Presenting a united front: assessed reflective writing on a group experience

1. Presenting a united front: assessed reflective writing on a group experience Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

2. Why look at writing which reflects on a group experience? Demands on writers: Separate themselves from their group in discussion of events Comment on group members’ behaviour as well as on their own individual behaviour and learning Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

3. What to look for in the writing Frequency of references to self and to group Content of self-referential and group-referential statements Semantic patterns in the reflective accounts Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

4. Choosing texts to examine Writing by teachers on a 1-year MA Part of the assessment for a course module entitled ‘Professional Practice: Developing English Language Teaching’. A course and materials design project done in groups, and a rationale for the designed course written as an individual. The rationale included an assessed reflective task. 12 pieces of reflective writing from a single cohort Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

5. The task prompt: A final short piece of writing (about 500 words) reviewing the process of collaborative materials production. … (This) will answer questions such as: What benefits did you find from working on materials development with other people? How did your group plan the work? How did you deal with problems? What informed the changes you made to your materials? How did your group reach decisions? How did you change as the project progressed – both in terms of your own approach to working with others and your own understandings of what is involved in the materials development? Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

6. Identification of salient participants First person forms: I and WE - Frequent in reflective accounts (5th and 6th most frequent items - Key against BAWE Other ways of referring to self or group: Nominalisation (‘our discussion’) Passivisation (‘work was divided’) Representation as object complement (‘might hinder me’, ‘is beneficial to me’) Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

7. Grammatical patterns in representation of participants Nominalisation: 19 references to group, 4 references to self Passivisation: 15 references to group, 1 to self Representation as object complement: 20 references to self, 1 to group Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

8. Content associated with I and WE Semantic groupings in concordances for I around the mental process of learning: learn /find/discover/realise (that)…. 21 instances all together. around a mental process of belief: believe that, think that, feel that, know that… 15 instances altogether. BE plus an attribute: (I am creative, I was supportive) 17 instances . Of the three patterns found for I, none appeared more than twice in the WE concordance lines. Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

9. Semantic groupings in concordances for WE around modalisation for obligation: need to / have to (10 instances) around verbal processes: Discuss/negotiate/talk/utter/give opinion (11 instances) around the idea of agreement: Agree/ decide/ resolve/reach consensus (8 instances) Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

10. Associations between grammatical patterns and content I as object complement: representing the self as beneficiary The project...offered me a good opportunity My group members were encouraging, which gave me more confidence This is useful to me... The process of the whole designing work makes me realise.... (19 of 21 instances) Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

11. Nominalisation in references to the group: representing disagreement Due to the unsuccesful cooperation and communication among the three of us... Often there appeared debates and disagreements, sometimes really heated... Arguments do arise from time to time... (12 of 19 instances) Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

12. Passivisation in references to the group: actions Technical work like editing and transcribing had to be done... Meetings were arranged... Work was divided... (7/15 instances) Passivisation in references to the group: difficulties Not every piece of work was accepted... ... If tasks were not completed for each weekly meeting... (7/15 instances) Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

13. Overall patterns in representation of self Having attributes and beliefs (explicit I) Learning new things (explicit I) Benefitting from the experience (implicit I) Overall patterns in representation of group Being under obligations (explicit WE) Acting, discussing, negotiating (explicit and implicit WE) Agreeing (explicit WE) Disagreeing (implicit WE) Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

14. Positive valency of representations Individual: a learner who has benefitted from the group process Group: a hardworking team and the context for learning. Any negative points tend to be made implicitly. Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

15. Possible reasons for (overly?) positive representations • The task brief emphasises the positive • Students wish to protect the face of staff and of the department • Students wish to protect the face of group members • Students are unsure whether they are assessed on the success of the process which they are reporting, or on the reflection itself Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK

16. Developments in our context Move away from assessed reflective writing Make reflection part of the task process Poster presentation and discussion: an opportunity for supportive questioning and reflective talk Sue Wharton, University of Warwick, UK