CHAPTER ONE

Introduction

Introduction to the Study

Language is the expression of human personality in words, whether written or

spoken (Wrenn, 1952). Through the history of language education, educationalists have

tried to find ways to improve learning. English language teaching (ELT ESL) methods went

through several adjustments as researchers looked for opportunities for improvements in

teaching. In several areas like technology, politics, science and education, English is a

window opened to the world and this fact makes English an international, or in other words,

a global language.

In the 2005-2006 academic year, the Ministry of Education of TRNC implemented a

change in the curriculum and course books for the sake of a transition to a more learner-

centered approach in the second stage of the primary education. According to the new

program, the long and strenuous journey of English language education starts with the 9-

year compulsory basic education, in which the 9th year is the preparatory year for the

secondary school. Every student has the opportunity to choose between the Turkish and

English based programs. When the English based program is chosen, in addition to the

courses of the common Turkish based curriculum, the student takes a 2-hour Academic

English course during the 6th year. Continuing in the English based program in the

following years depends highly on the achievement of the student in English and Academic

English courses.

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The ultimate aim of the learner-centered approach is to create alternatives and

oportunities for the learners to direct and take control of their learning. The learner is

centralized and the needs of the learner have priority in the learning process. Involving

learners in the process increases motivation and therefore the overall success in learning.

Learner-centered strategies like cognitive and metacognitive strategies are utilised for this

broad-spectrum purpose. The cognitive strategies provide learners with the ability to use

their previous knowledge in order to cope with a new problem. Cognitive strategies help

“process and transform information” and “help the learner to actively be involved in the

knowledge acquisition process” (McCrindle and Christensen, 1995). Metacognition means

being aware of the way for the solution, in other words, thinking about the learning process.

In North Cyprus, from the educational perspective, there are several issues that make

English necessary and significant. The language of instruction of the universities in North

Cyprus is English and accordingly the students have to be at an adequate level of English to

be successful at the preparatory school exams of the universities to begin their

undergraduate education.

Countries have unique grounds to determine their policies concerning the

organisation and implementation of foreign language teaching and learning. The principal

objective of the language education in general should be in parallel with the main aim of the

language itself, which is communication. Communication, the flow of information between

people, is the central component of life. Writing is a language skill used for communication.

People can communicate via writing. Writing, the skill of situating thoughts into the text

form, according to Grabe and Kaplan (1998), is a communicative and “an internally

motivated activity” and as Celce (1991) states “needs to be encouraged and nurtured”

during the language study. In this light it can be said that writing is improved when it is put

in a motivating context.

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Literature indicates that reflective journal writing is used by many professional

education programs to facilitate the development of the process of reflection and reflective

learning during training as one of the learning activities (Conner-Greene, 2000; Patton,

Wood and Agarenzo, 1997; Woodward, 1998). As an assessment method, reflective

journals improve student assessment performance (Connor-Greene, 2000). They provide

evidence of understanding of content knowledge, reflection, professional judgment and

application and improve critical self- reflection and self-awareness (Biggs, 1999; O’Rourke,

1998).

One of the best ways to improve a skill is to practice. Dewey (1933) relates the

importance of “learning by doing” as he states that “experience acts as an organizing focus

for learning”. Viljo Kohoren, Riitta Joatinen, Pauli Kaikkonen and Jorma Lehtovaava

(2001), when explaining experiential learning, state that “experience plays a significant role

in learning” and they mention about personal journals and reflections as experiential

learning techniques. Adler (2002) suggested that a way to assess metacognitive aspects of

learning is to ask students to keep learning diaries. According to Oxbrow (2000) free

writing practice enables learners to gain autonomy, providing them the opportunity to

discover and share a wide range of learning techniques as well as helping them develop not

only cognitive, but also metacognitive and affective strategies so that they can move

towards greater independence and take greater control of their learning themselves. Oxbrow

(2000) applied a strategy training procedure to the teaching of writing skills in English at a

first-year university level in the Canary Islands, Spain, which involved the initiation of

journals for providing informal, autonomous writing practice in order to supplement more

formal instruction techniques, and as a research tool for investigation into the learning

strategies that students already use or are in the process of acquiring. Oxbrow (2000) used

dialogue journals in order to encourage reflection on learning processes, especially learning

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to write, and for strategy training and awareness raising as well as for writing development

and as a result the written language improved. A further aim of integrating dialogue journals

was to establish a more personalised relationship with students in a non-threatening and

motivating way, which was in effect controlled and monitored by the learners themselves.

As an English teacher at Polatpasa High School, the researcher observed that even

the most successful students are reluctant and have difficulties in writing. The process of

writing is complex and cannot be memorized. Therefore, the effect of keeping a learning

diary to improve the learners’ writing, vocabulary and reflective abilities should be

determined and investigated.

Aim and Scope of the Study

The research aims to investigate and determine the effects of keeping diary as a

means of improving learners’ writing, vocabulary and reflective skills. Further, it attempts

to present an alternative teaching approach in order to solve the learners’ writing problems.

In order to achieve the main aim of the research, the researcher has attempted to find

the answers to the following questions:

1. What was the student performance in writing before keeping the diary?

2. Has writing in a diary improved the vocabulary knowledge of the students?

3. What did the research participants learn from diary writing?

4. How did diary writing improve the writing skills of the participants?

5. How did the students reflect on their writings?

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Limitation of the Study

The study is limited to the secondary students of Polatpasa High School. The

researcher had to implement the diary keeping process to the classes she was assigned to

teach. The language level of the students discovered to be less than it was anticipated by the

researcher before the study.

Definition of Terms

To ensure a clear understanding of the research, terms used throughout the study are

defined as follows:

REFLECTION: Reflection is serious and careful thought. It is the process whereby learners

think about and try to make sense of prior situations and experiences. The Oxford English

Dictionary (1994) defines the word reflection as ‘the action of turning back or fixing the

thoughts on some subject; meditation, deep or serious consideration’.

METACOGNITIVE STRATEGY: Manages a learner’s thinking about and planning for

learning. It includes self-evaluation, planning and self-monitoring. Reflective practice

involves a metacognitive approach in which professionals observe their own actions,

evaluate them in light of theory, and use that theory to generate and monitor improvements

in their own practice. The main concept of metacognition is thinking about one's own

thoughts. Metacognitive knowledge is what one knows, metacognitive skill is what one is

currently doing and metacognitive experience is what one's current cognitive or affective

state is. The source of metacognitive thought is tied to the person's own internal mental

representations of that reality, which can include what one knows about that internal

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representation, how it works, and how one feels about it. Flavell (1979) defines

metacognition as “the knowledge and cognition about cognitive phenomena".

ACTION RESEARCH: Action Research involves inquiring into one’s own practice through

a cyclical process which involves planning, acting, observing and reflecting. Action

research is defined as "a systematic approach to investigating one's own situation (Bailey

and Nunan, 1996). Most models of action research represent a sequence of planning, acting,

observing, reflecting, and replanning, which necessarily involves certain longitudinality.

LEARNING JOURNAL: The learning journal is a written record of what one has done each

day: a diary. It is a record of activities, thought, observations or feelings. A learning journal

is a hand written in a notebook or on a pad of paper as a means of recording, thoughts,

reflections, personal opinions and even hopes and fears during an educational experience.

Journal is a systematic and analytical record of one’s reflections. The most popular vehicle

for promoting reflection is a ‘learning journal’. There are many different types such as

workbooks, diaries, logs, progress files and profiles. All serve as a point of focus for

students to look back over their recent learning and order their thoughts to identify

strengths, witnesses, new levels of understanding learnt and review attitudes.

REFLECTIVE JOURNALS: They are used to allow students to reflect on their own

learning. They can be open-ended or the teacher can provide guiding, reflective questions

for the students to respond to. These provide an understanding on how the students are

synthesizing their learning but it also helps the students to make connections and better

realize how they learn. Reflective journals are used for reflection of experience.

LEARNING DIARY: A learning diary is a notebook, booklet of blank pages, or an

electronic or audio source for students to record thoughts, reactions to learning experiences,

and personal fears about a learning activity. A learning diary is used to record one’s

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thoughts and feelings or what has happened on that day. It is a means of self-analysis

because it gives the students the opportunity to reflect on their difficulties and successes.

LOG: is a type of journal. Log is a full written record of an event, a journey or a period of

time. Learning logs are journals in which students record personal responses, queries,

feelings, thoughts and knowledge about processes and content of their learning. They are

not diaries to record daily activities or another book to record information. Learning logs

involve students in identifying, analysing and reflecting on aspects of their learning, rather

than recounting or describing an activity.

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CHAPTER TWO

Review of Literature

Historical Background to the Study

The idea of thinking about one's own cognition can be confronted since the time of

Plato and Aristotle. Plato claims that people get background knowledge through inquiry

performed in their past lives. As people go through life, they form assumptions about the

answers to various questions, and in the meanwhile use them as though they were

background knowledge for still other situations.

The term reflection, stated as thinking above, refers to the ‘perception of the state

of our own minds,' (Locke, 1690) or 'the notice which the mind takes of its own operations'

(Brown, 1987). Researchers from different fields have different perspectives on the

meaning of reflection but the concept usually refers to deeper thinking and learning. John

Dewey, a writer of philosophy, psychology, education, political science and arts explained

reflection as the ‘active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form

of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it and the further conclusions to which

it tends’(1910). Reflective thinking involves (1) a state of doubt, hesitation, perplexity and

mental difficulty in which thinking originates, and (2) an act of searching, hunting,

inquiring, to find material that will resolve the doubt, settle and dispose of the perplexity

(Dewey, 1933). He states that one reflects in order to know whatever he wants, whenever

and wherever he wants to know. Reflection is ‘an important human activity in which people

recapture their experience, think about it, mull it over and evaluate it’ (Boud, Keogh and

Walker, 1985). Schon (1988) describes reflection as ‘people’s attempt to make sense of the

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largely unordered and chaotic world in which they operate’. Dewey (1933) and Schon’s

(1983) works gave descriptions of the reflective process. They presented the process of

reflection as having the following sequence:

- Think back

- Try to remember as much detail of the events as possible

- Investigate reasons for the events

- Re-frame events in light of several theoretical frameworks

- Generate multiple understandings

- Decide on what needs to be done next in relation to the analysis of what has already

happened.

According to Schon (1983), it is essential that learners can learn through reflection

upon experiences. In this manner, the learners will be better able to construct working

schemas that will help them on future learning tasks.

Reflection in Education

Reflection has a great deal of background to the art of teaching and it has become a

vital and prolific part of teaching and learning. For many years, ‘reflective teaching’ has

been an extremely popular concept among professional educators in the UK and

internationally (Pollard, 2002). When we come to the art of teaching in terms of reflection,

reflection is defined as the way of thinking to describe what a learner or an educator himself

does.

From the educational perspective, reflection is regarded as a way to think about

educational matters that involves the ability to make rational choices and assume

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responsibility for those choices (Ross, 1990). Reflective education facilitates the linking of

theory and practice, develops the proficiency of students to critical evaluation and enables

them to take a more active role in their learning (Bain, Ballantyne, Packer and Mills, 1999).

Individual reflection is an important strategy that may enhance the development of insight,

increase cognitive awareness, promote critical thinking, and prompt personal transformation

(Andrusyszyn and Davie, 1997).

When delving into the literature to learn about reflection, it is found that the

professional development in teachers and improvement in students generated by reflection

is outstandingly distinguishable. Reflection is a ‘process that may be applied in puzzling

situations to help the learner make better sense of the information at hand, and to enable the

teacher to guide and direct learning in appropriate ways.’ (Loughran, 2002)

Reflective Teaching

Reflective Teaching involves thinking about one’s teaching which includes

reasoning, critical thinking, analysis, planning and evaluating. Reflective teaching which

refers to teachers subjecting their beliefs and practices to self-analysis means looking at

what you do in the classroom, thinking about why you do it, and thinking about if it works.

It is a process of self-observation and self-evaluation. By collecting information about what

goes on in our classroom, and by analysing and evaluating this information, we identify and

explore our own practices and underlying beliefs. This may then lead to changes and

improvements in our teaching. Reflective teaching is therefore a means of professional

development which begins in our classroom.

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Pollard (2002) reviewed the process of reflective teaching as supporting the

development and maintenance of professional expertise and feeding a constructive spiral of

professional development and capability (see figure 1).

Figure 1: The Spiral of Professional Development

Pollard (2002) lists the seven key characteristics of reflective practice as:

1. Reflective teaching implies an active concern with aims and consequences, as well as

means and technical efficiency.

2. Reflective teaching is applied in a cyclical or spiralling process in which teachers

monitor, evaluate and revise their own practice continuously.

3. Reflective teaching requires competence in methods of evidence-based classroom

enquiry, to support the progressive development of higher standard teaching.

4. Reflective teaching requires attitudes of open-mindedness, responsibility and

wholeheartedness.

5. Reflective teaching is based on teacher judgement, informed by evidence-based enquiry

and insights from other research.

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6. Reflective teaching, professional learning and personal fulfilment are enhanced through

collaboration and dialogue with colleagues.

7. Reflective teaching enables teachers to creatively mediate externally developed

frameworks for teaching and learning.

In reflective teaching, teachers reflect upon their classroom experiences by self-

observation and self-evaluation. They collect data about their own teaching to examine their

attitudes, beliefs, and assumptions and then use the information obtained as a basis for

critical reflection on teaching practices (Richards, 1996). Teachers ask themselves;

Why am I doing what I am doing?

What are the consequences of my teaching?

How could I have done that differently?

How can I improve?

Henderson (1992) defined reflective teachers as expert teachers who know their

subject matter and are able to teach it well. Reflective teachers embrace their decision-

making responsibilities and regularly reflect on the consequences of their actions. They are

receptive to new knowledge and regularly learn from their reflective experience.

Reflective teaching implies a process of gathering, recording and analysing the teachers’

thoughts and observations, as well as those of the students in order to make changes for

enhancement. Zeichner and Liston (1996) define reflective teacher as the one who:

‘examines, frames, and attempts to solve the dilemmas of classroom practice;

is aware of and questions the assumptions and values he or she brings to teaching;

is attentive to the institutional and cultural context in which he or she teaches;

takes part in curriculum development and is involved in school change efforts;

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takes responsibility for his or her own professional development.’

Lier (1996) discusses the status of reflection as an integral part of professional

practice and shows the various types of research modalities as a diagram in figure 2.

Figure 2. Educational Research

Korthagen (1993) states that in reflective teaching teachers use their beliefs about

teaching and learning to critically analyze the educational situation and take more

responsibility for their own actions in class. Farrell (2001) believes that in order to develop

reflective teaching, teachers should have opportunities to use reflection to understand the

relationship between their own thoughts and actions. Since reflection is regarded as one of

the important elements in teacher education, many educators agree that some form of

reflection should be practiced among teachers because reflective teaching, as an inquiry-

oriented habit, helps the teachers to become adaptive and to engage in self monitoring

(Farrell, 2001).

The forms of reflective teaching practice mentioned in literature are action learning,

action research, clinical supervision, mind mapping, peer observation, journal keeping and

teaching portfolios.

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Action Learning

Action learning can be defined as a process in which a group of people come

together more or less regularly to help each other to learn from their experience.

Action learning is described by Mcgill and Beatty (1992) as a continuous process of

learning and reflection, supported by colleagues, with an intention of achieving. Through

action learning individuals learn from each other by working on real problems and

reflecting on their own experiences. Action research is defined by Leo van Lier (1996) as a

type of research that is done by teachers, either on their own or in collaboration with

academics or other teachers.

Action Research

Action research is a process by which change and understanding can be pursued at

the one time.  It is usually described as cyclic, with action and critical reflection taking

place in turn.  The reflection is used to review the previous action and plan the next one. It

is commonly done by a group of people, though sometimes individuals use it to improve

their practice.  It has been used often in the field of education for this purpose.  It is not

unusual for there to be someone from outside the team who acts as a facilitator.

Action research involves the collection and analysis of data related to some aspects

of professional practice (Wallace, 1998). Action research sets out to produce a theory of

practice. Action research involves inquiring into one's own practice through a cyclical

process which involves planning, acting, observing and reflecting (Kemmis and McTaggart,

1988). Action research, like action learning, is designed to produce improvement to practice

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and it is based on a cyclical and collaborative reflection-on action process. Burns (2000)

sets out the stages of action research:

- Identification of a general idea (how to apply reflective writing as a teaching and

learning strategy.)

- A literature review on the area of research (reflective learning journals)

- Implementation of the action plan and interpretation and evaluation of the

outcomes.

Clinical Supervision

In clinical supervision a supervisor observes a practitioner at work and provides a

feedback and discussion session with the person observed in order to review and improve

the existing practice and develop the abilities and skills of the practitioner.

Journal Keeping

Journal keeping involves making reflections explicit through writing and thereby

making them available to inform action. A journal can also include collecting artefacts such

as pasted articles and drawings. The recent trend of requiring students to use journals

(Ballantyne and Packer, 1995) means that journals are being used for teaching tools as well

as for reflection on teaching.

Journals are used both as an occasional tool for reflection and on a regular basis.

Those used on a regular base sometimes serve as one of the methods for data collection

within review and development projects and programs (e.g. Bell, 1996 and McDrury, 1996).

“Keeping a journal is a learning process in which you are the learner and the one who

teaches.” (Holly, 1989)

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Mind Mapping

Mind mapping is a process by which the connected ideas surrounding a particular

concept or problem are drawn in a map fashion so as to enable the practitioner to reflect on

them and to clarify and/or reshape them and move onwards (Buzan, 1983). This has been

used as a device for helping students and lecturers reflect on their learning and teaching,

respectively.

Peer Observation

Peer observation occurs when colleagues undertake to observe each other teach and

follow up with constructive discussion about what was observed. A colleague comes into

the trainer’s class to collect information about the lesson. It is a simple observation task or

note taking. A colleague focuses on which students contribute most in the lesson, what

different patterns of interaction occur or how the trainer deals with errors.

Teaching Portfolios

Teaching portfolios are a collection of evidence of development in teaching

expertise. They can contain an unlimited variety of materials including lists of courses

taught, improvements in teaching, personal teaching philosophy, evidence of successes,

evidence of engaging in professional development in teaching.

Dewey substituted the word "inquiry" for "reflective thinking" in his work, Logic:

The Theory of Inquiry (1938). Inquiry, according to Dewey (1933) is the "active, persistent,

and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the

grounds that support it and the further conclusion which it tends." Inquiry in this perspective

refers to the activity engaged in to generate knowledge in the light of new experience and

implies something more active than thinking.

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According to John Dewey, three attitudes are necessary to become reflective

teachers and these are open-mindedness, responsibility and wholeheartedness. Eby, Tann,

and Pollard's model of systematic reflective teaching, as an outcome of Dewey's work,

consists of four important characteristics (Pollard and Tann 1993; Eby, 1992):

(a) reflective teaching is an active concern with aims, consequences, means and technical

efficiency,

(b) reflective teaching combines inquiry and implementation skills with attitudes of open-

mindedness, responsibility, and wholeheartedness,

(c) reflective teaching is applied in an ongoing process in which teachers continually

monitor, evaluate, and revise their own experience, and

(d) reflective teaching is based on teacher judgment, informed partly by self-reflection and

partly by insights from educational disciplines.

Figure 3: Pollard’s Cycle, 2002

REFLECT

PLAN

MAKE PROVISION

ACT

ANALYSE DATA

EVALUATE DATA

COLLECT DATA

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Reflective Learning

Reflection has long been believed as being useful in the learning process. Reflection

illuminates what has been experienced and provides a basis for future action (Raelin, 2001).

The reflective learner can be seen as someone who explores their experiences of learning to

better understand how they learn with a view ultimately to improve their further learning.

Reflective learners are likely to be more self-aware and self-critical; honest about

themselves, and open to criticism and feedback, objective in weighing up evidence, open to

and prepared to try different approaches, curious to discover other approaches, motivated to

improve, and more able to carry through independent learning.

Students assess their learning and suggest reasons to explain their assessment

ranking. For example, after each lecture students complete a quick assessment and reflect

on their performance. They can do this in each practical test through the semester, to

identify areas of weakness and suggesting strategies to overcome them. Strategies likely to

improve and encourage reflection include:

Self-assessment / Peer-assessment

Learning logs

Critical incident diaries

Fieldwork diaries/logs

Personal development planners

Reflective commentaries

Action research

Reflective diaries as tools for reflection provide opportunity for expression of

personal thoughts which require the writers to think back on their own learning activities.

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Diary allows students to examine and express their learning in a personal way. Reflective

learners think about new information first before acting on it. They think through problems

first on their own. A reflective learner learns best when time is allocated for thinking about

and digesting new information. Britton, Burgess, Martin, McLeod, and Rosen (1975)

suggest when people write about new information they learn and understand the information

better. It is helpful to stop and periodically review new work, write summaries and think of

possible questions about new information.

Reflective practice is referred to as experiential learning. "Tell me, and I will forget.

Show me, and I may remember. Involve me, and I will understand" (Confucius circa 450

BC). Experiential Learning Theory "provides a holistic model of the learning process and a

multilinear model of adult development" (Kolb, Baker, Jensen, 2002). In other words, this is

an inclusive model of adult learning that intends to explain the complexities of and

differences between adult learners within a single framework. The focus of this theory is

experience, which serves as the main force in learning, as knowledge is constructed through

the transformative reflection on one's experience (Kolb, Baker, Jensen, 2002). In

experiential learning students learn by doing things themselves. They become the creators

not just the receivers of knowledge. Information is presented in a non-linear way and users

develop more flexible thinking skills and choose what to explore.

According to Schön (1983), there are two types of reflection: reflection-in-action

and reflection-on-action. Reflection-in-action involves the analysis, interpretation, decision-

making, and action that learners display as they undertake a learning experience and

reflection-on-action refers to a learner’s attempt to mentally reconstruct the learning

situation for the purpose of further analyzing, thinking about, and appreciating the learning

experience. Reflection in action refers to man's unstable, implicit knowledge that drives his

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actions, the processes that are unwritten, non-logical and ever-present in effective practice.

Reflection in action binds up research and practice, and knowing and doing.

Griffiths and Tam (1992) arranged various categories of reflections into two levels:

1. Reflection-in-action: likely to be personal and private.

a. Act-react (rapid reaction)

b. Reaction-monitor-react/ rework-plan-act (repair)

2. Reflection-on-action: likely to be interpersonal and collegial.

a. Act-observe-analyze and evaluate-plan-act (review)

b. Act-observe systematically-analyze rigorously-evaluate-plan-act (research)

c. Act-observe systematically-analyze rigorously-evaluate-retheorise-plan-act

(retheorising and reformulating)

Boud, Keogh, and Walker (1985) define reflection as ‘intellectual and affective

activities in which individuals engage to explore their experiences in order to lead to new

understandings and appreciations’. This idea of reflection is similar to Kolb’s model of

experiential learning. David Kolb describes a four-phase learning cycle (see figure 4).

Kolb’s Cycle of Learning can be viewed in terms of reflection-in-action in that the

understanding of new concepts occurs through experimentation and creativity during an

exercise or experience, and also as reflection-on-action in that the learner revises an

experience and reconsiders the information learnt.

Reflection is the process of observing, watching, and generally trying to make sense

out of one’s concrete experiences therefore learning is both an active and a reflective

process. The purpose of reflection is to promote abstract conceptualization and theory

making. When the literature on reflection is reviewed, it is found that most of the work sees

reflection as part of a learning cycle.

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Figure 4: Kolb’s Learning Cycle.

The learning model outlined by the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) contains

two distinct modes of experience related to each other: concrete experience (apprehension)

and abstract conceptualization (comprehension). Concrete experience involves readings,

examples, observations and problems. Abstract conceptualisation involves learning from

experience and coming to conclusions. In addition, there are also two distinct modes of

transforming the experience so that learning is achieved: reflective observation (intension)

and active experimentation (extension) (Kolb, Baker, and Jensen 2002). Reflective

observation involves reflecting on the experience and it relates to logs, journals,

brainstorming and questions. Examples for the active experimentation phase, which is

trying out what is learned, are laboratory and field work, case study, simulations and

projects. When these four modes of experience and transforming are analysed together, they

form a four-stage learning cycle that learners go through during the experiential learning

process. The process begins with a real experience, which then leads the learners to monitor

and reflect on their experience. After the period of reflective monitoring, the learners put

ACTIVEEXPERIMENTATION

MORECRITICAL

REFLECTION

ABSTRACTCONCEPTUALIZATION

CRITICALREFLECTION

EXPERIENCE

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their thoughts together to create abstract concepts about what occurred, which will serve as

guides for future actions. With these guides in place, the learners actively test what they

have constructed leading to new experiences and the learning cycle restarts (Kolb, Baker,

Jensen 2002). Reflection or thinking about what, how and why you did form a fundamental

part of learning. Reflection assists learning as it is a way for critical analysis, problem

solving, synthesis of opposing ideas, evaluation, identifying patterns and creating meaning.

According to Kolb (1984), learning is a cyclical process of discovery and testing and

the learner cycles through the four stages of concrete experience, reflective observation,

abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation. Concrete experience is learning by

intuition with an involvement in personal experiences and an emphasis on feeling over

thinking. Abstract conceptualization is learning by thinking using logic and a systematic

approach to problem-solving. Reflective observation is learning by perception focusing on

understanding the meaning of ideas and situations by careful observation. Active

experimentation is learning by action with an emphasis on practical applications and getting

things done. Experiential learning consists of a four-stage cycle combining all of these

orientations (Kohonen et al., 2001). Learners display a preference for selected parts of the

learning cycle. Kolb believes that the most effective learners are those who can feel

comfortable to undertaking any stage of the learning cycle. Educators should attempt to help

their students improve the skills, approaches, and skills that will let them to carry out all

parts of the learning cycle.

Gibb’s (1988) reflective cycle (see figure 5) is less complicated and gives a clear

description of the situation, analysis of feelings, evaluation of the experience, analysis to

make sense of the experience, conclusion where other options are considered and reflection

upon experience to examine what you would do if the situation arose again.

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Figure 5: Gibb’s Reflective Cycle

Experiential learning is a cyclical process that experiences for acquisition of

knowledge which involves setting goals, thinking, planning, experimentation, reflection,

observation, and review. By engaging in these activities, learners create meaning in a way

unique to themselves, integrating the cognitive, emotional, and physical aspects of learning.

In particular, reflection is the process of observing, watching and trying to make sense out

of one’s concrete experiences. The purpose is to promote abstract conceptualization and

theory making. The communicative use of language or experiential learning, which is an

authentic process, is needed for achievement in language learning. The rules of a language

can be learnt by experiencing otherwise it develops into memorising and the memorised

information can be lost.

Reflective learning is the process of self-observation and self-evaluation. By

identifying and exploring own practices, learners get to changes and improvements in their

learning. Reflective learning is a means of educational development. The aim of a learner-

centred approach is to make learners take control of their learning. Each context and learner

needs its own methodology. In learner-centred approach, the learner is centralized, and the

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needs of the learner have priority in the learning process. Reflection is a kind of mental

activity which happens under the operation of motivational forces (Wildman, Magliaro and

McLaughlin 1992). Involving learners in the process increases motivation and therefore the

success. The cognitive and metacognitive strategies which are learner-centred strategies are

used for this purpose of increasing motivation and success.

Metacognitive Knowledge

Questions surrounding an individual’s ability to reflect are at the centre of the

historical roots of the concept of metacognition (Brown, 1987). Metacognitive knowledge is

considered as an awareness of one's own knowledge on many different levels.

Metacognition has been defined as "having knowledge (cognition) and having

understanding, control over, and appropriate use of that knowledge" (Tei and Stewart,

1985). Thus, it involves both the conscious awareness and the conscious control of one's

learning. Cognitive and metacognitive strategies play an important role in language

learning. Meta means after or behind and cognition means the act or process of knowing or

perception. Metacognition, therefore, is the understanding of what is behind, what supports

or informs readers’ knowledge and perception. According to Ian Tudor, metacognitive

strategies relate to the way in which a learner plans, monitors and evaluates his learning.

‘Metacognition encompasses thinking about one’s own learning processes as well as the

ability to act on that information (Wray and Medwell, 1994). Metacognitive strategies are

general learning skills and grow out a learner’s awareness of his learning goals and his

understanding of language learning.

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In the simplest terms metacognition means understanding the processes of knowing

or how readers know and perceive. Metacognition is defined by Clive Dimmock (2000) as

the situation where students are able to organise and structure their thoughts, as well as

develop successful learning strategies, as aids to gaining and understanding”. The cognitive

strategy gives learners the ability to use their previous knowledge to deal with a new

problem. Metacognition is being aware of the way for the solution. The basic metacognitive

strategies according to Dirkes (1985) are: Connecting new information to former

knowledge, selecting thinking strategies deliberately and planning, monitoring, and

evaluating thinking processes. Stern (1992) sets out planning, monitoring and evaluation as

metacognitive strategies and states that the learner plans his learning, sets objectives,

assesses progress as the learning proceeds and evaluates achievement in relation to

previously set goals. These are typical techniques included under the management and

planning strategy.

As an area of inquiry, metacognition is divided into three components:

Metacognitive knowledge, metacognitive judgements and monitoring, and control and self-

regulation of cognition (Pintrich, 1996). Metacognitive knowledge is the awareness of one's

knowledge and cognitive strategies. Cognitive techniques contributing to the development

of the language system are identified by Wenden and Rubin (1987) as classification\

verification, guessing\inductive inferencing, deductive reasoning, practice, memorization

and monitoring. Through reflection, one becomes aware of his own knowledge or cognitive

strategies; and cannot monitor or regulate his own cognitive strategies, if he is not aware of

what those strategies are. Metacognition is the knowledge and awareness one has of their

own thinking processes and strategies and the ability to evaluate and regulate one’s own

thinking processes (Wilson, 2000).

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Baird (1999) also describes three components of metacognition: Metacognitive

knowledge, metacognitive awareness and metacognitive control. Metacognitive knowledge

is the knowledge of the nature of effective learning techniques and personal learning

characteristics. Metacognitive awareness is the awareness of the task of progress and

metacognitive control consists of motivation and decisions about approach, improvement

and results.

Metacognition and reflection are concerned with the process of monitoring,

regulating and controlling and individuals thinking about their thinking. It is useful to

consider reflection as the verb of the process of thinking about thinking whereas

metacognition is the adjective used to describe the awareness of thinking (Daniels, 2002).

The objective of teachers is to teach students to ‘know how to know’ or, in other words,

meta-cognition which can be defined as ‘thinking about thinking’. Metacognition is the

‘awareness of what you know about how you know (Borkowsky et al.1990) and the

objective of reflective approach is metacognition which is teaching students to develop self

reflection in their learning process.

Metacognitive strategy is the learner’s planning, managing and assessing the

individual process of learning. When instructors introduce strategies that promote

metacognition, students have an opportunity to reflect on their own thought processes so

they can become skilful at monitoring, assessing, and improving their own thinking. In

“Educating the Reflective Practitioner”, the educational theorist Donald A. Schon (1987)

sees the role of the teacher as a reflective practitioner.

Schon (1987) divides metacognition into two brands of reflection: reflection-in-

action and reflection-on-action. Reflection-in-action refers to the immediately recursive

thought a person puts toward the action at hand, and reflection-on-action is post-activity

27

reflection on the activity. Different sources studied involved the theory of learning and

reflection. John Cowan (1998) combined Schon’s (1987) ideas about reflection and Kolb’s

(1984) work on the learning cycles and created the Cowan diagram (see figure 6).

Cowan diagram (1998) defines the three reflection stages to improve the learning

process; before (for), during (in) and after (on). In before (for) stage a decision is made

about what the learning process will be to meet the personal or team needs. During (in)

stage is for considering how the process and learning goals are being achieved and what

action needs to be taken. In after (on) stage whether the goals have been met or not and

what could have been done better are studied.

Reflection on the reading, writing, and learning processes might well be the students'

key to understanding their writing processes and to growing as successful writers.

Therefore, activities that facilitate the students' metacognitive action are useful. Students

need to be able to explain and evaluate how they did it, so they can transfer the skills to

future situations and other settings. The concept map of Jan Wahl (2004) (see figure 6)

explains the relationship between metacognitive and cognitive strategies.

Figure 6: Cowan diagram (1998)

28

Reflective teaching expands understanding of the teaching-learning process, expands

one’s repertoire of strategic options as a language teacher and enhances the quality of

learning opportunities one is able to provide in language classrooms.

Figure 7: Concept map of Metacognitive Strategies

Elaine Blakey and Sheila Spence (1990) list a number of strategies for developing

metacognitive behaviours:

1. Identifying "what you know" and "what you don't know"

At the beginning of a research activity students need to make conscious decisions

about their knowledge. Initially students write "What I already know about..." and "What I

want to learn about...." As students research the topic, they will verify, clarify and expand,

or replace with more accurate information, each of their initial statements.

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2. Talking about thinking

Talking about thinking is important because students need a thinking vocabulary.

During planning and problem-solving situations, teachers should think aloud so that

students can follow demonstrated thinking processes. Modelling and discussion develop the

vocabulary students need for thinking and talking about their own thinking. Labelling

thinking processes when students use them is also important for student recognition of

thinking skills. Paired problem-solving is another useful strategy. One student talks through

a problem, describing his thinking processes. His partner listens and asks questions to help

clarify thinking. Similarly, in reciprocal teaching (Palinscar, Ogle, Jones, Carr, and Ransom,

1986), small groups of students take turns playing teacher, asking questions, and clarifying

and summarizing the material being studied.

3. Keeping a thinking journal

Another means of developing metacognition is through the use of a journal or

learning log. This is a diary in which students reflect upon their thinking, make note of their

awareness of ambiguities and inconsistencies, and comment on how they have dealt with

difficulties. This journal is a diary of process.

4. Planning and self-regulation

Students must assume increasing responsibility for planning and regulating their

learning. It is difficult for learners to become self-directed when learning is planned and

monitored by someone else. Students can be taught to make plans for learning activities

including estimating time requirements, organizing materials, and scheduling procedures

necessary to complete an activity. The resource centre’s flexibility and access to a variety of

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materials allows the student to do just this. Criteria for evaluation must be developed with

students so they learn to think and ask questions of themselves as they proceed through a

learning activity.

5. Debriefing the thinking process

Closure activities focus student discussion on thinking processes to develop

awareness of strategies that can be applied to other learning situations. A three step method

is useful. First, the teacher guides students to review the activity, gathering data on thinking

processes and feelings. Then, the group classifies related ideas, identifying thinking

strategies used. Finally, they evaluate their success, discarding inappropriate strategies,

identifying those valuable for future use, and seeking promising alternative approaches.

6. Self-Evaluation

Guided self-evaluation experiences can be introduced through individual

conferences and checklists focusing on thinking processes. Gradually self-evaluation will be

applied more independently. As students recognize that learning activities in different

disciplines are similar, they will begin to transfer learning strategies to new situations.

Wenden (1987) argues that teachers can help students develop and revise

metacognitive knowledge by giving them opportunities to reflect upon their metacognitive

knowledge. The metacognitive knowledge of learning helps learners to improve their ways

of planning and organising their learning tasks and processes. While cognitive strategies are

used to deal directly with incoming information, metacognitive strategies are used to

regulate the various strategies of language learning and use. Schon (1983) divides

metacognition into two kinds of reflection: reflection-in-action and reflection-on-action.

Reflection-on-action is defined as the basis of much of the literature in relation to reflective

31

teaching and reflective teacher education, and is similar to Dewey’s concept of reflection. It

is a post-activity reflection on the activity. Reflection-on-action, according to Schon (1983),

projects teachers as being aware of the decisions they are taking and the changes they are

making in the light of feedback as they work critically. They collect data on their practice

and recreate a practical truth in words and pictures that can be evaluated within a limited

time. Reflection-in-action is understood through phrases like ‘learning something while

doing it’. It refers to the immediately recursive thought a person puts toward the action at

hand.

Writing in a journal encourages metacognition, and the learning of those with a

metacognitive view of their functioning is generally better (Flavell, 1979). Metacognitive

strategies are highly suited to reflective writing practice because they lend themselves to

thinking about the learning process, monitoring language production and evaluating

progress. At the same time, such free writing practice enables learners to be independent,

providing the necessary space for them to discover and share a wide range of learning

techniques with a supportive reader and helping them develop not only cognitive, but also

metacognitive strategies so that they can move towards greater independence and take

greater control of their learning themselves. By using dialogue journals learners are able to

become skilful language users because ‘they are not only learning to write but are in fact

writing to learn’ (Oxbrow, 2000).

Writing

As one of the communicative activities, writing has a crucial role in educational

social and professional life. According to William Grabe and Robert B. Kaplan (1998),

writing is an internally motivated activity but the tasks that teachers necessarily assign are

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contrary to this description. People write to transmit an idea or thought in social life but this

is different in educational life. In educational life writing is the result of a teacher’s

assigning. The writing tasks in language learning are mainly decided by the teacher and

learners are not self-motivated to transmit an idea or thought. Writing is one way of

providing variety in classroom procedures. In language education, in order to prevent the

process of writing from merely being an assignment, by using diaries or journals, the aim of

the process is integrated into the writing process. The most important factor in writing

exercises is that students are personally involved in order to make the learning experience of

lasting value.

As Doff (1988) writes, the main importance of writing at elementary level is helping

students to learn. Writing is helpful to the development of writing skills. Writing new words

and structures helps students to remember them. Writing is slower than speaking therefore

written practice helps to focus students’ attention on what they are learning (Doff, 1988). 

Writing allows students to reflect and improve. According to Scrivener (1998) ‘writing

involves a different kind of mental process. There is more time to think, to reflect, to

prepare, to rehearse, to make mistakes and find alternative and better solutions.’ Writing

and thinking cannot be separated. Writing is a complex process that encourages thinking

and learning because it motivates communication and makes thought available for

reflection. Through writing, ideas can be re-evaluated to change or add a component.

Thinking is central to learning. Learners, who are able to make their thought processes

concrete through writing, improve their learning competences.

According to Kurtus (2003), one of the best ways to get started writing and

improving writing skills is writing down own thoughts, experiences and observations in a

daily journal. Yinger (1985) discusses many different types of journal exercises and

concludes ‘writing is a powerful tool for learning’. A student diary is an effective writing

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media. As a complex process, writing can be achieved by integrating the rules that language

with proficiency and motivation to result in production. Writing must have a clearly

perceived and explicitly formulated purpose (Harris, 1993).

Keeping Diary

The terms reflective diaries, learning journals and logs are often used

interchangeably to express similar document types. These documents are recorded over a

period of time through an experience and are used by students to look back over their recent

learning and order their thoughts in order to identify strengths, weaknesses, new levels of

understanding learnt and review attitudes. They are also used increasingly to record learning

in situations like fieldwork and work placements.

Diary, journal and log writing are reflective processes that make learners active

when writing. The use of learning diaries is a structured approach to encourage reflection.

Student diary is a daily reflection to involve students in the process of comprehending and

producing language. According to the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (1983) a diary is a

‘daily record of events or transactions, a journal; specifically, a daily record of matters

affecting the writer personally’. The New Oxford Dictionary (1998) defines a journal as ‘a

daily record of news and events of a personal nature; a diary’. Alternative approaches and

exercises that may be used in journals are summarised in Moon (1999) (see Table 1).

With regard to self-assessment, journals can be used to help learners systematically

collect data on their learning (Oscarson 1989). Students write about their learning goals,

reflections on their learning or their learning development.

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Table 1: Exercises for use in journals

Writing from different

perspectives:

Asking the student to write about their experience of an

exercise/event in the third person may help promote a

different viewpoint of their approach to the problem.

Unsent letter: Writing the experience in the form of an honest open letter to

someone. The letter is then kept in the journal.

Reflection on a book or

reading assignment:

Using the journal to keep a running commentary on reading

and writing tasks - a good way of encouraging a student's

feelings about a piece of literature.

A critical friend: Assigning partners over a set period of time for the purpose of

comparing and criticising experiences and approaches.

Describing the process of

solving problems:

This may be particularly useful in the sciences or subjects that

have a structured sequence of stages in the process of

problem-solving.

Focussing on past experience

that has relevance for current

learning:

Drawing parallels with different experiences may provide a

new outlook and promote a more imaginative approach.

Lists: Writing lists can generate lots of ideas 'What am I good at?',

'Things I could change to encourage me to read more'. Lists

could be generated by peer-discussions during a tutorial.

Stepping stones: Starting with a topic/experience in mind, the writer lists in

chronological order, their memories of this 'event'. By

promoting memory recall, this often brings out unexpected

experiences and can be interesting if a whole group of

individuals, each working on this topic, share ideas.

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A diary contains the writer’s thoughts and activities, usually not projected to be

shared with others. Journal writing has been used for different purposes. Journals are used

to reflect on the teaching and learning process. To develop reflective teaching, teachers

need to collect data about their teaching. Keeping a journal is accordingly used as a means

to enable the teachers to raise consciousness of their teaching, which is regarded as the first

stage of reflective teaching.

Learning diaries, which are also referred to as reflective journals, learning journals,

diaries, record books, portfolios, verbatim, sociological diaries, dossiers, logs, and think

books (Fulwiler, 1987; Popp, 1997), provide students with a structured way to reflect on

and think about their learning.

The three terms diary, journal and log are used interchangeably in similar meanings

and in this study the term diary will be used as a reflective record of a learning experience.

Hiemstra (2001) defines a learning journal as a hand written entry in a notebook or on a pad

of paper as a means for recording thoughts, reflections, feelings, personal opinions, and

even hopes or fears during an educational experience (Hiemstra, 2001). Progoff (1975) even

suggests having simulated conversations with the inner self or real conversations with

others, including obtaining feedback, as a means of furthering any value received from the

process. Instructors have mainly used the writing journal to encourage a comfortable

writing environment outside the class in which students write reflectively for themselves.

To facilitate the development of the process of reflection and reflective learning

during training, many professional education programmes engage students in writing

reflective journals as one of the learning activities (Conner-Greene, 2000; Patton, Wood and

Agarenzo, 1997; Woodward, 1998). Learning diaries are used by students to comment on

how they feel their learning is progressing. Entries in a learning diary are meant to explore a

36

student’s beliefs and feelings about his/her learning. In particular, the act of writing leads

the student to revisiting the learning experience. Hopefully this re-visitation will lead the

student to a deeper understanding of his/her primary conceptions of the topic.

Writing is suggested as the best means to observe and collect evidence to help in the

reflection process (Bartlett 1989). There is no one right approach to writing learning diaries.

Students provide their personal reaction to the content and usefulness of the learning topic

upon which they are writing.

A practical technique to encourage the practice of reflection is the use of logs or

journals. As a reflective method, the journal can promote growth, help reconcile the

personal with the professional self, and document the writer's growth, development and

transformation (Diamond, 1991). The benefits of using a learning diary are impressive.

Fulwiler (1987), Lohman and Schwalbe (1996), and Veitch (1999) have written about these

benefits which are the better understanding of the subject material, greater cognitive and

affective development and improved skills on thinking and understanding. Moon’s (1999)

findings supported the belief that every time a learner chooses to write or is asked to write a

learning journal, a different purpose for the process is given. In a review of a study on

journal writing Moon (1999) found eighteen purposes for journal writing:

To record experience

To facilitate learning from experience

To support understanding and the representation of the understanding

To develop critical thinking or the development of a questioning attitude

To encourage metacognition

To increase ability in reflection and thinking

To enhance problem solving skills

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As a means of assessment in formal education

For reasons of personal development and self empowerment

For therapeutic purposes or as a means of supporting behaviour change

To enhance creativity

To improve writing

To improve or give voice as a means of self expression

To foster communication, reflective and creative interaction in a group

To support planning and progress in research or a project

As a means of communication between a learner and another

Vocabulary

Psychologists, linguists, and language teachers have been interested in vocabulary

learning strategies for a long time (Levenston, 1979). One way to see the overall task of

vocabulary learning is through the distinction between knowing a word and using a word. In

other words, the purpose of vocabulary learning should include both remembering words

and the ability to use them automatically in a wide range of language contexts when the

need arises (McCarthy, 1984). Vocabulary learning strategies should include strategies for

knowing and using a word. According to Allen (1983), in order to make basic English

words necessary for communication, students should be engaged in activities that require

those English words for the exchange of information or the expression of personal feelings.

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Self-Assessment

Self-assessment is a key issue in self-directed learning as it enables learners to set

goals and to observe and evaluate their own learning. Self-assessment is the monitoring of

one’s own learning which encourages meaningful reflection. It requires the use of both

reflective and metacognitive skills and thus students become more aware of themselves as

learners. Regular self-assessment promotes the development of reflective and metacognitive

skills. Reflective diaries improve student assessment performance (Conner-Greene, 2000).

Building in self-assessment ‘is a key to progress’ (White and Baird 1984).

A learning diary is a daily record of a learning experience in which the student is

self-assessed. Writing learning diaries to reflect on learning and to promote metacognition

is a form of self-assessment. It is a tool to involve students in their learning and is used by

learners to evaluate and monitor their own level of understanding. ‘Self-assessment is what

the students see from their own perspectives’ (Oscarson 1989). By self-assessing, students

get information about their own learning and develop metacognitive awareness of

knowledge and thought. Enabling students to self-monitor their learning practice is regarded

as a way to help students develop knowledge through conscious control over that

knowledge or to develop metacognitive awareness of knowledge and thought (Vygotsky

1962 cited in Wray 1994).

Many educators believe that self-assessment is a tool to involve students in their

learning. Oscarson (1989) believes that self-assessment can promote learning because it

gives learners training in evaluation which is important for autonomous learning. Gardner

and Miller (1999) suggest the use of self-assessment because it enables the learners to

reflect on their progress. Reflection enhances responsibility and enables learners to take

more control of their learning. Being asked questions on what and how they have learnt

39

encourages evaluative approaches in the learners and develops goal-orientation because the

learners are conscious of variability of language learning purposes and they are manage

their own learning situation.

Reflection and self-assessment are related since self-assessment is a useful tool to

help students reflect on their practice and understand that learning is a process, not just an

event that happens and finishes (Schon 1983, Gould and Taylor 1996). Journal writing,

classroom observation and group discussion are the recommended methods to enhance

reflection (Ho and Richards 1993, Richards and Lockhart 1996, McDonough 1994).

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CHAPTER 3

Methodology

Research Design

This research was designed to investigate and determine the effects of keeping a

diary as a means of improving learners’ writing, vocabulary and reflective skills. The aim of

the study was to find out the effects of keeping diary on learners’ writing, vocabulary and

reflective skills. The groups of the study underwent the same education through the study as

they were in the same class. The participants of the research were chosen by random

selection. The research has a quasi-experimental two-group pretest-posttest design using an

untreated control group.

Procedures

At the beginning of the study, when introducing diary keeping to the students, the

researcher started with the oral questions ‘What is a diary?’, ‘Do you keep a diary?’ in order

to attract interests and draw the attention of the students to diary.

Students were asked to keep diaries for the benefit of improving their language

skills. 18 students in the class volunteered to participate in the experiment and 14 students

did not. At this level, the idea that volunteer students could be more successful was

eliminated after analysing the results of the pre-test applied to both groups. Furthermore, the

English language level of the experimental group revealed to be below the control group.

41

For the purpose of the diary keeping process, the experimental group was asked 7

questions to answer after every school day. The class had at least one English course every

school day so they wrote about the lesson daily. They were assigned to answer the given

questions after every school day through the diary keeping process. The questions were

about the English language lesson. First week, the questions asked to the students to write

about were as follows:

1. What did you learn today? Explain.

2. What was the most and the least enjoyable parts of the lesson?

3. Was it easy or difficult?

4. Did you get answer to your question? What was the teacher’s answer?

5. Were you an active participant? Why?

6. What should you do to practice today’s topic?

7. Who was the most successful student in the lesson today? Why?

Questions were designed to help students reflect on what they had learned and

observed during the lesson. The reflective diary is a self-reflection in which the students are

required to focus on their thoughts about the lesson.

In this type of study, answering the same questions continuously leads to a repetition

in answers which is not an expected outcome of the study therefore some changes were

made in diary questions through the study. Keeping the same questions through the study

might have had a negative influence on participants’ interest, concentration and enthusiasm

in diary keeping. The questions were changed according to the new topics introduced to the

students in lessons. In three weeks time, question 7 was modified to motivate the students to

use the simple past tense that they had already learned. The question was altered to:

7. What did and didn’t you do after school yesterday?

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Students reflected on every language lesson and wrote in their diaries about the day.

The diaries were collected from the students on Fridays to be checked and given back on

Mondays. The researcher principally responded to the entries with positive feedback in

order to encourage and motivate the students to write more. In addition to answering the

questions, the students need to feel safe to write about other related events or what they

have in their minds as well. In order to give them the opportunity to broaden the limits of

their writing area, the questions were changed to more open ended questions through the

diary keeping process, keeping in mind that writing is a productive skill and it is not a

limited activity of answering only the given questions. Students were verbally encouraged

to write as much as they could. The questions were as follows:

What does your father do every day?

What does your mother do every day?

Write about your most enjoyable day.

What will you do when you go home?

What will you do on your summer holiday?

Who is your favourite teacher? Describe.

Who is your best friend? Describe.

What will you do if you become a teacher?

Both of the experimental and the control groups were under the same educational

programme and the diary keeping process was carried out for a semester by the

experimental group. At the end of the semester the study group was asked to write a letter

again and progress test 2 was also applied. In order to figure out the difference in

vocabulary knowledge of the learners, the number of the words except for names, subject

pronouns and prepositions were counted up in Letters 1 and 2 (see Appendix F). The

progress tests conducted before and after the diary writing process, included 40 questions on

43

lexical and grammatical knowledge. In the progress tests the number of the correct answers

was the mark of the student in that test.

The writing performance of each student was analysed separately before and after

the diary keeping process. In order to do this, a question on writing a letter and a multiple

choice progress test were given to all the students before and after the process. From the

pre-experimental analysis of the language levels and the performance of all participating

students, the researcher did not expect a remarkable gap between the experimental and

control group. The results evidently proved that the language levels and performance of the

experimental and the control groups were in close proximity.

The letter writing tests of the students were marked according to a ‘Writing Criteria

Marking Scheme’. The scheme contained four criteria. These were relevance and adequacy

of content, lexical range, grammar and organisation, all ranging from 0 to 5 (see Appendix

A). These writing tests were marked by two English language teachers; the researcher and

Ilkay Baykara from Cumhuriyet High School (see appendix C) and the averages of the two

marks were taken in order to be used for the research (see appendix D).

Sampling

The participants were selected with intensity sampling. Eighteen of the students in

the class were volunteers to keep diaries but the marks of three of them were not taken into

consideration in the research because they were absent on either one of the test dates. From

the fourteen students who were not volunteers to keep diaries, marks of four of them were

not used for the research because of the same reason. After these eliminations, the research

44

was carried out with twenty-five students; fifteen in the experimental group and ten in the

control group.

Participants

The thirty-three Turkish Cypriot and Turkish students between the ages of thirteen

and fourteen participated in the study. Thirteen of the participants were male and twenty

female.

Data Collection

The evaluation tools used for collecting the necessary data were letter writing tests,

multiple choice progress tests, interview questions and observations.

Writing Tests

A question in writing a letter was given to all the students in the class one before and

one after the diary keeping process in order to determine the writing performance and the

vocabulary knowledge of the students. The questions of Letter 1 and Letter 2 were the same

(see Appendix B). The letters were marked according to the Writing Criteria Marking

Scheme and the results of Letter Writing Test 1 and 2 were transferred into tables for data

analysis. The four criteria of the scheme are:

45

Relevance and Adequacy of Content:

This criterion tests to what extent the text is related to the topic and if the ideas that

it comprises are enough for the question. Unnecessary or irrelevant material and poorly

developed ideas reduce the marks.

Lexical Range:

This criterion examines the vocabulary used by the learners.

Organisation:

In this criterion the text is marked considering if the ideas are organised in a logical

and coherent structure and if they are in order in paragraphs. As the text wanted is a letter, it

should have the necessary items such as names and date.

Grammar:

Grammar is the study of words, the rule for their formation and their relationships to

each other in sentences. Writing is judged according to the language rules and sentence

structure in this criterion.

Progress Tests

In order to measure the grammar and vocabulary knowledge of the students, two

forty-question multiple choice progress tests are given, one before and the other after the

diary keeping process (see Appendix E). The results, in other words, the number of the

correct answers, are transferred into tables in order to be compared and contrasted in data

analysis stage.

46

Vocabulary Improvement in the Letter Writing Test

In order to find out the vocabulary improvement, the number of the words in Letter 1

and Letter 2 were counted. The names, subject pronouns and prepositions were not taken

into consideration in calculation. Every word was counted once.

Data Analysis

In this research, the groups were constituted by random selection therefore the

performance of the groups before the diary keeping process was important. The groups were

not constituted by the researcher thoroughly, therefore the language performances of the

groups were not known at the outset. In order to find out the language performance of the

groups, a question on writing a letter and a multiple choice progress test were given on the

same day to the study group. The language performance of each student was analysed

separately before the diary keeping process. The data gathered from the letter writing and

the progress tests were transferred into tables for analysis.

Students’ Performance before Writing in the Diary

The students underwent multiple pre-tests; the letter writing and the multiple choice

progress tests. The results of the first progress and letter writing tests were significant

because they were going to be considered to be the basis for the comparison of the two

groups in order to determine the degree of general improvement in their language skills at

the end of the study. A distinguishable divergence between the results of the two groups

47

was not observed which enabled the researcher to have an unambiguous commence of the

study with almost identical grounds.

Letter Writing Tests

The writing tests of the experimental and the control groups were marked by two

English teachers. The total mark of each student was calculated separately by adding the

marks awarded for the each criterion. The average of the two marks of two English teachers

for each of the four categories in the Writing Criteria Marking Scheme was calculated. The

differences in the marks of Letter Writing Test 1 and 2 were calculated by subtracting the

mark of Letter Writing Test 1 from 2. The average marks of all the students were calculated

separately for the experimental and control group by adding the total marks and then

dividing the total mark to the number of the students in that group.

Progress Tests

The progress test results were calculated by counting the number of the correct

answers of each student in the test. To calculate the average, the sum of the results was

divided into the number of students.

Reliability

The research has inter-rater reliability. The writing tests were marked by two

English teachers and the average mark was calculated to be used in the research.

48

CHAPTER FOUR

Findings and Discussion

Students’ Performance Before Diary Keeping Process

The Letter Writing Test

The letter writing test was studied in two ways. The tests were analysed according

to the Writing Criteria Marking Scheme and according to the vocabulary used in the letters.

When the language performance of the students before the process of diary writing

was analysed, a result came out showing that both the experimental and the control group’s

marks were, to a certain extent, the same. The experimental group’s first total mark from

letter writing was 6,60 and the control group’s was 6.00. The difference between the

groups’ marks was 0,60 out of 20. As the groups were in the same class and randomly

selected, there was no precise difference in their English language performance.

When the four categories in the Writing Criteria Marking Scheme were taken into

consideration separately, the same result came out indicating that the two groups’ marks

were in close proximity to each other (see figure 8). The Relevance and Adequacy of

Content was the first category in the marking scheme and the experimental group’s mark

was 2.10 and the control group’s mark was 1,90 out of 5 for this category. Therefore, the

difference between the marks of the two groups was 0,2 out of 5 (4%).

49

In the Lexical Range category, the experimental group’s mark was 0,15 higher than

the control group’s mark. The experimental group’s mark was 1,60 and the control group’s

marks was 1,75. In the category of Grammar, the experimental group’s marks was 0,93 and

the control group’s was 1,25. The difference was 0,32. Organisation was the last category of

the scheme and the experimental and the control groups’ marks were 1,37 and 1,70

respectively. The control group’s mark on organisation is 0,33 (6,6%) higher than that of

the experimental group.

Figure 8: Four Criteria Marks of the Groups for Letter 1

The total mark of the control group for Letter 1 was 6,60 and the experimental

group’s mark was 6,00. Therefore the control group’s mark was 0,60 out of 20 (%3) higher

than the control group’s mark.

The results of the first Letter Writing Test indicate that the writing performances of

the two groups show proximity to each other in all four categories and thus, there is an

appropriate substructure for the research.

50

Vocabulary Knowledge

The words except for the prepositions were transferred into tables and counted for

Letter 1 (see appendix F) for the purpose of verifying the vocabulary knowledge of the

participants. When the number of words used in Letter 1 was counted, the result indicated

that the vocabulary knowledge of the two groups of the study was almost equivalent. The

average number of words used by the experimental group was 13,53 and the control group

used 16,1 words on average. Therefore the experimental group’s average was 2,57 lower

than the control group’s mark. The vocabulary knowledge of the experiential and control

group show proximity to each other in Letter 1 as the groups were randomly formed, had

the same background knowledge and were undergoing the same educational program.

The Progress Test

The answers of the students for the forty questions in the Progress Test 1 were

transferred into tables (see appendix G) to count the number of the correct answers. When

the average of the number of correct answers was calculated, the result showed that in

Progress Test 1, the control group’s average mark was 12.3 and the experimental group’s

was 13. The difference between the experimental and the control group’s marks was less

than 1 out of 40 (1,75%).

As the results of the Letter Writing Test 1 did, the results of the Progress Test 1 also

showed that there wasn’t a great difference in language performances of the two groups of

the research in spite of the fact that the groups weren’t formed by the researcher thoroughly.

51

The Contribution of Diary Writing to the Language Performance

The participant class of the research underwent several tests before and after the

diary writing process. The tests, done to differentiate between the students who joined and

did not join the diary writing process, were two letter writing and two multiple choice tests,

one of each given before and the other after the process of keeping diary .

The Letter Writing Tests

Writing Criteria Marking Scheme

The participants of the study underwent the same education in a class. However,

when evaluated according to the four categories of the Writing Criteria Marking Scheme, a

result came out showing an obvious difference between the experimental and the control

group’s marks (see Table 2). The results specified that the process of diary writing made

improvement in several aspects.

The relevance and adequacy of content marks of the experimental group raised from

2,10 to 3,57 which points to an increase of 1,47 (%29,4). On the other hand there was an

increase of 0,60 (%12) in the control group’s relevance and adequacy of content marks.

Diary keeping resulted in a huge difference between the groups in the relevance and

adequacy of content area.

The lexical range of the letters of the experimental group increased by 1, 97 where

the letters of the control group showed an increase of only 0, 75. Before keeping a diary the

lexical range of the experimental group was 1,60 and that of the control group was 1,75.

These grades increased to 3,57 and 2,50 respectively after the process of keeping a diary.

The lexical range mark of the experimental group increased by 1,97 (%39,4) where the

control group’s increased by 0,75 (%15). Experimental group kept diaries and wrote after

52

every school day therefore they had to use new vocabulary to answer the diary questions by

giving information they would like to.

Table 2: Letter Writing Test Results

Letter 1 Letter 2

Control

Group

Experimental

Group

Control

Group

Experimental

Group

Content   1.90 2.10 2.50 3.57

Lexical Range 1.75 1.60 2.25 3.07

Grammar 1.25 0.93 1.85 2.97

Organisation 1.70 1.37 1.75 2.77

Total   6.60 6.00 8.35 12.38

From the grammatical point of view, there was a tremendous increase in language

performance of the experimental group. The experimental group’s grammar mark increased

from 0,93 to 2,97 and the control group’s mark increased from 1,25 to 1,85. This means that

the experimental group’s grammar marks increased by 2,04 (%40,8) and the control group’s

grammar marks increased by 0,60 (%12). This was because learners began with a concrete

experience, which then led them to observe and reflect on their experience. Then they put

their thoughts together to create abstract concepts about what occurred, which could serve

as guides for future actions. With these guides, they actively test what they constructed

leading to new experiences and the renewing of the learning cycle (Kolb, Baker, Jensen

2002). When focused on the reflective diaries, keeping diary requires forming sentences and

using grammatical rules correctly. In the research, when the grammatical mistakes were

corrected every week by the researcher, the students became aware of their mistakes. While

they were writing the entries, they considered the mistakes they had made until that time.

53

For the predicating students, this practice resulted in comprehending and acquiring the

grammatical rules and in a way in experiential learning.

The organisation marks of the experimental group raised from 1,37 to 2,77 which is

an increase of 1,40 (%28). The control group’s marks increased from 1,70 to 1,75, which is

an increase of 0,05 (%1). In the control group, there was no perceptible improvement in the

organisation criterion.

Figure 9: Increase in Four Categories

As shown in Figure 9, the students in the experimental group, when compared to the

control group’s performance, had a very good deal of improvement in all the categories of

the writing criteria marking scheme. There were significant differences in the results of the

first and second writing tests of the experimental group.

Writing In a Diary and Improvement in Vocabulary Skills

The results of this study strongly support the positive influence of keeping diary on

vocabulary skills of learners.

54

The average of the lexical range marks of the experimental group was 1,60 where

the average mark of control group was 1,75 out of 5. After the process of keeping diary, the

words used in Letter Writing 2 were analysed (see appendix F). Writing in a diary resulted

in an increase in the number of words used.

Figure 10: Difference in Vocabulary Skills in Letter Writing Tests

After the process of diary writing, the experimental group’s letters revealed an

increase of 55,65% in the number of words. As shown in Figure 10, the number of words

used by the experimental group was 13,53 in Letter 1, where in Letter 2 the number

increased to 21,07. On the other hand, the average number of words used by the control

group was 16,1 in Letter 1 and increased to 17,7 in Letter 2. The experimental group’s

performance increased by 7,53 (%55,65) and the control group’s performance increased by

1,6 (%9,93).

In consequence, the vocabulary knowledge of the experimental group was better

when compared to the control group’s vocabulary knowledge at the end of the study. It can

55

be concluded from Oxbrow’s (2000) study that dialogue journals contribute to the

development of language learning strategies applied to writing skills. Oxbrow (2000)

identified a wide range of both affective and metacognitive strategies. In the study,

considerable improvement in both fluency and language use of the weaker passive students

was highly noticeable. It was gratifying to observe the participating students to make use of

their dictionaries to look up for unfamiliar vocabulary items. Participating students, in

addition, frequently attempted to exercise the use of the new language learnt recently in

class.

The Progress Tests

The 40-question multiple choice progress tests given before and after the diary

writing process were analysed according to the aim of the research.

In Progress Test 1 as shown in Figure 11, the average number of the correct answers

of the control group was 12, 3 and the experimental group’s number of the correct answers

was 12,6.

56

Figure 11: Progress Test Results and Difference between the Pre-test and Post-test

After the diary writing process, in Progress Test 2, the number of the correct answers

of the control group increased by 1,9 to 14,2 (4,75%) and the experimental group’s

increased by 5,7 to 17,87 (14,25%). Before the diary keeping process, the difference

between the control and the experimental group’s number of correct answers was less than

1.

Students’ Reflections on Keeping Diary

All of the diaries of the experimental group studied by the researcher had an

observable improvement concerning the sentence structure and vocabulary. At the end of

the study, the students in the experimental group were asked two questions about their

reflections on keeping a diary (see appendix H). The questions were in Turkish language to

encourage the participating students to express their thoughts and feelings without any

language difficulty.

Advantages of Keeping Diary

The students were first asked if the diary keeping process had improved their

English language skills and what the advantages of keeping diary were. It was stated by the

students that keeping diary improved their language skills. The majority of the participants

responded with ‘yes’ and a minority (%3) failed to answer. The high affirmative response

was because of the fact that there was an obvious improvement in the diaries.

57

The result was satisfactory in that the students themselves were aware of the

improvement in their language skills. There were eight different ideas about the advantages

of keeping diary and the results of five of the ideas were measured by the tests in this study.

The students were for the most part conscious of the benefits of the process of reflection.

The majority (%57, 2) of the students stated that keeping a diary improved their

vocabulary knowledge. The second high proportion of the students stated that they had

learnt to make sentences. Four of the students (%28,57) stated that they improved their

skills in expressing ideas in English. Two of the students (%14,29) stated that they began to

write longer, two of them (%14,29) said they started to comprehend what was read, and a

minority said they learnt to take responsibility and they started to understand what was

heard (see figure 12). When the entries were studied on the first, mid and the last days of

diary keeping, it was obviously seen that the entries got longer, more vocabulary was used

and the sentences became more grammatical (see appendices I and J).

Figure 12: Advantages of Keeping Diary

58

Ways to Overcome the Difficulties in Keeping Diary

To the question of ‘Have you had any difficulties in keeping diary?’ the majority of

the students responded with ‘yes’ and they explained how they overcame the difficulties in

the next question (see Figure 13). The majority of the experiential group (%78,57) stated

that they had overcome the difficulty by using a dictionary. As Summers (1988) noted, "the

student and non-native teacher have a powerful tool at their disposal . . . with which to gain

further understanding of the range of use of new language, leading eventually to accurate

production, mainly in writing". As stated before, the experimental group made a specific

improvement in vocabulary skills therefore it can be concluded that it is helpful for learners

to make use of dictionaries when they cannot get help from a language teacher.

Figure 13: Ways to overcome the difficulties in keeping a diary

59

The second high proportion of the students (%28,57) stated that they had overcome

the difficulties by asking teachers for clarifications. The minority group’s method to

overcome the difficulties was by asking friends, using books and computers. All the

students had dictionaries therefore they could access one easily. This seems to be the reason

for the high affirmative response of using a dictionary to overcome difficulties.

It is also observed that the answers of the majority group are in parallel with the

answers of the previous question about the advantages of keeping a diary. When the

answers of these two questions are integrated, it can be concluded that the majority of the

students believe that they have had problems with their vocabulary knowledge and to

overcome this they have used dictionaries and this resulted in improvement in their

vocabulary skills. The improvement in vocabulary skills was also studied in letter writing

pretest and posttests.

60

CHAPTER 5

Conclusions and Recommendations

Conclusions

Journal writing is supported by instructors for a variety of reasons: to help students

remember what they have studied and review what they have learned (Tierney, 1981) to

give students a more relaxed writing environment and to encourage students to write about

their own thoughts and concerns related to the class or their course of study in general

(Fulwiler, 1987). The content of the journals is more important than the grammar of the

language and they are considered to be private. In this study the researcher has attempted to

place the process of dairy writing in the context of language learning. According to the

research results, diary keeping

made improvement in the writing skills of the students

enhanced and enriched the vocabulary knowledge of the students

developed the grammar skills of the students

supported language comprehension of various topics in the class

can be considered as a means to activate and facilitate reflection

Reviewing the topic not only creates an opportunity for the teacher to come up with

an idea about how much the students have comprehended the overall subject but also makes

learners review what they have learnt. In a language class, the exams can be considered as a

process of evaluating and assessing how much the students have incorporated and added on

the knowledge presented to them in the classes through the semester. Diary not only gives

61

teachers an idea about the progress of the students but also proves advancement in the

lesson.

Literature has shown that reflective diaries are useful tools in facilitating reflection

and reflective learning. The very nature of diary writing itself requires the writer to think

back on events that have taken place and provides opportunity for the expression of

personal thoughts. Reflective diaries provide opportunity for the students to explicitly and

purposely identify what they have learned, but more importantly, to relate what they have

learned through their teaching practice, evaluate their practice in the light of theories, and

formulate action plans for improvement. The very nature of a diary allows students to

search for and express their learning in a personal way, a learning that makes personal

meaning and is useful in the student’s own context. This research provides evidence to

support reflective diaries as an effective means to facilitate and assess reflection and to

improve writing skills. This experience is applicable to any other educational context where

reflection constitutes the key objective to be achieved. Reflective diaries could be

implemented as a learning and an assessment tool through which facilitation and assessment

of reflection could be effectively achieved.

Recommendations

The researcher recommends that the process of diary keeping should be used in all

English language learning programmes and hopes that the language teachers will give added

attention to diary keeping.

Diary keeping promotes reflective learning and thinking which helps people in their

daily lives. The researcher believes that the writing skill enhanced will be helpful in the

62

learners’ daily lives when expressing themselves.

It is recommended to use the diary writing process in the English language courses

in the secondary schools in North Cyprus. Putting the process into practice is not

challenging or distracting because it does not affect the regulated time scales of the course

syllabi. It is not necessary to make major changes in the curriculum as the diaries are

collected to be checked after the course like homework. The diary writing process was

carried out by the researcher with volunteer students in a class. It is always possible to

motivate students to write by rewarding them bonus marks. Furthermore, many of the

quizzes prepared to asses how much the learners have comprehended and incorporated the

knowledge presented to them, will not be required and therefore this will create more time

for the teachers to focus on other language related issues .

To help language teachers to put diary keeping into practice, diary questions

recommended for the books Energy 1, Energy 2 and Energy 3 studied in forms 6, 7 and 8

respectively are prepared as a starting point (see Appendix I). These questions are structured

to assist the students to utilize the language of the new topic. These questions can always be

modified or increased in number by the teacher. Changing a question for the diary is

suggested when a new topic or a unit is studied in the class. Other questions should not be

changed because they are designed to facilitate reflection on the day’s lesson.

Recommendations for Further Research

63

The researcher recommends that further research be carried out in the five major

towns in North Cyprus to investigate comprehensively the improvement in learners’

writing, vocabulary and reflective abilities. In addition, further research can be carried out

with learners of different language levels such as pre-intermediate or intermediate.

Further research can also be carried out to clarify whether or not it is helpful to keep

diaries in teaching of other languages or subjects.

64

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APPENDIX A

WRITING CRITERIA MARKING SCHEME

RELEVANCE AND ADEQUACY OF CONTENT

LEXICAL RANGE

5 Uses a wide range of vocabulary and register completely appropriate to the

task.

4 Uses a good range of vocabulary and register, appropriate to the task. Minor

inadequacies in vocabulary and minor inappropriacies in use of lexis.

3 Reasonable range of vocabulary use. Several examples of inadequacies in

vocabulary and use of lexis.

2 Only basic range of vocabulary used. Frequent examples of inadequacies in

vocabulary and use of lexis.

1 Very poor range of vocabulary used. Lexis inadequate even for the most

basic part of communication.

0 Complete lack of attempt to use appropriate lexis and vocabulary.

5 Answer completely relevant and adequate to the task set. No unnecessary

repetition or unnecessary information.

4 For the most part, answer relevant and adequate to the task set. A limited

amount of repetition or unnecessary information.

3 For the most part, answer relevant and adequate to the task set. Some

repetition or unnecessary information.

2 Answer just about relevant to the task but with a large amount of repetition

and unnecessary information.

1 Answer bears little relation to the task. Pointless repetition and major gaps

in answer to topic.

0 No relation to task set. Totally inadequate answer.

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GRAMMAR

ORGANISATION

5 Well developed, coherent and clear passage with very good use of linking

devices.

4 For the most part, well-developed, coherent and clear passage with good use of

linking devices.

3 Generally coherent, adequately developed and fairly clear passage with

reasonable attempt to use linking devices most appropriately.

2 Fairly coherent passage with only some attempt to develop ideas and use

linking devices, often inappropriately.

1 Poor development of ideas, often incoherent. Uses only simple sentences, with

sentences poorly linked.

0 Little or no development of ideas. Incoherent. No attempt to use linking

devices.

5 Very few language errors in target grammatical structures.

4 Some inaccuracies in target grammatical structures but not affecting

communication.

3 Some inaccuracies in target grammatical structures which occasionally

interfere with the meaning of the communication being conveyed.

2 More frequent language errors in target grammatical structures which

interfere with the meaning of the communication being conveyed.

1 A great deal of difficulty in understanding the meaning of the communication

being conveyed.

0 Almost all target grammatical structures inaccurate.

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APPENDIX B

ENGLISH WRITING TEST I

Date: 25 /02 / 2005

Time Allowed: 25min

Name-Surname:........................

Number:.................

Class:.....................

You wrote to an internet address to find a PENFRIEND and you received these photographs and some information about each person. Choose one person and write back and tell which person you chose and why, and ask other things you want to find about this person. (At least 50 words)

Bir internet adresine mektup arkadaşı bulmak için bir yazı yazdiniz. Cevap olarak aşağıdaki fotoğrafları ve yanındaki bilgileri aldınız. En beğendiğiniz kişiyi seçin ve neden o kişiyi seçtiğinizi açiklayın. Bu kişi hakkında başka öğrenmek istedikleriniz varsa yazınıza ekleyin. (En az 50 kelime)

1. Name: Susan FieldAge : 15Country: AmericaInterests: Aerobics, travelling, shopping

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2. Name: Tom Craig Age: 13 Country: England Interests: Reading,watching TV, historical places

3. Name: Fred LouisAge: 14Country: AustraliaInterests: football, pop music, Discos

4. Name: Cindy HustonAge: 12Country: EnglandInterests: dance, tennis, classical music

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ENGLISH WRITING TEST II

Date: 26 /05 / 2005

Time Allowed: 25min

Name-Surname:........................

Number:.................

Class:.....................

You wrote to an internet address to find a PENFRIEND and you received these photographs

and some information about each person. Choose one person and write back and tell which

person you chose and why, and ask other things you want to find about this person. (At least

50 words)

Bir internet adresine mektup arkadaşı bulmak için bir yazı yazdiniz. Cevap olarak aşağıdaki

fotoğrafları ve yanındaki bilgileri aldınız. En beğendiğiniz kişiyi seçin ve neden o kişiyi

seçtiğinizi açiklayın. Bu kişi hakkında başka öğrenmek istedikleriniz varsa yazınıza ekleyin.

(En az 50 kelime)

1. Name: Susan FieldAge : 15Country: AmericaInterests: Aerobics, travelling, shopping

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2. Name: Tom Craig Age: 13 Country: England Interests: Reading,watching TV, historical places

3. Name: Fred LouisAge: 14Country: AustraliaInterests: football, pop music, discos

4. Name: Cindy Huston Age: 12 Country: England Interests: dance, tennis, classical music

82