Journals in the Language Classroom

in this article I describe some of the ways that journals can be used as teaching tools in the language classroom; in fact, the suggestions I make could be applied to the use of journals in teaching just about any subject. I begin by describing the concept of writing to learn, which is the theoretical foundation that journals are based on. After that, I give practical advice for using journals in the class- room. Next, I share my own advice and present feedback about journals from students at the American University of Bulgaria. Finally, I end with specific suggestions for how journals might be used at different moments during a lesson.

Writing to learn

One way to begin is by thinking about the concept of writing to learn. But, rather than starting with a definition of the concept, I would like to start with a thought experiment. Suppose someone asked you to grab a piece of paper and jot down an answer to the question, “What things are important to you as a teacher?” What would you say? Perhaps you would write about the things you want your students to learn. Or maybe you would write about the sort of atmosphere you like to have in your classroom. Or perhaps you would write about the factors that led to your becoming a teacher.

If you had, in fact, grabbed a piece of paper and jotted down some information, you would have been doing a type of writing called writing to learn. Writing to learn is thinking as you write. And this thinking as you write is the kind of writing that happens when people keep journals.

Writing to learn is based on the assumption that students’ thoughts and understanding can grow and clarify through the process of writing. And growth in thought and under- standing can certainly happen in the foreign language classroom.

Writing to learn is usually contrasted with writing to communicate. Writing to communicate is the sort of graded writing that is typically assigned in classrooms. According to Young (1999), there are several key differences between writing to learn and writing to communicate: (1) writing to learn emphasizes discovery thinking, as opposed to critical thinking; (2) the emphasis is on developing ideas rather than revising, crafting, or clarifying; (3) the writing is designed to make sense primarily to the writer, rather than to a reader; (4) the audience is the self and trusted others, rather than a distant audience; (5) the language can be personal, rather than academic and formal; (6) the teacher plays the role of men- tor or coach rather than judge; and (7) forms include journals, blogs, and rough drafts rather than graded essays, reports, or business letters.

This list is one way to think about how writing to learn and writing to communicate differ. Another way to think about what writing to learn is has been illustrated by Casanave and Sosa (2008):

[A] second language student, bored by textbook exercises, longs to be challenged by something more interesting, which almost always means something more difficult and more interactive and almost always something outside the conventional school setting. … But if she is doing this in her L2, she must hold to a belief that may make her fearful at first—she must believe that she does not have to wait until her language is error-free in order to transform her experiences and complex thoughts into lines of words. The lines do not need to be long. The grammar does not need to be perfect. … She also needs to be convinced that there is a receptive audience consisting of other people who are interested in what she has to say. (92)

Advice about using journals

Having described what writing to learn is, I now offer advice about using journals in the classroom. Art Young is one of the world’s experts on the topic of journals. His advice is to integrate journals “into the fabric of a course” and “make regular, frequent use of them in class,” which will impress upon students “that journals are valuable, not just ‘busywork,’ because they are used daily as students and teacher build the knowledge of the course” (Young 1999, 18).

To add to Young’s advice, I offer seven suggestions:

1. Ask students to buy a notebook they can easily carry around with them. Inspiration for a journal entry might come to them at any time, and they are more likely to write in their journal outside of class if the journal is easy for them to carry around wherever they go.

2. The language of the journal could be English, but it could also be their first language (L1). Or it could be a mixture of both. For advanced students, it makes sense to have them use the target language. For beginners, a journal in their native language might be a place where they can express their feelings without having to worry about remembering difficult grammar or vocabulary.

3. Collect and read the journals on a regular basis—but do not correct. If you feel you should respond, then write about something you liked. Remember that “in a language class, in the end, everything boils down to the same question: Can you use language in ways that allow you to convey whatever your thoughts are? … Can you express something about yourself, your ideas, your curiosities, and questions?” (Casanave and Sosa 2007, 17; italics in the original).

4. Ask students to leave a blank page between entries for room to comment later. Class time could be devoted to having students read and reread entries and respond to what they have written. In my experience, students really enjoy having a chance to comment on their own growth and development in the journal.

5. Encourage students to write about a wide variety of topics, but the topics should always, at least in some way, connect with the class. In his book, Engaging Ideas, John Bean suggests that one way to begin class is to ask students to discuss a question that they wrote about the night before in their journals (Bean 1996). Such a question might be “What confused you about today’s reading or class?” Or “How does your personal experience relate to the material?” Another possibility is to ask students to write a poem about the course material. One of the simplest types of poems that students could write is haiku. A haiku is an imagistic poem with 17 syllables arranged in three serial lines of 5–7–5. Imagistic means using concrete words like spider, egg, ice cream, or pencil to convey a general or universal feeling, idea, or concept such as beauty, justice, or language learning. Writing haiku is not difficult to learn, and it offers students an opportunity to creatively respond to what they are learning.

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