Asking students to write journals that reflect on their learning has become a widespread pedagogical practice in recent years. However, the scholarly literature does not address certain key questions about how journal writing aids learning:
* Is there something inherent in journal writing that encourages students to write reflectively?
* What psycholinguistic or cognitive factors help to explain the power of journal writing?
* Why do some students use journals to write prolifically and creatively while others limit their responses to summarizing the assigned course reading?
* Why do teachers find some journal entries so much more engaging than others?
* How do teachers' ways of responding to journals affect their students' development as writers and thinkers?
This book addresses such questions through a careful analysis of the journal writing of the students in the author's ESL classes at a large urban college. It contains detailed case studies of five culturally- and linguistically-diverse students with widely differing responses to journal writing.
To teachers of composition for both first- and second-language students and to teachers of graduate courses in education and qualitative research, this book offers a contextualized description of journal writings as a complex social activity. By emphasizing the need for educators to reexamine their pedagogy and to learn from their students, Conversations of the Mind is an indispensable contribution to the emerging literature of teacher research and reflective practice.
FOREWORD ix(2) John S. Mayher PREFACE xi 1 INTRODUCTION: THE TEACHER, THE STUDY, THE STUDENTS 1(10) The Teacher 1(2) The Study 3(4) The Students 7(2) Guiding Questions 9(2) 2 TEXTUAL EXPLORATIONS: THINKING AND WRITING IN JOURNALS 11(22) Research on Journals and Diaries 11(1) Studies of Second-Language Writing 12(5) Cognitive and Linguistic Theory 17(7) Educational Theory 24(6) Analytic Frameworks 30(3) 3 THE WRITING CLASS: JOURNALS IN CONTEXT 33(22) Stance of the Teacher-Researcher 34(5) The Writing Test 39(2) The Journals 41(9) End-of-Semester Questionnaire 50(2) Unanswered Questions 52(3) 4 ROBERTO: VALIDATION THROUGH CONNECTED KNOWING 55(29) Connected Knowing in Robertos Journal 56(7) How Roberto Used the Journal 63(10) Thinking and Writing Processes 73(4) Robertos Stance as a Learner 77(7) 5 CLIFF: UNSPOKEN WORDS FROM THE DEEPEST PART OF THE MIND 84(25) The Past Is Prologue 84(5) How Cliff Used the Journal 89(9) Thinking and Writing Processes 98(4) Cliffs Stance as a Learner 102(7) 6 MARIBEL: TENSION BETWEEN PRIVATE AND PUBLIC WORLDS 109(24) How Maribel Used the Journal 111(7) Thinking and Writing Processes 118(4) Maribels Stance as a Learner 122(11) 7 LAN AND KIYOKO: SURPRISING REACTIONS TO JOURNAL WRITING 133(24) Lan: Journal Writing as Breakthrough Experience 135(11) Kiyoko: Doubts About Journal Writing 146(8) The Value of Cases for Reflective Practice 154(3) 8 THE CONVERSATION CONTINUES 157(21) Questionable Assumptions 158(20) APPENDIX A: RESPONSE LETTERS TO ENTIRE CLASS 178(4) APPENDIX B: SELECTED ENTRIES FROM ROBERTOS JOURNAL AND TEACHERS RESPONSE LETTERS 182(5) APPENDIX C: SELECTED ENTRIES FROM CLIFFS JOURNAL AND TEACHERS RESPONSE LETTERS 187(6) APPENDIX D: SELECTED ENTRIES FROM MARIBELS JOURNAL AND TEACHERS RESPONSE LETTERS 193(4) APPENDIX E: SELECTED ENTRIES FROM LANS JOURNAL AND TEACHERS RESPONSE LETTERS 197(5) REFERENCES 202(7) AUTHOR INDEX 209(4) SUBJECT INDEX 213
Rebecca William Mlynarczyk
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