It has been pointed out that ‘today’s technologies can serve as a
catalyst in their efforts to create a community of scholarship (reflection)
around the practice of teaching that extends well beyond the geographic
confines of any given school of education or teacher preparation institution’ (Gomez et al. 2008: 128). Technology thus
allows teachers to interact in ways that previously were not possible, and
teacher education should undoubtedly draw on such a resource. Indeed, research
indicates that apposite technologies have the capacity to enhance teachers’
practices by promoting reflection (Pryor and
Bitter 2008), and the asynchronous modes of communication in particular
are reported to foster this type of metacognitive activity (Kunz et al. 2003; Preece and Moloney-Krichmar 2003;
Riordan 2011).
To this end, the present chapter
investigates the use of blogs as reflective diaries with student teachers on an
MA in English Language Teaching programme. A corpus-based discourse analysis of
student teacher reflections is provided in order to delve into the possible
merits such a tool may hold for the promotion of reflective practice (Schön 1991). Further analyses based on the
student teachers’ perceptions of this online application are also included. The
chapter then closes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications of such
research findings for the teacher education arena.