Abstract
The development of reflective practitioner teachers is essential for enhancing educational quality. As a recent popular topic among teachers, reflective practice fosters continuous learning and adaptation in teachers’ teaching methodologies. EFL pre-service teachers from the English Education Study Program of UNP are also encouraged to do reflective practice by writing reflective journals during the Teaching Practicum at school. This study intends to analyze the reflective journals written by EFL pre-service teachers in the form of Gibbs’ Reflection Model during their Teaching Practicum at school. This study focuses on exploring the content of EFL pre-service teachers’ reflective journals to identify the themes and trends found in these reflective journals. This research employs a descriptive qualitative approach by utilizing content analysis as the instrument to analyze the data. 24 entries of reflective journals written by 8 EFL pre-service teachers of UNP were analyzed through an inductive approach. The study’s findings revealed the content of the reflective journals written by EFL pre-service teachers particularly focused on pre-service teachers’ experiences during the lesson in the classroom. The reflective journals focus on pre-service teachers’ experiences particularly related to the challenges of managing the classroom environment, maintaining students' engagement and participation, facing students' behavior, and dealing with teachers’ internal problems. In conclusion, this study highlights the focus of reflective journals written by EFL pre-service teachers during the Teaching Practicum. This research offers pedagogical insights for improving reflective writing skills, especially in relation to the practice of self-reflection in English Language teaching.