively high.

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Conclusion

In the previous chapters, we talked about the implementation of theresearch based on the several theories related to teaching reflection, suchas Frankfurt School's Critical theory, Polanyi's theory of TacitKnowledge, Judd Flavell's Metacognition theory, Piaget's CognitiveConstruction theory. Through the survey of questionnaire and interview,we used the method of combining quantitative analysis and qualitativeanalysis to understand the current status of English teachers' teachingreflection in rural middle schools. The author explored the factors thatinfluence English teachers' teaching reflection ability from four aspects,namely, students' angle, colleagues' angle, self-directed angle andexpert/theory angle. And now, we will summarize the major findings,suggestions, and limitations of the study.
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Reference (omitted)