You may find in the literature that the terms reflection and reflexivity might be used by some authors interchangeably. The definition of reflexive is "directed or turned back on itself" or "of, relating to, characterised by, or being a relation that exists between an entity and itself

(Merriam-Webster’s dictionary of English usage, 1994) or "turned or directed back upon the mind itself" (‘Oxford English Dictionary.’, 2000).

For Beck et al. (1992) reflexivity means self confrontation, self criticism and self transformation. Dyke (2009) identifies four elements of reflexive learning: theory; experience; reflection; and interaction with others, with Fortuin and van Koppen (2016) pointing out that theory alone in not sufficient and that all the elements are interdependent. Reflexivity emphasises how we think we know rather than what we know (Pillow, 2003).

One distinction about the the difference between these two terms is that reflexivity, as well as turning thinking on itself, is reflecting on how your thinking might affect others. When we have a conversation with someone else it is important to consider your own background, attitudes and assumptions and how the other person might be reacting to then. The opposite is also true, it is important for you to reflect on how the other person's background, attitudes and assumptions lead the other person to react in the way they do.

For example in a situation where a European is talking to someone who lives in Africa the things that each person are saying will be influenced by their different backgrounds. Another example in academic work is that the researcher needs to consider their own background when they are communicating with a person of a different culture, gender or age otherwise the results that they get may well be biased.

Practice

• For the rest of today try to think about how other people are affected by you when you interact with them.

• Try to think about how you are affected by other people when they interact with you.

• Is there anything that you might change to improve these interactions?

• If you are a member of an on line group of some sort with other learners you might want to share your thoughts with the group and read what their thoughts are.