Valerie Hobbs

Faking it or hating it: can reflective practice be forced?

Many course providers in a variety of fields have chosen to include a required reflective practice assignment for purposes of instilling a spirit of professional development. However, the very notion of forced and evaluated self‐exploration raises certain moral and practical issues that cannot be avoided. Relying on recent research at a Trinity College London TESOL certificate course where course participants were required to complete a teaching practice journal, this article examines the problematic nature of required reflective practice, namely, that requiring individuals to be open and honest in the context of assessment tends to provoke strategic response and often hostility. These reactions, documented in other research as well, point to an underlying problem with any required reflection that has serious implications for teacher education as well as any other field that employs forced reflection.

Rape Culture in Sermons on Divorce

In this chapter, Valerie Hobbs uses a critical discourse framework to study the violence implicit within evangelical Christian sermons on divorce. Her work in this chapter extends research on intimate partner violence by focusing on the construction of discourses about violence in 31 popular sermons on divorce, which either compromise or espouse efforts to combat violence against women. Through close analysis of these sermons, she notes that a significant number of pastors use euphemism for violence, frequently identify divorce (rather than spousal abuse) as an act of violence, and often appeal to biblical or religious authority to justify their requirement that women stay with violent men. In light of the role sermons play in cultivating problematic attitudes towards gender violence, Hobbs argues that these findings indicate a need for members of religious communities to examine closely the ways their own discourses promote rape culture.

Looking again at clarity in philosophy: : writing as a shaper and sharpener of thought

Bryan Magees recent paper ‘Clarity in Philosophy’ argues that instead of focusing on clarity at the sentence level, writers should emphasize formulating their ideas clearly before any writing takes place. In part using text-analysis of three well-known philosophers, I will uphold Magees assertion that clear writing is not necessary in order to be considered a great philosopher. On the other hand, I will challenge his ideas regarding the relationship between language and cognition by reflecting on ways in which writing aids the development of ideas.

Characterizations of Feminism in Reformed Christian Online Media

The term “culture war” is often used to describe the relationship between evangelical Christianity and movements like feminism. Given the increasing dependence of religious groups on online media, analysis of the discourse therein offers an effective means of examining patterns within Christian discourse about feminism. The current study examines a corpus of 147 articles from a popular online North American Reformed Christian news site, focusing on what feminism is most frequently associated with and counterexamples to these characterizations. Feminism was consistently connected with false theology, breakdown of marriage/traditional gender roles, promiscuity and nontraditional sexuality, abortion, anti-Christian cultural change, and liberal politics. However, a minority of dissenting voices suggests that some are allowed to express cautious support of feminism.