Dialogue Journals and Transformational Learning

Abstract

This article explores how dialogue journals can lead to a transformative learning experience. Adult Latino students enrolled in a community college developmental reading class agree to speak truth to power through this critical writing process. Using Mezirow's(2002) transformational learning theory, Brookfield's (2000) concepts on teaching for critical thinking, and Cranton's (2000) ideas of individuation and strategy for fostering self-awareness in students, the students and professor “talk-back” to each other through dialogue journals. The complexities of discourse, culture, and individuation or resistance to it are revealed.