FoELT 2025 – Reflective Writing as Dialogue

Daniela Roswell discusses how combining dialogic teaching and reflective writing empowers teenage English language learners. Drawing on a “world-centered education lens,” she aims for “subjectification”—helping students become thoughtful, expressive individuals with their own voice, beyond just language proficiency. Dialogic teaching emphasizes quality classroom dialogue, valuing student contributions, and strong relationships. Reflective writing, particularly “free writing,” is a non-performative thinking tool encouraging continuous, uncorrected writing to explore ideas and connect learning to personal experiences. This approach fosters self-awareness, agency, deeper language processing, reduces reliance on AI, and builds confidence in learners.