An Article Review of Reflection and Reflexivity in

Practice Versus in Theory: Challenges of

Conceptualization, Complexity, and
Competence.
Formative Assessment: Article Review

Doaa Emad Mokhtar Ahmed ElShafie

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Master of Arts in Leadership in Education
Developing Critical Professional Practice (34276)
Dr. Asiimwe Specioza

Date: Mar.6th, 2022

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 Table of Contents

I-Introduction and Rationale 3

II-Presentation of the Article 4

III- Evaluation of the Article 6

IV-References 7

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I-Introduction and Rationale

This is a review of the article “Reflection and Reflexivity in Practice Versus in Theory:

Challenges of Conceptualization, Complexity, and Competence” by Patricia A. Alexander, in

which she offers her review and comments as an experienced practicing teacher of four articles

discussing reflection and reflexivity that were published in the Educational Psychologist Journal

(2017). She also critically analyzes some of the hardships that teachers face when putting these

concepts into action in real-life classrooms.

Although the author praises the effort to bring knowledge and knowing to light by

looking at it through the perspective of epistemic cognition, she mostly speaks negatively about

the four articles she reviews and states that they contain invalid info and unneeded difficult

vocabulary.

On the one hand she agrees that the thoughts or insights shared by the four articles are

true, on the other hand she criticizes how they are implemented in classrooms or teacher

professional development. She mentions three major challenges regarding reflection and

reflexivity: 1-The conceptual demands placed on educators who must interpret the expanding

vocabulary of epistemic cognition, especially when that lexicon is vaguely defined. 2-The

complexity that exists within everyday educational settings where nonepistemic concerns must

also be addressed and where external and internal forces continually shape the flow of

instruction. 3-The challenge of fostering epistemic competence in teachers and students, where

attention to contextual factors such as the a) subject matter, b) specific task, and c) significance

of the problem become part of the epistemic calculation, influencing epistemic aims, goals, and

outcomes, Alexander (2017).

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II- Presentation of the Article

She starts article by simplifying some of the difficult terms that were asserted in the four

articles that might be confusing for teachers or professional developers by summarizing and

focusing on a claim that so many researchers (among whom, for example, are Bandura, 1971;

Clark & Peterson, 1986; Earl & Timperley, 2008; Garner, 1990; Hattie, 2012; Schön, 1983;

Schunk & Zimmerman, 2007) have previously supported: “What educators model in their

teaching, devote time to during instruction, value in their assessments, reflect upon in their

planning, and monitor in their own practices and the actions of their students matter significantly

to learning processes and outcomes” Alexander (2017, p307-308). This claim is discussed in

relation to reflection and reflexivity where reflective practice and the activities that follow are

not new notions—but are more accurately described as "cornerstones"—in teacher education and

development. What is distinctive here is that they only focused on beliefs, cognitions, and actions

relevant to knowledge and the process of knowing, Alexander (2017).

She acknowledges that the four articles' ideas or insights are correct, but as a long-

experienced teacher she disagrees with how they are applied in classrooms or teacher

professional development as teachers might encounter some difficulties to implement these

insights in real-life classrooms.

The first difficulty or issue she reflects on is about conceptualizing these terms which are

purely theoretical and far from the real world of teaching practice. The journal issue she reviews

calls for reflection on one’s goals regarding instruction, assessment and the teaching strategies

implemented. The problem is that this issue’s targeted audience is not teachers, teacher

educators or even researchers involved in the educational practice, Alexander (2017).

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 she states that despite the fact that these writers specifically emphasize that it is critical to

define what is meant by reflection, the term is repeated multiple times with only a few hints as to

its meaning. In effect, readers are told that reflection denotes some kind of subject–object

association, as opposed to reflexivity, which is believed to imply a subject–object–subject

relationship, or what is known as a bending-back. As a result, the clarity they desired was not

realized, Alexander (2017).

She mentions that before asking educators to reflect on knowledge and knowing in their learning

and their students’ learning, educational psychologists should clarify what is considered

epistemic the educational practice context, Alexander (2017).

The second difficulty or issue she reflects on is about complexity. She mentions that

epistemic and no epistemic actions and intentions both co-exist in teaching and that can’t be

separated. With the help of her students, she analyzed data that captured ongoing and real-time

interactions between teachers and their students, as well as between student groups involved in

teaching and learning in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics domains, with

the goal of documenting examples of relational reasoning, which refers to the ability to recognize

significant relationships (e.g., analogical or antonymous) in any data stream within educational

experiences, Alexander (2017).

She claims that regarding nonepistemic actions as wasting time is not fair because

sometimes focusing only on epistemic aims and neglecting nonepistemic for instance behavior

management might harm the achievement of epistemic goals. It is challenging and of extreme

importance to communicate the distinction between epistemic and nonepistemic to educators. It

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is hard to determine what is epistemic and nonepistemic. It is also hard to know how epistemic

and nonepistemic complement or conflict with each other during instruction, Alexander (2017).

The third difficulty lies in competency. Teachers and students who are epistemically

competent are able to think about domain, task, and significance in context, define

epistemic objectives, and take whatever steps are necessary to achieve those goals.

It would be a big ask for educators to do what they are told. Epistemic competence, as

she proposes, is far from easy to attain. However, in her experience as a public-school

teacher, where she taught multiple subjects on the same day, she would be better

equipped to use the same judgement framework rather than attempting a complete

epistemological transformation with each change in subject matter.

III- Evaluation of the Article

This article accomplished its goals by discussing the main points presented in the four

articles reviewed, identifying vagueness and providing a clearer explanation for those areas,

providing examples of her long experience as a teacher and how reflection and reflexivity can be

actualized in real classrooms. She maintained valid proofs and references that supported her

review.

Word count: 999

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References

Alexander, P.A., 2017. Reflection and reflexivity in practice versus in theory: Challenges of

conceptualization, complexity, and competence. Educational Psychologist, 52(4),

pp.307-314.

DOI: 10.1080/00461520.2017.1350181

[Accessed: 26th February 2022]

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