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The importance of the self: using online diaries in the EFL classroom
Abstract
Learner journals, diaries, and logs have been used in a variety of learning contexts, including foreign language learning. This paper investigates how diary writing can be used in the EFL classroom to encourage students to express their identities through the language they are learning; it is also a way of supporting them in their quest for greater autonomy, with a view to exploring the interconnections between learner autonomy, learner self (L2 self), and learner emotions. More specifically, it will be shown how reflective writing – in the form of online diaries – can offer learners an important tool to explore their thoughts and emotions and reflect on their identity as learners and users of English. Moreover, diaries are a qualitative research tool for teachers and scholars, who can examine metacognitive and affective aspects of language learning. The paper reports a study conducted within a university English Language course, in which the students were encouraged to keep a reflective online diary throughout a semester. The analysis of their personal and expressive writing has shed light on their need to speak as themselves, not just as language learners, and to explore their emotions, both positive and negative. A final questionnaire has revealed that the students were generally positive about the activity, highlighting its usefulness in terms of learner autonomy, self-awareness, and self-regulation.
... Questo tipo di attività mira a costruire un ambiente di apprendimento sereno in cui gli apprendenti siano liberi di esprimersi senza il timore di commettere errori o di essere giudicati (Beseghi, 2022). La scrittura di un diario può dunque offrire uno strumento importante per connettersi con il proprio Sé, per esplorare i pensieri ed emozioni e riflettere sulla propria identità di apprendenti di L2/LS (Beseghi, 2021). ...
Questo contributo si focalizza sul learner diary come strumento che permette di esplorare le interconnessioni tra l’apprendimento linguistico, le emozioni e il Sé dell’apprendente. Attraverso l’analisi di un corpus di diari si vedrà come la scrittura riflessiva può incoraggiare gli apprendenti a indagare le proprie percezioni, convinzioni ed emozioni e a riflettere sulla propria identità, in continua evoluzione, di apprendenti e utenti di una LS. L’analisi dei diari si focalizza in particolare su quattro aspetti che emergono dalla scrittura degli apprendenti: le emozioni associate all’apprendimento linguistico, la dimensione metacognitiva dell’apprendimento, la relazione tra Sé e la LS e le metafore utilizzate dagli studenti per descrivere l’apprendimento linguistico. On self-discovery: the role of the learner diary in language learning The present paper focuses on learner diaries as tools to explore the interconnections between language learning, emotions and the learner’s self. Through the analysis of a corpus of diaries it will be shown how reflective writing can encourage learners to investigate their own perceptions, beliefs, and emotions and to reflect on their own evolving identity as learners and users of a foreign language. The analysis of the diaries will focus on four aspects that emerge from learners’ writing: the emotions associated with language learning, the metacognitive dimension of learning, the relationship between self and foreign language and the metaphors used by learners to describe language learning.
... He also regularly wrote in his diary and found that it was easier to elaborate on his feeling and thought in English. Studies have proven that diary writing is an effective tool that not only develops writing skill but also a learner's selfregulation and autonomy (Beseghi, 2021;Yüce, 2020). ...
This study is conducted to discover the learning strategies used by more successful and less successful language learners at a tourism college in Bali. This mix-method research combined quantitative data from the questionnaire with qualitative narration obtained from a semi-structured interview. Thirty students were asked to fill in the Strategy Inventory of Language Learning (Oxford 1990). The next step was the interview, whose questions were based on their SILL results; it scrutinized the explanation of the low or high rate that they had given. The result showed that metacognitive strategies were the most prevalent among students in both groups. On the other side, the least used strategies for more successful learners were those of memory, whereas the less successful ones most rarely used compensation strategies. The interview revealed that the more successful participants improve their English by watching movies or reading books. The other strategies were taking notes and using new words in conversation, as well as making guesses on new words, and writing in a diary. Language learners could refer to those strategies to accelerate their learning progress. Teachers should also be aware of the diverse strategies and inform the students about the other alternative strategies that might suit their weaknesses, strengths, or learning style. It is also very helpful to provide an environment where students could explore different strategies, either by making access to native speakers available or by assigning diary writing and portfolio.
Despite its controversial status, indirect translation remains one of the most prevalent translation methods and efforts have been made to explore the positive effects of this practice. The present article aims to contribute to such endeavours by researching the potential of indirect fansubbing for the promotion of several key areas of the United Nations’ Fourth Sustainable Development Goal (SDG). The article reports on a fansubbing community consisting of Chinese to Spanish amateur subtitlers who have mobilised indirect translation to attain linguistic proficiency, translational skills and cultural literacy. Results from fieldwork and qualitative data show that indirect subtitles might enhance Spanish-speaking communities’ appreciation of foreign languages and cultures by providing access to otherwise inaccessible audiovisual products. The present research finds potential for indirect fansubbing as an autodidactic method capable of promoting a culture of lifelong learning, global citizenship, and the appreciation of cultural diversity, factors conducive to the fourth SDG.
The impact of technology on audiovisual translation has been enormous, and it continues to change not only audiovisual production and distribution models but also the profile of the translator and the concept of audience. The development of new digital technologies has led to the emergence of internet communities of non-professional translators who subtitle popular TV series and films using freeware and sharing their collective intelligence. This article describes a teaching project which investigates the potential benefits of integrating activities inspired by non-professional subtitling into a formal teaching context. Making the most of their knowledge as fans as well as of their linguistic skills and socio-cultural awareness, students work in teams to produce interlingual subtitles for different episodes from a variety of TV series, including comedy, medical drama, crime and science fiction. Such collaborative approach, based on a social constructivist view of translator training, has important pedagogical implications for areas such as translator competence, student motivation and learner autonomy.
Most Finnish university students, just like the other new global elites (Kramsch,2013), use English without problems. Some students, however, struggle withEnglish to the extent that their studies suffer. One could say that they have adeeply ?wounded? English self (Karlsson, 2013). My context of research andpractice is the Autonomous Learning Modules (ALMS) at Helsinki UniversityLanguage Centre. In my work as a language counsellor and practitioner-researcher,pedagogical concerns are always primary, and there is a need to appreciatediversity yet notice every student?s unique experiences. The broadbackground of my recent work is English as part of the identity of young academicFinns. In particular, I have been interested in how students with a?wounded? English self can develop new identity positions, and in how a languagecounsellor can help them in this process. In this paper, my focus is on thesubtle practical interconnections between learner autonomy, learner diversity,and learner identity as they emerge in a diary written by a student of Englishwith dyslexia and language (classroom) anxiety. A narrative case study of Mariiaillustrates how the counsellor?s appreciation and her own recognition of thecomplex ecological realities (Casanave, 2012) surrounding and interacting withher learning encourage and empower her. Mariia uses her freedom to controlher own learning (Huang & Benson, 2013) and makes choices from the manylifewide experiential learning opportunities in her life (Karlsson & Kjisik, 2011).Reflective writing in the learning diary helps her to construct a realistic vision ofherself as a learner and user of English, and she leaves the identity position ofa failure in the classroom and claims a new, more successful one (Norton, 2014).
The concept of learner autonomy is often applied to the process and content of language learning but not specifically to its intended outcome, the development of proficiency in a second or foreign language. Against this tendency, the present paper argues for an understanding of language learner autonomy in which the development of learner autonomy and the growth of target language proficiency are mutually supporting and fully integrated with each other. It further argues that only on the basis of such an understanding can learner autonomy move to the centre of language teaching theory and practice. The paper begins by considering the origins of the universally accepted definition of learner autonomy, ‘the ability to take charge of one's own learning’. It then briefly reviews social-psychological and cognitive evidence in favour of promoting learner autonomy before discussing constructivist theories of pedagogy and their implications for a theory of language learner autonomy. From this it derives three fundamental principles – of learner involvement, learner reflection and target language use – and concludes by considering some of the ways in which these principles may be implemented in the language classroom.
In the past decade, language memoirs, linguistic autobiographies, and learners’ journals and diaries have become a popular
means of data collection in applied linguistics. It is not always clear however how one should go about analyzing these data.
The aim of this paper is to offer a critical review of analytical frameworks applied to second language users’ personal narratives.
I discuss the strengths and weaknesses of these frameworks in relation to the type of information they seek: subject reality,
life reality, and text reality. I argue that some analytical approaches, in particular content and thematic analyses, are
insensitive to the interpretive nature of autobiographic data. Subsequently, I offer recommendations for systematic analysis
of bi- and multilinguals’ narratives on macro- and micro-levels in terms of content, context, and form.
Over the past thirty years, the field of language learning strategies has generated a massive amount of interest and research in applied linguistics. Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies redraws the landscape of language learning strategies at just the right time. In this book Rebecca Oxford charts the field systematically and coherently for the benefit of language learning practitioners, students, and researchers. Offering practical, innovative suggestions for assessing, teaching, and researching language learning strategies, she provides examples of strategies and tactics from all levels, from beginners to distinguished-level learners, as well as a new taxonomy of strategies for language learning.
Research results over the past decades have consistently demonstrated that a key reason why many second language learners fail--while some learners do better with less effort--lies in various learner attributes such as personality traits, motivation, or language aptitude. In psychology, these attributes have traditionally been called "individual differences." The scope of individual learner differences is broad--ranging from creativity to learner styles and anxiety--yet there is no current, comprehensive, and unified volume that provides an overview of the considerable amount of research conducted on various language learner differences, until now.
Autonomy has become a keyword of language policy in education systems around the world, as the importance of independent learning and new technologies has grown.
Over the past decade, the focus of inquiry into the psychology of SLA has shifted from the analysis of various characteristics within individuals towards a greater consideration of individuals’ dynamic interactions with diverse contexts. This revisit of the bestselling The Psychology of the Language Learner reflects on these developments by challenging some of the assumptions upon which the original text was based, maintaining the familiar structure of the original, while situating the discussion within a very different theoretical framework.
This chapter introduces the notion of imagined communities as a way to better understand the relationship between second language learning and identity. It is argued that language
learners’ actual and desired memberships in imagined communities affect their learning trajectories, influencing their agency,
motivation, investment, and resistance in the learning of English. These influences are exemplified with regard to five identity
clusters: postcolonial, global, ethnic, multilingual, and gendered identities. During the course of this discussion, we consider
the relevance of imagined communities for classroom practice in English education.
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