A special education teacher describes how she used dialogue journals both to communicate with her emotionally disturbed students and improve the students' writing skills. An inset summarizes the research on dialogue journals. An analysis of topics written about by students including requests, feelings, hopes, family, school, peers, and wishes is…

Five students (ages 9-10) with learning disabilities and severe writing problems wrote in dialog journals using a standard word processor and then using a word processor with speech-synthesis and word prediction features. The special features had a strong effect on the legibility and spelling for four students. (Author/CR)

Inviting students to read, write, and think, this book discusses 13 different types of journals and the stories of 25 classroom pre-K through high-school teachers who have built more effective journal writing into their classrooms. The book presents clear and easy-to-follow strategies for incorporating journaling into classroom practice. The book…

Teachers can use dialog journals to inspire their students to write. Such a method allows students to write and teachers to answer without worrying about red marks or negative comments. The article suggests topics to get students writing and ideas for encouraging students to write. (SM)

Insofar as students gain clarity by writing statements of belief and meaning, the expressive mode is a vehicle for learning. By expressing in writing their reaction to a bewildering experience, a current dilemma, or a troublesome conflict, for example, they are better able to broaden their views on this personal predicament. The expressive mode…

A demonstration writing project involving 97 primary through secondary students with learning disabilities is described. Students developed journals containing ongoing written dialogues with teachers, who also corrected student errors through examples in their own responses. Procedures, integration with writing curriculum, and results of journal…

Research suggests that the informal language of journals is very important. Language scholars such as J. Vygotsky (1962), J. Moffell (1968, 1982), P. Elbow (1973, 1982), and M. Shaughnessy (1977) believe that human beings find meaning through exploration in their own talking language. To add to the evidence in this area, a study conducted in an…

Student journal writing can connect reading, writing, and discussing through activities that accommodate diverse learning styles and that further students' linguistic development. The various uses of journal writing can be incorporated into one compact student notebook. A notebook for an English class might consist of a dialogue journal as a…

The value of student dialog journals written to another student (unknown) rather than to the teacher is described. Thirteen practical tips for implementation are offered. It is noted that the technique is not suitable for all students, nor is it meant to be the only component in a writing program. (Contains 14 references.) (LB)

A study used comparison-group methods to examine the effectiveness of dialogic journal writing in a content area classroom. Subjects were students in a sophomore-level course in Chinese literature at the University of California, San Diego. Students were divided into three comparison groups each of which was further divided into sections. Four…

Using a writing journal with adult literacy students is an effective way to introduce them to writing while working with their reading, self-esteem, and confidence levels. One type of journal that combines the skills of reading and writing is the reader response journal. In these journal exercises, the students read a story or section of a story…

A graduate reading course provided students a hands-on experience in using dialog journals with elementary school children to illustrate the value of integrating writing opportunities into reading programs. Every week of the semester reading methods students read, responded, and returned the journals to the cooperating elementary classes. Only…

It is proposed that through the use of whole language techniques, an English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) teacher can incorporate holistic language situations into the ESL classroom and advance the student's acquisition of a second language. Whole language techniques such as spontaneous conversation, brainstorming with semantic maps, dialogue…

Response journals seem to be promising vehicles for inviting children's written comments because they allow children to reflect on their experiences with books and provide them with opportunities to raise questions and formulate ideas. While both teachers and researchers have indicated the benefits of written responses to books, less is known…

Traditional approaches to teaching writing have been challenged, and new methods have emerged that reflect the new understanding of this process. This paper compares and contrasts product-based and process-based approaches to teaching writing. Product approaches reflect traditional, teacher-centered approaches to teaching in general, emphasizing…