Assessed Reflective Writing:
formulaic language and technologies
of the self
Paul Wickens
Westminster Institute of Education
Oxford Brookes University
Presented at BAAL September 2009, Newcastle University
Overview
• reflective writing + context of UK HE
• quantitative analysis of formulaic language of
reflective writing in the BAWE corpus : the
discourse of small phrases.
• RW in comparison to essays
• RW: reflective practice and attendant
discourses.
Reflective writing
• Writing to support a process of personal growth and
learning
• Writing characterised by self reflection and evaluation
Schon (1987) The reflective
practitioner
Dewey (1933)
Kolb (1984) – Learning cycles
Elements of reflective practice
• Cognitive skills - critical thinking, analysis,
communication
• Professional competence – specific skills
• Personal attributes – beliefs, feelings and thoughts
Hargreaves (2004).
• Competencies – generic skills, Soft skills, professional/
discipline based competencies
• Feelings – beliefs, thoughts, feelings
• Process – reflect on experience, realising achievements
and lacks, resolution and plan to improve,
The rise of reflective writing
• Well established in professionally based / oriented
disciplines (Health, Education, Business)
• Increasingly important as an assessed genre in UK
universities across a range of disciplines
• Professional bodies: evidencing competencies (e.g. Nursing)
• QAA – PDP – Sts to ‘reflect upon their own learning, performance,
achievement’ ‘career related skills and capabilities can be recorded
and (…) assessed.’ QAA HE 2009 Links to subject benchmarking.
• Enterprise in HE – transferable skills – link to PDP (Edwards 2005)
• Pedagogic shifts:
learner centred focus - Higher Education Academy
Reflective writing in the BAWE project
Some examples
• Personal appraisal, career prospects (Hospitality
Management)
• Learning task reflective commentaries: on Literature review
(Health Studies, Anthropology), Database search (Chemistry)
Library Exercise (Anthropology)
• Self-reflection tasks following Problem questions (Computer
Science)
• Final sections of a multi-part tasks (Manufacturing, Medicine)
• Reflective diaries reflecting on patient care (Occupational
Therapy), overseas visits (Engineering)
• annexes critiquing the authors’ own approaches (Business)
• self-evaluations (Business)
• feedback sections (Computer Science)
BAWE Sub Corpus
Reflective Writing
• 66 texts 120,638 tokens
• 16 disciplines
• all 4 disciplinary areas
Physical Sci. / Life Sci. / Social Sci. / Arts + Humanities
Essay Sub corpus
• 999 texts 2,740,000 tokens
• all 4 disciplinary areas
• Word Lists – Key Words
(Stubbs and Barth 2003)
(I – Reflection [6], Essay [60]),
Individual texts
Notions of aboutness – lexical words
Reflect
Essay
I
20
1
We
5
2
• N-grams, P-frames (KfNgram 2007)
per 1000
(max 66 per 1000)
• Biber and Barbieri 2007 ‘ interpretative frames for developing
discourse’ (see also Hunston 2008)
• Identify key recurrent lexical bundles for further study
• Word Smith Tools
• Concordance of identified items
• Identify functional themes relating to reflective practice
Reflection N-grams
N-gram 3
in order to
be able to
one of the
was able to
of the group
i feel that
as well as
the importance of
to be able
would have been
88
60
52
45
44
38
35
33
33
32
25= 200 per million words
N-gram 4
to be able to
i was able to
health and social care
the rest of the
on the other hand
at the same time
it is important to
33
27
23
22
18
15
13
13= 100 per million words
i will try to
in the case of
we were able to
Range requirement: Minimum 4 texts, separate authors
Biber and Barbieri 2007
12
12
11
Reflection - N-gram 4
Essay - N-Grams 4
to be able to
33
i was able to
27
health and social care 23
the rest of the
22
on the other hand
18
at the same time
15
it is important to
13
13 = 100 per million words
i will try to
12
in the case of
12
we were able to
11
i would like to
10
members of the group 10
at the end of
9
i feel that this
9
on the other hand
401
as a result of
321
279 = 100 per million words
the end of the
264
in the case of
258
at the same time
227
it is important to
227
as well as the
209
the way in which
202
the fact that the
199
in the form of
197
the extent to which
176
it is possible to
165
one of the most
165
it is clear that
164
50 per million words
Tokens 120, 638
Tokens 2,751,845
Total N-gram 4
Method:
70
Biber and Barbieri (2007)
60
Threshold: 4 N-gram , 40 per
million words
40
Range: min 4 texts, separate
authors (essay 5 texts)
50
30
20
10
0
Reflective
Academic Prose: 20/million
Academic Speech: 40-90/
million
Essay
60%
50%
• Stance
I was able to, I feel that this
• Discourse Organisers
40%
Reflective
30%
Essay
as well as the, as a result of
20%
• Referential
10%
At the end of the, members of
the group
0%
Stance
Discourse Referential
organisers
Phrase frame – 4 token
Reflect
the * of the
Hits
Variant
86
15
the * of the
4
the concept of the
the impact of the
the history of the
the rest of the
the end of the
* be able to
51
to be able to
will be able to
would be able to
i was * to
Essay
in the * of
38
4
i was able to
i was unable to
i was going to
i was trying to
in order to * (improve, help, do)
i * that I (feel, believe, realized, felt)
we were * to (able, going, trying)
Reflection: 96 = 800 per million words
Hits
Variant
7835
771
2569
209
1446
216
in the case of
in the form of
in the context of
to the * of
to the development of
to the study of
to the creation of
7 out of top 10 are noun phrases with of
Essay: 5500 = 2000 per million words
the * of the
Reflect
• the rest of the team did not need to know how
• what the rest of the group feel
• affected the dynamics of the group.
• I feel the majority of the group was too
• to the detriment of the team.
0263i.txt
3064g.txt
3138a.txt
3059a.txt
0348c.txt
(20 of 86 hits relate to team/ group)
•
•
•
considered the structure of the essay
the aims of the following reflection are, first,
the best way of carrying the interview out.
Essay
• the effectiveness of the theories
• the context of the Enlightenment
• the end of the civil war,
0310e.txt
• the inferiority of the imagination
• the implementation of the structural adjustment
3092d.txt
0116c.txt
3059a.txt
0269d.txt
0314d.txt
0390a.txt
0281d.txt
Phrase frame – 5 token
Reflect
Essay
* to be able to
in the * of the
at the * of the
the end of the
to the * of the
on the other hand *
it has been * that
as a result of
it * be argued that
it is important to *
it is * that the
need to be able to
hope to be able to
(in) order to be able to
*health and social care
the rest of the *
at the * of the
* the part of the
* members of the group
Competencies, requirements and feelings
WST concord: ‘ABLE TO’
•
(173 hits, 2.27 per 1000 words)
Most common Cluster ‘to be able to’ (32)
It is ADJ + to be able to + V + NG - evaluating competencies
•
•
It is very useful to be able to critique others approaches 0165d
It is important to be able to use non-verbal communication effectively 3138a
V (modal) + to be able to + V - required/ desired competencies
•
•
All nurses need to be able to work as part of a team 3092d HSC
I hope to be able to contribute to devising 3113a Architecture
In order + to be able to +V - specifying purpose of competencies
•
•
need to be acquired in order to be able to successfully run a project. 3113a
client's needs and the office ethos in order to be able to negotiate the 3113a
Key collocation: 1st person Prn + Able to
Competencies performed (What happened - observe / describe)
• This inevitably impacted on the form of data I was able to collect,
Competencies achieved/ practiced / improved (evaluating process)
• I have been able to identify the strengths in my working and my character
• I was able to improve my note taking skills ,
• I was able to develop more as a person
.
Lacunas/ Omissions
• Nevertheless, I was never able to convince myself
• thus I do not feel able to fulfil the expectations of third year
Competencies for the future
• Most importantly, I hope that in future I will be able to creatively engage in
professional
• strategies used in managing aggression and hope to be able to use them
in my future practice
Models of Reflection and RW
• Kolb’s Learning Cycle + other models
• Description, Feelings, Evaluation, Analysis
(Gibbs 1988 cited in Hargreaves 2004)
Narratives of Reflection:
• Valedictory narratives: a crisis – the narrator recognises
the problem, turns the situation round
• Condemnatory narratives: a crisis – poor decisions outcome is negative, narrator feels guilty and/or angry
• Redemptive narratives: allow student to express
inappropriate attitudes as long as they are redeemed.
Hargreaves (2004)
Categorising N-grams
Framing criteria
I need to be able to
Observation / Realisation
(narrative)
I observed ..
I was/ am aware
I realised that
Omission / Commission
Wasn’t able to
Would have
I have to admit that
We should have
Achievement / progress (evaluate)
I have been able to
I was able to improve ..
I have learnt that
In order to
Feelings
How I felt about it
I believe that
I feel I
Resolve to
I need to improve / be able to
I hope to …
(Absolution?: The marking process and feedback)
Required competencies – clustering
The ability and purpose of responding to others is essential for a
health and social care professional. Health and social care
professionals need to be able to interact and understand others,
whether it is other colleagues, patients or relatives. Communication
skills and social relationships are vital in enabling them to do this
and being able to effectively respond to others leads to better care
and working relations.
Effective communication in health and social care settings requires
professionals to be able to analyse their own and other people's
non-verbal behaviour as well as verbal. Non-verbal communication
is vital for health and social care professionals to be able to
respond to others effectively. They need to be able to not only
reflectively listen to others but also be able to take note of what
their body language is saying.
(3069b Health)
How do feel about it?
• To enable me to identify and critically analyse a personal
characteristic I will be reflecting on my feelings about starting my
first third year placement. My work will be guided by Gibbs (1988
cited in: Palmer et al, 1994 p39) reflective cycle, with stage 1
focusing on the description, feelings, evaluation and analysis
phases. I am acutely aware of the increased expectations of third
year students and the impending expectations of qualifying and
hope that by focusing on a personal characteristic I feel needs
attention I will be able to develop both personally and
professionally. I will begin with a reflective journal entry. Beginning
my first third year placement I can honestly say that I felt more
apprehensive and nervous than at any other time during my
course; notably I felt less self-confident. I feared that my mentor
and others would think I should be doing more than I felt capable
of. (3092 g Health Care)
Co-occurrence
• Clustering of meanings about Feelings.
• Co-occurence of key elements identified in Ngrams:
(…) and hope that by focusing on a personal characteristic I feel needs
attention I will be able to develop both personally and professionally.
• Competencies (be able to)
• Affect (I feel/felt)
• Requirement (need to)
• Process of reflection (above meanings expressed as Verbs
+ future expressed in hope, will, develop)
• Identified as relating to both the Personal and the Professional
with Personal framing the professional
Contextual Framings and Student Metadiscourse
• The student in above example explicitly mentions a range of
Practices and Discourses that frame this piece of RW:
• Title of set task
to identify and critically analyse a personal characteristic (3092 g Health Care)
• Relevant / acceptable ‘Models’ of RP:
My work will be guided by Gibbs (1988 cited in: Palmer et al, 1994 p39)
reflective cycle, with stage 1 focusing on the description, feelings,
evaluation and analysis phases. (3092 g Health Care)
• Requirements of Course and Professional body
I am acutely aware of the increased expectations of third year students
and the impending expectations of qualifying (3092 g Health Care)
Discourses and practices contd: constraints and context of
reflective practice
•
I also felt that this intervention illustrates the value of reflection and
evidence based practice and was the first time that I had really been
aware of reflecting in action (Schon 1987). Evidence of reflective
practice is now one of the requirements of the UKCC for all preregistration nurses; they also note that qualified practitioners should
continue to demonstrate this as part of their ongoing portfolio (Kirby et
al)
(3032g.txt HSC)
•
Working environment changes have forced employers to need a range
of different qualities thus making them increasingly demanding with
graduates (Guirdham, 1995). The service industry’ growth, increasing
ethnic minorities and globalisation are some of the changes society has
undergone, convincing Guirdham (1995) that interpersonal skills
overcome technical ones. New organisational cultures have emerged,
focusing on people and projects, thus, interaction, teamwork, and
communication are imperative.
(3013g HLTM)
RP criticisms: assessment and essentialism
• Editorial in Nurse Education Today:
Reflection is “(…) hailed as the new black in nurse education.
Everyone has to reflect and, what’s more, they have to reflect
properly! “
“I have discovered that student reflections can be ‘wrong’. It is possible
to ‘fail’ someone’s reflective activity. Bizarrely, students failed
accounts are often sent back to them to ‘redo’.”
Burnard (2005)
Tension: Reflection (morally open, autonomy) and Reflective
Practice, (ethical code of profession and relevant standards).
Hargreaves (2004)
Assessment: clear codified criteria required for evidenced based
practice:
• Professional Practice
• PDP – HE based (note link to employers - Edwards 2005)
• Academy Based – theory/ models/ literature
Reflection and Reflective practice: tensions
• RP is framed within the power relations of assessment.
• “illegitimate narratives” (Hargreaves 2004)
“the possibility that the assessment process is being used to
‘police’ students’ beliefs is an uncomfortable one,” (ibid p199)
• Texts show that students aware of the external constraints for their
narratives. (there is a clear linking of competencies, feelings,
requirements – able to, feel that, need to – with clear references to
external criteria and requirements. Educational and professional)
• Affective aspects (I feel I….) Reflection framed as a shift in power
relations (interpersonal relationships, equality, honesty, trust)
• Ecclectone and Hayes (2009) Therapeutic Education ”the search for truth is replaced by a purely subjective valuing of
experience” p101
‘technology of the self’
• Foucault identifies shift from technologies of
domination (subjects dominated and objectified by others
through discourse and practices) to technologies of the self
where individuals create own identities through ethics and self
constitution. (Best and Kellner 1991 p60)
• RP - need for evidence based practice - assessment and explicit
criteria leads to globalising and totalising tendencies and
attendant unequal power relations (which criteria, who defines,
for what purpose, who polices?)
•
Reflection – essentialist – reflecting a ‘reality’ that is rhetorically
constructed and discursively situated
“reflection naturalises the practices and competencies that are
identified as relevant to the practice at hand.” Edwards et al (2004)
They just make it up …
• Reflective Writing as fiction
• A form of resistance?
• Hargreaves (2004) argues we should embrace fiction
in RP and assess that.
References
•
Burnard, P. (2005). Reflections on Reflection. Nurse Education Today, 25, 85-86.
•
Best, S., & Kellner, D. (1991). Postmodern Theory: Critical Interrogations. Basingstoke:
Macmillan.
•
Biber, D., & Barbieri, F. (2007). Lexical Bundles in University Spoken and Written Registers.
English for Specific Purposes, 26, 263-286.
•
Ecclestone, K., & Hayes, D. (2009). The Dangerous Rise of Therapeutic Education. Abingdon:
Routledge.
•
Edwards, R., Nicoll, K., Solomon, N., & Usher, R. (2004). Rhetoric and Educational Discourse.
London: Routledge Falmer.
•
Edwards, G. (2005). Connecting Pdp to Employer Needs and the World of Work: The Higher
Edcation Academy.(link)
•
Fletcher W, (2007) kfNgram http://www.kwicfinder.com/kfNgram/
•
Hargreaves, J. (2004). So How Do You Feel About That? Assessing Reflective Practice. Nurse
Education Today, 24, 196-201.
•
Hunston, S. (2008). Starting with Small Words. International Journal of Corpus Linguistics, 13(3),
271-295.
•
Römer, U. (2008). Identification Impossible? A Corpus Approach to Realisations of Evaluative
Meaning in Academic Writing. Functions of Language, 15(1), 115-130.
•
Stubbs, M., & Barth, I. (2003). Using Recurrent Phrases as Text-Type Discriminators: A
Quantitative Method and Some Finding. Functions of Language, 10(1), 61–104.