DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 276 248 FL 016 140

AUTHOR Staton, Jana, Ed.; And OthersTITLE Dialogue, Volume 1, 1982-1983.INSTITUTION Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C.PUB DATE 83NOTE 36p.; For volume 2 of Dialogue, see FL 016 141. For

... related documents, see FL 03- 139 and FL 016208-209.

PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022)JOURNAL CIT Dialogue; vl n1-4 Apr-Aug 1980-83

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Adult Education; *Classroom Techniques; Dialogs

(Language); *Diaries; Elementary Secondary Education;Faculty Development; Higher Education; *InstructionalEffectiveness; *Interpersonal Communication;Newsletters; Research Projects; Second LanguageInstruction; *Teacher Student Relationship

IDENTIFIERS *Dialogue Journals

ABSTRACTVolume 1 of the dialogue journal newsletter contains

contributions from the editors and teachers concerning the use ofdialogue journals as a means of sustained written interaction betweenstudents and teachers at all educational levels and in secondlanguage and other types of instruction. The information presentedincludes techniques, ideas, opinions, results, examples, informationsources, and other resources for dialogue journal use in education.(MSE)

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Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be madefrom the original document.

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DIALOGtJE.

Volume 1, 1982-1983

U.S. DEPARTSIEW OF EOUCATpONOffice of Educational Research and Improvement

EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES 1NFORMATIONCENTER (ERIC)

dOcument has been reproduced asdived from the person or organization

originating it0 Minor changes have been made to improve

reproduction Quality.

points of view or opinions stated in this clocu.ment do not necessarily represent officialOE RI position or policy.

"PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THISMATERI HAS BEEN GRANTED BY

TO THE EDUCATiONAL RESOURCESINFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)."

BEST COPY AVAILABLE

TUE DIALOGUE JOURNAL NEUSLETTER

-

Center for Applied Linruistics3520 Prospect St.,Uashington, D. C. 20007Contact Jana Staton for Informs:Ion

Editor: Becky nichaelVolume 1, nurber 1April 1932

Dear Friends,There are so many of you, all toll=

out dialogue writing in new seeming",that I can no longer keep up by pummelletter and feel guilty about mot SOMMingmore of what you are dOing with adhere.This newsletter is an attempt bells:lettthe situation. Included you yak Tindbrief notes about the Dialogs. AournalProject, excerpts from an ineerview withthe original dialogue journsl teacher,and tidbits fron letters aria cells whichI have had from all Of yes.

Tour help is needed, ahengh, to nakethis newsletter succe. Er7,ite backand tell us what your experience hes beenand we will include it in the nextedition (to appear 'as soon as enough ofyou respond). By sharing ourexperences,our insights, our knowledge perhaps escan begin a dialogue of our own. I lookforward to hearing from all of you.

Jana StatonCAL

It's Done: Dialogue Vtiting asCommuticative Event - Jaa Staton,Roger Shny, Jox Ereeft anellrs. R.

This report consists of an overview,Volume I, pzesenting the study pur-poses, findings and &Inclusions and in-plications for writing and for class-room interaction. Eleven researchpapers (in Volume II) present analysesof language functions, types of conver-sational discourse which develop, andthe effects of private, non-graded,interactive Initiap on the growth ofelaboration, ability to reason aboutproblems, and topic understanding. Theteacher's own perspective on the useof dialogue journals i the classroonis presented in ths 12th paper ofVolume /I.

CAL is reproducing both volumes at, .cost: Vol. I is 2C-00 , Vel- II is$14.00 , bUt our special discount offeris only MAY) for both volumest

tneludimg. prepaid shipping. .(I1 .

volucee;sre bought suparatelt, include$1.86. for 'volume I or $2149hioe..volumeII to cover shipping and headline.)

Excerpt from an Interview with LesleeReed, the Original Dialosue JournalTeacher.

The following q6estions and answersare part of an interview that was donewith Leslee Reed, the original dialoguejournal teacher, in September 19E1.

Interviewer: I want to ask you what youget out of journal writing?

Hrs. R.: I don't think I've ever grownso much in my life as I have this year.inunderstanding the problems of different *,

caltures, different races, trying to fitinto this pattern of American life..Plus,as a teacher and having taught for a greatmany years, I'm sometimes so sure whenI'm teaching a lesson that it does megood to see sometimes in the journalssomething that I totally missed. That Ihave used a cliche or an idiom that liter-ally blocked out everything I taught up 7toztham.point. It's like a challenge.It's a puzzle.

Int.:Is it very important for studentsand teacher to share personal information,that doesn't have much to do with theirlearning?

nts. R.. I think all learning has totake vaata through a mind that's as un-fette;ed and as open as possibls. If wecan help to Oien their minds and unfettertheir worries and agcnies by sharing orby letting them put them out on paper,then learning can begin.

I think another thing about the dia-lorue journals which teachers might notrealize is the degree to which it allowsyou to individualize their work. I thinknow I find that journal writing is sortof the kernel of ny teaching. Uhen Isit down to do journals, I am doing akind of resume of my day, and of eachchild. For ne it(cont. on page 2)

3

(teacher interview continued)makes my whole school year flow, be-cause I have a constant finger on thepulse of the children. I know quiteaccurately what every child is doingand not doing.

lat: What needs to be said about thejournals?

Mrs. R.: I think if I could Nave...everyone see the love that goes intothe journals and not just on my part;but on the children's part too. Thelove, the respect, the mutuality ofgoals, the feelings that we developfor each other. It's so worthwhile,it's so good. I just think any .

teacher who allows herself to get thisinvolved with individuals can't helpbut be enriched by just learning moreabout each individual.....0.MOW41111New Research Notes

Dialogue Journals with Deaf StudentsJana Staten is nou consulting at

Gallaudet College, the national collegefor the deaf in Washington, D. C., todevelop dialogue journal writing fordeaf students, at both college and pre-college levels. Deaf students learnsign Language as their first language,written English is a second languagefor them, and one which they find verydifficult to learn, especially when theydon't have opportunities to use it infunctional situations. Faculty fromthe English Departrent and Counselingsre interested in trying out dialoguejoWrnals and three high school Englishteachers fron the Nadel SecondarySchool are already using them withtheir nlasses. Research proposals tostudy the acquisition of Enftlish lan-guage in dialoEue Wittig are planned,and we would be interested in hearingfrom teachers who might have alreadyused a dialogue journal with deaf orother cocnunication impaired students.

Language Acquisition - ESL -

A research project.is now in pro-gress to analyse the acquisition ofEnglish in dialogue journal writing.The study focuses on the dialoguewriting over one year's time of a

sixth grade class of non -native*peikepsof English in Los Angeles, California.Mts. Leslee Read, the collaborating tea-cher for Staton, Shuy and Kreeft's origi-nail dialogue journal study (1979-31) hascontinued to write in dialogue journalswith her 1980-81 and 1931-32 students,none of whom are native speakers of Eng.Preliminary analysis of the /ournals showsa dramatic shift in the students' writingover a year's time, fron an initiallylimited grasp of grammatical structuresand a narrow range of topics and languagefunctions, to the eventual use of complexstructures and effective expression of awide range of topics and functions. Asthe year progresses, both the students'and teacher's writing demonstrates the*mating degree to Which the students be-cone comfortable with (and confident about)their ability to communicate in English.

grit tatiakuige 'wimples are also beinggplieited ionCe a month from several stu-dents, so that conparisons can be cedebetween the development of oral competencewith competence in written English overtine. (For details, contact: Joy Kreeft,CAL)

2

Japanese Students Learning EnglishShelley Gutstein, an Applied Lin-

guistics Ph.D. candidate at GeorgetownUniversity and an experienced ESL teacher,tried the dialogue journals with a classof Japanese college students learningEnglish in an intensive 8 week summerprogram. Shelley Is now studying thelanguage variation, self disclosure, andtopic development in the journals forber dissertation at GU. Sbe.found thejournals very useful in getting to knowthe students, even in the short periodof time.

Cote: Ve'd love'to have samples of yourdialogue journals, but please send justexcerpts which you think others mightlearn'from, also, please be sure youhave both parents' and students' per-mission (for students under 18) to sharethem. Give us a pseudonym for the stu-dent which reflects cultural background.And, please let us know how you wouldlike to be identified!

.Some Applications of D.I's

Foreign 'LanguageDialorue journals are being used by

Ceil Lucas (CAL) in a 12-week college-level Advanced English Conpositioncourse at Lorton Reformatory (D.C.Department of Corrections): The classmeets once a week'for 2 hours andstudents write in the journals for thelast 20 cinutea of each class. Milethe first topic vas initiated by theteacher with the questions `Vhat doyou like to read? Myr, each dialogueis clearly taking its own course as thesemester rAogresses.

In adation, Lucas has used dialoguejournals in a ten-week IntroductoryItalian course (second semester). The

class meets 3 hours, once a week. flare

atain, the first topic was teacher -renerated.

The journals have been a very uaefulteaching tool in these two lanruare -diverse situations, one with dialectsY;eakers and one with second languagelearners. In neither case does theteacher correct or overtly referencelanguage differences - rather, use israde of nodelling vocabulary items orgrammatical constructions. Thejournals are successful in.these situ-ations precisely because the focus isnot au language forms, but on com-munication. This oay be particularlyirportant in a language learning situ-ation for adults

Jose Goncalves is using dialoguejournals in an advanced conversationclass in Portuguese at GeorgetownUniversity. The students write intheir journals in Portuguese once aweek; Jose responds to them and re-turns their journals in the next class.The students are free to choose theirown topics and Jose reports thattypically they write about more per-sonal topics than they discuss in theclassroom. This results in a specialbenefit because the teacher and hisstudents feel closer and he says thatthe dialogue journals have definitely.increased teacher-student rapport.

5

_a_u_i_uJerEl_aPrimandementa

Quinda Strube, a bilingual primaryteacher in Riverside, California, has beenusing dialogue journals with her 1st and2nd graders, sone of wham write as much as

6th graders. She has found journals tobe a sood way to help students practiceboth Spanish and English (her lst gradersare using Spanish; her 2nd graders areroving into English). Students who were

relying on the aide to dictate storiesquickly began writing independently in thejournals.

Here's a sample of one of the delight-ful topic-focused conversations in thesejournals.A: Dear Hiss Strube: I love Sonia be-

cause she's pretty would you tellSonia that she's pretty and tell her

that I love her. OK! Juan.

T: Uhy do you want ra to tell her? Do

you really want ue to tell her? I

think she's pretty, too:S: Dear Hiss S. Yes I want you to tell

her Please porque tengo Vehwanga

(Beca0se.I:am embarrasied.)T: But won't you be embarrassed even if

I tell her? Wald you like Tto tell her?

S: Dear Miss Strube: Forget it. I just

give her a ring and a necoless andI'm going to give her more things.

T: that do you want ma to forget? Didyou give a ring and necklace toSonia? Mat did she do?

S: She said thank you and I said youvolcano and that ill.01griStilli Lindberg, Vilmington Park

Elementary School, has combined dialogue

journals with Sylvia Ashton=Uarners Lan-guage experience approach for her lst

grade class. Each child begins bychoosing personal "key words, and theteacher, after Writing the word, begins

writing phrases in the child's journal.The child copies or makes the phrase into.

a sentence, and the teacher responds. ,

This continues until the possibilitiesof that personal key word have been ex-hausted, snd the child asks for a new

word. This information came to us fromLeslee teed - we hope to hear fromKristina directly about how it's going.

3

1or

..11* O

rImowsexeMo

Nona Ramirez and several otherteachers in Riverside have been usingdialogue journals for two years at theelementary level. As old hands, we'dlike to know whar you think of it now?

=NED

nigh School

Bow can you manage dialogue journalsat the high school level?

Gretchen Vasquez, in Coachella, Cali-fornia, began two years ago by encouragingher ESL students to write her a note orletter if they wanted to and promisingto write back. The next year she chose2 classes and had them Write once a week,on different days. She found that shebecame like a friend, and the dialogueroved from newsy, superficial writing in-to more significant topics. Many of herstudents use English for academic concernsbut switch to Spanish for yore personal*topics. When she tried it a second yearwith the same group of students, therewas a drop off of interest and length--there nay be limits!

Janey Engelnan Lisenby, in La 'Quinta,California has also been using the journalwith her Basic Skills class, on a oncea week basis.

ONAIMIMMIIMMN11.1=01MONOMMOMMEINED

At the Model Secondary School forthe Deaf (at Gallaudet College, D.C.)3 English teachers, Janet Rothenberg,Cindy Puthoff, and Vary Wartone,all deaf thenselves, began dialoguejournals about a month ago, and are veryexcited about their students' response--one teacher reports that quiet, passivestudents are communicating more in thejournal (a second language) than inclass (Sign Language)! The students aregiven freedom to write as often as they..want during the week--since MSSD classesare small, this is ranageable and givesthe teacher an indication of engagement.The teachers are planning to write uptheir experience.

A nunber of high school teachersat the Breadloaf Rural Teachers of .

English programedu,were-in workshops ondialogue journal writing last sumerwent home with plans to try it out -Ue'd love to hear about it, as highschool teaching loads make individual in-teraction nore problematical. Anysolutions?

4

ELIELJNIALUMUL

Wilnington, California, Englishteachers picked up the idea from a work-shop with Leslee Reed and cane up withan interesting adaptation. They writeback with queetions and comments aboutthe content of the essay (instead ofcorrections) on first drafts of eachstudent's essays, and the student respondsWhen questions and ideas have been workedthrough in several exchanges, the studentgoes about revising. Teachers reportedthat the everage length of time for stu-dents,to revise an assignment was anonth, before dialoguing. now it's downto a week or two, and students requestmore chances to write dialogues.

IIIMM.M1111.11141110

121L.lee/GradoolOne of the most interesting and un-

expected spin-offs of dialogue journalshas been their use by college instructorswith theit own students.

Bill Stokes, at Gallaudet College,began using dialonue journals last yearin his research seminars on AnericanSign Language, which included a mixtureOfteaf, bearing-impaired and normalbearing students. Bill says, "What sur-prised me ritOst at the start was thepleasure I took from reading my students'journal entries and from replying tothem directly. Instead of finding itone more of the many tasks'to be done,or put off, I found myself hurrying backto the Office to read each day's entriesas soon as possible, to see what thisinteresting Person I saw across theclassroom was saying to me or askingabout. I also found that the few minutesthat it tOok to read and reply wereamong the best cdnutes of the day. Inever got to know the students in nyclass so Will. With the dialoguejournals I stopped worrying about how toteach the class to meet all their needs.Each one through his or her journal wasgetting individual instruction and, fromwhat they wrote in the journals, veryauch appreciating it. naturally, with ahappily progressing class, I was ahappy teacher. I doubt I will (everteach Without dialogue journala again.They don't increase teacher's burdens,they lighten them.'

6

IIMM NOINIIM1

Roger Shuy, Georgetown University,tried the journals out with his linguis-tics field methods class, he asked hisstudenta to use the journal as a meansof recording their observations of field-work projects, and then reflecting,asking questions (even complaining!).Roger describes his experiences.

"I've always been rather close to mygrad students but I've never felt closerthan I did that semester. Mat wasshocking to me, however, was that thestudents made clear to ma in their jour-nals exactly where they were in theirdevelopment. This enabled me to indi-vidualise my struction,in their journals,but also in the class itself, in waysI had never done before. Every teacherhas general assumptions about the progressof the class as a whole based on cluesgiven by a few. I discovered somethingthat I suppose I should have known -not all students were at the place Ithought they were. Soma only caughton to the central concepts at the veryend. This knowledge, revealed privatelyin their journals but not made openlyin the class, gUided me in teaching all12 of then in different aspects of thecourse that they needed. I believe Idid as nuch teaching in the journalsas I did in the seminar meetings."

N111.

Vic Rental, Ohio State University.College of Education, thought the::dialove writing would be a good way todevelop understanding and keep intouch with teachers taking a graduatelevel practicum on classroom super-vision. It has been good --the enroll -rent doubled and the experience was :tsexciting for Vic as for the students.

Vie speculates that in addition to thelearning and awareness which the actof writing itself brings about, thebonds of trust established in thedialogue journals helped the,. adultsto take greater risks in encounteringnew knowledge and new procedures.Plus, he suggests, "supervisingteachers must have strong skills ininterpersonal communication. Ordinaryexpository writing, with its explainingfunction, nay tend to obliterate thekind of interpersonal language super-visors need to have. The dialoguejournal dtaws on and encourages therich interpersonal function of oral

.

7

5

language. I think it is ideal fordeveloping the skills I want insupervising teachers."

mommimommoOmmo

Interactive Uriting - DifferentFormats Different Partners

A close cousin of student-teacherdialogue journals is the practice ofhaving students initiate a continuouscorrespondence with another student ina journal or letter format.

Amanda Branscomhe, of Auburn HighSchool, Auburn, Alabama, has paired aclass of llth and 12th graders withanother class of 9th grade basic writingstudents, and offered then the oppor-tunitY of writing letters to one another,once a week, on topics of their ownchoosing, without teacher grades orcomments. Her students keep this con-versation going all%year - sharing ex-periences, offering advice and support.

Research on a sarple of these let-ters by Jim Uershall of Stanford Univer-sity found growth in lenrth, of entry,number and type of coexitive processesused, and text coherence as studentsbecame more knowledgeable about andcomfortable with their audience, andas they mutually negotiated an agenda oftopics for discussion. Jim and Amandaare writing a paper on the results.

Anne Herrington, now at SW, Albany,reports a similar practice worked witha class of basic writers in a juniorcollese, using a journal rather thanletter format. Once the students gotstarted, they kept it going withoutany urgingall Anne did was arrange theinitial pairings, and collect and deliverthe journals each class period. (Stu-dents did not 'know' their partners, texcept in the journals.)=.1

Dialogue journal writing does notneed to be confined to a school setting.The staff members and residence super-visors of Group Homes for nentallyimpaired adults in Uarldand will meet inApril to explore the uses and potentialbenefits of diaiogue journal writingin the Group Home situation. Dialoguewriting between a Group Hems supervisorand the residents of the home will pro-vide the opportunity for ongoing, opencommunication, free from the social(cont. on page 6)

(Group tomes continued)constraints that accompany oral, face-to-face comnunitation. It is hopedthat the dialogue writing will lay afoundation for increased oral communi-cation. IIN110.Summer Conference: Benefits to theTeachers

We've talked a lot about the bate-fits to the students of having themkeep a dialorue journal, but all of uswho ve tried it as instructors do it asruch for ourselves, as for the students.Lulea Reed is now giving workshopson the dialogue journals as en 'anti-teacher burnout" method.

What are the benefits to teachers--individualizing instruction is one, andreducine discipline problens another.e'd like to bold some informal pettogethers uhere we can articulate andshare the values to the teacher - US! -of keeping dialogue journals with ourclasses.

Leslee Reed plans to visit Wishing-ton, D. C. In late June and we hope tobold one such workine conference fora day while she's here, at the Centerfor Applied Linguistics. Date, time,and fornat aren't set, but we'd like toknou who would be interested in attend-ing fror the East Coast area. If ryucone, you'll be asked to share yourexperiences - that's the price ofadnission::

A similar conference in Californiamay be possible again, as an oppor-tunity for teachers at all levels tolearn from each other.'

IMMIONIMIN11What Do / Tell USr Friends? - A Teacher'sLandbooh.

Explaining the concept of dialoguewritinr is simple - and very difficult.Teachers with intuitive sense aboutcommunication and language seam to pickit up by COOMOsis, or nay have alreadybeen doing it. tut it's easy to 'rdasthe uses. -- so Leslee Reed and Jana

Staton are now working on a teacher'shandbook, to provide both a practicalguide for doing it, and the concepts andtheory uhich make it work. The Centerfor Applied Linguistics is interestedin publishing it.

A tentative outline of the handbook,subject to much revision, is as follows:

6

I. What is a Dialogue Journal?How Can It Help ply Students?

II1.Uow Can It Help Ile?IV. Wow Do We Get Started?

-strategies for initiating andmaintaining it

V. How Do I Respond?VI. A Look at Dialogue Journal Writing

in Different Settings.VII.Some Common Questions Teachers Ask.

If any of you could share with usyOur strategies for getting it startedin different situations, or ideas youhave about why it works, it would helpus to address different problems andneeds. We'll try to share what yousend eLn the newsletter, and use it inthe hundbook.

Back to the question of what do Itell ny frisnds when they ask, 'What dowe talk about?' Two questions whichare useful to ask a friend who isconsidering trying it are these. Theyfocus on the journals as a real com-municative event.1. What do you want to know about yourstudents, that you don't have a chanceto learn in resular classroom inter-action? What do they want to knowabout you?

2. What do you need and want to com-municate to your students - aboutlearning, growing up, mastering alanguage - that you don't get a chanceto say in your regular classroom inter-actions. What do your students need totall you?

IIIIIIMIMII=4"Great Dialo e Journal Moments'

from Mts. Reed's journals

S: Hrs. Reed I think you get 7 son anddother. Did you?

T: No! I have one son and one dsu-Otter! That is ry family. Eut Ilike my class at Alexandria--theyare like ry sons and daughters.

S: You don't what do you have! I don't!Alive it looks you have 2 dog'sand 2 turtles and, 1 cat so looksyou have 1 son 1 dother the animals.is 5 so you sot 7 son and dothersee that.

T: Ch! Ho! *I see what you mean aboutny family! .You were counting myanimals, too!

DON'T FORGET - WRITE BACK TO VS AVD TELLUS YOUR EXPERIENCES. ALSO LET US EPOW IFYOU AnE INTERESTED IN THE SUMER MtnSHOPS.

8

TtE dErSLETTER ABOUT

Editor: Becky Zichael, CAL

Velure I. Vb. II ;

EIGLTIGETS IA Tas ISSUE

*A special prepublication offer for theDialorue Journal Eandboolt.--See-tlie

-

last pare. Please share.this flyer(and the newsletter) with otheitiichereand aduinistrators. Prepublication prices.are modal...1x until lentlemA983

*Tips on bow to prevent this fraubeinc the last issue!!

*Benefits to the Teacher -.Proceedinrs of the CAL conference

-- on how.dialocue journals help'the teacher!

---------

ITEM ABOUT T= DEUSLETTER -111th-the end of our HIE &ant,. this newsletter has becone a voluntary effort on

our part, tO stay In touch with people around the country (and overseas) sue to

phase with others the inforuation youhave been sendinr us. If there are to be any

nose issues, we need sone volunteerinn fron out'readers in VOWS;THE PIRST WAY YOU CAN HELP IS US need Uore DVS, cements

on the. problem, joys, and benefits of usinn dialogue journale. Thirvissue is

fleetly devoted to the,theile "Benefits to Teachers. He have selected topics for the

aext two issues and especially invite you to send in information about them. It'll

even Call you backif you send a note askin? for a "personal" dialorue. just rive

us umbers Where you can be reached at nicht or'ontatuideys. The next two topics

eill he: (1) Ilhat do students Danl.-. Studenecourants and reactioes,'both writtenand oral, about their dialozue journal experiences, offer us really trportant in-

sirhts into whythe journals work, and how to rake then even more nieful. (And not

just :loving. tributes; eithei...student criticisns are eves. nore intsrestinr.) One

isiue mill pull tocether all the comments we have and any yet:Alen& Please rive

your students a suittbla "pseudonym.' and incliude accand.any personal context.

(2) Problems - Here's i chance to briar up probles. If yen'll.wite down yourquestions or problem and send then in, we'll try toIniswer as limy as we can, and

print those we can't for others to answer. If you need an opening, sentence, try

"DearTIM SEC= gAl-YOUtAil HELP IS e need a anal contribution frau every-

one on our mailing:list (now over 300 nanes) io cover the nailing costs of these

next two issues and to let no Lmow who realli.munts to receive the newsletter. So...

the next issue willbe sent to those who sent. in :1.00 io cover postare and produc-

tion costs for two acre issues. Ile can handle actual cash; if you umst send a check

nake it out to Jana. Staten. Ve need your resimnse of neve and contribUtion BY

DECIZSZE 1, 19E2.! -

(There's a handy form on the top of pace 2 to help.,you,out; Thanks.) .

9

-1-

TIT wow! porn.

To: Becky Michael:, Dialogue Jourhal Hewsletter,tenterrfor Applied Linguistics,3520 Prospect St., U. U. Eashington, D.''a 20007

Yes, I would like 2 nore issues. Here's $1.00 and ny best mailing address.

hiere's soue news for the student reactions issue:

or: Here's my problem:

COMErMICE OD =WITS TO TEACHEnS

'Thy do you do then? How willthey belp ny teaching? Mat WillI get in return for spendingseveral hours a week reading andresponding to each student?'":

If you're already using dialogue.journals, those are'sone of the ques-tions other teachers may have asked you.If you're thinking.about using them,those uay.be questions you've askedyouraelf.

This issue.of the newsletter fo-cuses on the benefits toulas instruc-tors of keeping dialogue journals. In-June, when Leslee Reed was visitingVashington, D. C., we held an informalconference at the Center for AppliedLinguistics for teachers in this arcawho had started usint.dialogue journals.The conference helped*us all understandthat there la substantial benefits forteachers: Leslee Eaed calls the.jour-nals her survival techniquea --atheykeep ue fron burning out as a teacher.::

The conference documented how thedialogue journal contributes to the pro-cess of education itself, and adaptsitself to the coals and needs of eachteacher. Ile can't reproduce here theenthusiasm and energy in the presen-tations, but we will devote this issueto highlights fron each presentation,

and we have included as many samplesfram dialogues at different age levelsas we lave room for: 'le hope that thisbrief synthesis of the conference pre-sentations will broaden your understand-ing of why we find ourselves saying."I wouldn't ever tench without thedialogue journale.'

AGEIMA

Helcone, Introductions and Goal Setting-Jana Staton

'Ihe Dialogue Journal as an Anti-TeacherDurnout.Technique: Leslee Reed

Elemeztari/Secondary Panel Discussion:Joyce Saville, 2nd GradeSelma Horowitz, Eindergarten

(presented by Jana Staton)Susan Veitch, Sth Grade English

ESL PanelJoyce Ereeft, Adult Business EnglishShelley Gutstein, japanese 2SLRichard Vann, College ESL (GilChristine Helopi College ESLLinda liazer, College ESLUlna Turitz, College ESL

Content Areas/Diversity Panel.Roger.Shuy, Graduate Fieldwork

iiethods

Cell Luca; Lorton Prison (CollegeUriting.)

Jose Conceives,' Portuguese (FL)Bill Stokoe. Research SEminar (Deaf

and El students)Jessie Roderick, Teacher Education

Class-2-General Discussion on nenefits to the

Teacher

10

nruou SPEI:Cr nY usui um:

Leslee Peed, in her keynote speech tothe conference, spoke about how the die-lonue journals had becone for her enanti-burnout" technique.

'rave you ever felt youmere the onewho ended up in your classroonwith afull class, the mandate.to tench ALL,couplete all surveys, forms, question-naires and, oh, yes document every-thinr. (heinn accountable is important),yet do it all vith a mile, neet parents,attend neetinrs, and be so enthusedabout your work that you radiate? Alterall a nood teacher mill/can/should! Itsure leads to that ''.'hat's the use?",r'Oo vay can I keep this up!", "Just notenounht tine! ' faelinre If you have,you're not aione. tare, for Ma, is theanswer. /.an no lonrer the autonaticforn filler-inaer! I become, throurhDialonue Journals, a real personyiththounhts, ideas and a really aliveaudience listenine.to just ne "

.'It is.obvious that ny yeiro ofteachinn are nany. So nany of ny col-learues have burned out, leavinr.eurprofession the poorer ger their revint;!nto other fields. Adjustnenis to the'new techniques, the taxonomy,.the 'new' addition to the curriculum,the nultitude of innovations ained itinprovenent of staff, all.become toler-able because of nysecurity, hlanket,.theEialonue Journals.'

In her speech, Leslee makes itclear that using-dialogue journals hashelped hei keep her enthusiasm for teachinc

Leelee noes on to list sone of themany benefits of usinr.the,dialoruejournal; 'rettinr an innediatesponse to ny ideas, beinr asked nefr-uine'questions about myself, anddcvelopinn a cannon bond 0 under-,standinn and trust, which.makes. nycleasroome frienely instead of alonely .Che also denenstratedhaw effective the journals are in

.

readhinr the bilinnual child andadaptinc instruction to the needs ofvery rifted and of nevly enirratcestudents.

"I always LZIOti what's rout? on intheir thinkinn and their lives thatnirht affect their work, and I knowvho's ready for learninr, so / cansunnest nor assilmments.'

11

'Pew can such enjoyment be work andso valuable at the same time? /tcausee foras, surveys, bulletins toseen so unirnortant. I'm dealinn'OitE:real issues and my studentstnow'I am real. 71t are learninr to-nether as each of us is nettinn adirect, inmediate response.: We arehunan and not a bit or bite in sonecorputer prorran: I invite you totry'Dialorue Journals for the joy, theinsinhts, the launhter and for theopportunity to be yourself!"

-mmmtrAny JD SECOIMA.tY =smarms

"You need to write sonethinrthat says what you pant it to say.'

,J.Ina.rorovits, a Lindernarten-first rrade.teacher at ;ler VistaEltnentary fchool, Los Annelcs, couldnet attend, but Senvalonn smile won-derfuZ exarmles of her herinninnwriters''work to Shire with us.Selma found that the dialogue journalhelped all herStudents 'break intoprint,'*.because even 8 first vore ora.sentence received an iftlediate re-sponse. ner five and six Year oldsvete quite able to write full pages (in aanall journal) by the end of theyear. She also'observed that slowerstudents learned fron observinn.otbers, even thourh they thoughtthey "'couldn't" write! Selna re-ports that 'I've never rotten toblow a class so well' - and thisevalbation copes from ateacher withmany years of'suecessfUl teachinn ea-perience.

.

. Inthe actual exanples reproducedon the neat pane, we can see'the diver-sity'Of discourte styles amok. 5 and 6year olds And their'ability to carryout convereations in vritinr after onlya, fei. months of eaily opportunity. Thenoet irzreseive eianple.of writinn-developnent is Erik's journal.Selna corrents"that Erik was slow Atrettinn into reallinr ane writinr, andfor the first nonth would'just copythe anme one sentence in his journal -"./ like .' Then on 'do-venherlet he sat next to a.boy whowrote h Vhole pararraph. Erik's firsttry at discourse is a creative niz-tura of letters. Caine's brilliant.

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uPOIMIedid sorreettes seems I.Ossilitsted a evades 'filets, towheeid esvetel streterisem»fillier thepore, 'ampler semethieft.' esol bead-ier wee lefeesettes es reed epee-Mr lies!

'lee Ithe Talkie, en the Telephone'

s sensed rrede tea-stersties Osheol District,,Deer, Peleeers, emplaleed to hew midgetsget ileitis: is adores journals islihe teltilen se the telephoner 'Mhospee lath se the Osseo yes tithe tures

Ose perm talks mid theethe eller pewees sewers.

inin1 hove sem* tineie gosh 4:yee weep day, so

l test yes Semite ehet yse weld Likese esp. 1 sill take ver tees genital*.Wine, esewsr." Ihis emelerysods ter se seep eed seselarfultssesitise hes seal to writtensesmemdestise mod helped her pees:mediate endsweteed thee this hied ofMeier god reedier veal/ be useful.

Apes peened dialers 'serailsMee le tire Sell, with P 4 elms .

Nestily threw tem -a a re-sult el desemversts .rder.stressed the greatest eseefit te lotum thee the imeediete psssssal cos-test be the jseeesis hslpsd develops oleos, peewees& hair with herettesete wirht weep. Thee webbysei leeleOMP hems possible fer,..Ohio elems sed fel their teesher.

Sesieste uses gives sees tins af-ter fosses Pieria in their jeer-eels sed salad beep them the test ofthe atermsse Nuns. nsre if theyWas& Agee sods sere studentsDeem they meld "send set verde sodwrite dree see WAN* userpine ifthey dide't Mew hew to spell them

'We lefts elesteels with 'Swain .

Rieh Iltsisate .

esarlieWsznee the eatiemalFederation

et Itmeherss diseribed Ws she use-seed *moss& lessees Is juniorhiOli seise& several peers sr*,meddle stab five alluvial. Osslisheinem is se elterestive schoolperms Se Ohio. Ohs het esth class

write on a different day of the wiekaud while she read all the journalseach nipht, she wrote back only tothose students who really seared toused response and encourapenent.tlith a few students, sh° kept upalsamt a daily dialorne, becalm: oftheir special needs--an excellent.wsy to use the dialopue processwhen student load is far too treat

. to do it rith everyone..

, Cullen reported two major benefits:'The journals helped me in nanatinpoath class - rutin; them Battleddem and rnady to learn. Zy rota-tiup the days in which I would readtheir journals (first period jour-nals were turned in °albedo%awes hack on Tuesday, second perioden Tuesday, etc.), I could =mareto keep in direct touch with 140 student°.I could shoose to write back if astudent really needed a. response andto do it on a daily basis with a feu.The daily dialopues with the studentsmho stall, needed to talk to nehelped se =nate a hyperactive boywho could not communicate with no inany ether way at first. I think thejournal was the first tine anyonebed ever really listened to hit. I

would sever have understood all theWoos that were @Joint on with himwithout the jouroal.. I was also ableto help a student everiencinr ruinever his brother's sudden death -otherwise his depression could havebecome suldidal.1

Susan fooled that these two stu-dents who dialotued with her reNiarlyout of personal seeds benefittedacademically. They became two ofthe best writers in the classand wrote a hook of stories for chil-dren, which wes incredibly well-written and rovinr.

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. .

DIALOGUE JOURNALS 11; ADULT ESL PROGRAMS'

The second panel consisted .of six tea-chers in various adult ESL programs'

.

in ths Nashinrton,.D.C. area,*

'The Journal is a Eridge"

s'Christine lIeloni used dialogue

journals duringthe.sprinn semester,1902, in her'adVanced conposition

.

ESL class at George !lashinpton Hai-versity; in rashington, D. C. Thecourse is rounhly equivalent to afreshman English course; *She had12 students in her class (11 menand 1 wonOI): majors in English and. .

conputer iCience." The students wrotein theivjournals for the first 20minutes of each class period, fivedays aweek, At first, Christinewas afraid that the students wouldthink the'journals were tao babyish..for a course entitled, "Copposition-and Research Vetods. Dut she soonfound 'that thelOurnals were'valua-ble to'her because, 'They-made a .

technical research and conpositioncourse (not my favorite) fun toteach. I enjoyed the course. I .had the satisfaction of doter soma-.thinn for ry Students no persons,not just as acadenic 'objects'. "

The response fron the student*was alsii very positive. One ofthe students, Utah Luc from Vietnam,feels that the journals provide abridge, connectin the lives Ofthe students and their professor:"I really appreciate the idea ofwriting a journal 'in class. It not *.!

only helps re in grmnmar, in writing,'it helps me solving probleme suchas studying, making friends, andso on. I at sure that I am imrrov-inr very ruch because of the helpof tb2 journal. Additionally, thejournal is a bridge which connectsstudents' problens, lives to theirprofessor. Toward (tbrouph) thejournal, professor can understandstudents '

'It nivesosHthe confidence of writing"

'Ana Turitz teaches at.the Eery-land Englishlnstitute, Universityof raryland (College Park). Shehas eirht students for two hoursper day. They write for the first tenminutes of each.class. Vhen ard:edwhether they.found the journals usefuland/orqtnjoyable, her atudents hada variety of responses and connents.Several.students felt that theirwriting was helped'by the dailyv.ractice of writinr in the journal.One student fromErypt commented thata journal ;:f.tives us the opportunityto write without any problen also itgives.us the Confidence of writing,"while an Indian student said,"Specially I am netting Wknownewwords and inportant thing I amknowing idea according to yourwrittincrkesponse. How you write asentenceand your sentence struc-ture.". AGuatenelan added that inaddition to helping him to writebetter, 'that help to.talk too,because-awe write that we arethinking lathe nonent, is likeyou'eilere talkinr.'

Several studeuts rentioned bene-fits which ro beyond the purelylinguistic. aimmnan from Vane-zuelavaid that for foreirn studente,,'this kind of comunication isessential in order to know.a.lot ofthings. In some cases this type ofdialer, could be the unique communi-cation of the foreign-student with ananerican'person an iS especially useful.'A Chinese woman commuted, likethis kind of activity becauseffromhere I can practice English dialog withny teacher. I tell her my troublesin nylife as well as in.my study,and my teacher could help re a lot.I can Lmow howto live and how tostudy well. And my teacher cangive me lane good idea that Ihaven't.': .3ut, she feels, "whenI do this activity the teacher isvery important. She should be verykind and patient....Decause she'llspend'a lot of tine'to do 00activity with us."

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4.

(continued fron pare 6)Only one student in the class, a

yount, sun from Taiwan: did not findthe journal helpful. Re exnlained,"I don't know what I am writinr. I

tried to find a subject to write be-fore I vent to class every day, but Ifail. I have n suggestion that is wecan do it as a diary at home. If thisis possible. I will do it better."Ulna connents: Anise advantare to .

the journal is that a request such asthis can be easily fulfilled. Thisparticular student now writes in his -

journal at hone and brints it to rea few minutea before class starts. I

have less difficulty than he in writingquick response, mad our new system .

seens to be workinr out setisfactorily.':

.4The journals net ne throughall kinds of tense situatione

Joy Kreeft taurht a 15-week busi-ness English course for ESL students. .

with the Arlington CountyAdult Edu-cation Prorram. Two hours of each .

day were spent learning business vo- .

cabulary, simulatinn business situartions and doing business writint.One hour mas devoted to grammar study.The students eTote in dialorue journalsfor 20 minutes, three days a week;before one of the two breaks (so theycould take nore tine if they neededit). This was a joyous tine during .

which the students read and wroteeagerly, often breakinn the silencewith laughter about swathing Joy had .

arittenor somethinn they werewritinf: back. Joy relates! slhe ,

grammar part of the course tends tobe a high-tension experience forthese adult students because "nramnaeis in effect a standard. So "learn -

inn" in this hour becomes an effortto neasure up to this high standard -to neasure up tom, to what theythink I want them to achieve. I

Tante to do the journals so thestudents would have an experience ofdoinn their.= learning, of beinnable to start where they are andtalk to ne. The journals get nethrourb all kinds of tense situations..

On one day we.bad a rrammar test which,judninn fror their behavior and looksafterwards, was devastatint.- I couldtell that they didn't feel very roodat all. After they turned in theirtests, they irpediately went to theirjournals end the atrxsphere in theclassroon chanted. As tbey beran toread and write, their faces andposture relaxed, and they laurhedane. wrote freely. It was as ifthey were letting their bearingsatain and remeMbering that we hadthinss to say to each other and wewere capable of sayinr them.'

Joy also found that as the stu-dents wrote, they'told about theirprevious experiences in businessand asked questions about businessoptions for the future. As a .result,

she was able to do sone 'career coun-seling' in the journals and structureher.course to suit the stOdents'individual backnrounds and neetparticular needs. The following aresoneaxamples of background informa-tion, questions, and requests thatprovided valuable input as she struc-tured her COMM,

Student 1: Mb. breeft, Irealyuant to join the computer ease...did you think its good for me?...1" just want to know the computerbecause that yrs so popular nowand Im sure all of the companieswill use that machine too in thenear future. Maybe if you knowsome University about computerssystems, let me now please.

Student 2: What do you t4inkaboutmy situation. 1" like to studyBusiness but 1" think it is botterto studY other degree in this coun-try. r like International marketingand Z have experience in computers.1" don't know what will Z study here.What ao you say?

Ctudent 3: There is a ichooZ isnear to my home and in that school

can receive or take 'Tata pro-cess' and English classes. Well,

/will be taking.

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Student 4: tt, first job was in aWater cowpony where worked duringthree years. in that job got a lotof experience in useaZZ kind the .

machines eledtric typeortter:culator, I.B.11. progranntinow thenlater I got a good position asPResident's secretary in one ofmore femme exwpany in my city...where my duties were typing. pre-paring agenda, preparing aZZ theappointment of the Presdient, die-tation in shorthand, telephone .call.

"A chance to share feelizrs,koowledre and talents'

Linda Hazer used dialozue journalsin 'a nine-week ESL prorran at Thiry- -

nount Colley in Arlinr.ton,in connection with readinr classes.at advanced, berinninr and interme-diate levels. She bad 12 students,who wrote for the first 15 to 20:minutes of class five days a week.The journal writinr not only allowedher 'to personalize her teachinn.but provided her students with theopportunity to express thenselves .

freely about topics of their ownchoosinr with positive feedbackfron Linda and rave then a chance -

to share feelinrs, knowledre, andtalebts they nay not othervise.have shared. One student co:ranted,...yoU can- talk to your teacher

about a lot of thinns, that nay. beyou can't do it in class or-afterit." It also rave- students a .

chance to ezperinent with Enzlishstructures that they rtir.ht nototherwise have dared to use. Thetwo exanples that follow rive ..poperful evidence of the freed= andcteativity that sone students exper-ience When writinz in dialoguejournals: .Student 1: Sometimes I think it isnot easy to be a daughter and cawbe by yourself. I Lunt to do whatever my father think fe good for me,but semetimes it is not the thingsI would like to do.-:.ey the way hethinks that Business Administration .

is a good career for the future,but I think thiit I bay not born formathenutic. I itZwys drew: to bea good painter; droving becutifulsimagines about the earth or faces.I could not even think to be aZZday long eitting on a chair infront of a desk having problems toresolve. By this manent, I wouldlike to live in another city, I donot want.to go Zack to Honduras.I reaZZy do not like that country.I feel terrible and oppressive.For my future, I alwxys been think-ing to live in a prai rie vith theocean new; my house beaittifulltrees around my housiand naturalair. I want to be free and be myself.

Teacher:" Srielberg's next greatsuccess we Close Encounters of theThird Hine. Did you see that? Ithought it was fun, bit rather silly.After this movie many' people reportedhaving cosmic, other world everzences.I guess it's remotely possible, butI'm very skeptical.' What do youthink about UFO's (unidentified flyingobjects). Rave you ever seen one?Do you blow anyone who has seenone? Po people in Honduras believe inthem 129 much as Americans seen to?

Studenit In my country there wassemething strange that I think no-body is going to forget. It hap-pened two years ago. All the lightsof the city vent off. And for amoment something red crossed the Owfrom east to west. And half an hourit happened in the oapital and thenin a little tom coaled Pinalejo.me t.v. vent off and' the radioswent craw,. I didn't see ale redthing: f'only remember a noise.It was like the sound of a violin.The dogs of the house barked andthe birds were restlees. Sanepeolge of my country believe inthese things oalted UFOs but some ofthem don't; I believe in it. Ithink there are other people like usin other galaxies. 11xybe more ad-

vanced than we are, right now.

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"Students es teachers'

Shelley Cutstein, mho nou teachesESL at George ashinrton UniversitY,first used dialorue journals in

-

19C1 with her lom intermediate class.of Japanese stueents learning Enr-lish in a sumner prorrat, at theUniversity of Tennessee at Rutin.Rer students stueied rxammar withher for two hours daily for ten .

weets. They wrote for 15-20 min-utes at the berinninr of each class.Shelley found that the journals pro-ville a forun for.the exchanre ofcultural information, and, as such,alloy the student to temporarilyassume the role of 'teacher.' "Inthe journals, I could begin to under-stand their culture and social values.They bad the opportunity to teachme irnortant concepts in theirlannuare through explanations in thejournal. This cultural informationis vital to social communication.'An example of the kind of infor-mation exchanre that occurred in thejournals comas from the journal ofAkihiro:

Teacher: Ilamderstand very wellyour feeling about your parents.Men I went to Spain I jalt thesame my.../ vas older than you are(I was 23) but my experience was thesame as yours'Makarinaihitaki?

Student By the way ((TOXOROVC))Why did you know Japanese words?(WAX4R1P48EI7A3CA?) When I readthis jownal, Imes surprisedDo ycu think that you want to knowmore Japanese? Then I'm Japaneseteacher?????

Teacher: les, I'd LOVE to kncwmore Japanese. Will you be atyJapanese teacher? haybe you canteach me during mv OYU* hours orat another time. TOXORODE I thinkyou will be a rine teaoher. IhopeI'm as good a student as youare. Coh, the reason I know Japanesewords is because I like Japanesepeople (especially my students!) andI want to learn about Japan.

Student: I said a slip of the tongueyesterday You wrote on Brack-board, 'As hungry as 3B students."Then EVerigxA! in class said.rShi-tsu-reina' (Japanese) You said"What?', wanted toteach you what everybody said. AndI saw my dictionary. Then.Ijaeleduneasy. rrim sorry."(sa-rsv-RErna = impolite) Japa-nese students' um& zn fasion. Weuse to make a joke. please permit:

Teacher: / am Zearning a great dealabout Japanese culture--by makingmistakes:- In America ths sentenceabout being hungry is fUnny, butnot impolite. I was surprised thatthe class reacted then, and whenwe talked about age today. But Iwoe nOt angry.

*A'sentence like this'Vdoul not be usedas an example in a classroom in Japan.To refer to acquaintances in a vay thatcan be interpreted as nevitive is 'impolite.

"Some questions from a teacher'

Richard Vann used dialorue journaluwith a low intermediate ESL class atGeorre thishinrton University. His12 students wrote for 15 minutes aday. Durinr his presentation,Richard.raised sone important ques-tions about the use of the journals.All of us, at sone tine or another,nust answer these questions for our-selves:- Dom much time should students be

given to write? Should journalwriting be done every day?Should it be done during classtime OT on individual ttne?(Richard found that his stu-dents had trouble expressingthemselves vithin the 15 nin-ute tine limit that he had set.)Should students be allowed or en-Couraged to take their journalshone to write? (fle found thatif his students took their jour-nals bone, they forret them thenext day.)lhat should be done if a studentdoesn't feel motivated to writeor simply cannot think of any-thin? to write?

18

- "hat if you, the teacher, don'tfeel notivated to write?

- Vhat if the student wantl his/her writing, to be nraded?Sow can you respond to the'good performance syndrome'

of sone students --such a fearof writing something that is.not 'perfect' that, it beconesimossible to write anythingat all?Now can you respond to the'conposition syndrome' --whenthe student feels that allwriting' nust take the form ofa school essay about such topicsas 'Transportation in my country,'and so writes one such essay inthe journal each day?

- Does writing in a dialogue journalincrease a teacher's workloadto an unnanareable or undesirableextent?

Perhaps sone of you have sonegood answers! These are the kindsof questions teachers often raisewhen they first begin.

BENEFITS IN DIVERSE SETTINGS

The third panel consisted ofinstructors using dialorue journalsin diverse settinns prisem educa-tion, graduate research seminars,teacher training, and foreign lan-guage classes. Eere are their in-sights:

"Understanding the real nature ofwriting as a dialogue

Ceil Lucas, who has used thejoniiali-E-Fonposition classesshe teaches at Lorton Prison (seeNewsletter II), found that the.dia-lonue helped her with ber students'(anes 20-50) bad attitudes aboutwriting. "They saw writing as a dry,formal process. The dialoguejournals helped ,then understand thereal nature of writing as a dialoguebetween writer and reader. It alsohelped then work out how.to handletheir tine to plan goals for usinntheir tine in prison creatively,and it allowed ne -.an outsider .

and a woman - to help then thinkthrough those plans."

Ceil found that they discuss lifeissues that they bad no tine to talkabout in class, or that they wouldnever have brought up in face-to-face codnunication.. She said thegreatest benefit to her was the*.excitehent" of reading their en-tries. 'I found I was so anxiousto know what they said that I'dtry to read then, while driving backfvm Lorton to D,C, ! And the journalsgave re instances that fit exactlythe content of ny class - style dif-ferences; voice, addressing ai audi-ence - so I could explain and rein-force in the journals the*conceptstaught in class, answering their ques-tions by pointing out instances intheir own entries. I could show thenthat they also had a 'style' uniqueto

The following is a typical exampleof the kind of conversation Cell hadwith her students. 'jos" is in hisforties, and has been in end out ofprison for a good part of his adultlife.

Cell: Why do you write poetry?

Joe: I enjoy saying things in a waythat possibly noone else has saidthem. The rhythms of words in con-junction with my thoughts end thenset to paper turnS me cm

The *hough* idea that csay'aperson who is in tune with mythoughts will be enjoying my wordsturns me on.

X enjoy--words and phrases withimplicit meanings.'

Ceil: As Tuns driving home Matweek and again when l'24kidthio,I thought to myself Vow can some-one who writes poetry, amagood,interesting poetru to boot, saythat he doesn't underst2nd the stylesheet?' Ifyou can talk about "therhythm of wordein oanjunation withmy thoughts,' then you must be ableto see it in other peopWl writing,no? TO see the choices that theyhave made---ien't it the same choiceprocess that you use vhen you write?

Do you write poetry at particulartimes? Why do you write vhen? Whoare you talking to?

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19

Joe: The only resemblance in mywriting to that of other writers isthat we use words. Trained writersharmaieethod in their workwhere-as, I only have a knootedge of wordusage and write purely frominstinetof what should go where. Scan re-cognize that my work sometimes 'kickscontinuity beoauseIwrite as Ithink which at times is incoherent..

Cent Well, llm gonna keep on argu-ing! I believe that ifyou ask anytrainedwriter. he would say thatwriting is, as you say, a knowledgeof word usage and instinct, andlac would say that writing isthinking. IS there sometarTg wronguith saving to yourself and others,lky Icon writer...

chance to ash (and answer)practical questions.'

'Mosta roderick, University ofUhryland School of Education, ba-ron using. Cialonue Journals in acourse for teachers in LannunneArts which met twice a week. Che -

fouald that they were inmediatelyhelpful in supportint the colmveemphasis on individunliset! instruc-tion. She found her students wereactually/Eta:in the dialorue journalsthe types 6f writing they were studying,tryinr out different types ofwritinn. Because of the intensivetwice-e-weet neetinrs, the dialonuejournals also nave students achance to ask Jescie practicalquestions about how to apply thetheories and concepts stressed inclass: this aspect helped her indi-vi4ualise the instruction to neattheir needs. St* sunnested theirjournal maim, footle on "LannuaneArts and Learninr,r and many oftba students used this theme toreflect on their own teachinr lnrelation to broader experiences.

20

"Gopinn with real diversitf

2111 Stokoe, Linruistics researchLaboratory, Gallaudet Gollere,found the benefits to him were incommnicatinr with students in aresearch seminar in firm Larnaca'core deaf, some normal hearinr, onefro!' forairn country and onevisually handicapped! The indi-vidual dialorues tteve him feedbackfrom each student about course con-tent and an opportunity to explainwhat tba student nirht not have beenable to understand in class.

reraandinr ny ctudents' use ofwritten Portunuese"

Jose Conceives, Cociolinruistics Pro-from, Georretoun University, teachesPorturuese to Amyl= students. Tic

found dint "dialorue journals in aforeirn lancuere situation helped ree xpand ny students' use of writtenPorttrUese beyond the literacy topicsPresented in their tarts to everydaylife situations. It also helped neto correct easily their use of falsecornates from Enrlisb and Spanish,a particular prOblen in rnsterinrPorturuese, by beinr able to writeback and model the correct Portunueseword or phrase.

tralkillt connections between eachperson and the discipline'.

Rorer Shuy, Sociolinruistics Pro-!Iran, Georretown University, used thejournals as an interval part ofa rradunte course in a sociolin-ruictics fieldwork claso, bavinrstudents Mite their observationsand relfections about each linnuis-tic fieldwork assirnnent. UM said,'.1hat I've learned from ?min" thediclorue journals vas that I had a.lot of rads for this class, beyondthe learninr of methods, sorA ofwhich I hadn't made explicit tootudents, some of which I'n not toosure I tnew, until I found nyselfwritinr then out as a response to aquestion. The erreatese benefitto ve was that in eareadinr thejournals for this presentation, I

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found that it teurht ne what nyreal roala for the field methodscourse were - which weren't theones listed in the course outline. Thedialorne jourcalc =tended nyteachinr beyonZ the ostensible topicefield rethodal, and even beyondthe diocipline (linnuistics) intolife topics. Ue ended up discussinrbow to rake connections between eacbperson's life (includinn mine) andthe topics and discipline we were in.

renranu connmcrommalr can=

'Te have a feu overseas corr4spondentsin South Africa, Australia, South andCentral Arerica. !Torbert 'Aileen is one,nou teachinn in Colonbia. Eere'a hisreport, filed Moist 30, 19a2.

"A little less than a year aro, I wasmost interested to read in the Octoberlorl issue of THE Lucas= LEPOnTEE,your article "Literacy as an InteractiveProcess." I have been usinn thesystel of dialonue journals with stu-dents here in a course calls: EnnlishUorkshop. I have found enthusiasticparticipntion. That is: to say studentsare nore willinn to write, and seemnost nleased by the personal attention.I can understand this, since as youwell tam, compositions usually neta rrade, or at rest an in-clacsreadinn, never a carefully consideredcomplete reoponse fron a thin:dunhewn beinr and an invitation to keepcorresnondinn. It is still too earlyto be sure of overall restlts, I feel,but the fact of writinn more, ofuritinr for real cormnicative reasons,not just as a classroom procedure, ofreadinn and evaluatinr that readily,for a written response--all of thisis nenuine connunicative activity andI can't see bow it can fail to buildnot only writinn skills, but all of theother skills as,yell by developinnthe cornitive processec basic to len-nuare far any purpose. at any level,and in any of its nanifestationa.-

21

SPOTLICnTS: Publications -Conferences and roe:shops

A tnnber of us nre involved in rivinnworkshops, conference papers and inpublisbinr our experiences. If you'lllet us know about your activities,we'll include then in this space.

Future Conferences and :7Ortshons

October 1 and 2, 19Z2 --Ixneriencinr 'real' tarlish!"Iritinn a Dialorue Journal"Shelby Cutstein, Joy ',treat, ChristineWald, end Carol Ilarnatz, l'ashinntonArea TESOL 9Orkshop.

november 19, 192'You Can Loot It Up in Your VIM':

Findinna fron Classroon research onDialorue JournalJana Staton, research Paper at thenational Council of Teachers ofEnnlish, lashinrton, D. C.

ray 1913 -qearninr Literacy throw* DialorusJournals."Leclee reed Jana Stnton, Joy r.reeft:nuinda Strube,Selma Eorowitz, SaraSill, :trona Ramirez Gray, TAIT AnnPusey, Symosium, InternationalReadinr Association, Anaheim, Calif.

Publications

"Thinkinr Torether: The Rola of Lan-:Nene Interaction in Developinc Children'sThinkinr1- Jana Staten, to appeor as ahandbook in the Talkinr and.nritinr Series,Basic Skills Inprovement Prorran, U. S.Dept. of Education (Dec. lOC2).

'tialorue Journals Learninr Oppor- st*tunity for Students and Their Teachers" -Farraret Crocker, ZaAfax, acova Scotia,subnitte to Elrhway One, Journal of theCanadian Council of Teachers of Ennlish.

"!Iritten Lanruane (rowth in Younn Children:Mat re Are Learninr. froti ItesearcVliarcia ?err, to appear as a handbook inthe Talkinr and !lritinr Series , BasicSkills Inproverent Prorran, V. S. Dept.of Education (Dec. 1902).

&stile word yet from ZirhUnv One, butJ'a the article will appear in Del-

bousie Univ. :Junocraphs, L.S.)

Volume I, No. 3

Center for AppliedLinguistics

3520 Prospect St., N.V.Washington,D.C.

THE NEWSLETTER ABOUT DIALOGUE JOURNALS20007

April, 1983

Editor: Jana Staton

STUDENTS' VIEWS OF DIALOGUE JOURNALS

We promised that this issue would present the benefits --and drawbacks --of engagingin dialogue journals from the students' point of view, to accompany the "Benefitsto the Teacher" in our second issue. We believe strongly that the student's understandingof this experience is a crucial validation of its value, and that we nust pay closeattention to whit they say about it. Hare is a sampling, from 2nd grade, 6th grade,high school, and college/adult levels.

"You only look up in your mind"

These excerpts are from interviewswith Leslie* Reed's students, 6th grade,in 1981. All are learning English as asecond language.

Claudia: "I would ask her what a wordlike 'chemistry' means. I didn'tknow, and in the dictionary I lookedfor it, but didn't really understandit. And she explained it to me[in thejournal]. There are some questionsyou don't understand and you have tolook it up in the dictionary. If youdon't understand the dictionary, youuse the journal. It's a kind of dic-tionary."

* * * * *Martin: "If have a queation, and I

feel embarrassed to ask her personal-ly, I could write her in the journal.It's easier. You don't have to tellher personally, you can just writeit, and he'll asnwer it back. BeforeI didn't write that much about my-self, but now I do."

* * * * *Benny: "I just hate the journal. I

don't like writing in it. At thestarting of the year, I didn't mindso much, but now I do."

Int: "What do you think made the dif-ference?"

Benny: I. bored. I don't want towrite in my journal. Nov our workis getting hard and I try to gethome so I just leave my journal.When she gets mad at me for some-thing I don't do, that's when Iwrite in my journal, hate you!"

Int: "Then what happens?"

- 1 -

22

"You only look op-- cont.

Benny: "She writes, 'you may hate me but2 don't hate you.... I. going to keep myjournal... I'm going to'burn itl"

* * * * *Letitia: "It helped me to learn English

better, because I say something that doesn'tmake sense, and sometimes she writes mn thesame but with different words and I under-stand a:d so next time I put it right."

* * * *Int:"Do you write just three sentences?"Claudia: No-000!"- -----,Int: " Why not? You don't have to."Claudia: "When you write just three sent-ences, it seems like you don't explainanything, and you don't have anything funto read. It doesn't fit. Most of thetime she writes the same as I write.

Int: "Why does she vrite more when youwrite more?"

Claudia: "Because I tell her more subjects,more things to talk about. "

* * * * *Nicole: "Reports is-- you have to look upMa and everything, but journal is.mhatyou only look up in your mind and youwrite whatever you want. "

* * * *Amyl "When we are writing in journals,

she doesn't act like a teacher. She doesn'tinsist on her thing...she just answers myquestions and tells me what she thinks.But she doesn't say you shouldn't thinklike that, like some people."

IN THIS ISSUE:Student Views page 1New Applications . . . page 4!Learning disabled, migrant

students featured]Leslee's Corner page 6Reader Questions page 7Research --Next issue . . page 7

"I found incredible thints" - GraduateESL students

Nina Turitz, an instructor at theHaryland English Institute, asked thethirteen graduate students in herintensive English class to give her theirevaluations of the dialogue journals,which they had kept with her for asemester (at first writing every day inclass, and gradually at hook on theirown time). She writes:

Eight students felt the activity hada positive effect on their writing:"Writing on different aspects and indifferent fields helped me to expressmyself. The more I write, the more Iimprove my way of %miring." from anEgyptian student. Four students expresaedthe desire that their journals becorrected for their grammatical errors.(In my rather limited experience -- twosemesters -- with dialogue journals, thereare always a few who feel this way.

Students commented that they appre-ciated the journals because they enabledthem to communicate in writing what theyfound too difficult to express orally.A student from Shanghai said:

"At the beginning most foreigner can-not speak very fluently. They are afraidto make mistakes when they speak. So theycan use journals to explain."

Perhaps the most touching and per-ceptive comments came from a Korean manstudying counseling:

"At first, I confused to writejournals, because I did not have enoughability to write English and I don't wantto open my mind to other people, includemy teacher. So, sometimes I hesitated towrite journals and sometimes I upset fromthe journals.

One month later, I found incrediblethings. That was my journals. A lot ofpages were covered by dialogues with myteacher, and very, very importantlhimesand contentever psychological problems--have discussed.... Some days my teacherencouraged about English study. Somedays she gave me good suggestions. Atlast, I found the hidden meaning of thedialogue journals."

2

"To tell almost everything I have keptdeep inside7

Christine Meloni, who teaches ESLat George Washington University, sharesthis final entry from an Iraqi student:

"I really don't want to finishtalking with you on these silent papers,but I hope these white papers tell youabout what I have carried as muchthoughtful as I have carried to myself.I can't imagine how I was enjoyingwriting in this small notebook and howmuch I was waiting to know your opinion,your beautiful answers, and your wonderfulfeelings.

I don't want to end writing to you,because I loved this writing: so I haveloved the person who let me express myselfin the class environment and outside it,and let me avoid being shy to tell almosteverythang that I have kept deep insidemyself.

always flip theapases. wantingto read your opinions"

Al Callaudet College in Washington, D.C.,deaf students are keeping dialogue jour-nals with their instructors in severalEnglish Language program classes. Nastdeaf students are learning written Eng-lish as a second language, and manydislike writing tasks in a languagewhich they have never used for func-tional conversation. Here is one stu-dent's perspective on his first en-counter with meaningful interactivewriting:

"Writing journal is a great idea andI really enjoy doing it. I love thejournal because it has a lot of writingand communications or feedbacks. WhenI come into here, I always flip the pages,wanting to read your opinions or stories.I always think About many things or beau-tiful pictures in my mind, and I fre-quently feel like to write about thosethings but I never did. But I do nowafter I notice how mud: I enjoy the jour-nal. ...I really enjoy writing and getfeedback from you as we're a lot thesame and I'm glad to know that we aresimilar to oath other!"

23

":Xou are less feeling afraid"

goy Kreefts adult ESL studentsinterviewed each other about theirreactions to the dialogue journalexperience.

"You know the first time that I wrotein my journal I was very afraid ofwriting. And now I can write easily.I'm not afraid to write. It's veryeasy for me writing. Also, when I writea letter, it's easy for my because I'mnot afraid of writing now. After youwrite in a journal for 3 1/2 months youare able to try everything. You are lessfeeling afraid and then you are ableto write in any journal or any paperthat you have to write."- Carmen

"I can review new words. When I am %writing, I sometimes check a dictionaryand then ask her what a word means.Sometimes she gives me the correctanswer and sometimes she is confused."-Jaime

"I always ask everything, anything thatI want. I cannot stop asking. I usethe journal to ask everything that Idon't know. As long as I get thisopportunity, I will not stop askingthings in the journal. We can learn a*lot by asking." - Widi

* * INT'L READING ASSOCIATION * * *ANNUAL CONVENTION, MAY 4

Learning Literacy through Dialogue Journals"a symposium on dialogue journal use focus-ing on reading/writing acquisition across

levels.

dEDNESDAY, MAY 4, 2-4:45, Convention CenterCalifornia I

Stop by even if you can't attend, to say hello.

"It is GGG-rate. I like it"

Deborah Jaffer, a reading specialistin Philadelphia and a doctoral candidateat the Univ. of Pennsylvania, began usingdialogue journals with a group of secondgraders last year, as a regular part oftheir daily reading class with her. Atthe end of the year, as .good ethnographer,she documented the participant reactionsto this new experience. Here are thewritten readtions of 7 and 8 year oldsto dialogue journals:

"It is GO-rate. I like it. I don'tknow why but it is fun. I Love it. It isthe Best in the world. Theires millionsof things to say I will tell you 1 ofthem. Because it's just like eatingcandy bar. Became it is fun. It is evenfunner than eating a candy bar." (from a7 year old girl who is exttemely.shy.inoral interaction.)

"Meanwhile I love this kind of writing.If you want to know why Chen I'll tell you.If I want to write to you, then I don'tknow what the teacher is thinking to sayto me. Maybe she will say something good.And mabe she will put a mark I've neverherd of, or maybe a mark I cannot understand well anyway: It is Best to write Backto you...GoodByel I've wish I could stay.(an year old boy who stated that hehates writing.)

"It was kind of neat and fun and different.And it some time funny. And I sometimedon't like it. I can't think of anything."(8 year old girl)

"It was fun here. Because I feel likeI was writing a real letter. It was likeI'm a letter writer." (7 year old bi-lingual boy from the Phillipines.)

* * * WORKSHOP REQUEST * * *Peggy Roberts, of Ashby, Mass.(north ofBoston) has written to us asking if anyonein Massachusetts or nearby states usingdialogue journals would be available tospeak to teathers in Ashby, or give a work-shop on their use.(We guess she means atelementary level). Peggy's address is37 Jewell Road, Ashby, Mass.We don't know of anyone in tne Boston area,but if any of you do, please pass on thisnotice and Peggy's address.

3

24

NEW APPLICATIONS

When we started, our focus was on theuse of dialogue journal communication in aself-contained classroomcwith 'average'students. But many of the 300 or sopeople who are on our mailing list are atother levels, so we keep learning aboutnew applications. Here are samewonderful ones.

Dialogues with Learning Disabled StudentsRoberta Steinberg

Roberta Steinberg, uauany known asKeeny, has begun dialogue journals thisyear with her learning disabled students,who have a variety of problems: emotional,perceptual, auditory processing, mildautism. Keeny's school, Oakwood Schoolin Fairfax County, follows a countyLanguage Arts curriculum which requiresstudents to keep personal journals.

Keeny found, however, that the studentswrote 'junk' in their journals. It wasjust an assignment that they fulfilledas quickly as possible, without thinkingat all about the quality of their writing.So this year she began writing an4 foundthat the students now feel moreaccountable for what they write; it mustbe legible and comprehensible, becausethey must write for an audience, her. Shehas noticed a big difference in theirdialogue journals this year from thoseof last year, when she did not writeback.

The students write 2 or 3 times a week.They are given time in class (5-15 mins.)and told how many sentences to write (forexample, she will tell them to write 3, 4,or 5 sentences that day). Many feelsthat they need that much structure toguide them. If they wrote every day,they wouldn't have anything to say.

Whether there are signs of languageimprovement or not, the writing is agood outlet for these students' feelings.The students are so eager to read herresponses, ven though they do notwrite every day, that they take theirjournals from her desk to see what shehas written, and they sometimes checkevery day to see if she has writtensomething.

- 4 -

.4,

The stueents write about thingsthey would never talk about in class.One student.wrote:

"Sometimes I limp when I walk. I likeit at school because no one notices. Athome they notice and tease me."

Keeny would have had no idea thatElizabeth felt this way without thejournal dialogue.

"Whv You Call me Emigrant?"

(excerpts from a forthcoming articlein Childhood Education on dialoguejournals, by Fran Davis,Coordinator, NewJersey HAP:-S project)

as part of a migrant education projectfonded by.the U.S. Office of EducationProgram, Title I ESEA,webegan the useof dialogue-journal writing as atechnique for counselor use with students.The project, New Jersey Project HAP -S,was concerned with developing a modelfor aiding migrant junior and senior highschool youth obtain career and occupationalinformation and self-understanding ofcareer goals. The goals of the journalwriting were that students woulddevelop greater fluency through writingand reveal through their writings the$rlevels of occupational and careerconcept understanding.

Our belief was that writing is aprocess which undergirds and extends thewriter's conceptual understanding. Further,that writing developing from the individual'soral language experience, first utilizesthe expressive mode. The writings inwhich our migrant students first engagedwas personal and expressive in nature.These students then moved, at their owndirection, to more referential and sometimespoetic writings. These often involved

,

understandings or misconceptions aboutmigrant status and the occupational world.The writing frequently requested informationor clarification of ideas and indicatedthe attitudes or desires of the students.

25

Emigrant. cont.

Excerpts from some of their journalsillustrate these aspects as well as themingling of personal and referentialwriting.

Clarification Request:

S: Why they call is program Education forEmigrant? I believe that this programshould have a different name because noneof as are emigrant. We have the same rightsawl priblich the American people have.

Teacher reiponse:

I agree. I also believe this programshvuld be named differently. Migrants dohave the same rights and privileges asother American people. However, we foundthe money for this prograM under migranteducation funding and that is the reasonfor the name Nigrant". At one time oranother most parents of the students inthe program migrated from Puerto Rico orsome other place to Hew Jersey to work...

Attitude:

S:I have a job at the auction and we justgot new girls working there. I've beenworking there for almost three years andI feel like I have to compete with theothers. I like the pype of work I'm doingwhich is a sales.person but, I don't knowhow to solve my problem. do you think I'mgetting bored with the job or I just don'twant to compete...The kind of work Isee myself doing, well working with peopleis a very broad subject and it doesn'tmatter the type of work as long as itshelping someone...It takes me time to write a poem eel*

Poem

Why is it so hard to be me?Why do I pretend to be allThe things I seeWhy can't I be Freeand let everything insidecome out, is itBecause I'm afraidI won't be liked forwho I am. is becausethey still won'tmaeme as me. PleaseTell me why I can'tBe me.

Teacher Response:

In solving your problems, you need tobegin to take them apart and look at eachpiece. Are the girls already friendsbefore they came to work? Are the girlsexcluding you? Do they look down on you?

I know you like to work with people, thatin itself will make you less competitiveand more caring. But if you get paidto sell, you must sell. Why don't youtry talking to them. If you are reallybored, maybe you can ask your boss tochange your type of work for awhile.

Acually your poem answers your preoccupationabout your co-vorkers and how you feel.It is natural to feel the way you feelnuw. Just keep on looking and explaining,writing and reading what others writeto compare and you'll do alright. Themore you understand and like yourself,the less scared you'll be of othersdisliking you.

Parent -Student-Teacher Dialogues

In the Huntington Public Schools ofLong Island, a 4th grade teacher, CleoKohm, has created a version of the dialoguejournal which involves parents as wellas students. Its purpose is to encouragea three-vay dialogue, and for Cleo andher students, it really seems to work(although with older students and someyounger ones, involving parents in thismay would probably prevent many studentsfrom complaining and being very.open).

From the notes that Carol Hittleman(the curriculum specialist at HuntingtonSchools) shared with us, we gather thatstudents may keep a personal journal all week,but on Friday morning, they write a letterin their journal.to their parentsrecapping the events of the ;owe:L-5105Wthe school day, Cleo reads the lettersand responds to the students' communica-tions. She returns the journals to thestudents before they go home on Friday.The students take their journal bookshome to share with their parents.

The parents read the student's

es

ta

grim Messes' Levis, Colorado Springs

(is timid Like to ham the else of Mrs.elese(es). Age the esnments given

here lie the Liegulatie Reporter

ertiele, Ost. Mil typical of thelees* of bee daily responses to eachstudent'

Net sL/ steams' gene "a sissificant,laesesetles, avowals relatioeship withtowhee." Mist de yes suggest doing

with thee/

AA Nes. Reed's glasses average about 28e tudeses, la a selfseataimed settles.The bele( omens we've atm quotedsee useslly smeerpts free a completedaily amehmess, ehleh OBS vary (forMk raises) hem theeeventeaceemobseges, to tether leagthy multi-part 414,148. Our vele of thumb isti try to welts "about as mute as theetudes& Mess bee seeseally teachersteed to forme ea the ears Importanttopies, amd probably doet write quitees mesh as mest stadiums.

Saab steles& hes the Melee to keepthe dialogue ea a "safe" level, andfee some students, a sissificaatisterestive relatleaship with theMetre never develops. Narsaret Crocker,fres Nsiliaa, Neva Simla, la a recentartiele gave seed sewer to thisKibbe% am/ we quote hees

lest set all simians respondsathmelastlesny, fussily oe WOO inea Imeelestieswey te dialogue journals.WM semisoft feel reserved aboutempeessims their personal feelingsemd merely write dry mamas of recentpast seems*. Ifie la the student'speregetiee MI although the teachermay emeserage amesesise es personalimeerestleawith skillful responses,sens studseas neimeala their distance.Ibis 41111 be IMO& mistrust of teachersr simarbessues the student does notfee& eamfeetable ',cities expressivelyafter yeses Si Set hewing theoppertemity to is se. Poe the teacher,

such writing may be boring over along period of time but it makesit all the more important to supportthe tulent's writing in positivegannet."

...REVIEW OF CURRENT RESEARCH: NEU ISSUE

Nexf, issue, we plan to review brieflyresearch Acurrently underway or beingplanned, focusing on dialogue journals.This particularly includes doctoraldissertations, (after all, that's how theoriginal NIS study began, as Jana Staton'sdissertation in counseling psychology).

We already have information on thefollowing studies:

A Study of Audience Awareness in

USI2SILL.12unalLAL...larandr_GsastaStudentsDeborah Jaffer,University of Penn

Dielotue Journal Use in a Requirtia

lachnicaLliatiaLLMIKAILIaLSallestJuniors (this has a control groupdesign)

Marsha MarkmanUniversity of Maryland

tlithsulLst...Masialna.ludiaLlsnianswar.alliassmiLagunaluaLasaLmaceza.

Jana Staton, Bill Stokoe,Roger Shuy

Gallaudet College

Acquisition of Literacy in a SecondLanauane: Use of Dialosue Journals

Cantle HayesUniversity of Texas,

San Antonio

We know there are more researchefforts going on out there: if you'll sendus a 200-word description of what you'redoing, or would like to do, we'll include'it. The next issue is likely to emergeabout July, so why not send something offnow? Be sure to include how others maywrite or call you for more information.7

2

Volume I, No. 4

Center for AppliedLinguistics

3520 Prospect St.,N.W.Washington, D.C. 20007

THE NEWSLETTER ABOUT DIALOGUE JOURNALS

August, 1983

Editors: Jana StatonJoy Kreeft

' Shelley Gutstein

Research issues: Elusive Definitions

-Shelley Gutstein

in conducting resaarch, one of thefirst ihings we do is define our terms suchthat we can sa pertinent research questionsabout the smoject of our study. Sometimesthis is tbj most difficult task we face asresearchers, since often we want to askquestions about concepts which defyprecise definition. Fluency is an exampleof such an elusive concept. We haveintuitive notions--something like aprototype--of what fluency means inlanguage learning. We knosi that wewant our students to develop in bothspoken and written fluency. But whenasked what will help them achieve this,we don't know. Many of us feel thatdialogue journals facilitate,fluency,but because our definition of fluency isnot clear, we cannot show how it happens.

Fillmore (1979) offers a definition oforal fluency which-may well transfer tothe written medium. According to Fillmore(p. 93), a speaker is fluent in a languageif he is able to 1) fill time with talk,2) talk in coherent, reasoned sentences,3) have appropriate things ta say in a widerange of contexts, and 4) be creative andimaginitive in.language use. A fluentspeaker, therefore, possesses all fourof these characteristics.

.

Since dialogue journal:writing othibitsmany of the stme.characteristics as orallanguage, parallel criteria.to thoseFillmore'suggests for speechAmight provideclues to the development of fluency indialogUe journal writing. A definition'of fluency in this context might be asfollows.

First, a.fluent writer is one who canwrite at length with few pauses. This isnot to be confUsed with quentity of writing,since fluent's/Titer:vein convey theirideas in relatively'few Sentences. Afluent writer, then, liTiteevasily andquickly..-.SeCond,..*fluentwriter writesin coherent,--reeiOneOlentences. TheiesentenceSTefleet-greiMaticel accuracy,but more.iMiOriantlthe:siMantic

(C. Fillmore;4,individual Differences inLanguage Acquisition and Lanpage Behavior.Academic Press, 1979.

. .

Atzh-,

411464.44Piig ,.NbgkiEttioa*m'iwm.: ohttig[!

and syntactic relationships between thesentences are clear. The writing has meaning.Third, a fluent writer uses language appro-priately in a wide range of contexts. Thismeans that the writer knows how to uselanguage purposively in different situations:to inform, evaluate, apologize, offer opinionsthank, etc. Studies of this functionalnature of dialogue journal writing (Shuy,1982; Gutstein, 1983ms) have suggestedthe relationship between functional languageuse and fluency, however the results arenot conclusive. Last, the fluent writeris creative and imaginative in languageuse.

It night seem that young writers orwriters in &second language might notpossess the attributes Fillmore outlines.However, there is evidence to suggest thatin dialogue journal writing students havemany of these attributes, and areacquiring more. Clearly, fluency is not adecontextualized concept. Rather, it isinfluenced lx context and is a dynamicattribute that is achieved as a result ofa process of thinking and reasoning.

The lines above represent a firstattempt at establishing several criteriafor a prototypical definition for writtenfluency, which our students' writing maymore Or less resemble. As such, it i8surely in need of refinement. Therefore,your comments, insights and suggestionson this topic are most welcame.

Research issues will be a part offuture newsletters, and we'd like to knowwhat other constructs you find "elusive".Please let us know, also, what other topicsyou would like to see discussed in thisportion of DIALOGUE.

IN THIS ISSUE:Elusive DefinitionsYoung Writers in Search

of an AudienceBack.to Grammar: What CanIt Tell Us?

Research DesignsLeslee's CornerGetting ConsentSome Reflections on Research,Dialogue and Mystery . .

A Dialogue With You

page 1

page 2

page 2page 3page 5page 6

page 7page 7

29

Reports on Research

These two studies show how important inter-action is for .anguage development.

Young writers in search of an audienceDeborah Jaffer, University of Pennsylvania

Janes Britton (1975) states that a senseof audience, 'the.ability to make adjuitmentsand choices in writing which take account ofone's audience ' is a key dimension of devel-opment in writing ability. Since adjustmentto audience is inherent in all language use,children possess a sense of audience in oralinteractions. This knowledge simply needs tobe transferred to written communication. Acommunication dyad, such as the one that existsin dialogue journal writingimay provide themeans for making the transfer from informalconversation to the traditional essay writingdone in school.

My study examines the role of dialoguejournal writing in the development of audienceawareness in the writing of 6- to 8-year oldsfrom the first and second grades in a publicschool in Philadelphia. Examples given hereshow some ways in which the students showedincreasing audience awareness:

Asking questions (Rebecca)Did you have a huaband before I met you.plese tell me.

Giving informative details to make meaningclear (Rebecca)

I will explain it like this. One day theteacher was working with a reading groupand the class got so noisy ',then they wereat the book case she told the class thatthey couldn't go to the book case any morenow do you understand?

Showing sensitivity to audience feelings(Sandy)

sory I don't no your parents and now I neverwill. I am sory that there not liveing.you are toIbet. SORT. I LOVEY 0 U.

Specifying type of answer desired, to assureaccurate information (Michael)All about me and you. my name is M.J.D. mybaithday is Sept. 21. I well be 8 years old.How old Are you. Chos the one. 30 34 4045 29 6 22 26 35 21 52 49 33if you are not oneof them put a x on theone you are the closest to.

It is my belief that because of the suppor-tive immediate feedback that dialogue journalwriting provides, these students developed asense of Audience in their writing, and thusthey moved from writing that reiembled

-2-

Audience, cont.

written down speech to more convention-alized text.This is excerpted from Deborah'sarticle in The Acquisition of Literacy:Ethnographic Perspectives. IambiSchieffelin, ed. Ablex. 'In press.Deborah Jaffer can be contacted atThe University of Pennsylvania.

Back to 'grammar': what can it tell us?Joy Kreeft, Georgetown University

What can the study of the acquisition ofgrammatical structures in ESL students'dialogue journals tell teachers? First, itprovides a picture of students' grammaticalcompetence, in the context of natural inter-action. This allows teachers to identifyproblem areas, but also students say surpriseus with abilities that would not otherwiseappear on tests and class assignments. Second,we can see how the interaction itself pro-vides the opportunity for the use and aodel-ing of a wide variety of structures that maynot otherwiie be used.

I as studying the acquisition of gramma-tical structures of six sixth-grade studentslearning English as a second language, asdemonstrated in their dialogue journal writ-ing with Leslee Reed. These students, fromfour language backgrounds (Korean, Italian,Burmese, Vietnamese/Chinese), had been inthe U.S. for less than one year when theyentered her class.

Follawftg each student's patterns of ac-quisition of different structures is excitingand informative. But the question thatinevitably comes to mind is, does the dia-logue journal writing in any way influencethis development? I think that it does.First, Mrs. Reed writes in the journal, too.When a student uses a structure, her replysometimes models that structure. For exam-ple:

Student: Jenny through ball is she isnot thought to you...

Teacher: Yes! I know Jenny threw theball at the first base...

If students are attentive to what Mrs. Reedwrites, they incorporate the structuresshe uses in their own entries. One student,after reading her questions, that almostalways began with 'did' (*Did you like ourplay?'), began all of his questions with'did,' even when he should have used thepresent tense ('Did you think we will doart tomorrow?') until he later masteredpast and present tense uses.

Continued on p. 3

Back to grammar, cont.

Second, the very act of communicatingmakes many language demands. This exampleshows one student s desire to be understood:

Andy: / like it Dpring festival3 becausevery, very, very and very happy. (Oh!This sentence wrong. I want to tellyou "fun" but I forgot so I want change"happy to "fur.")

The more that students attempt to communi-cate, the more language demands are placed onthem, and I am sure that they learn morelanguage in the process.

JoysKreeft can be reached at: The Center forApplied Linguistics, 3520 Prospect St., N.W.,Washington, D.C. 20007

DESIGNS FOR RESEARCHbeing a discussion of new research:purposes, participants, ways of org-anizing it, with, identification of thescholarly types behind the proposals.

Effects of Dialogue Writing in a CollegeComposition Course

MARSHAMARKMAN is exploring the usefulnessof dialogue journals in a required upperdivision college composition course, inwhich students are frequently anxious andalso ill-prepared for functional writingin their professions. Her design consistsof having five colleagues teaching twosections of the same'course use the dia-logue journals in one section only, thusProviding a treatment and control groupwhile controlling for instructor effects.The design will make it possible to attri-bute differences on outcome measures tothe dialogue process.

Since one semester le a brief periodto observe change in writing proficiency, -the analysis focuses on student attitudestoward the writing process, and the dialogueexperience. A content analysis of the :

journal texts will study how thewritten communication was used to fulfillindividual student needs and to meetcourse requirements(the teacher's needs!).

Marsha can be reached through theDept. of English, Univ. of Maryland,College Park, Md. 20472.

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LL- .

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Designs for Researa, cont.

Acquisition of Literacy in a SecondLanguage; Dialogue Journals in Begin-ning Spanieh Courses.

CURTIS HAYES is examining the acquisitionof Spanish as a foreign language, throughthe use of dialogue journals written inSpanish. Junior and senior high schoolSpanish classes in San Antonio, Texas pro-vide the setting. Two aspects of thisstudy distinguish it: 1) The languageused in the journals is not the languageof instruction in the school.generally,nor the home language of students. As aresult, most of the Spanish learning ob-served can probably be attributed to in-cluse activities and the dialogue journalwriting; 2) each participating teacherhas two Spanish classes, only one of whichwill Use the dialogue journals, permittingcomparisons on relevant measures.

--for more information, Wit! Dr.Curtis Hayes, Bicultural-BilingualStudies, University of Texas-San Antonio.

Language Functions in the Writing of DeafCollege Students

JOHN ALBERTINI and BONNIE MEATH-LANG sendword fres NTID of their project studyingthe writing of young deaf adults in Englishclass, in dialogue journals and more formalkinds of assigned writing. Using the writ-ing of the same students in the tio differ-ent contexts, they are comparing languagefunctions and topic choice. Among the .common language functions in the journalsare ,suggesting, evaluating, asking aboutcourse content, expressing opinions, andrequesting personal information of theinstructor. A paper on this study willbe given at the Fifth Conference on Cur-riculum Theory and Practice in Dayton,Ohio, in October.

-.-for mere information, write themat Dept. of Comrunication Research,NTID, Rochester,.New York 14623Topic Analysis in University EFL DialogueJournals

English language programs far foreignstudents emphisize acad/Amic needs whileneglecting Important personal 'life'needs. Dielogue journals enible the in-structor to take both types of needs

Research Designs, cont.

simultaneously. CHRIIMIMEMLONI isbeginning a study to analyze bow concernsof foreign students can be met throughthe journals. Her research questionsinclude: (1) ghat topics occur in entries?(2) Can tbese be categorized? (3)Do cer-tain topics, or categories occur morefrequently than others? (4) Can differ-ences in topic occurrence be related tostudents' sex, culture,.level of Englishproficiency, age,, or marital status?

Her journals come from Englith languagestudents at the George Wasibington Univ.,end she plans a sample representativeof male and female, levels of Englishproficiency(5), and from four geographicalareas: Far East, Middle East, Latin Am-erica,. and Europe.

A small sample of text will be analyzedIn order to create a model with categoriesbased on specific criteria, and the modelwill then be used to analyze the total

sample(approximately 60 students).-- for more information, write her

at Dept. of English for International Students,George Washington Univ., Washington, DC 20057

Learning to Play the Game

Human communication is something like a game--practicing all the component ''skills" doesn'thelp you to play the game. Only playing thegame for real, in actual communication whereyou have to make all the choices, zan do that.For many profoundly deaf students enterimgGallaudet College, using written Englishis a very unfamiliar game, for which theyhave practiced a lot without many oppor-tunities for meaningful and demanding play.

The Dialogue Journal Project at GallaudetCollege has been working with college and high 8school instructors. This summer, with studentand teacher consent, we have copies of 25 full-year dialogue journals and 60 journals kept forone semester, all from English Language Programclasses(a prerequisite to Freshman English.

Preliminary analysis of the journals is beingconducted by CINDY PUTHOFF(an MSSD instructor),BILL STOKOE(Director, LIL), ROGER SHUT andJANA STATON. Our focus is enthe journals as amoans of successfulcommunication, which each

student(and teacher)plays in a unique way.Research Issues

.

1. What encourages students to beginusing the dialogue journals more effective-ly? What does finding a "hot topic" haveto do with it?(Many Gally students startby uriting repetitive "safe" descriptionsof their weekends, and ignore the teacherresponses).

1.0 woOD

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2. What language and reasoning abili-ties unmeasured on regular tests do thesestudents have which the dialogue journalselicit and provide opportunities for using?

3. What teacher response strategiesseem to encourage more thoughtful, reflec-tive writing?

4. What relationships occur between ac-quisition of more complexmature reason-ing and mastery of English grammatical.usage?

Our design for the analysis begins withintensive study of the individual year-long journals, kept with the same instruc-tor. We plan in this first 'pass' throughthe data to describe the variation in pat-terns of communication, involving suchfeatures as topics, language functions,strategies for elaboration, styles ofreasoning, clarification strategies.With this understanding , we intend tolook next at those journals kept foronly the spring samester(as studentstransfer into a dialogue journal-keepingclass from another secticm). This groupof journals represents students with adelayed start, providing a kind of nat-ural control group who have receivedequal instructional treatment and arematched in length of time in program,but not in journal use.(This allowsuseof the famous "patched-up design" ofCampbell and Stanley)..

If these second semester students(new to dialogue journals) have cm-munication patterns at the beginning veryunlike their peers who have done it forseveral months, and very like the pat-.terns of use and change of those samepeers at the beginning of the fallsemester, we can make a strongerclaim that the dialogue journal prac-tice itself is responsible for thepatterns of change observed.

We also plan to explore the rola -tionthip of frequency of interactionand communication patterns, sinceamong the various instructors thefrequency varied naturally fromonce to three times a week.

-for more information, writeto Jana Staton, Linguistics ResearchLaboratory, Gallaudet College, Wash.D.C. 20002

Leslee's Corner

More and more, I see how importantDialogue Journals are for providingan open channel of communication anda sense of belonging for students!As my school year begins and theroster shows that my students comefrom several different countries andfifth grade classrooms, my first con-cern is to give these individuals asense of self-confidence and a senseof community as soon as possible.

Everything is strange in this newclass --the teacher, the other stu-dents, even a lot of the activitiesand procedures are strange anddifferent. Students feel isolated fora while and doubt their own self-worth.It is crucial that by the end of thisfirst day together no one feels leftout or isolated and without a friend.

We begin building our friendstipwith each other at once. We learnfirst names, we explore our room, andput our possessions in place. Thencarefully, slowly, we talk aboutwhat we do in this room and why.Toward the end of our first day to-gether I introduce Dialogue Journals.I explain the 'rules,' and possiblefirst day entries, suggested by thestudents, are written on the board.I tell them that if they can't thinkof three sentences, they can copythe sentences on the board. Thenthey write and each journal is placedin my bag, for me to respond to later.

I can hardly wait to get home andconnect the names and the writing.Some students have copied three sen-tences from the board. Are theyfrightened? lazy? or just unsure?Others have written nearly a page.They tell us many things --they wantto be my friend; they liked my explan-ations that day; they liked the set-upof the room; some are incredulous - -'You are going to write to us everyday? What if I am absent?' Thereare also Ian questions --questionswhose answers are necessary forsurvival in tais new place:

?. 411:g .14 '4g

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"This is a nice class. The teacheris nice. Why didn't they put mein a Korean Bilingual class?"(The records had indicated that shewas Vietnamese.)

"If someone says they like you (a boy) doyou tell them you like them? I don'tknow *that to do. In my country we don'ttell, we sort of keep it a secret."

"What is pa roll? My mother wants to know."(How disturbing to be told that some-one is on parole and not know what thatmeans!)

And as I answer, I think, 'There! We'vedone it again! The Dialogue Journal has ,opened a door between me and 25 individuals,and like a web, is already pulling ustogether, even on the first day of school.It's going to be a good year!' 7A

FUTURE ISSUES!!!

Our next issues will include:

1. Results from our information

IMA414.9nneire,(p. 7. this issue).Please share with us your insightsaud experience. We'll compile theinformation you send us, and shareit back with you.

2. What constitutes.a dialogue? Whatare the necessary conditions? We'llinclude your comments and observationsso please send them. We'll discussVideologues, and Computer AssistedDialogues.

3. How do I introduce dialogue iournalsto TAY class? What do I tell themthe first day?We'll discuss ways of presenting thejournals to your classes, includingsample handouts that some of ushave used. Be sure to send alongyour ideas with the questionnaire(Question 2b)

GETTING CONSENT

Not too long ago, we beard from someonewho wanted to study dialogue journalsand wanted to know if it was really neces-sary to ask for student and teacher consent:"What if they say no?" Here is our think-ing about the issues and problems involvedwhen either the teacher or a third partywants to make some use of the contentsof dialogue journals.

1. When is consent necessary? Whoseconsent do we really need?

Because the journals "work" for both teach-er and student am& when the contents areprivate and freed from evaluation, anyuse of them for data or even for sharingwith other teachers in workshops requiredthe consent of both participants. Eventhough not legally required, we feel thatthe consent of students under 31 isethically required. Of course, parentsor guardians and the classroom teacher(if it's someone else) must also be askedfor consent. At Gallaudet, instructor&are asked to sign the same form as stu-dents, and have equal rights to say "no."

2. Do we have to get consent from thestudents personally? Can youngstudents give informed consent?

This is the exciting part!!--finding away to explain what we're doing so thateven young students will understand the'value of sharing some of their conversa-tions with others, particularly otherteachers who might be interested in keep-ing dialogue journals with their stu-dents. We've used tape recorders todocument student consent when a Writ-ten form could not be worded simplyenough. Not to ask students violatesthe very reasons we do dialogue journals--if sous say no, that's part of therespect for each individual which thejournals exemplify.

3. When and how should we ask the .

students for permission to keepcopies of their journals?

Permission mbould be requested towardthe end of the academic year or termin which dialogue journals are beingused. Whether you plan to use thejournals for research or simply keepthem for yourself, you should explainto the students why you want them,keeping explanations very general.

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The permission paper the students, teacherand parents (if applicable) sign shouldreflect your explanation. Here are twoexcerpts from such permission papers:

a. to the parents of elementary schoolstudents:

"We need your permission for your child'swork to be reproduced and published so thatother teachers may understand just how thisprocess works. We want you to know that yourchild will not be identified by name in anyof the materials, nor will the name of theschool or community be used."

b. to university level students and theirteacher:

"I understand that ny dialogue journalmay be one of the journals selected for aresearch project. The project will studywhether these journals help students comnuni -cate better with their instructors."

4. Even though we have permission, are thereany limits on what we would use

Even if students give permission to copytheir journals, we need to use discretionbefore we make any passages public. A parti-cular entry may begin with, 'Don't tell any-one about this,' and the student has forgotten.It nay be a good idea to ask students, espe-cially adults, to go through their journalsand mark passages that should be kept private.After that, a good rule of thumb is, 'If indoubt, don't use it.' Any excerpts thatcould reveal sensitive information about anindividual or that hold a country or any groupof people up to ridicule should not be madepublic.

5. How can we make sure that international

students understand that they havefreedom toast access to their journals?

Many international students come from countrieswhere teachers are viewed as all-powerfulbeings worthy of great deference, whose every.wrish within the classroom is to be grantedwithout question. Often, students transferthis attitude to their American instructors.As a result, they do not realize nor fullyunderstand that they do have the right todisagree with their teacher, in this case,to deny permission for research on theirjournals.

34

Getting consent, cont.

Discussion of consent is therefore bestdone with these students at the end ofthe course, when they have had the chanceto become acculturated and accustomedto the American teaching style. We muststress to these students that theirrefusal to give permission in no waywill cause any adverse repercussionsfor them. An alternative may be toask the students to copy the journalsthemselves (and reimburse them for thecost). Thus they can delete any pagesthey wish to remain confidential.

SOME REFLECTIONS -- On Research, Dialogueand Mystery

-Jana StatonAs I reflect on the exciting and un-

predictable variety ofdialogue journalsthat have sprung up, and on the excite-neat I hear frau

teachers using them,I am puzzled by this coztinued excitementover a simple, obvious form of humancommunication. And I grow increasinglyuncomfortable about the role of researchin relation to this dialogue,(but moreof that discomfort later.) A

NM.

How can such a simple act as readinga few lines of writing, add writing backgenerate this kind of ave--as if we stoodagain before mystery? One of the hall-narks of the mystic experience inlbothEastern and Western

traditions, is theexperience of the mysterious invadingeveryday life. Annie Dillard writes about"the cedar tree with the lights in it,"the "great door to the present" thatopens from eternity into our daily life,through the simple acts of human exper-ience. Martin Buber writes that theworld we know and sense is not separatefrom the world of eternal things: thereis only one world. Only the "barrier ofseparation" created by our attitudes,our ways of perceiving this one worldas twofold, has to be destroyed.

For me, working with this very simple,concrete practice of dialogue journalcommunication has been a chance to glimpsethe tree with lights in it, and to findthe barriers of separation in my life ofwhich I was not even aware at first, begirtto vanish--the barrier between 'student'and 'teacher', young and old, between'researcher' and 'practitioner.'

(dotted line)SURVEY OF DIALOGUE READERS

(Results next issue)

1. How would you classify your interestsin dialogue journals?

as researcher

classroom teadher(incl. college)teacher educatorother

2. If you are using or have used dialoguejournals(where you and the student carriedon written conversations), please tell us:

Students: age

background

Subject area:

When do students write!assigned class timefree time during classoutside of class

3. Your reasons for using?

How often?

Your reasons forusing (cont.)

4. What do you consider the soot importantvalues of the journals:for you

for students

5. Any other comments, insights, problemsor topics you'd like to have Dialogueaddress ?

6. Do you want to continue receiving thenewsletter even if you have to pay forit?

NB: If we are going to continuo thenewsletter, as we'd like to, we'll needto charge $L2,Q, per year to cover dup-lication and mailing.(Make checks par-able to Jana Staton).

PLEASE TEAR ON DOTTED LINE AND SEND BACH TO US, BY OCTOBER 15, 1983.-7-

REFLECTIONS, cont.

One major goal of my research has beento develop and articulate a theoreticalframework for the dialogue journals, toexplain the substantial concepts and assump-tions on which they rest, drawing on studiesof human communication, language ncquisi-tion, counseling theory, literacy andsocial interaction. But ell this heavybaggage for =pia:zing why dialogue com-munication works doesn't begin to explainthe glow I see in teachers eyes as theytalk about their dialogues vith theirstudents. And I am becoming very aware ofthe limits of research for explaining muchless predicting what happens when two personswho were strangers become friends througia dialogue. All the descriptions of thestructure of discourse and explanationsof self-discloeure or causal reasoningwon't begin to describe or explain theexperience of yonder, every time I knowI've been understood by another humanbeing, every time I enlarge my under-standing of the immensity of another'smind and spirit, so carefully hidden fromme by a socially appropriate "face." Per-haps this wonder is greater because thedialogues work best across those visible

human differences we believe are soreal and meaningfulage, sex, cultureor language.

Carl Rogers in A Way of Being has somethoughts about this experience of mutualunderstanding which only human dialogueseems able to create fully:

I have noticed that the MOAt deeptyI hea& the meanings (oi anothet), themote thete 24 that happens. Atmostatmayo, when a peason /matins hehas been deepty heaad, his eyes mots-ten...in 6ome neat Awe he 2o weep-ing iot joy. It AA as though he wetesaying, "thank God, somebody heaadme." In such moments I have the ian-iasy oi a paisonet, tappimg out dayWet day a Moue Code me66age, "Doesanybody heat me? IA anybody therm?"And na.Uij one day he heats some Lainttappings wkich opett out 'ye...PI Inthat one 64mpte 444pon6e, heleased &tom his tonetiness, he has be-come a human being again.

I use dialogue journals to reach out toothers, to turn the keys of their cellsand release them through dialogue so thattogether we can begin learning. Then Inotice that I too am released free my cell.

41I

DIALOGUE is the newsletter about the uses, benefits, and theory of dialoguejournals, a practice of communicating in writing about topics of mutual interestthrough continuous, functional conversations between (usually) learners and teachers.This newsletter provides an informal means of sharing information, ideas and concernsamong those who have begun using dislogue journals in the United States and in othercountries. It is an outgrowth of the National Institute of Education research grantto describe and analyse the purposes, structure and benefits of dialogue journalcommunication (Analysis of Dialogue Journal Writing as a Communicative Event,Center for Applied Linguistics, 1982). For more information about research andpractical applications, please write Jana Staton, c/o Center for Applied Linguistics,3520 Prospect St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20007.

DIALOGUE appears approximately three times a year, at a cost of $3.00 to coverduplication and mailing.

DIALOGUE

Center for Applied Linguistics3520 Prospect Street, N.W.Washington, D.X. 20007

361./A1"64 'aok":17 3.144,

Nonprofit organizationU.S. POSTAGE PAIDWashington, D.C.

Permit No. 41429