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The Dialogue Journal: A Tool for Building Better Writers

In: English Teaching Forum 2013, Volume 51, Number 2 Format(s): Text

Using dialogue journals gives English language learners valuable writing practice. This article explores topics such as audience, fluency, teacher-student relationships, empowerment, and making the connection to academic writing. And the author gives practical advice on how teachers can institute dialogue journals in their classrooms and how best to respond to students’ journals.

A Case Study of Reflective Journals in a University Level Writing Course in Hungary

In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 1 Format(s): Text

This article is about the author’s experience using learning logs and in-class journaling for her college-level ESL writing class in Hungary. Her purpose was to gather information on the students’ writing experiences, both before and during the class, and to address issues raised in the logs and journals. She taught the class with a reflective-teaching, learner-centered style and a process-learning curriculum.

Ready-to-use Methodology Materials: Breaking the Teacher-Fronted Cycle in the Classroom

In: English Teaching Forum 2003, Volume 41, Number 1 Format(s): Text

This article describes the use of loop input and reflective journals to create a more effective way of teaching and preparing teachers of English-as-a-second-language in Slovakia. The authors of this article, who are also the designers of the technique, discuss how they handled challenges to the course, which included poor student motivation and attendance, and students who expect a teacher-fronted classroom rather than a learner-centered one.

Teacher Resources

In: English Teaching Forum 2004, Volume 42, Issue 1 Format(s): Text

In this special section of Forum, four commercial publications are presented. Topics include techniques to help middle school students with reading, student involvement and choice; an introduction to the concept of genre (of interest to ESL teachers, writing teachers, etc., including genre-based assessment and the importance of audience in writing); the use of literature circles with elementary learners to foster discussion and love of literature; and a book of EFL methodology.

Classroom Techniques: - What a Feeling!

In: English Teaching Forum 2005, Volume 43, Number 3 Format(s): Text

This article argues for the use of collaborative writing through poems in the ESL classroom. This activity gives students the motivation to express their creativity while improving teamwork skills that are important outside of the classroom. The author describes how collaborative poetry is introduced and carried out, gives examples of student poems, and suggests how the activity can be used with other genres as well.

An Imaginative Approach to Teaching Writing

In: English Teaching Forum 2012, Volume 50, Number 2 Format(s): Text

This article, originally published in 1986, explores the key to tackling the challenging task: motivation. The article includes 11 activities that encourage students’ creativity.

Let's Talk about It: Strategies for Integrating Writing and Speaking in the Classroom

In: English Teaching Forum 2020, Volume 58, Number 4 Format(s): Text

The authors describe a number of strategies for integrating speaking into writing-focused classes, with the goal of increasing students’ competence in both language skills.

Using Letters to Tell Stories in the EFL Classroom

In: English Teaching Forum 2011, Volume 49, Number 4 Format(s): Text

This article discusses how letter writing can be used as authentic language use. An activity for beginners involves an exchange of letters of introduction between the instructor and students. This serves a socially meaningful interactional purpose. The second activity is the construction of an story, one in which the plot is expressed in a series of letters. The writer suggests using letter exchanges for this creative writing project after using books such as The Color Purple. Letter writing is one way to enable and empower students to tell their own stories.

Journals in the Language Classroom

In: English Teaching Forum 2009, Volume 47, Number 4 Format(s): Text

This article discusses how to use paper-based journals as teaching tools in language classrooms. It describes the concept of writing to learn and provides some suggestions for teachers on how to use paper-based journals at the beginning, middle, and the end of class based on the author’s self-experience and his students’ feedback.

An Integrated Skills Lesson Plan for "A Postcard from America" by Robert Olen Butler