The Use of Rogerian Reflections in Responding to Doctoral Student’s Research Paper in One-on-One Writing Conferences

Abstract

Through a case study approach, the purposes of this study are to investigate how the teacher’s use of Rogerian reflections in a one-on-one writing conference helps improve the participants’ research paper, and how the participants respond to the teacher’s use of Rogerian reflections in one-on-one writing conferences. The data were obtained from five text-based interviews with two doctoral students working on their research paper to be submitted for publication. The findings indicate that the use of Rogerian reflections helps the participants improve their research paper. Rogerian reflections, including pointing to structure, clarifying, expanding, recalling, and summarizing, facilitate interaction in non-threatening, one-on-one writing conferences. Through Rogerian reflections, the participants learn to find their own way to respond to their teachers and make use of the comments in the revision of their papers.  Moreover, the participants in one-on-one writing conferences are aware of the respect they receive from their teachers, as a sense of ownership develops. Finally, the participants become confident in their writing since the interaction takes place in a supportive atmosphere. However, the participants mention some difficulties in trying to respond to their teachers’ statements as their role switches from passive listeners to reflective thinkers.