This study aims to analyze the types of cognitive process required to perform vocabulary learning activities in Middle School English textbooks. For this purpose, 26 middle school English textbooks were examined, including 13 for the first year and another 13 for the second year of middle school. The results indicated that vocabulary learning activities emerged in the phase of reading, and then were categorized into pre-reading vocabulary activities and post-reading ones. Eight types of cognitive process emerged in the pre-reading phase and three types in the post-reading phase. That is, the number of vocabulary activities in pre-reading phase was larger than that in the post-reading phase. In addition, the diversity of vocabulary activities in the pre-reading phase was higher than that in the post-reading phase. Based on these results, this study suggests a new model of vocabulary learning activity in middle school English textbooks. A few implications on how to teach new words in English classrooms are discussed.

This study explores how experiential knowledge (EK) and received knowledge (RK) are integrated in pre-service language teachers’ written reflections to solve pedagogical problems, adopting constantcomparative analysis method outside of Grounded Theory. For this end, forty-one entries of reflective journals, written for problem solving by seven pre-service English teachers in Korea, were collected in a course entitled ‘English Language Teaching Theory into Practice’. One month after the course ended, each entry was re-reflected by the participants to identify whether it inclucded their EK and RK. All the statements in each entry, which had been reported to include EK or RK explicitly or implicitly, were repeatedly read until themes related to problem solution emerged. The results show that EK and RK can be significant resources in the practice of reflection for problem solving. However, the results also indicate the difference: EK is more applicable for the statements of a basis of problem determination or of a cause of a problem while RK is more employed to state a solution to a problem. Implications of this study were presented and discussed.

The purpose of this study is to explore the nature of pre-service language teachers’ reflection for problem solving, focusing on facets of problem solving. For this purpose, this study collected and analyzed twenty pre-service English teachers’ ninety-four entries of reflection guided by semi-structured guidelines for problem solving: pre-reflective, reflective thinking, and post-reflective. For the analysis of the data, this study adopted constant comparative analysis to identify and categorize features in the data from the perspective of qualitative approach. This study found three dimensions of problem solving and three or four segments under each dimension. Dimensions represent the possible procedural steps of problem solving: ‘problem-determination’, ‘problem-analysis’, and ‘solution’. In terms of cognitive purposes, four possible segments emerged: ‘description’, ‘elaboration’, ‘justification’, and ‘evaluation’. In contrast, concerning perspectives on viewing problems, this study identified three segments: ‘thou-view’, ‘i-view’, and ‘alternative-view’. The variation in the employment of the dimensions and segments was found to represent diverse patterns of problem solving in pre-service language teacher reflection. The findings of this study suggest some implications for pre-service language teacher education.

The purpose of this study was to explore pre-service teachers' reflectivity occurring in their first-person reflection on their experience, by examining how they defined a problem and suggested its solution. For the research purpose, this study adopted Dewey's (1933) idea of reflection from which the definition of reflection in much research on teachers' reflections originated. This study analyzed the problem sections occurring in their reflection after first teaching practice, in terms of focus and depth of problem solving. The total number of the sections was seventy-nine and on average each participant's teaching journal involved three sections of a problem. Examination of focus of reflection was done as to 'agent of problem' and 'target of reflection', whereas an analysis of the depth of their reflection was done in terms of the number of dimensions and combination of dimensions of problem solving. The findings showed that much more focus of the pre-service teachers' reflection was put on the performance inside the classroom than outside. That is, the interaction between the teacher and the student was their primary concern. Also, the findings indicated that over half of the problem sections were beyond the superficial level of reflective thinking, but one third of the problem sections stayed still within the superficial depth of reflection. This suggested the necessity of providing guidelines on the focus and depth of reflection when reflection was employed as a tool of pre-service teacher's professional development.