Dialogue journal

Not to be confused with Dialogue (disambiguation) or Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.

A dialogue journal is an ongoing written interaction between two people to exchange experiences, ideas, knowledge or reflections.[1] It is used most often in education as a means of sustained written interaction[2] between students and teachers[1][3] at all education levels. It can be used to promote second language learning (English and other languages) and learning in all areas.[4]

Dialogue journals are used in many schools as a form of communication between teachers and students to improve the life that they share in the classroom[5] by exchanging ideas and shared topics of interest, promoting writing in a non-evaluative context, and promoting student engagement with learning. They are also used between teachers and teacher trainers to provide professional development opportunities and improve teaching.

Dialogue journal interaction occurs in various ways; e.g., in notebooks, letters, email exchanges, Internet-based interactions, and audio journals. The important feature is that two people communicate with each other, about topics and issues of interest to both, and the interaction continues over time.

Dialogue journals are a teacher-developed practice, first researched in the 1980s in an ethnographic study of a sixth grade American classroom with native English speakers,[6] supported by a grant to the Center for Applied Linguistics from the National Institute of Education (NIE), Teaching & Learning Division. Applications to other educational settings developed quickly as a way to enhance writing development and the teacher-student relationship across linguistic and cultural barriers, with increasing use in second language instruction, deaf education, and adult literacy education. Since the 1980s, dialogue journal practice has expanded to many countries around the world.[7]

The Further Reading section at the end of this article includes resources with guidelines on specific ways to use dialogue journal writing in various contexts.

  1. ^ a b Peyton, J.K., & Staton, J. (1993). Dialogue journals in the multilingual classroom: Building language fluency and writing skills through written interaction. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  2. ^ "Take a Break From Essay Writing with Dialogue Journals". VOA. 17 October 2017.
  3. ^ Staton, J. (1988). An introduction to dialogue journal communication. In J. Staton, R. Shuy, J. K. Peyton, & L. Reed (Eds.), Dialogue journal communication: Classroom, linguistic, social, and cognitive views (pp. 1–32). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  4. ^ Peyton, J.K. (2000)."Dialogue Journals: Interactive Writing to Develop Language and Literacy". Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics. Retrieved 13 January 2016.
  5. ^ Staton J (1980). "Writing and counseling: Using a dialogue journal". Language Arts. 57: 5.
  6. ^ Staton, J., Shuy, R., Peyton, J.K., & Reed, L.(1988). Dialogue journal communication: Classroom, linguistic, social, and cognitive views (pp. 1–32). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
  7. ^ "Resources: Briefs – CAL Solutions Adult ESL". Cal.org. 2005-01-21. Retrieved 2017-07-01.