Abstract

CASTELLANOS, Judith. Journal Writing and its Benefits in an Upper Intermediate EFL Class. profile [online]. 2008, n.9, pp.111-128. ISSN 1657-0790.

This action research was conducted at Universidad Nacional de Colombia with nine preservice teachers of the Philology and Languages, with Emphasis in English, at the Upper- Intermediate level of English. The study consisted of planning and evaluating a pedagogical intervention, which consisted of students exploring readings and/or their background knowledge and reflecting through journal entries about themes of their own choice. The instruments to collect information comprised the students' journals, field notes from a poster session and a questionnaire. The results allowed me to conclude that the students had the opportunity to exercise a degree of autonomy which involved free choice on the topics they explored. The journal became a language-learning tool for the students; likewise, throughout its development, they experienced the need to do some research in the area they were exploring, which allowed them to construct knowledge.

Keywords : Journal writing in English language learning; action research.

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