Article published in:
Narrative Matters in Medical Contexts across DisciplinesEdited by Franziska Gygax and Miriam A. Locher
[Studies in Narrative 20] 2015
► pp. 141–164
A genre analysis of reflective writing texts by English medical students
What role does narrative play?
This chapter reports on the study of reflective writing texts by English medical students on a memorable encounter with a patient. The texts offer crucial information on the ways in which future doctors interpret a patient’s narrative and reflect their own situation. Drawing on genre analysis and corpus linguistics, we discuss how the texts are composed and how different genres influence their composition. While reflection is the main element of the texts, we see evidence of the genre of essay, medical case report, drama, and aspects of personal narratives. The latter is particularly evident and highlights once more the importance of narrative in medical practice.
Published online: 13 March 2015
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.20.08loc
https://doi.org/10.1075/sin.20.08loc
References
References
Baker, Paul
(2010) Corpus linguistics and sociolinguistics. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Bax, Stephen
(2011) Discourse and genre: Analysing language in context. Houndmills: Palgrave Macmillan.
Bamberg, Michael
(2004) Talk, small stories, and adolescent identities. Human Development, 47, 331–353. 
Brady, Donald W., Corbie-Smith, Giselle, & Branch Jr., William T.
(2002) “What’s important to you?”: The use of narratives to promote self-reflection and to understand the experiences of medical residents. Annals of Internal Medicine, 137(3), 220–223.
Branch, William T., & Anuradha, Paranjape
(2002) Feedback and reflection: Teaching methods for clinical settings. Academic Medicine, 77, 1185–1188.
Busse, Beatrix
(2014) Genre. In P. Stockwell & S. Whiteley (Eds.), The Cambridge handbook of stylistics (pp. 103-116). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Charon, Rita
(2006) Narrative medicine: Honoring the stories of illness. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Charon, Rita, & Montello, Martha
(Eds.) (2002) Stories matter: The role of narrative in medical ethics. New York, NY: Routledge.
Cohen, Henry
(2006) How to write a patient case report. American Journal of Health-System Pharmacy, 63, 1888–1892.
Corbett, John
(2006) Genre and genre analysis. In K. Brown (Ed.), Encyclopedia of language & linguistics (2nd ed., pp. 26–32). Oxford: Elsevier.
Davies, Bronwyn, & Harré, Rom
(1990) Positioning: The social construction of self. Journal for the Theory of Social Behavior, 20(1), 43–63.
De Fina, Anna, & Georgakopoulou, Alexandra
(2012) Analyzing narrative. Discourse and sociolinguistic perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Georgakopoulou, Alexandra
(2007) Small stories, interaction and identities. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
(2013) Narrative analysis and computer-mediated communication. In S. Herring, D. Stein & T. Virtanen (Eds.), Pragmatics of computer-mediated communication (pp. 695–715). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Gibbs, Graham
(1988) Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. London: Further Education Unit.
Giltrow, Janet
(2013) Genre and computer-mediated communication. In S. Herring, D. Stein & T. Virtanen (Eds.), Pragmatics of computer-mediated communication (pp. 717–737). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Giltrow, Janet, & Stein, Dieter
(Eds.) (2009) Genres in the Internet. Issues in the theory of genre. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Gygax, Franziska, Koenig, Regula, & Locher, Miriam A.
(2012) Moving across disciplines and genres: Reading identity in illness narratives and reflective writing texts. In R. Ahmed & B. Bates (Eds.), Medical communication in clinical contexts: Research and applications (pp. 17–35). Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Hall, George M.
(Ed.) (2003) How to write a paper (3rd ed.). London: BMJ Publishing Group.
Hampton, Martin
(2010a) Reflective writing: A basic introduction. Retrieved from http://www.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/student-support-services/ask/downloads/Reflective-writing---a-basic-introduction.pdf
(2010b) Basic essay structure. Retrieved from http://www.port.ac.uk/media/contacts-and-departments/student-support-services/ask/downloads/Basic-essay-structure.pdf
Hunter, Kathryn Montgomery
(1991) Doctors' stories: The narrative structure of medical knowledge. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Hurwitz, Brian
(2006) Form and representation in clinical case reports. Literature and Medicine, 25(2), 216–240.
Johnstone, Barbara
(1990) Stories, community, and place: Narratives from Middle America. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Labov, William
(1997) Some further steps in narrative analysis. Journal of Narrative and Life History, 7(1–4), 395–415.
Labov, William, & Waletzky, Joshua
(1967) Narrative analysis: Oral versions of personal experience. In J. Helm (Ed.), Essays on verbal and visual arts (pp. 12–44). Seattle, WA: University of Washington.
Locher, Miriam A., & Koenig, Regula
(2014) “All I could do was hand her another tissue” – Handling emotions as a challenge in reflective writing texts by medical students. In A. Langlotz & A. Soltysik Monnet (Eds.), Emotion, affect, sentiment: The language and aesthetics of feeling (in press). Tübingen: Narr.
Mann, Karen, Gordon, Jill, & MacLeod, Anna
(2009) Reflection and reflective practice in health professions education: A systematic review. Advice in Health Science Education, 14, 595–621.
McIntyre, Dan
(2006) Point of view in plays: A cognitive stylistic approach to viewpoint in drama and other text-types (Vol. 3). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Meier, Janine
(2012) Same function – different texts. Textual hybridity in medical students’ reflective writing texts. Unpublished MA thesis, University of Basel, Switzerland.
Monash University
(2012) What is reflective writing? Retrieved from http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/medicine/reflective/1.xml.
Schubert, Christoph
(2012) Englische Textlinguistik: Eine Einführung (2nd ed.). Berlin: Erich Schmidt Verlag.
Scott, Mike
(1997) PC analysis of keywords: And key key words. System, 25(2), 233–245.
Shapiro, Johanna, Kasman, Deborah, & Shafer, Audrey
(2006) Words and wards: A model of reflective writing and its uses in medical education. Journal of Medical Humanities, 27, 231–244.
Smith, Carlota S.
(2003) Modes of discourse: The local structure of texts. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Stubbs, Michael
(2001) Words and phrases: Corpus studies of lexical semantics. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
Swales, John
(1990) Genre analysis: English in academic and research settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Taavitsainen, Irma, & Pahta Päivi
(2000) Conventions of professional writing: The medical case report in a historical perspective. Journal of English Linguistics, 28(1), 60–76.
Tannen, Deborah
(1989) Talking voices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Watton, Pete, Collings, Jane, & Moon, Jenny
(2001) Reflective writing: Guidance notes for students. Retrieved from http://www.exeter.ac.uk/fch/work-experience/reflective-writing-guidance.pdf