Student Journals


 * teach_tip
 * writing
 * college
 * China

''Originally by Linell Davis, 1999. Copied here with her permission, see talk page.''

Reasons for asking students to write English journals
Fluency practice. It helps to get the words flowing. You can't work on improving their writing until they produce words and sentences. The more the better. This is about quantity.

Source of ideas. A journal entry might hold an idea for an essay or other more formal writing.

Non-threatening. Because you define it as informal writing, students are less afraid of making mistakes. Because they are more relaxed and have fewer fixed ideas about what a journal should be, they often write better in their journals than in formal essays.

Audience and argument. Students learn that they can actually communicate in writing. They have readers and the readers have opinions! They learn to give reasons for their opinions.

Self-expression. Students write about what interests them instead of assigned topics. This is motivating.

Practicing English. Students can practice using new words and expressions they learn in other courses.

Information. Students will tell you what they like and dislike and what is on their minds generally in their journals. This helps you to know them and teach them better.

Types of journals
Personal journal. Each student keeps his or her own journal notebook. Ask them to write 2-5 entries a week. Minimum 10 lines to one page for each entry depending on their English level. Occasionally they will claim to have nothing to write about. Then it is time for brainstorming ideas in class.

Group journal. Groups of four or five students keep a journal notebook in which they discuss topics with each other. I ask them to form groups with people they do not know well (no roommates!) because then they really have something to say. One person starts the notebook each week and is responsible for choosing the topic. After writing about one page, pass it on to the next person who must respond to what the first person has written. Continue until all group members have responded. Hand in during next class.

Special journals. If all your students have a particular need or interest you can restrict the journal to a specific purpose -- a career planning journal, a reading journal, a creative writing journal, a film viewing journal, etc.

Responding to journals
Don't grade them, otherwise you will arouse their anxiety. I give them checkmarks. This means they have completed the assignment. A check minus means they didn't respond as expected (too few words, too mechanical, maybe copied from somewhere else). A check plus means they responded better than expected (lots of words, good thinking, creative, well-expressed, observant, etc.).

Comment on the content. This tells the students that you got the message and have something to say about it.

Don't correct grammar. If the student seems to searching for a word, I will provide it, but this is freewriting and they should be focusing on expression rather than accuracy. Also you don't have time for so much correcting.

For group journals. Give the writing groups class time at least twice a semester to review their work and make plans for their future journal writing.

Respond to the whole class. Occasionally I give a feedback session on common errors I notice they are making in their journals. I also make a point of telling them as a class what I like about their journal writing.

Use what you learn about the students' interests and concerns to invent motivating class activities. Once I noticed that many of them were writing about love, so I made up a handout on "Words of Love."

At the end of the term ask students to review their journals and write an entry about how they have improved their writing and about their goals and plans for future improvements.