iranian novice english language teachers’ reflective self-assessment: from “self-assessment myopia” to “pragmatic creativity”

Teacher evaluation in general and teacher classroom performance assessment in particular have been central fields of inquiry in recent years. however, teacher self-assessment through reflective writing, as a well-established teacher evaluation method, has received little attention especially with regard to novice teachers. the present qualitative study made an attempt to shed light on the reflective self-assessment process of three iranian novice english teachers. teachers completed a self-assessment form for 20 sessions reflecting and elaborating on their own classroom performance strength and weaknesses. a thematic analysis was conducted to identify the most significant factors in assessing a teacher’s classroom practice and the way they evaluate themselves according to these factors. the findings revealed that the novice teachers were mainly fixated on the immediate, more technical and tangible aspects of teaching practice to evaluate themselves and tend to overemphasize their own strengths at the cost of weaknesses.