Whatever Works: Electronic Chicken Soup for Reluctant ESL Writers

Abstract

emester after semester in the first meeting of my undergraduate English as a Second Language (ESL) classes, the same scenario played out: I announce required weekly journals, and students roll their eyes while their body language shouts, Oh no! Not journals again! The signal was consistently clear that they disliked journal writing, and the first set of journals always reflected their dislike. With few exceptions, their journals were short, uninteresting, and written for the teacher in exchange for a grade or in compliance with the syllabus. Their entries were not critical; they reflected no connection to the real world, no connection to their feelings, no connection to their lives. Instead, I found myself reading a string of superficial thoughts in a minimum number of sentences, sometimes as few as three or four. Several students expressed their frustration at not being able to expand their ideas or write in English and did not see how the journals were helping them learn the target language. Students perceived journal writing as an isolated activity relevant only to their final grade, not an integrated part of their ESL learning experience. The experience was equally frustrating for me as a language instructor because I expected the journal requirement to help students to write more readily and to increase their fluency, but that was not happening. The disconnect was obvious and formidable. Over time however, I learned that the problem was understandable and, best of all, resolvable. The literature on learning and on writing contains much to explain why such a popular strategy as journal writing was not working in my classroom. Mayher (1990), for example, explains the need for students to connect with what they write so that it is meaningful to them: