Considering the recent rapid changes in society, teachers need to conduct more active reflections on their daily practice and improve their teaching and lesson content than they were used to. Therefore, in light of this requirement, it has become more important for preservice teachers to develop the ability to reflect on their practice deeply and nurture the motivation to apply this ability on preservice teacher training courses.

In Japan, preservice teachers are involved in on-site practicum for two to three weeks, and they are required to write in their journal every day their reflections of their experiences and growth as teachers. The effectiveness of journal writing to promote teacher reflection has been reported by a number of studies (Bain, Mills, Ballantyne, & Packer, 2002). In addition, several studies have reported that most preservice teachers perceived the benefits of journal writing (Greiman & Convington, 2007).

However, the majority of preservice teachers do not seem to maintain the practice of journal writing after they become qualified teachers. Therefore, it is important to examine the underlying reasons especially since few previous studies have focused on teacher motivation to maintain journal writing or clarified the factors that affect this motivation.

Ichikawa and Fukaya (2017) indicated that the preservice teachers’ perceptions of the benefits and costs of writing a journal affect their motivation to maintain such practice when they become qualified teachers. Some previous studies have examined the perceived benefits using qualitative means (e.g., Greiman et al., 2007), whereas other studies have not presented discussions on preservice teachers’ understanding of the benefits by theory versus field experience separately. Therefore, irrespective of the previous researches that have affirmed the “perceived” benefits of journal writing by preservice teachers, in reality, they might not be keeping with such professional practice because the preservice teachers might have merely repeated what they had been told by their trainers regardless of whether they had actually experienced these benefits during their practicum. As a result, we should measure their theoretical understanding and practical perceptions separately and quantitatively.

Therefore, the present study was conducted with the following three aims: (1) Discuss the gap between understanding and actual perception regarding the benefits of journal writing based on questionnaire results; (2) Examine whether the understanding and actual perception affect preservice teachers’ motivation to maintain the practice of journal writing, even after they became teachers; and (3) Refine the mechanism involved in the motivation to continue with the practice of journal writing, through analyzing self-reported data.

Bain, J., Mills, C., Ballantyne, R. & Packer, J. (2002). Developing reflection on practice through journal writing: Impacts of variations in the focus and level feedback. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 8, 171-196. Greiman, B. C., & Convington, H. K. (2007). Reflective Thinking and Journal Writing: Examining Student Teachers' Perceptions of Preferred Reflective Modality, Journal Writing Outcomes, and Journal Structure. Career and Technical Education Research, 32(2) 115-139. Ichikawa, Y., & Fukaya, Y. (2017). Exploring Factors Affecting the Motivation to Maintain Reflective Journal Writing: From the results of the questionnaire for pre-service teacher. Proceedings of the 28th National Convention of Japan Society for Developmental Psychology. “in press”