College Composition and Communication Dec 2025

Contextualizing Reflective Writing for Creating Change: A Cross-Institutional Case Study of First-Year Students’ Reflections

Jaclyn Fiscus-Cannaday ; Lillian Campbell ; Jennifer E. Eidum

Abstract

Writing studies scholarship lauds reflection’s capacity for building metacognitive understanding and facilitating transfer. Meanwhile, feminist and antiracist pedagogy scholarship highlights reflection’s ability to create spiritual and societal change. By contextualizing reflection within institutional and programmatic contexts, we argue that writing scholars can revise assignments to account for reflection’s contributions to civic and spiritual identity development. This cross-institutional case study analyzes patterns in first-year students’ reflective writing across three writing programs. Drawing on five codes for reflective identities—scholarly, writerly, professional, civic, and spiritual—we found that scholarly and writerly identities were emphasized regardless of context. However, students often had an “excess” in reflection, writing about civic and spiritual growth when prompts did not invite it. In conversation with university and program mission statements, we argue that instructors and WPAs can leverage reflection to expand beyond a single classroom context, ultimately tapping into its potential to create individual and social change.

Journal
College Composition and Communication
Published
2025-12-01
DOI
10.58680/ccc2025772289
Open Access
Closed
Topics
writing program administration qualitative research race and writing multilingual writers

Citation Context

Cited by in this index (0)

No articles in this index cite this work.

Cites in this index (13)

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    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
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    Readiness to Learn: Variations in How Students Engage with the Teaching for Tra…
    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
Show all 13 →
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    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
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    College Composition and Communication
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Also cites 5 works outside this index ↓
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CrossRef global citation count: 0 View in citation network →

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