A common goal of many pre-service and in-service programmes is to develop "reflection" or a particular awareness about teaching that may be translated into . continually improving practice. In 1994 the Institute of Language in Education (now incorporated into the Hong Kong Institute of Education) introduced a curriculum-wide journal writing activity into their 16-week teacher education in­service programmes. Two hundred and seventy-nine primary and secondary teachers of English, including panel chairs and content area specialists, along with 23 tutors participated in the activity. This report describes the observations of the teachers, tutors and researchers derived from questionnaire data and presents a critical analysis of the reflective elements in their journals. The results indicate that the two investigative approaches yielded different insights into the nature of reflection. The participants felt that the dialogue journal writing served as an impetus for reflection and deepened their thinking, but the analysis indicated variation in the types of reflection done by teachers and tutors on different courses. The implications of these findings on the role of reflection in teacher education are discussed.