An Empirical Research into Learning Journals in English writing

陈竟

Abstract: This paper focuses on an empirical study of learning journals conducted by college English writing learners with the following factors covered in a typical quantitative study such as research questions, subjects selection, methodology description and the final conclusion.

Keywords: Learning journals; empirical study

Learning journals, as an important method of self-regulated learning,attracts great attention in the field of English language learning both at home and abroad since the mid 1970s [1]. This paper is depicting a case study of college students English writing and trying to find out the functions of learning journals in the course.

1. Research Designing

1.1 Objectives of the Study

Grounded upon the literature[2-5] about the use of learning journals, the study is designed to address questions as follows.

1). As a method of self-regulated learning, can learning journals produce efforts on college students English writing?

2). If can, what are the functions of learning journals in college students English writing?

1.2 Subjects Selection

The target population of the study is 71 freshmen from a university in Zhejiang. They are majors of city planning from school of City Construction. Yet the final sample only consisted of 65 cases after the uncompleted and unusable data had been identified. Of the 65 students, 43 were males and 22 were females.

1.3 Methodology-- Learning Journals

The students were asked to write one leaning journals every two weeks by their English writing teacher. Totally they finished 5 journals in one semester. With the help of their English teacher, the current writer collected their learning journals and their compositions. Totally five learning journals and four compositions have been available.

In order to avoid students aimless journals writing, the participants in the study were directed to write about or cover the following items in their journals:

1). 這次教师批改后发下来的作文我需要改正的地方有：

2). 我想让_____________(老师/同学/我自己)来进一步完善我的作文。具体做法是：

3). 下次写新作文前我应该做的工作是：

2. Conclusion

2.1 Inspirations

From this research, some inspirations can be summarized as the following.

1). According to what is shown in the research, we can see that students believe that building a target is the most important method to learning English writing well. Since setting a target is so important and useful for students to learn English writing, teachers in charge of studentscomposition should make it a must that their students build a target in the first composition class. Of course teachers can help students decide their targets at the beginning and students can also set another goal when this goal is attained.

2). From the research we can see the close inner-correlation between process and assessment from students viewpoints. Since process and assessment are so interrelated, teachers can teach the methods of assessment and the criterion of assessment to students as soon as possible, making students monitoring their own compositions with teachers criterion of assessment.

3). Learning journals require more attention by teachers. From the research, the writer finds out that learning journals not only can help students to reflect regularly on their own learning experiences in the process of English writing, but also can help students to clear learning targets, correct the mistakes students often make in their compositions and build students confidence. So teachers should not ignore the functions of learning journals in college students English writing and should pay more attention to the application of learning journals in English writing.

2.2 Limitation

The article is only a preliminary exploration of the functions of learning journals in college students' English writing. And because of the limitations mentioned in the following, the study is not profound and satisfying enough.

1). The small size of the target population. The target population of the study is all students from an independent college. And they are from the same major group. If a larger size of population were involved, the findings of the thesis would be more convincing.

2). The imbalance in gender of the participants. The total number of two classes is seventy-one, forty-six boys and twenty-five girls. If there are more girls, a gender comparison would have been conducted in the survey.

References:

[1] Little, D. Learner Autonomy 1: Definitions, Issue and Problems [M]. Dublin: Authentik, 1991: 2-4.

[2] Wenden, A. Learner Strategies for Learner Autonomy: Planning and Implementing Learner Training for Language Learners [M]. London: Prentice Hall, 1991: 15.

[3] Zimmerman, B.J. Becoming a Self-regulated Learner: Which are the key sub-processes [M] Contemporary Educational Psychology, 1986: 307-313.

[4] 付美葉.英语日志对提高初中生自主学习能力的作用[J]. 山东师范大学外国语学院 学报(基础英语教育), 2007(05):36-40.

[5] 龙梅. 在英语教学中如何使用学习日志培养学生的自主学习能力[J]. 滁州学院学报， 2005(05):113-116.