What is a Reflective Statement?

The reflective statement (RS) is a short piece of writing of between 300-400 words, submitted with the Written Assignment.

Despite its straightforward prompt for contextual details, candidates continue to lose valuable points by misunderstanding the nature and requirements of the RS. The article offers clarification.

The RS is based on the following question:

"How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?"

Two key terms: “context” and “developed.”

Let's take "context" first. There are two kinds of context that you will have learnt about in your English course and which matter to your reflective statement: context of production and context of reception.

• The context of production refers to the situation or circumstances in which a text is produced with significant factors influencing the writing or speaking of a text.  

• The context of reception is the situation or circumstances in which a text is received with significant factors influencing the reading or listening of a text.

In more practical terms, context of production includes the biographical details of the writer, the surrounding socio-cultural context which (demonstrably) had an impact on writing.
 
(EXAMPLE: Heart of Darkness: Conrad actually travelled the Congo and witnessed European depredations on the land and natives; his work reflects some of the prevailing Victorian values and circumstances - Imperialism, racism, industrial-technological advances) .

Context of reception, on the other hand, will include details on the work's readers or audiences, in particular their reactions to the work.  You may equally refer to the values, beliefs and ideas of the time that help explain why an audience or reader would find some aspects of the work appealing, offensive, challenging, uplifting or grotesque.

(EXAMPLE: A Doll's House: middle-class theatre-goers were incensed at Ibsen's play, in particular the ending)

A full accounting of context in your RS will include these two aspects of context.

Now for the other key term introduced earlier: "Developed"

In using this word, examiners are seeking evidence for how your understanding of the work benefited from (and was improved by) knowledge of context, gained from the Interactive orals.

Which aspects of the work became more apparent or made more sense after the presentations? 

EX: Having learnt about the twin notions of South American machismo and honour in Garcia Marquez' Chronicle of a Death Foretold, you may understand better how these played a central role in the novel, ultimately leading to the death of one character. Learning about these twin notions may have helped you understand why some characters felt they were compelled to kill. Or why the townspeople did little to stop the murder.

What the examiners say:

• “Reflective” should be understood not as a personal or rhetorical response to the literary work or the interactive oral (or journals for self-taught candidates) but as a way of demonstrating that the candidate’s sense of the culture and context of the work under consideration has evolved through the interactive oral.

• Purely reporting or rehearsing factual information gleaned from the interactive oral (or journals for self-taught candidates) does not meet the standard of “understanding...developed” (criterion A).

• The candidate needs to reveal in the reflective statement that he or she has processed that knowledge in a way that leads to greater understanding of the work. Examiners need to be aware that candidates may reveal this understanding through implication rather than through explicit demonstration. The candidate should be rewarded even if this understanding is basic.

A Sample Reflective Statement

This RS below looks strong, but still did not receive full points. Can you see why?

Question: How was your understanding of cultural and contextual considerations of the work developed through the interactive oral?

Work used: Fathers and Sons, by Ivan Turgenev


During the discussion, several articles were presented to the class. The subjects brought to light were the Russian economy during the 1850s, serfdom, and the question of whether Turgenev was obsolete or not. The articles on the Russian economy explained the state of transition the Russian economy was in during the mid-1850s. Prior to this period, there were members of the society called serfs. These were essentially slaves who worked on the fields of rich peasants, or the upper class. However,at this time Russia began to move away from serfdom.


After this discussion, it would appear Turgenev places great importance on the time, place, and culture of his novel, as serfdom and the existence of social classes are a predominant feature in Fathers and Sons. I found this discussion interesting, as it clarified some aspects of the novel. For example, in Fathers and Sons, Nikolai is a relatively well off land owner, and he ‘owns’ many serfs. However, as the system begins to evolve, the serfs and their owners have some trouble adjusting to the new system of land ownership. The serfs are misbehaved and irresponsible, and these aspects of the culture and context form the setting of the novel.


The article on the ‘Turgenev Question’ was interesting as well, because it highlighted some of Turgenev’s techniques, and what he’s famous for. According to the article, the art of Turgenev is in understatement: he manages to capture large philosophical, social, and historical movements as manifested in everyday life.


This can indeed be seen in Fathers and Sons. Turgenev paints a picture of commonplace Russian life with characters like Nikolai Arkady, Pavel, Bazarov and Fenichka, using barely any overly dramatic devices. Yet, through the characters’ thoughts and interactions with each other Turgenev explores ideas such as familial relationships. Furthermore, he portrays other aspects of Russian life, including the wide gap between social classes and the idea of young people rejecting all authorities.   (321 words)

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