Evidence of a reflective process in written records of professional development

Abstract

This article aims at investigating evidence of reflection processes in the linguistic materiality of written records of professional development, which are autobiographical texts often required by higher education institutions. These institutions regard written records as important instruments for teacher education. The analysis reveals that the establishment of a contrast to experiences considered by the teachers as negative and the consequent adoption of new/other ways of thinking and behaving are characteristic of a reflection process, which is revealed by lexical choices that indicate a dynamic process of memory recreation, marked by indissociable relations between past and present, and by the author’s attempt to construct an ethos of contemporaneity.

Key words: reflection process, written record of professional development, teacher education.