Pedagogia

DIARY WRITING AS A PROCESS: Simple, Useful, Powerful1 Joan Rubin

Everyone knows what a diary is—a set of notes about what one is thinking, doing, feeling at a particular moment. But did you know there is a new way to use this common activity to promote better language learning? As teachers we all want our students to do well. Research has shown that more successful learners are in control oftheir learning—they know what they are doing and what they want to achieve, they know when they make mistakes, and they know how to go about correcting those mistakes. Ah!! what a dream. We all want more students like this in our classrooms and in our self-access centers. Successful learners are aware of the process of learning and how their efforts affect the outcome of their learning. Diaries canhelp build this awareness and can allow us as teachers to help learners improve the process. Diaries can help the learner begin to monitor his/her own progress and give the teacher some idea of the ways learners address their problems. It can also provide an opportunity for the teacher to scaffold, that is, to suggest other ways to address a problem for the learner to try out and/or note patternsof problems or solutions that the learner has. Problems can include both cognitive and affective factors. Writing a diary can increase the learner’s awareness of the strategies he/she uses and enable him/her to consider the appropriateness of the strategies used to address problems. Finally, when shared with a peer or a teacher, a diary can allow the peer or teacher to make suggestions aboutalternative ways to solve problems or to identify patterns (or problems and/or solutions) the learner may have overlooked or not be fully aware of. SAMPLE DIARIES A look at a few diaries can illustrate how diaries can illuminate the learning process. Diary 1 Here is a short passage from a diary written by an American student studying Hebrew who reports on the strategies she uses to study: Whiledriving in the car on a long trip, I repeated the past tense using the root I knew well and
1

Guidelines. 2003. 25:2:10-14.

then began using other roots with which I wasn’t so familiar. It helped me get used to the sound of those words. When I had a question about anything (i.e. the spelling of the root), I consulted my husband. In this short passage, this student reveals five strategies (orways) that she used to learn grammar (a) she started with something familiar , (b) she repeated the familiar root out loud, (c) she tried to expand her knowledge by trying out less familiar roots, (d) she asked for help when she needed clarification, (e) she considered why the strategy worked for her ―It helped me get used to the sound of those words.‖ What is missing in this excerpt is a discussionof whether there might be other strategies that work as well or better for her. By writing the diary, the learner can become aware of what she/he does, consider why it works or not, and then make that process available to a teacher or a peer for more suggestions. Diary 2 In another diary, a learner reveals how her emotions interfere with her learning: I need to find a better way to retaininformation that I receive orally. I don’t hear well, so I tend to tune out often. To further the problem, once I get frustrated, I have gotten into the habit of letting that take over; I tune out even more. This learner is focusing on a problem she has–learning through oral presentations. She further notes that she has not found a good solution and that her emotional reactions compound the problem. Inwriting the diary, the learner can become aware of what is hampering her learning. By sharing these problems with the teacher, the teacher can suggest possible solutions such as other ways the learner can get the information besides orally or can help the learner address her frustration and habit of tuning out by suggesting some relaxation or focusing techniques. Diary 3 In yet another diary, a...