Assessed reflective writing; friend or foe

Abstract

Reflective writing as an assessed practice
has gained ground in many fields in recent
years, including STEM related areas and
many EAP courses. This upward trend is
supported by recent studies showing a
positive correlation between reflective
writing and the development of critical
thinking.

However, for many international students
critical self-reflection is a novel genre of
writing due to the differences in cultural
expectations of writing and thus may act as
a barrier to engagement with this ‘culturally situated’
(Tsui and Ng, 2010:32) type of
writing. This issue is also compounded by
the ambiguity that surrounds this genre of
writing for both students and teachers alike
(Clarà, 2014).

This presentation will explore the
relationship between reflective writing
practices and the development of
critical thinking as a transitional aid for
international students into the academy.
It will also discuss practical challenges and
limitations in addressing those needs in
assessment and syllabus design. This is
informed by data gathered from current
International Foundation Year (IFY) students
over the span of a year through teacher
observations, student reflective writing
samples and surveys. With explicit genrebased
approaches to reflective writing in
the second term, results showed a marked
improvement in both the quality of students’
reflective writing and awareness of the
potential benefits of ‘critical reflection’
beyond the IFY programme, with a view to
transferability of skills to future academic
and professional contexts.

The findings do suggest that with greater
explicit genre-based instruction of such
‘fuzzy’ (ibid:262 ) concepts, IFY students are
better able to engage and benefit from this
writing practice and assessment.

References
Clarà, M. (2015). What is reflection? Looking
for clarity in an ambiguous notion.
Journal of Teacher Education, 66(3), 261–271.
doi:10.1177/0022487114552028
Tsui, A. B. M., & Ng, M. M. Y. (2010). Cultural
contexts and situated possibilities in the
teaching of second language writing.
Journal of Teacher Education, 61(4), 364–375.
doi:10.1177/0022487110364855

Full text

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%&%%&!6& 
%&  
8
"'%%&! !&&#

()4
)&'(L
•!('&$J
7!&&"M&%/<2N#
345,&83! 
"G:-./@#8*
&&&)(&&8
;!%L
•G%&- 
&&&1& &
)8"J&&-./0#

+5:
•&&
&  O&! &
%reectionO8"%
8!0#
•J&&((&&"%#
•&!!
&&&" !&'#

)assessed4
&)
+)4
•> )(& 
!! &1
 "> /<<2#
• 
 &"%#
.&4
•) /-&&2
;)&!!"> -..C#588
)! &&
"-./A#
•* P 1>&&
)">&D-./C#8
•+1&& 
&'
"H&-./C#

)4
+5:)
+)(<
)()&)C0
!!0A?
/- &&
- -&&2.?
.&4
/) )&&
))&&&) 
A-?&&
"& Socrative!!&#

Assessed4/(/(
•J&&!(&&E
 !&7((&& "J&&
-./0#
•!&
 &
">-./CJ/<2N#
=4
•G7!&1%
"J/<2<#
•>'
7!
 &("H&
-./C#
•!%&& 
  8588'
"-./A!8--0#

5&) 
'  !
&
&
 ">&&&-./-&&
-../#
 
(&&&& 9&
!&
"> -..C!8-20#

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