The effect of dialog journal writing on EFL learners’ grammar knowledge

Year 2013, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 0 - 67, 01.10.2013

Seyed Abdolmanafi Rokni Asieh Seifi

Abstract

One way which teachers try to encourage students to become autonomous is by encouraging them to write journals. Students can write about their personal interests as it can improve students writing skills. The present study was done to investigate the impact of dialog journal writing on learners’ grammar development and their confidence. Two intact classes at Golestan University, Iran were randomly selected and assigned as experimental and control groups. The participants were 68 students who ranged in age from 18 to 23 and who regularly attended the general English classes for 12 sessions during the spring semester. The experimental group was instructed to write a journal every session, overall twelve journal entries during the treatment, while the control group received the regular class instruction. A pretest and a posttest were used to evaluate the participant's grammar skill before and after the treatment. The results of the study revealed that journal writing had a significant positive effect on students’ grammar knowledge and enhanced their confidence in writing. The findings also showed that EFL learners in the experimental group overwhelmingly preferred the DJW project in improving their grammar knowledge.

Keywords

Dialog journal writing; grammar; confidence; EFL learners

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