Dialogue journals : An investigations of the effects on writing skills and writing apprehension in novice L2 learners

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

English writing instruction has been emphasized to be practically used in the EFL context. However, writing in L2 is a complicated process in each English classroom in Korean secondary schools. There are a lot of limitations to implement what in a language classroom even though teachers know the importance of writing instruction. Thus, the goal of this study is to examine how dialogue journal writing affects writing skills and writing apprehension in novice writers of L2 English. The changes of perceptions in dialogue journal writing were also dealt with. The present study was conducted at a middle school with eight novice L2 writers about for 13 weeks, from May to August including writing instructional stage. Pre-and post-writing tests, pre-and post-writing apprehension test, and pre-and post- questionnaires were done in order to analyze. During the in-class, storybooks were used as materials and participants wrote dialogue journals as homework every week. The instructor gave feedback on contents but on not grammatical errors in order not to give any pressure to write.
The result showed that the dialogue journal writing was effective especially to lower-level novice learners. The analysis results of the participants categorized three groups. Three students who were relatively fluent in English based on the pre-and post-tests improved writing accuracy but not writing fluency. Other three students who were relatively not fluent improved writing fluency and writing accuracy. Especially, their writing fluency was dramatically improved. However, the rest of the participants did not show any changes. In terms of writing apprehension, six to eight participants lowered writing apprehension. Although this study is a descriptive thesis, it might offer meaningful suggestions that the dialogue journal writing can be implemented in a language classroom. Further study needs to follow in order to make up for the difficulties of this program.

목차 (Table of Contents)

• CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION 1
• 1. Background of the Study 1
• 2. Purposes of the Study 4
• 3. Structure of the Study 5
• CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW 6
• 1. Process-Oriented and Dialogue Journal Writing 6
• 1.1 Process-Oriented Writing 7
• 1.2 Dialogue Journal Writing in the Context of Process-Oriented Writing 8
• 1.2.1 Interaction in Dialogue Journal Writing 10
• 1.2.2 The Benefits and Limitations of Dialogue Journal Writing 11
• 2. Writing Apprehension in Language Teaching and Learning and L2 Writing 13
• 2.1 Writing Apprehension in L2 Writing 14
• 3. Research on Dialogue Journal Writing in L2 Writing 15
• 4. Overall Summary 19
• CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 20
• 1. Research Questions 20
• 2. Participants 21
• 2.1 Instructor and Rater 23
• 3. Learning Context 23
• 4. Pilot Study 24
• 5. Materials 25
• 6. Instrument 27
• 6.1 Questionnaire 27
• 6.2 Pre- and Post-Timed Writing Tests 28
• 6.3 Writing Apprehension Test (WAT) 30
• 6.4 Dialogue Journal Writing 31
• 6.5 Interviews 32
• 7. Instruction 33
• 7.1 Pre-Instructional Stage 34
• 7.2 Instructional Stage 34
• 7.3 Post-Instructional Stage 36
• 8. Data Analysis 36
• 8.1 Overall Data Analysis 37
• 8.2 Development of Writing Skills 38
• 8.2.1 Change in Fluency 38
• 8.2.2 Change in Accuracy 39
• 8.2.3 Scales of Writing Apprehension 40
• 8.3 Changes of Perceptions on Dialogue Journal Writing 43
• CHAPTER IV RESULTS 44
• 1. Improvement in Writing Skills 44
• 1.1 Overall Improvements on Writing Skills 45
• 1.2 Overall Progress of Writing Fluency 48
• 1.3 Overall Progress of Writing Accuracy 55
• 2. Changes of Writing Apprehension 59
• 3. Participants’ Perception on Dialogue Journal Writing 63
• 3.1 Attitudes toward Writing English after the Program 63
• 3.2 Benefits of Dialogue Journal Writing 64
• 3.3 Difficulties and Problems in Dialogue Journal Writing 66
• CHAPTER V LITERATURE REVIEW 68
• 1. Summary of the Findings 68
• 2. Implications for Writing Instruction 70
• 3. Limitations and Suggestions of the Study 71
• REFERENCES 73
• APPENDICES 81
• ABSTRACT IN KOREAN 97