Investigating learners’ course diaries as explorations of language

Abstract

Most recent accounts of work with diaries or journals on language courses have offered insights into learners’ attitudes towards course goals and activities and towards their own learning. The present study focuses more on the use of language course diaries as a means of language exploration by learners, looking specifically at diaries kept by 38 second-year undergraduate students in five tutorial groups during an English language course at the National University of Singapore. The investigation comprises a preliminary content analysis of the course diaries, a presentation of learners’ responses to a questionnaire, a fuller illustrative account of learners’ engagement with language issues in their diaries, and a commentary on teacher feedback and learner reactions. The discussion suggests implications for roles and responsibilities of learners and teachers, over a range of teaching circumstances, and points to other researchable issues to which course diary studies oriented towards language might contribute.