A taxonomy of emotion and cognition for student reflection: introducing emo-cog

ABSTRACT

Reflective practice can support student learning by enabling praxis: the bridging of the theory of the classroom with the students’ learning experience. Students’ written reflections are the most common mode for practising and documenting reflection. Available typologies for coding the level of student written reflections focus on the cognitive domain. The coding of student reflection data from four locations (Australia, Denmark, Hong Kong and South Korea; n = 760) revealed that the focus on the cognitive domain could not capture the role and contribution of the affective domain of reflection for learning. This study conceptualises and presents our new two-domain emo-cog taxonomy, together with empirical evidence to substantiate a new way of thinking about reflection for learning. Emo-cog identifies multiple levels of affective responses along with traditional cognitive reflections. Emotions are found to make a significant contribution to student reflections. Learning is clearly a matter of head and heart.

KEYWORDS:

• Student reflection
• emotion
• cognitive domain
• emo-cog

Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a Macquarie University Learning and Teaching Competitive Grant and by a Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics Learning and Teaching Fund Grant. Thanks are extended to colleagues who reviewed the article: Dr Anna Rowe, Professor Dominique Parrish and Professor Robyn Dowling.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Marina Harvey http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2471-517X

Chris Baumann http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7982-1060

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by a Macquarie University Learning and Teaching Competitive Grant and by a Macquarie University Faculty of Business and Economics Learning and Teaching Fund Grant.