DOI: 10.5176/2251-3566_L316.51
Authors: Deron Walker
Abstract: Electronic journaling has already been established as a helpful tool in facilitating successful contrastive rhetoric-oriented writing instruction for second language learners. It has been used to provide English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Chinese students with models of English academic essays written by native English speakers and a forum for discussing salient features of English academic writing and how these features may differ from the conventions of expository writing used in their Chinese first language (Xing, Wang, and Spencer, 2008). In addition, whether electronic or in the form of in-class freewrites, journaling has also been known to build fluency among writers, reduce anxiety concerning the writing process, provide much needed opportunities for stress-free writing practice, and allow writers the unique opportunity to explore and develop their own voices as writers. Thus, it would seem that journal writing would be a useful pedagogical tool to employ in second language writing classrooms to facilitate the second language learner’s acquisition of the writing conventions of the target language and culture. Therefore, this paper seeks to synthesize the research on journaling with existing pedagogically-oriented research on the journey toward facilitating intercultural rhetoric-oriented writing instruction for the express purpose of empowering second language writers to compose better English academic essays.
Keywords: Contrastive / intercultural rhetoric, journals, second language writing
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