8/18/2019 Reflective Journals in Preservice Teacher Education: A Discursive Psychology Approach to Analysis

1/1

 ABSTRACT

This paper reports on a discursive analysis of the ways in

which preservice world languages teachers displayknowledge about course content within a semester-long

 journaling assignment. While reflection in teachereducation is typically understood as a cognitive task inwhich students’ words represent their thinking, findings

show that students orient to the task within the institutionalsetting of a university course, displaying learning andknowledge in particular ways and through identifiable

patterns of talk. Further, claims to learning were frequentlymodified or qualified in ways that attempted to normalize

the act of learning. These findings suggest that aDiscursive Psychology approach offers nuanced analysisof the ways in which students’ displays of learning are

constructed within a university setting.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Rooted in Deweyan pragmatism (1933), reflective practicein teacher education (Shön 1983, 1987) has an extensive

history. Frequently, this research focuses on developingscales for measuring reflective practice or offering critiquesbased on participation reactions to, or perceptions of,

reflective journaling assignments. But Francis and Ingram-Starrs (2005) found that teachers engaged in “strategiccompliance” in reflective journaling assignments. And

Hobbs (2007) claimed that the power dynamic betweenteacher educators and pre-service teachers was a

confounding factor in students’ ability to enact reflection inan educational setting.

Therefore, it is useful to examine preservice teacherreflection assignments not as artifacts of knowing, but froman interactive approach designed to explore the action-

oriented nature of text and construction of meaning withinparticular contexts. This can emphasize the ways in which

the participants themselves orient to the task of reflectionas made evident linguistically in their writing, enabling newinsight into reflective writing tasks commonly assigned in

preservice teacher education courses.

METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

• Discourse analysis guided by the discursive action model

(Potter & Edwards, 2003)

• We focused on participants’ uptake and use of key termsand concepts introduced during the course

• We attended to how students constructed theirexperiences and beliefs in the context of the journalingassignments

Explanations were generated by noticing how

knowledge and understanding are “invoked,

oriented to, and contested” (Potter, 2010, p. 658)

CONTEXT & DATA SOURCES

The course was an upper-level undergraduate/graduateclass for World Languages and ESL Teachers. The focus ofthe course is on literacy instruction methods for teaching

world languages. It is framed in a multiliteracies approach(Kern, 2000; New London Group, 1996).

Students complete reflective journaling assignments

throughout the semester on topics related to course content.

FINDINGS

Students oriented to journaling activity as a form of

instit utional t alk (Drew & Heritage, 1992)Use of authoritative sources (e.g., citing the text) or

authoritative constructions: “Overt instruction involves focusing on different the

relationships between various grammatical categories

like syntax and lexicon.”

Students worked up claims to knowledge through

learning narratives or “realization patterns” (Paulus &Lester, 2013)Use of extreme case formulations (Pomerantz, 1986): “Literacy is a complex process that involves more

variables than I ever imagined,” “I was also astonished when Kern says that the context

of learning about the culture and new styles and genresof foreign language comes through literacy.”

Use of “before I thought X, now I know Y” constructions: “I thought it was very interesting because only a c

ouple

of weeks ago if I was asked what Literacy meant to me Iwould naturally say “It is the ability to read and write.”

However, as Kern points out, Literacy [sic] has a muchdeeper meaning than the lowly definition I would havegiven.”

DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS

Journaling for a course, like all educational tasks, asksstudents to display learning in front of an audience.

Student journals conducted within the institutional publicspace of education may benefit from an interaction-oriented analysis that considers reflective journaling

assignments as a particular type of institutional discourse.Through this, we can attend to the complex, situational

nature of this task as part of what it means to “doeducation” (Edwards, 1997) in this setting for thesepreservice teachers. Additionally, for teacher educators,

insights from researchers taking up a DP perspectivemight inform decisions at both the design phase andconcerning the task of assigning grades to potentially

sensitive public interactions and displays.

For further information:Please contact Amber Warren (ambwarre@indiana.edu

)

 Amber Warren & Dr. Beth Lewis Samuelson, Department of Literacy, Culture and Language Education

Reflecti ve Journals in Preservic e Teacher Education:

 A Discursive Ps ychology Approach to Analysis

The Larger Study

• 53 Participants

• 201 Journal Entries• 4 Semesters

The Present Study

• 12 participants

• 120 Journal Entries• 1 Semester 

mailto:ambwarre@indiana.edumailto:ambwarre@indiana.edu