Descriptive Content Analysis of Studies on Reflection Levels

Abstract

Reflection is recognized as a learning tool and an inseparable part of professional practice (Plack, Driscoll, Blissett, McKenna, & Plack, 2005). Teachers need to reflect on themselves as a teacher in order to understand the real meaning of a situation related to their teaching (Korthagen, 2004). Developing reflective thinking skills of teachers is important not only to increase the quality of their teaching (Cengiz & Karataş, 2016), but also to enable their students to acquire reflective thinking skills (Duban & Yelken, 2010). For this reason, studies evaluating the quality of teachers' and pre-service teachers' reflections are important in determining the current situation. Reflective writing and journals are the most commonly used reflection tools (Chan, Wong, & Luo, 2021). When the literature is examined, it is seen that content analysis studies on reflective thinking have been carried out in recent years. Beveren, Roets, Buysse, and Rutten (2018) conducted a literature review on why reflection is used in higher education. Eğmir (2019) examined the studies conducted in Turkey on reflective thinking practices in teacher education. Marshall (2019), conducted a literature review to determine how the concept of reflection is explained in professional practices. Eğmir, Beycan, and Dede (2020) analyzed the postgraduate theses examining the effect of reflective thinking practices. Ustabulut (2021), investigated the trends of research on reflective thinking practices in Turkish teaching. However, there is no study in the literature that compiles studies investigating reflective thinking levels of teachers and pre-service teachers. For this reason, within the scope of this study, the articles published in the journals in the ERIC database were scanned and it was aimed to examine the articles on the reflection levels. The study was carried out within the framework of descriptive content analysis. Descriptive content analysis includes the evaluation of disposition and results of all studies conducted within the framework of a determined subject (Jayarajah, Saat & Rauf, 2014; Lin, Lin & Tsai, 2014). In this framework, the relevant database was searched with the keywords "reflection level", "level of reflection" and "reflective thinking level". 16 articles were included in the study. The articles were analyzed using the content analysis method. The basic approach in content analysis is to gather similar data within the framework of certain themes and categories, and to analyze and interpret them (Yıldırım & Şimşek, 2006). The publication year, sample group, reflection level models, reflection levels and suggestions of the studies included in the review were combined together and each dimension was grouped within itself according to their similarities. Each of the researchers analyzed the data separately, then a comparison was made and consistency was provided. Findings from the study showed that studies on reflectivity levels tended to increase from 2018 to 2021. The increase in the demand for reflective educators by educational institutions in the world today (Krishnaratne, White, & Carpenter, 2013) may be the reason for the increase in the number of studies. Pre-service teachers were mostly preferred as the study group. The reason for preferring to conduct studies with pre-service teachers may be because of the importance of determining the education applied in education faculties is whether sufficient at graduating reflective teachers (Duban & Yanpar Yelken, 2010). It was determined that there were 10 different models utilised to analyse the reflection levels of the writingsThe most preferred model was the model developed by Lee (2005) and Kember (2009). When the studies examined it was seen that the participants of the studies could not reflect at a high levels of reflection. Cengiz (2020) asked pre-service teachers to write free and then structured reflective journals. The result of the study showed that the pre-service teachers write descriptively in their independent journals, but they can reflect in the structured journals. Prompt questions enable pre-service teachers to evaluate their time efficiently and focus better on the subject that they need to write (Wilson, Roberts, Gill, Ross & Åkerlind, 2014). When the suggestions of the researches included in the studies were examined, it was determined that the most emphasised suggestion was to include reflective thinking programs to the scope of the teacher training program.