From Perfunctory to Transformative: Redesigning Reflection Activities for Learner Empowerment

At Osaka Metropolitan University, nearly 3,000 students in the English department are asked to complete reflection activities after completing textbook units. These activities, hosted on a big-brand educational support platform, were introduced to foster learner autonomy and encourage students to self-assess their growing competency in key language tasks via “can-do” statements on Likert scales. However, completion rates decreased sharply over the academic year, and most students reported finding the tasks unhelpful, suggesting that this approach did not effectively empower learners.

Drawing on an action research model, we identify a lack of piloting, rigid platform constraints, and insufficient data-sharing capabilities as major barriers to successful student reflection. Without piloting, the content of the activities could not be optimized, and without flexible data access teachers are unable to provide individualized feedback or use the results to adapt instruction. As a result, the educational value of reflection was undermined, students became less empowered, and activities became perfunctory, rather than transformative.

By sharing our department’s lessons learned, administrators, curriculum designers and classroom teachers will be guided through practical steps to re-imagine reflection activities for genuine student empowerment, supporting their learning and departmental objectives. These steps include designing scaled-down “can-do” statements, setting realistic completion windows, clarifying pedagogical intentions, and ensuring that platforms provide actionable data. We will also discuss how to involve faculty in iterative testing and improvements, so reflection becomes an ongoing, responsive process rather than a rigid, top-down requirement.

Join us to discover practical guidelines to how thoughtful planning and flexibility can transform reflection tasks into a powerful tool for learning and growth in changing ELT contexts.