Even business students can reflect: gleaning insights about research

An under-researched area in New Zealand is the business-focussed academic literacy required by international and migrant students headed for tertiary study, particularly for Bachelor of Business degrees. Such adult learners need a basis of declarative content knowledge of English as an Additional Language (EAL) supported by the practical procedural knowledge acquired during guided report writing. The knowledge they perceive as most useful is gained via targeted research and staged document production. This paper discusses themes emergent from open-coding analysis of 39 Reflective Memoranda written by two streams of English for Business and Computing Studies (EBCS) in 2003/4. These texts chart narratives of the learning process during the writing of guided research reports over 15 weeks. Analysis of the reflections identifies the range of skills learners believe they will use in their academic futures and reveals a perception that procedural knowledge, particularly strategies for facilitating the research and group work processes, is of maximum future value due to its potential to foster ‘how to’ strategies and fashion autonomy. The study is foregrounded by a discussion of effective use of reflection, reflective learning and reflective practice methodology in EAL.