Interactional reflective practice: The relationship between reflective practice and verbal interaction in initial teacher training programs

Abstract

This article presents a conceptualization of interactional reflective practice that sheds light, at the theoretical level, on the relationship between reflective practice and verbal interaction in a collective perspective of reflection. These aspects are commonly associated within initial teacher training programs. Yet their association presents a paradox; reflective practice is generally conceptualized as an individual process that does not justify a priori the use of external interventions such as interaction. Drawing on the Vygotskian semiotic mediation theory, it is possible to think that verbal interaction is both a driving force and an observable of reflective practice. Interactional reflective practice would benefit from further exploratory empirical research in order to progressively identify its main discursive representations, thereby opening promising entry points for reflective practice as it develops among teachers in initial teacher training programs.