Book announced at https://linguistlist.org/issues/34.1649

AUTHOR: Cynthia Macknish
TITLE: Reflective Practice in TESOL Service-Learning
SERIES TITLE: Reflective Practice in Language Education
PUBLISHER: Equinox Publishing Ltd
YEAR: 2023

REVIEWER: Xiaohan Liu

SUMMARY
“Reflective Practice in Language Education”, by Cynthia J. Macknish, is a recently published (2023) book that focuses on reflective practice in a TESOL service-learning context. The book is divided into seven comprehensive chapters, each offering a wealth of valuable information. Teacher educators and other professionals in the field can acquire useful strategies, practical tools, and relevant tasks that are based on theory to help them actively involve preservice teachers in the process of reflection. This makes the book both a theoretical and practical resource for teacher educators to implement reflective practice in their own teaching contexts.
Chapter 1, “What is service learning?”, provides the groundwork for this book by introducing the theoretical principles and various forms of service-learning in general education and TESOL in particular. It presents a broad perspective on current global practices of service-learning and emphasizes its significance and value. After building a shared understanding of service-learning in TESOL service-learning, Macknish introduces an important approach to service-learning, that is, reflective practice. Macknish wraps up this chapter by engaging in a thought-provoking discussion of the challenges and issues surrounding the current implementation of reflective practice in a TESOL service-learning context. These challenges and issues include a limited understanding of key concepts, insufficient time allocated for reflection and teaching effective reflective practice, reflection fatigue, shallow or unfocused reflections lacking critical analysis, limited awareness of social justice issues among TESOL practitioners, the constraints imposed by traditional reflection formats, difficulties in assessing reflection, and a lack of institutional support for service-learning and the cultivation of a reflective culture. Keeping these challenges and issues in mind, Macknish dedicates the following chapters to providing potential solutions.
In Chapter 2, “Characterizing reflective practice in TESOL service-learning”, Macknish provides a more specific examination of reflective practice within the context of TESOL service-learning. She thoroughly examines relevant literature on reflection in service-learning and introduces key definitions and principles in this field. Additionally, Macknish presents readers with a broad overview of how reflective practice is manifested in a TESOL service-learning context. This provides a foundation for readers to evaluate and determine the impact of reflection in TESOL service-learning, which sets the stage for Chapter 3.
Chapter 3, “Analyzing and assessing reflections in TESOL service-learning”, begins by introducing the goals, outcomes, and objectives of TESOL service-learning. It then explores the challenges involved in analyzing and assessing reflections on service-learning. Specifically, Macknish emphasizes that what sets TESOL service-learning reflection apart is its ability to enable students to reflect not only on their academic and professional skills within the community, but also on their personal and social growth. Taking these aspects into consideration, Macknish proceeds to present various tools and models that can be utilized for assessing reflection. In addition to discussing specific and practical assessment tasks, Macknish also highlights the importance of teacher educators creating a supportive environment where learners can reflect genuinely and openly. In this respect, Macknish then explores possible approaches in Chapter 4.
Chapter 4, “Supporting reflective practice in TESOL service-learning”, provides multiple tools, strategies, and frameworks for teacher educators to guide preservice teachers in engaging in effective reflective practice before, during, and after their service-learning experience. Macknish explores different modes of reflection and recommends various reflection formats, aiming to inspire teacher educators to adapt these tools to their specific professional context.
Chapter 5, “Learning from Reflections in TESOL Service-Learning”, explores real-life examples of reflections in their original settings. Macknish analyzes selected excerpts of reflection in relation to the goals of service-learning (including academic/cognitive, professional, social/civic, and personal development) to uncover the valuable lessons that preservice teachers can derive from them. These insights are also valuable for TESOL teacher educators and community partners, as they provide a deeper understanding of individuals’ thoughts, progress, and effective practices in the realm of service-learning. Additionally, Macknish draws on her own teaching experiences to gather further insights on how to enhance instruction and support preservice teachers in developing their reflective practice within a TESOL service-learning context.
Chapter 6, “Impacts of technology on reflective practice in TESOL service-learning”, discusses the use of technology in the digital age to further enhance reflective practice in a TESOL service-learning context. In addition to conventional face-to-face service-learning, this chapter provides a relevant and timely exploration of the concept of E-service learning. Macknish examines its effectiveness and its practical application in real-world settings. Macknish provides a variety of formats for virtual reflections, including virtual dialogue, E-journal, blogs and vlogs, online discussion boards, and E-portfolios, as well as alternative methods like E-posters, artwork, poetry, synchronous or video-recorded role plays, and multimodal presentations. These provide an important supplement to the existing reflection tools that teacher educators can utilize to enhance service-learning.
Chapter 7, “Ways forward in reflective practice in TESOL service-learning”, concludes the book with practical suggestions as to how teacher educators can incorporate reflective practices in TESOL programs. These practices aim to provide better support for preservice teachers to actively engage in the reflection process, ultimately leading to a meaningful transformation of learning that can promote social justice.

EVALUATION
Service-Learning has gained significant attention across various academic disciplines in the past twenty years (Cho & Gulley, 2017). In this book, which concerns TESOL education in specific, service-learning refers to “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities” (National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, cited in Ryan, 2012, p. 4). As an essential part of service-learning pedagogy (Macknish, 2023), reflective practice has been a challenging topic to explore considering various definitions and interpretations associated with it. In this book, Macknish situates this concept within the contexts of service-learning in TESOL. At the beginning of this book, Macknish thoroughly paints a general picture of what service-learning is, emphasizing the relevance and importance of incorporating service-learning into current TESOL teacher education. The advantages of doing so are also emphasized. These include gaining a deeper understanding, building self-awareness, engaging in dialogue with others to expand our perspectives, and aiding our academic, professional, social, and personal development. Moreover, the book goes beyond a single interpretation of service-learning and presents multiple perspectives, allowing readers to have a general understanding of what service-learning looks like around the world.
It is common for readers to consider the question of what qualifies as evidence of the effectiveness of service-learning. Macknish guides readers towards the central theme of this book—reflective practices—with specific focus on TESOL service-learning contexts. Simply gaining experience does not ensure learning. Instead, it is through reflection that experience becomes meaningful. In the literature, some researchers have proposed helpful principles as guidance on engaging in reflective practices. For example, Farrell (2019) has suggested six principles to guide reflective practice in ELT. These principles emphasize that reflection should be holistic, based on evidence, involve dialogue, connect theory and practice, require a willingness to inquire, and become a way of life. Expanding on the existing literature, Macknish explains how to put relevant principles into practice in a TESOL service-learning context, providing informative examples and self-reflection on her teaching experiences as a TESOL teacher educator. Macknish also puts forward four areas where reflection in service-learning can be observed. These are: academic/cognitive development, professional development, social development/civic engagement, and personal growth (p. 48). This serves as guidance for interested TESOL teacher educators and other stakeholders to implement and assess the effectiveness of reflective practices in their own contexts.
After devoting the first two chapters to set a foundation for readers to utilise this book, Macknish dedicates Chapters 3-6 to discussing how teacher educators can evaluate, analyze, and incorporate this significant pedagogical approach into teacher preparation education. In this process, Macknish offers practical suggestions and useful tools based on theories, her own experiences as a TESOL teacher educator and researcher, and the advancement of technology in the field of education. This enhances the user-friendliness and applicability of this book. In the final chapter (Chapter 7), Macknish prompts readers to consider the future of reflective practices in a TESOL service-learning context, concluding the book with five suggestions that can be implemented to further enhance the development of reflective practice.
Although this book is most applicable for teacher educators working in ESL contexts, those who work in EFL or EAL contexts can also utilize the strategies, frameworks, and tools provided in this book to customize them according to their own specific needs. This is because Macknish acknowledges the different professional contexts of the readers and considers this when recommending different formats for reflective practices. As a result, the book is suitable for teacher educators in a range of contexts.
While teacher educators may find this book particularly beneficial, as they are the intended audience for its valuable instructional and pedagogical suggestions on facilitating preservice teachers in reflective practice within a TESOL service-learning context, preservice teachers themselves can also use this concise book as a starting point to improve their understanding of linguistically and culturally diverse students, and to build stronger connections with the communities with which they work.
Overall, this book not only provides practical suggestions for implementing reflective practice in a TESOL service-learning context, but also offers a comprehensive exploration of the topic, emphasizing its relevance and educational value. It is a valuable resource for professionals in the field who are looking to actively engage in reflective practice.

REFERENCES
Cho, H., & Gulley, J. (2017). A Catalyst for Change: Service-Learning for TESOL Graduate Students. TESOL Journal, 8(3), 613–635. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.289
Farrell, T. S. C. (2019). Reflective practice in ELT. Equinox Publishing.
Macknish, C. J. (2023). Reflective practice in TESOL service-learning. Equinox Publishing.
Ryan, M. (2012). Service-Learning after learn and serve America: How five states are moving forward. Education Commission of the States. http://www.ecs.org/clearinghouse/01/02/87/10287.pdf

ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Xiaohan Liu is currently a PhD candidate in Education at the University of Exeter. Her research interests include language teacher cognition, second language writing, TESOL/TEFOL, language teacher education, and teacher professional development.