Although it stemmed originally from the personal and professional distress described in Chapter 1, my research study was also driven by an intellectual challenge that I set for myself. I wanted, through the collection of data gathered from carefully designed interventions, to see if there was another way to conduct professional development events for in-service teachers in Japanese high schools. Specifically, I hoped to learn what promise reflective practice might hold as a successful and appropriate development tool for high school teachers in Japan.

My study attempted to answer one main research question, 'How does reflective practice work as a professional development tool for in-service high school teachers of English in Japan?' In looking at this research question, I also tried to address the following subset of questions:

• • What does it mean for the Japanese high school teachers of English to reflect?

• • How can reflective interventions be effective in helping Japanese high school teachers of English to reflect?

• • What are some individual differences and similarities among teachers in their engagement in reflection and what implications do these have for the wider implementation of reflective practice in professional development programmes?

Given its relatively short history in the field of teacher education, reflective practice has been implemented in a surprisingly large and varied number of ways over the past decades. It is not necessary to trace all the developments and variations of reflective practice that appear in the published research in order to understand the data presented in this book.