Roth's Model

Where Kolb gave a four-stage cycle and Greenaway gave three steps, Roth (1989) took a different approach. He listed what reflective practitioners actually do, in detail. Twenty-four procedures, ranging from open-ended habits like “keep an open mind” to formal procedures like “hypothesise” and “synthesise and test.” The list is long. It is also useful, because it makes visible the small moves a reflective teacher makes that shorter models leave implicit.

What Roth was trying to do

Most reflection models compress practice into a few stages. The compression makes them memorable and easy to teach. It also hides the smaller habits that make reflection work in real time.

Roth went the other way. Rather than asking “what is the shape of reflection?” he asked “what does a reflective practitioner actually do?” The answer turned out to be a long list. Twenty-four procedures, in his account.

The list mixes different kinds of items. Some are general habits (“keep an open mind”). Some are specific cognitive moves (“hypothesise”). Some name a willingness to live with uncertainty (“adapt and adjust to instability and change”). The mix is intentional. Roth wanted to capture the full range of what reflective work involves, not just the parts that fit on a flowchart.

Core habits and procedures

A working selection of Roth’s items, grouped by what they do.

Asking questions

1. Questioning what, why, and how one does things
2. Asking what, why, and how other people do things
3. Asking “what if?”
4. Asking for others’ ideas and viewpoints

The starting move is interrogation. A reflective teacher does not assume the answer is obvious. They ask the question even when the practice is going well.

Holding the question open

1. Seeking alternatives
2. Keeping an open mind
3. Viewing from various perspectives

Once a question is asked, it has to stay open long enough for a real answer to emerge. Roth’s items here name the discipline of not closing the question too quickly.

Working with theory

1. Seeking the framework, theoretical basis, or underlying rationale
2. Using prescriptive models only when adapted to the situation

Theory enters Roth’s model with a caveat. A model is useful when adapted, and a liability when applied as a recipe. This is sharper than most reflective practice writing, which tends to treat theory as straightforwardly useful.

Comparing and synthesising

1. Comparing and contrasting
2. Synthesising and testing

Reflection that stays at one example produces only local insight. Comparison across examples surfaces patterns. Synthesis turns the patterns into something testable.

Following through

1. Considering consequences
2. Hypothesising
3. Seeking and resolving problems

Roth’s last group of items names the move from thinking to action. A hypothesis is formed. A consequence is considered. A problem is resolved or at least named. Without this group, the earlier items collapse into reflection that goes nowhere.

Why a long list rather than a short cycle

Cycles compress; lists detail. Roth’s choice has two effects.

It avoids false closure

A four-stage cycle suggests that once you have run all four stages, you are done. Roth’s list does not. The procedures keep going as long as the practice keeps going.

It catches the habits short cycles miss

“Keeping an open mind” is hard to fit into a stage. So is “embracing uncertainty.” These are dispositions that run in the background of every stage. By naming them as items in their own right, Roth makes them visible and assessable.

The cost is that the list is harder to remember than a cycle. A teacher cannot keep twenty-four items in mind. The list works as a checklist or a self-audit, not as something to run during a lesson.

Griffith and Tann: a related framing

Griffith and Tann (1992) offered a related way of categorising reflective processes that considers both time frame and purpose. They identified the dimensions of:

They argued that all of these are cognitive accomplishments. None is more or less reflective than the others; each does different work. This is similar in spirit to Zeichner and Liston’s five levels and pairs naturally with Roth’s longer list.

Flashcard

What does Roth's longer list capture that shorter cycles like Kolb or Gibbs leave out?

Tap to reveal

Answer

The dispositions and small cognitive moves that run inside every stage

Cycles describe the shape of reflection. Roth’s list describes the habits that fill out the shape: keeping an open mind, seeking alternatives, asking what if, embracing uncertainty, adapting prescriptive models. Without these dispositions, a four-stage cycle can be run mechanically and produce nothing. With them, even a simple cycle deepens.

How to use Roth’s list

A practical use of Roth is as a self-audit at the end of a term. The teacher reads the list and asks, for each item, “have I been doing this in my reflective work, or have I been skipping it?” The items most often skipped are usually the most useful next steps.

Common items teachers skip:

1. Asking for others’ ideas (reflection done alone)
2. Seeking alternatives (going with the first idea that comes to mind)
3. Adapting prescriptive models (using a textbook cycle as a recipe)
4. Considering consequences (acting before thinking through the second-order effects)

A teacher who picks two skipped items and works on them for a term has a better chance of growing than one who tries to follow all twenty-four at once.