The role of dialogue journal writing in Korean middle school students' English writing

대화식 저널 쓰기 활동이 한국인 중학생들의 영어쓰기에 미치는 영향

The present study examined the role of dialogue journaling in Korean students' English writing development. Thirteen Korean middle school students participated in a five-week dialogue journal writing program. The participants' English writing skills before and after their dialogue journaling were compared in terms of holistic and analytical scores of their English essays. The study also examined the changes in the participants' language use, as manifested in their dialogue journals. The results indicated the positive influence of dialogue journal writing on the participants' English writing skills in the areas of content and lexical fluency. As for the linguistic evidence that related dialogue journaling to English writing development, the three patterns of change in language use emerged from the participants' dialogue journals: a) raised awareness on grammar conventions, b) raised awareness on discourse conventions, and c) increased depth and richness in idea development. There were also three unhelpful factors associated with little improvement of English writing: a) lack in basic writing skills, b) repetitive use of identical sentence patterns, and c) lack in grammatical and lexical awareness. Overall, the results suggested that dialogue journaling could facilitate Korean students' English writing development when it creates authentic communicative interactions between the teacher and students.