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Examining the Effects of Reflective Journals on Students’ Growth Mindset: A Case
Study of Tertiary Level EFL Students in the United Arab Emirates
Hinda Hussein
Higher Colleges of Technology, United Arab Emirates

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Abstract
The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to examine the effects of reflective journals
on students’ learning, how they foster students’ growth mindset, and the students’ own
perceptions of the journaling process. To this end, 15 students enrolled in an introduction to
nutrition course participated in writing reflective journals about their eating habits with respect
to the course content. This research used a qualitative instrumental case study design and therequired data were collected from students’ journals and focus group interviews. A content
analysis approach was employed to examine the journals and this indicated that reflective
writing improves learners’ conceptual understanding of the course, promotes growth mindset,
and helps shed light on the students’ inner thoughts. The finding of this study revealed thatreflective journal writing has a significant impact on EFL learners’ understanding of concepts
and on fostering growth mindset.
Keywords: reflective journals, growth mindset, critical thinking skills, EFL learners

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Introduction
The current higher education environment in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), aligned withits business community, is moving towards preparing its students for the 21st century market(HCT, 2017). This entails focusing on building not just content and language, but developing
higher order thinking skills and growth mindset. The impact of reflective journals on learners
in higher education has been praised, studied (Korstange, 2016) and found useful. Reflective
journals have also been found to enhance the learning process as this practice bridges the gap
between what the learners are doing and what they should be doing (Cathro, O'Kane, &Gilbertson, 2017). It also develops students’ awareness of their own skills (Boud, Keogh, &Walker, 1998). Studies have shown that learning while reflecting on the metacognitive process
is an important way of learning, however, it is not spontaneously learned and it must be taught(Wallin & Adawi, 2017). Giving learners the opportunities to reflect on their learning is a
substantial way to focus learners and give them tools for improvement. Chau and Cheng (2012)
state that in the current literature of second language learning (L2), there is a significant effecton the development of learning in reflective writing. The importance of being cognitively
aware through reflection in higher education has been extensively covered in the literature.
Nevertheless, reflection journals may not increase students’ grades in content, but it enhances
their conceptualization of meaning and thinking skills (Murphy & Ermeling, 2016).
There is rather limited research on how EFL learners reflect on their learning when involvedin their academic content and their awareness of growth mindset. This is particularly true withstudents in the United Arab Emirates who are studying their content in English as a medium of
instruction. A practice of writing reflective journal by students, for this nutrition course, wasundertaken and a questionnaire was designed and conducted by the researcher to gather
information on students’ perceptions of the journal writing. This study will observe how thesereflective journals reveal students’ awareness of concept learning, mindset and move towards
growth mindset. The purpose of this research is to examine the effect of reflective journals on
students’ learning, how it fosters students’ growth mindset and their perceptions of the journal
writing. This research aims to answer the following questions:
1. Can reflective journals reveal students’ conceptual development?
2. Do reflective journals foster growth mindset?
3. What are students’ perceptions of their own growth mindset?
The drive for the current study was encouraged by the growing population of UAE citizens
studying a four year degree in an English medium. In this level of education, EFL learners needto improve their linguistic competency and their critical thinking skills. Research indicates that
language is more effectively learnt when the target language is in authentic use and contentbased language instructions (CBLI) are used (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). The term contentbased language instruction refers to an approach that integrates content and language learning.
Hence, use of a reflective journal is aimed at building learners’ content knowledge and theirthinking skills at the same time. This is in line with the current educational environment in the
UAE, which is geared towards preparing students for the 21st century market with the focus onbuilding not just content and language, but also developing critical thinking skills and growthmindset. Furthermore, there is a need for future research in examining EFL learners’ reflective
journal writing in the content classroom (Goris, Denessen, & Verhoeven, 2017).

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Literature Review
Reflective journals
Researchers view reflective journals as an instrumental tool for alerting and guiding students
towards improving their learning. Dewey (1933) was one of the first to write about reflection
in education. He stated that reflective thinking is “the active, persistent, and carefulconsideration of belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support
it and the further conclusions to which it ends” (p. 9). In 1987, Schon further explained theconcept of reflection as a conversation between thought and action. Reflective journals areused in many courses as written logs of students’ thoughts about specific concepts and theirlearning process (Thorpe, 2004). Other researchers stressed the importance of reflective
journals focusing on the process of learning in enhancing students’ performance rather than the
product (Park, 2003). Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1998) further explain the significant impactof the reflection on the actual process of the learning at a deeper level.
Other authors such as Sumsion & Fleet (1996) state that reflective processes allow the learners
to be “looking back on experiences, decisions and actions; recognizing values and beliefs
underlying these actions and decisions; considering the consequences and implications ofbeliefs and actions; exploring possible alternatives; and reconsidering former views” (Sumsion& Fleet, 1996, p. 121). With reflection, people are usually engaged in a period of thinking
within which they examine complex experiences or situations. Moreover, it is suggested thatin addition to the reflection embedded in the practice, reflective writing provides a measure of
the writer’s L2 ability (Hyland, 2007). Importantly:
By engaging in reflection people are usually engaging in a period of thinking inorder to examine often complex experiences or situations. The period of thinking(reflection) allows the individual to make sense of an experience, perhaps toliken the experience to other similar experiences and to place it in context. Facedwith complex decisions, thinking it through (reflecting) allows the individual toseparate out the various influencing factors and come to a reasoned decision orcourse of action. (Clarke & Graham, 1996)
Theoretical framework
Journaling is utilized as an exercise for reflection and a tool for teaching, learning, and researchwithin education and in academic fields (Fabriz, Ewijk, Poarch, & Buttner, 2014). This study
uses Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle or Reflective Model (1988), which is a theoretical model forreflection often taken as a framework for reflective writing in coursework assignments that
require reflection stressed within the learning process of the course. The model has six stages,
usually displayed as follows:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Description
Feelings
Evaluation
AnalysisConclusion
Action Plan.

This study has taken Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle (adapted by Bulman and Shultz, 2013) as its
frame because of its clear and elaborated stage settings which can give learners an opportunity
to reflect on their experience, and to understand what they did well and what they could do

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Volume 6 – Issue 2 – Summer 2018better in the future. Gibbs’ model stems from an earlier theoretical model formulated by Kolb
(1984) as an experiential learning model, depicting learning through experience. Kolb’s model
constitutes a four-stage experiential learning cycle (Kolb, 1984). Referred to, sometimes, as an
iterative model, the version of Gibbs’ Reflective Cycle given to students may be slightly
adapted.
Growth mindset
According to psychologist Dweck’s (2006) research, there are two mindsets: a fixed mindset
and a growth mindset. Students with a fixed mindset believe that abilities are innate and cannot
be enhanced. On the other hand, growth mindset learners believe that effort can bring a positivechange and that challenges are ways to improvement if one focuses on the effort and process
not just product. Figure 1 outlines the two mindsets.

Figure 1: Two Mindsets Chart(Dweck (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success, p. 245.
New York: Random House.)
This research study supports that these two mindsets are not permanent in that learners can be
guided to move from a fixed mindset to growth mindset. This change of the mindset requiresa learning effort and does not happen accidently. Dweck (2015) acknowledges that everyone
has a combination of both mindsets, but cautions that there is a need to be aware of when the
fixed mindset appears in the behavior.
Other researchers who embraced reflection with growth mindset and applied it in the classroom
associate reflection and metacognition to development (Davis, 2016). This research reports thatreflective thinking is one of the ways of moving these mindsets from fixed to growth mindset.
Boyd (2014) characterizes Dweck’s work on growth mindset as “a transformative and37

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irrevocable way of thinking about something . . .” (p. 29), and a source of qualitatively new
outlooks of learning and for course design.
Related work
Current research reports the significance of writing reflective journals (Wallin & Adawi, 2017).
However, Wallin and Adawi point out that, in higher education, most of reflective writing
research comes from teacher education and nursing. Supported by the work of these researchersand other examples of reflective journal writing, this study aims to fill part of the gap byexamining the impact of students’ journal writing thoughts on the value of journaling. The
theoretical underpinning of this paper, therefore, is broadly based on concepts contained in
Gibbs’ 1988 reflective model and practice. It also draws from Dweck’s growth mindset andthe insights that have emerged out of the data gathered for this study.
Methodology
This research paper is based on an empirical research designed as an instrumental case study.
This approach gives the study a potential output to provide insight and understanding into thephenomenon of students’ reflective journals and the impact these reflective writings have on
learning. Stake (1995) justifies the case study approach as it gives the researcher an opportunity
to notice the natural life. Encouraged by such testimony, this research’s qualitative approach isdesigned to understand more about the students’ learning process through reflective
journalling. Because the case study method simulates a representation of an actual situation,
Merriam (1998) confirms its usefulness: “Anchored in real-life situations, the case study results
in a rich and holistic account of a phenomenon” (p. 41). This qualitative case study research
applied two methods of data collection: documents (reflective journals) and focus groupinterviews. A variety of information sources is used to ensure the use of triangulation, which
enhances the validity of the study. This approach is in alliance with those promoting the use ofmultiple methods, including observation, interview and document review, in a qualitative casestudy research (Stake, 1995).
This type of design in methodology is appropriate because it is flexible in its nature and suitable
for the unpredictability of the findings (Stake, 1995). In qualitative research, the focus is onwhat meaning and understanding participants attribute to their experiences. Stake notes “a casestudy cannot be defined through its research methods, but rather in terms of its theoreticalorientation and interest in individual cases” (Stake, 2000, p. 435). The questions for thereflective journals were modeled with a growth mindset in design, and were about describing,evaluating and analyzing the situation.
Participants and study design
This research used convenient participant samples – the researcher’s students. The participants
were 15 female students who were Emirati nationals and between the ages of 19 and 23. They
were studying in a bachelor program in a public tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates(UAE). This institution has more than 23,000 students and offers various English-taught
programs in Applied Communication, Business, Computer and Information Science,
Engineering Technology and Science, Health Sciences, and Education. All programs aredesigned in consultation with business and industry leaders to ensure that students’ skills arejob-relevant and to the highest standards. This course, requiring the reflective journals, is a 16
week nutrition course for the bachelor degree. Most of the students are in their second year ofcollege, which is the time they are required to take this general elective course in their program
structure. In this English medium program, enrolled students (whose native language is Arabic)

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are required to pass English proficiency tests such as the International English Test (IELTS)
and/or theTest of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) to be admitted to the bachelor
programs. Students had also taken three academic English courses in their first year to improvetheir English competency. As part of the course assessment students write a reflective journalof a minimum length of 200 words concerning their eating habits and in relation to the content
of the course. Participants submitted the reflective journal by week 8 of the 16-week semester.
Before they started writing, participants responded ‘yes’ to the question of whether or not they
were familiar with journal writing. They were familiar with journal writing as it was introduced
during their foundation English courses. Nevertheless, the researcher gave a brief orientationand explained about the process of reflective journals. Journals from 15 (one class)participating students were analyzed. The themes that emerged from the reflective journals
were examined to better understand students’ growth mindset in relation to their understandingof the course content and their personal experiences of the reflective process.
The participants wrote a reflective journal in week eight of a sixteen-week semester (seeAppendix A). The questions for these reflective journals were modeled with a growth mindset
in design. Participants were familiar with journal writing in English courses, but have not done
it in a content class. An induction of topic preparation was needed and conducted before thestart of the writing. Later, a focus group interview was carried out to understand if the reflective
journals helped students comprehend the concepts better, enhanced their growth mindset, andto draw out student perceptions (see Appendix B). A group of five students voluntarily
participated in the focus group.
Data collection
This study used two ways of gathering the qualitative data: reflective journals and a focus groupinterview. In addition to being data collection methods, reflective journals and focus groups
also serve as a strategy for research when trying to find how a perspective of a problem isformed (Mertens, 2009).
Reflective journals
The main source of data was the reflective journals (see appendix A). There were practicalreasons for using journal writing in this study. It was imperative that students in the nutrition
class, who were engaged in learning about food and health, reflect on what they are learningand how it is related to them on a personal level. Furthermore, studies suggest that journal
writing encourages students to reflect (Fabriz, Ewijk, Poarch, & Buttner, 2014) and to learncontent, and that “reflective diaries can focus on learning content or behavior” (Wallin &Adawi, 2017, p. 2). The data from the journals was anonymised for ethical considerations. The
journals were identified by number (S1, S2, S3,…). The researcher, who is also the instructorof the course, described the research to students and got their verbal agreement, but no signed
consent forms were collected.
Focus group interview
The second set of data for this study came out of a focus group interview (see Appendix B)
which took place a couple of weeks after completing the journal writing. The two weeks gave
time for students to process their learning, and to take a concept based quiz planned within thecoursework. The researcher chose the focus group interview to evoke students’ perspective andhave them actively engage in an exchange of information (Mertens, 2009). The focus groupinterview would provide an opportunity that allows students to express their views and reflect
on their learning. Other methods, such as a questionnaire, could not offer that kind of
information exchange. One objective of the focus group interview was also to determine

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whether participants went on with writing reflectively beyond the class assignment and study
exercise. Another objective was to ascertain whether there was perceived merit in reflective
writing using the Gibbs reflective cycle. Prior to organizing the focus group, the researcher ofthis study informally discussed in an open conversation with students about their experience
with reflective journals. Five questions guided the follow-up focus group interview (seeAppendix B). The interview was conducted with a group of five students. The interview session
was recorded using audio recorder and was later transcribed. The researcher took notes withthe aim of capturing any evidence of paralinguistic clues such as nods of agreement or
disagreement, which added additional dimension to the transcript.
Reflective journal coding
The coding process of this study was guided by an inductive approach based on Gibbs’ modelof reflective learning. Gibbs’ six-stage model would later be used to frame the thematic coding.
This qualitative content analysis, using an inductive approach thoroughly discussed in theliterature (Merriam, 1998), has followed Gibbs’ model of reflective learning (Figure 2). The
researcher further used Creswell’s suggestions of thinking about the data and its generalmeaning and recording ideas and thoughts (Creswell, 2007). Data was analyzed concurrently
with data collection (Miles, Huberman, & Saldana, 2014). At the first stage, a number was
assigned to each student to protect students’ identities and initial open codes were allocated toeach recurrent word or phrase with a particular idea. Then, the researcher used axial coding
and grouped the ideas into the following topical categories: description, emotions, evaluation,
and action. After completing this stage, the researcher further examined the data using selective
coding and began to merge the recognized categories into three distinct themes by considering
the meaning of each theme and how it is connected to the process of reflection. This resulted
in an augmentation (Kember, Wong, & Leung, 1999) of the data which helped in organizing
each theme and reflection. This helps the researcher in organizing the data. (Glesne, 2011).

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Figure 2: Reflective Learning Model(Bulman and Schultz (2013). Reflective Practice in Nursing, p. 232. Wiley-Blackwell)
After the data were carefully analyzed, three major themes emerged from the categorization of
topics:1. Specific learning experience,
2. Connection to the experience
3. Changes due to the process.
The first theme entails a discussion of the participants’ understanding of their specific learning
experience. This is followed by a look at their personal connection to the experience as thesecond theme. Finally, the third theme marks the changes that occurred due to this process. The
various models of reflective learning from Kolb’s (1984) experiential learning, to Gibbs (1988)
reflective model, to the adaptation of Gibbs’ model by Bulman and Shultz (2013) support thesethree themes as key aspects of the reflection process that should be experienced by students(Korstange, 2016).
Data Analysis and Results
The themes that arise from the data of this research clearly respond to the research questions
presented at the beginning of the study.
Research question 1: Is there an impact of reflective journals on conceptual development?
In theme one, which constituted remarks on specific learning experience, it is evident in thedata as shown in the excerpts below that, through reflection, many participants demonstrated
making sense of learning the content as the concepts and theories became embedded in41

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their writing about their eating habits. The excerpts exhibit students’ responses withaccurate and specific knowledge of the content of the units studied.
S1: Because of my food diary was focused in simple carbs, but I will concentrate to
an intake of more complex carbohydrate by adding on my meals more vegetables
and there is a wide variety of them I did not include in my diet such as Broccoli andasparagus which gives me a fiber.
S2: I would like to be away from simple sugars and starches that will help my bodyto be healthier
S6: By Return to daily food it's clear to see that my food need more of bothcarbohydrate that’s mean simple carbohydrate and complex carbohydrates. If we
eat large amounts of carbohydrates, it will negatively affect our health, for example
gaining excess weight. If it falls short of the limit, the body needs energy to work so
there will be no energy will indicate the body is idle.
S5: So I will replace fast food by eating vegetables every day, because it is thevegetables are a nutrient-rich, low-calorie, high-quality carb. Eating vegetables
helps me meet your vitamin A, vitamin C, potassium and folate needs.
But then we have three student responses below which are indicative of a learner who has
general knowledge, but not concrete information.
S3: I should add more vegetables, cause it contain a huge amount of vitamins likevitamin B-6, vitamin A and vitamin C to my lunch and dinner, beside I should takenot less than 100 mg of mineral a day like fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, legumes,
whole grains to balance my diet.
S15: it’s better to not take supplement because the high proportion of vitamincaused problem in the body
S11: Improving your intake of carbohydrates and fiber means you will need to start
selecting wholesome, non-processed foods. These foods are not refined and they
are found in their natural form.
It is at this stage that students receive feedback to guide them back to the units. One common
theme in students’ responses was that the units that dealt with starches, vitamins and minerals
were not well understood by students and thus required more explanations by the teacher. To
this end, there is a display of a clear impact of reflective journals on the students’ conceptual
development.
Research Question 2: Do reflective journals foster growth mindset?
The second theme that is evident in the data is the notion of connecting to the experience. Prior
to fostering the growth mindset, Dweck informs researchers that it is important to comprehend
students’ mindset (Dweck, 2006). In the context of this study, participants candidly described
their eating habits and factors that affected those habits. Nevertheless, a close examination ofparticipants’ responses indicates that a number of them came with a fixed mindset about theireating habits, as illustrated in the following excerpts:
S4: I have many bad eating habits. For example, I usually stay awake at night, I
am a night person which makes me hungry so I like to eat chips and order fast foodto satisfy my hunger.

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S7: I like sugar a lot, all my family like it and my mother bakes all the time. We
have a lot traditional sweets in our house. I eat it when I go to my grandmotherhouse.
S9: I don’t know. I tried before to eat healthy, but it never works. I always quit. I
tried many diet, but fail.
S3: Every Friday we go to grandmother’s house. I love her food, it is rich. We eat
a lot.
S4: If one day I went out with my friends to the fast food restaurants, in eachrestaurant their healthy options I can select from these healthy meals. if there is
not I can order a grilled burger with lettuces instead of white bread. I can also add
extra vegetables on my meals, or I can order a salad instead of sandwiches thatwould contain complex carbs. I can ask for brown bread or grain whole one insteadof white bread or white pasta.
S4: Of course it is very difficult to change my eating habits, but if I want to do that
I must try to change these habits more than once and without giving up. The firstthing I should do when I feel hungry I make a salad made up of vegetables that I
love and try not to order from fast food restaurants. At lunch eat salad with a little
rice because the rice also important to my body.
S6: There are many people trying to change their eating habits to become healthier
and without disease. I want to change my eating habits, for example reducing thefast food because it is make me fatter and Increases the incidence of diseases. So I
will replace fast food by eating vegetables.
This kind of reflection must precede the development of growth mindset because it transforms
the experience into genuine learning about the individual values and goals and about larger
social issues. Students’ writing repeatedly exhibited discontent with their eating habits, which
created an opportunity for a shift of these habits to a positive direction. In this nutritionallypersonal context, it is encouraging for students to write so freely and connect to their personal
experiences. This practice allows the learners to relate facts and connect with them. This is a
step in the right direction of analyzing the information and moving towards mind shift (Boyd,2014). The researcher sees a shift towards growth mindset in the making as the participants
discussed steps they could and will do in the future. This study shows that reflective journals
can successfully serve as a mechanism to foster growth mindset.
Research Question 3: What are students’ perceptions of their own growth mindset?
The students’ feelings and perceptions of their own reflective journals were explored from thefocus group interview responses. Four out of the five who voluntarily participated in the focus
group interview discussed their views about their growth mindset. Respondents strongly
recognized the importance of writing reflective journals towards understanding their potential
for growth as illustrated in the excerpts below. However, one student found journaling andwriting, in general, an unpleasant experience because of the effort required, but would have
liked to discuss the journal questions in an informal open discussion instead. The findings
showed that most participants realized the benefits of reflective writing as the following
excerpts of student writings illustrated.
S2: I learned a lot. I think I can change
S6: I believe I can improve and do better
S9: I know now that I have think positive to change. Usually I don’t think I can, but
now I think I can
S3: I will make changes slowly day by day

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Discussion
The current research established the efficacy of journal writing for EFL nutrition students. The
purpose of this research was to answer if writing reflective journals could enhance students’conceptual learning, foster their growth mindset, and to gauge their views of the process ofjournaling. The first research question focused on finding out students’ understanding of theprinciple concepts of the nutrition course. This question was addressed by analyzing students’reflective journals using a qualitative content analysis approach (Merriam, 1998). The results
suggest that journal writing positively improved students’ learning of the concepts as can beseen from excerpts of students’ writing. It clearly indicated those who understood the concepts
and gave an opportunity for the others to review the concept.
The second question was posed to investigate if learners’ reflective journals about their eating
habits could foster growth mindset. To answer this question, students answered a questionnaire(see Appendix A), which showed that a number of the learners had a fixed mindset in regard
to their eating habits. This was exhibited through their writing. This understanding is crucial atthis point as students gain deeper understanding of their thoughts, which ultimately paves theway for moving from fixed to growth mindset (Boyd 2014).
As discussed earlier, in order to answer the second question, five students were invited toparticipate in a focus group interview to gather their views on writing journals (see Appendix).
They all agreed that the use of reflective writing was informative as one of the students
summarized. Previous studies varied in how they approached the role of reflective journal
writing. Some studies focused on allowing students to reflect on new knowledge learned inclass, reinforce their learning experience by recording their thought process as they progress
further in the course (Wallin & Adawi, 2017). Other studies have used it for language
development (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). It can also teach them to formulate new opinions
and perspectives, and gives them a risk free venue to explore, think, and practice skills learnedin class. The present study explored self-evaluation, intellectual growth and self-awarenessresulting from the process of reflective journaling. The current study provides evidence thatreflective journals improve learners’ conceptual knowledge, promote growth mindset, andenhance understanding their thoughts through writing. Reflective journal writing holds asignificant advantage for EFL learners studying content.
Conclusion and Implications
This study examined the effort of reflective journal writing of learners’ conceptual
development, fostering of growth mindset, and understanding students’ perceptions of thejournaling process. Reflecting allows a deeper comprehension of the specific experience,
concepts learned and offered some new insight to this phenomenon. This paper described theroute taken by learners through the process of learning and understanding about their own
thoughts, their current mindset and the road towards growth mindset. The findings from thequalitative data analysis clearly show that the use of journaling could positively enhance
student’s learning process. A number of themes were visible in the documents and the focus
interview that could develop learner’s critical thinking skills and meta-cognitive skills. These
results have important implications for the EFL student in a content classroom as it contributes
to the development learners’ skills in understanding concepts and their growth mindset.
Similarly, it could have significance to teachers’ development as they design, deliver lessons
and develop materials.

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After interpreting the results, two limitations were faced. One of the limitations of this study isthat the sample size was small, therefore, future similar research should be done on a larger
sample. Another limitation is the fact that there was only female representation and it would
be interesting to investigate how male learners would use reflection writing.

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Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511667305
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Corresponding Author: Hinda Hussein
Email: hhussein1@hct.ac.ae

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Volume 6 – Issue 2 – Summer 2018

Appendix A
Journal Questions:
1.

What do you think your general eating habits are like?

2.

What things affect the way you eat?

3.

What do you think about the quality of your carbohydrates intake?

4.

What would you change in your eating habits?

5.

How would you make these changes? What could you include? Think practically.

6.

If you eat out, how could you make sure you have a better intake of food?

7.

Do you think your current diet gives you enough vitamins and minerals? Why, why not?

8.

How could you get more quality vitamins and minerals into your diet?

9.

What do you think is the long term effect of not having enough vitamins and minerals?

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Volume 6 – Issue 2 – Summer 2018

Appendix B
Focus Group Interview Questions:
Prior to the focus group: 5 students voluntarily participated. Researcher explained to them toanswer honestly and that there are no right or wrong answers, just what they think:
Mindset Questions
1. Did answering questions in the journal help you understand the concept?
How?
If no, Why?
2. Have the journal questions make you think or change your health habits?
3. How did the journal reflection writing help you think differently?
4. How did you feel about writing the journal?
5. Would you do similar journal in your other classes? Why?

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Volume 6 – Issue 2 – Summer 2018

Appendix C
Open codes
Axial Codes
Categories
White bread, brown bread, simple &complex
whole grains, soda, milk,
carbohydrates, fiber,
laban, yogurt, candy bars,
vitamins, minerals;
Dairy product;
Time, sleep, wake up late,
Not having enough time
get up late class time,to eat breakfast or cook. Description ofcurrent
homework, tests, busy,
Busy with homework
situation
Family, friends, school
and assignments.
meals, canteen, snack
Grab anything I canmachines, coffee machine, find.
unhealthy snacks, junkUnhealthy food in thefood traditional meals,
college.
grandmother cooking/visits
the way I eat; I can’t watch
TV or online series without
eating snacks.
Feel bad, depressed, badmood, stressed, guilty, myeating is bad; feel guilty
after eat lot of snacks; feelvery bad; feel bored,
nothing to do;Peer pressure, weight gain,skin problems, clothes
don’t fit', no energy, tired
all the time, focus
problems in class, tried
diets before it never works.
My mood can really affect.

Eating unhealthy foods
and feeling bad about it.
Bad moods negatively
affects choice of food.
Family & friends
pressure of food.
Having eight gain;
Lack of energy;
Inability in focusing on
studies;

Change, I should, I can I
will, I can replace,try to cook healthy food,
fix my habit, for my skin.

Specific Learning
Experience

Emotions
NeutralPositive
Negative
Evaluation

Action50

ThemesConnection toExperience
Connection toExperience

Changes to theProcess