E-Portfolios for Reflective Practice Among Pre-Service EFL Teachers: A Qualitative Case Study in Vietnam

Abstract

This qualitative case study examines how 17 pre-service English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers at a public university in Vietnam engaged with e-portfolios as a tool for reflective practice within a compulsory Teaching Methodology course. Drawing on Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (1988) as a pedagogical scaffold, participants produced weekly reflective entries across an eight-week course. Data were generated from 136 e-portfolio entries and semi-structured interviews with all 17 participants and were analyzed through reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Three interrelated themes emerged. First, participants perceived e-portfolios positively as spaces for self-monitoring and professional identity formation, although initial unfamiliarity with reflective writing led to a subset to approach the task instrumentally. Second, Gibbs’ Cycle shaped the trajectory of reflective writing: entries moved from predominantly descriptive to increasingly analytical over time, with the Action Plan stage emerging as the most pedagogically productive, and the Feelings stage appeared to be the least elaborated. Third, participants encountered interconnected linguistic, cognitive, technical, and sociocultural challenges, most notably the dual burden of reflecting and expressing reflection in a second language, and culturally conditioned discomfort with self-disclosure. The study contributes contextualized empirical evidence to the emerging literature on technology-mediated reflective practice in Southeast Asian EFL teacher education and offers concrete implications for the design of scaffolded, linguistically and culturally responsive reflective tasks.