'It might be useful, but …': an exploratory study on how ten EFL students used and perceived literature response journalling

Abstract

Despite the increasing use of response journals in both L1 and L2 literature classrooms, there has been little published research on response journalling by EFL students. The present study was an attempt to explore the ways in which ten EFL students at one university in Thailand, who were first-time readers of English novels and journal writers, handled and perceived literature response journalling while reading The old man and the sea on their own, over a period of ten weeks, by investigating the nature of their written responses, the difficulties they encountered, and their perceptions of the task. Manifest and latent content analyses revealed that these students used literature response journals as a site for meaning-making, a tool for language practice, and a dialogue with the teacher. The initial troubles stemmed from limited experience and competence in EFL reading, writing, and journal writing, deep-rooted personal beliefs about EFL writing, and unbalanced teacher-student power structures. Over the course of the study, the journal entries showed positive signs of developing proficiency in meaning-making and deeper engagement with the text, qualitative improvements in the writing of responses, and changes in students' self-positioning in relation to teachers. However, the students' considerable concern about the validity and nature of response journalling, their personal purpose in journal keeping, and peer power relations seemed to override the progress discernable in their written responses. From the promising benefits evidenced in the students' entries, response journalling can be highly recommended in EFL literature classrooms. At the same time, the study suggests that teachers and practitioners acknowledge and cater for various constraints obtaining to response journal writing, as well as students' perceptions and attitudes, so the task can be made more practicable, personalised and privately purposeful for each individual.