Facilitating the development and maintenance of reflection in speech pathology students

Abstract

Speech pathology students can develop and demonstrate critical reflection over time, although their engagement in reflection as a lifelong learning strategy remains sub-optimal. Educators play an integral role in the facilitation of students’ development and sustained engagement in reflective activities. This is a challenging task due to the nature of the development of reflection, factors that influence student facilitation and methods to measure reflection with tertiary healthcare students. This paper reports on a mixed methods single case study with embedded units, which was used to determine the development, maintenance and facilitation of reflection with six speech pathology students. The study spanned 10 weeks and two professional placements, during which students received a combination of face-to-face and email facilitation to support their reflection development. Quantitative results identified three novel trajectories: 1) steady growth from introspection to reflection and critical reflection; 2) no clear change in depth of reflection over time; and 3) gradual decline in depth of reflection. Qualitative results situated these trajectories with factors that influenced students’ experiences, including the internalisation of reflection, understanding the value of reflection, the influence of time and the mode of facilitation. Outcomes from this study may be used by educators to support the facilitation, development and maintenance of reflection in speech pathology students.

Written reflective practice abilities of SLT students across the degree programme

“…Rather, we suggest, that students may instead be signaling closure on the clinical experience, and evaluating their overall learning for the clinical placement via demonstration of the element ‘reflection‐on‐action’. A final interpretation of this finding could suggest that students might RP as a requirement for the course, rather than a life‐long learning strategy (Duke & Appleton, 2000; Dunne et al., 2019; Greenwood, 1998).…”

“…In summary, significant development of WRP has been documented for specific timepoints within clinical education programmes (Aronson et al., 2012; Cook et al., 2019; Duke & Appleton, 2000; Dunne et al., 2019; Tsang, 2012). What remains unclear is whether student development of WRP skill exists both within and across the course of a degree programme for SLT.…”

“…Furthermore, completing written reflections (WRs) was found to promote emotional and cognitive learning, which resulted in a new understanding of interdisciplinary team practices for allied health students (Domac et al., 2015). Finally, it has been suggested that when educators provide formative feedback in a timely manner on WRP activities, this may have a positive impact on the demonstration of WRP abilities by students (Aronson et al., 2012; Cook et al., 2019; Dunne et al., 2019).…”

“…Across these studies, it has been found that students benefit from being taught concepts inherent to RP, and learning a framework for WRP before engaging in the process. The studies included varied assessment methods, and either a content analysis approach (Aronson et al., 2012; Cook et al., 2019; Duke & Appleton, 2000), a thematic analysis approach (Tsang, 2012) or mixed‐methods approach (Dunne et al., 2019). The time points investigated provide only a snapshot of student RP abilities, with examination over 6 weeks to a maximum of 12 months (Aronson et al., 2012; Cook et al., 2019; Dunne et al., 2019; Duke & Appleton, 2000; Tsang, 2012).…”

“…Findings with SLT students suggested three different WRP development trajectories: ‘steady growth’, ‘no clear change’ and ‘gradual decline’. Dunne et al.’s results suggested that students who internalized RP as a learning strategy maintained or developed RP abilities compared with those who externalized RP as a requirement of the clinical programme (Dunne et al., 2019).…”