Using Dialogue Journals to Develop Less Able EFL Students' Writing Skills and Willingness to Write

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of dialogue journal writing on writing performance in terms of writing fluency and accuracy, to examine the participants' attitudes towards English writing, the use of dialogue journals, and the participants' willingness to write after the use of dialogue journals. Twenty-nine Mattayom Suksa 4 (grade 10) students in an Islamic private school in Pattani participated in this study. Each participant was required to write a journal once a week throughout 14 weeks. The dialogue journal was then responded by a peer with a comparable level of English proficiency. A pre- and post- writing test, 10 journal entries by each participant and three sets of questionnaires were used as instruments for data collection. The results revealed that the participants' writing abilities in terms of writing fluency and accuracy significantly increased after the use of dialogue journal writing (p < .01). The result also showed that the participants had positive attitudes towards writing in English (p < .05) and the use of dialogue journal writing. Also, the participants were more willing to write after the implementation of dialogue journal writing. Pedagogical implications to boost the use of dialogue journals to have effective EFL writing pedagogy in the Thai context are proposed.