Fostering Critical Thinking and Professional Identity in Iranian EFL Teachers: The Role of Dialogic Reflective Journals Integrated with Schön's and Korthagen's Models

This study explores the influence of dialogic reflective journals (DRJ), incorporated with guided collaborative critical reflection (GCCR), on critical thinking skills and professional identity development of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers, framed by Schön's (1983) Reflective Practice Model and Korthagen's (2004) Onion Model. Employing a mixed-methods design, the research involved 60 EFL teachers (30 in the experimental group and 30 in the control group) over a semester. Quantitative data from pre- and post-intervention surveys were analyzed using Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon Signed-Rank tests, while qualitative insights were derived from thematic analysis of DRJ entries and focus group interviews. Findings indicated significant enhancements in critical thinking and professional identity for the experimental group, with emergent themes of Ethical Mission Alignment, Collaborative Agency, Emotional Resilience, and Socio-Cultural Awareness extending Korthagen's model. These results underscore DRJ's efficacy in promoting transformative reflection, offering implications for EFL teacher training programs in Iran to mitigate barriers like workload and institutional rigidity.