Assessing Student Teachers’ Reflective Writing through Quantitative Content Analysis

Source: European Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 37, Issue 3, 2014, pages 348-373.

The purpose of this article is to assess the level of argument and content of student teachers’ reflective writings over the course of two semesters.
The participants were 34 student teachers who enrolled to the course.
A quantitative content analysis procedure (QCA) is used.

The results showed that the mean argument levels of students’ reflective essays differed between the two consecutive semesters.
The modes of the reflective essays were primarily descriptive and evaluative.
The results indicated that it is important to encourage students to focus on the content of the justification, dialogue and transformative learning in their reflective essays.