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Effectiveness of Journal Writing in
Supporting Skills in Writing English
Essay
Bambang
Yudi
Cahyono
Abstract: This research was aimed at knowing the effectiveness of
providing journal writing in supporting the students' skills in writing
English essay. The subjects were English department students who
took Writing III course in the academic year of 1995/1996. This
study involved two intact groups of students. The experimental group
was given weekly journal writing, while the control group followed
the regular writing. At the end of the treatment, writing tests on free
topics were assigned and the students' works were scored using ESL
Composition Profile. The result of analysis using Hest indicated that
journal writing scores of the students from the two groups were not
significantly different. However, students' responses indicated posi-
tive evaluation on the application of journal writing.
Key words: writing skills, journal writing.
It has been widely believed that writing, among the four language skills,
is the most difficult skill. This is because it involves several components
which have to be considered while a learner is writing, for example
contents, rhetorics, vocabularies, grammatical structures, and writing
mechanics such as punctuation and capitalization (Hartfiel,
et al.,
1985: 102).
As a complex skill which is not easy to teach, it has stimulated
Bambang Yudi Cahyono
is
Cl
lecturer at the Department of
Englisli
Education, FPBS IKIP
lvIAlANG.
310
Cahyono, Effectiveness of 'Joumal Writing in Supporting Skills 311
teachers and researchers to explore teaching techniques which could help
learners write better.
One of the central issues in the teaching of writing is how to
approach this teaching task so that the learners could be helped without
realizing that it is a difficult activity to do. In other words, attempts
have been made to provide learners with opportunities to express their
ideas in a written form without being bothered by comments or evaluation
from the teacher concerning linguistic components of their writing. They,
therefore, could write in the real sense of purpose of writing, that is to
express or communicate their ideas to an intended audience. One of the
activities that can be carried· out in a writing class is assigning the
students to keep journal writing.
Prayogo (1997), on the basis of his literary study and exhibition
of the works of elementary school students, states that journal writing
could provide an opportunity for the students to express themselves
through written forms. The provision of journal writing, then, is like
pushing the door wide open for the students so that they can play and
explore the wide world outside.
Stanley (1993) reports a study which was conducted by Christine
Casanave in which she asked students to comment on the value of journal
writing. Casanave grouped students' opinions into three general areas.
They are comments about the results of journal keeping, the process of
journal writing, and the educational aspects of maintaining a journal.
Overall, the subjects of the study who were both low intermediate and
advanced students found benefits in keeping a journal, remarking on
changes' in their language use as well as in their thinking.
The results more specifically indicated that many students found
the routine of journal writing reduces the worry of writing in English.
They were pleased to discover that writing without focusing on grammar
does not cause the grammar to 'disappear'. In fact, they developed
greater ability to produce longer, more complex sentences. One student
expressed a worth noting remark, 'since I started writing journals I have
several times been taken by surprise to discover my own way of thinking.'
Other students commented that writing at length has broadened their
views of the world. Several students realized that the journal helped
them to use unfamiliar or difficult English expressions. An unexpected
result was that students found a connection between journal writing and
312 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, December
1997,
Volume
4,
Special Edition
speaking. By having the chance first to organize their thoughts on paper,
they could then express their ideas more easily in speech.
According to Mukminatien (1991), the provision of joumal writing
assignment could serve as a way of giving. an authentic communicative
writing in terms of interactive leaming process. She also confirms that
joumal writing is useful to broaden concept of writing purpose and
audience. The writer no longer writes in vacuum because he gets feedback
from the reader. Besides that, Ewald (1983:62) states that the application
of joumal functions as an introduction to a habit that many experienced
writers do.
There are five types of joumals that can be written. They are
personal joumals, dialogue joumals, reading joumals, leaming logs, and
simulated joumals (Prayogo, 1997), The students may be given the type
which the teacher thinks can be applied in the classroom. Besides, the
topics written by the students should be various and come from the
students' interest.
This study was intended to know the effectiveness of providing
joumal writing activities in supporting the students' writing skills. Be-
sides, it was also attempted to know how the students responded to the
provision of joumal writing.
METHOD
This research was a quasi-experimental one which employed post
test control group design (Wiersma, 1980). It involved two intact groups
of English department students who took Writing IIIcourse in the
academic year of 1995/1996. One of the groups was assigned to be the
experimental and-the other was the control group. Originally, there were
20 students from one class and
19
from the other. For the purpose of
the research, preselection was done without disturbing the intact classes.
Students in the two classes were matched in pairs' with respect to their
ability in writing which was indicated by their grades in Writing H. Not
all of the students could be matched. The students who were not matched
would were discarded in the analysis, though they could still be present
in their classes. After the matching it was determined that there were
14 subjects in the experimental group and 14 students in the control
group.
Cahyono, Effectiveness of Journal Writing
ill
Supporting Skills 313
The experimental group was given weekly joumal writing, while
the control group followed regular writing. The type of joumal writing
given was dialogue joumaI. Through this joumal the students commu-
nicated with the teacher conceming things that the students thought they
could write. The topics were various and they may cover both academic
and non-academic matters. There were two meetings in a week. The
students were required to write the journal writing regularly, once a
week, and to hand in their work in the second meeting of the week.
The assignment started in the third week of the semester and ended in
the third week before the end of the course. So, the students wrote
approximately 12 journal assignments in the semester.
At the end of the treatment, writing tests on free topics were
assigned and the students' works were scored using ESL Composition
Profile (Hartfiel, et aI., 1985:102). The scoring of the students' works
involved two raters. Prior to the scoring work, a workshop was held for
the two raters in order to have the same procedures of scoring. Several
pieces of the students' works which had been evaluated previously by
the two raters were analyzed and discussed in the workshop to highlight
possible differences in the results of scoring. From the workshop, a
better perspective in scoring from the
1\\'0
raters could be attempted.
In addition to test, the students from the experimental group were
also given a questionnaire to evaluate the application of journal writing
as an additional activity. Ten questions were addressed to them. The ten
questions are:
1.Do you like journal writing as additional activity besides regular
writing tasks?
2. Do you feel free in expressing your ideas in the journal?
3. Is your journal regularly responded by the teacher?
4. Are the responses given by the teacher adequate?
5. Are you helped to solve your academic problems through the journal?
6. Are you helped to solve your non-academic problems through the
journal?
7. Does journal writing help you develop your skill in developing ideas
in writing?
8. Does joumal writing help you develop your skill in organizing ideas
in writing?
9. Does joumal writing increase your motivation to write?
10. Do you think it is necessary to have writing in the next writing
course?
314 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, December 1997, Volume 4, Special Edition
Five alternatives were given after each question. The students were
required to choose one of the options which they thought best in their
opinion. The five alternatives were ranged from the most positive to the
most negative responses. The students' responses were then analyzed to
find the central tendency. The mean of the learners' scores for a particular
item is judged using the following criteria: 5 is the most positive, 4
positive, 3 fairly positive, 2 negative, and 1 is the most negative.
In addition to the ten questions, an open ended space was provided
in the questionnaire for any comments the students wanted to give on
the application of journal writing. Twenty students from the experimental
class answered the questionnaire.
RESULTS
Even though the students were assigned to write free topics for
their evaluation, their writings tended to be colored by the temporary
events happening at that time. The topics that the students choose, among
others, centered on Conflicts of a Political Party, Corruption and Col-
lusionfollowing Tansil's Flee, Euro Cup Fever, and Controversies about
the Miss World of Indonesia. Other topics included those which are
familiar to the students' world of knowledge and experience, for example
Juvenile Delinquency, The Roles of Parents, and How to be ready for
a Party. .
The writing scores of the students both from the experimental and
the control groups can be seen in Table 1.
Table 1 Writing Scores of the Experimental (X) and Control (C) Groups
Subject X Group C Group Subject X Group C Group Subject X Group C Group
1
80
73 6 73 76 11 77 76
2 73 72 7
90
71 12
89
94
3 92
89 8 90
97 13 76 76
4 70 76
980
86 14 74 71
594 93 10 74 75
Cahyono, Effectiveness of Journal Writing
ill
Supporting Skills 315
TIle scores of the students were then compared using t-test statistical
analysis. The results of the comparison of the scores in writing English
essay of the two groups were presented in Table 2.
Table 2 The Comparison of Scores in Writing English
Essay of the Experimental and Control Groups
Groups
N
s
x
Experimental (Joumal Writing) 14 8.04 80.86 0.454*
Control (Ordinary Writing Tasks) 14 14 9.00 80.35
*
Nonsignificant
The means of the students' responses to the items in the questionnaire
can be seen in Table 3.
Table 3 The Means of the Students' Responses
Item no Means
13.52
23.6
3 4.8
4 3.3
53.45
63.85
73.89
83.6
93.2
10
3.43
DISCUSSION
The result of analysis using Hest indicates that scores of the students
. from the two groups were not significantly different. Statistical compu-
316 THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION. December 1997. Volume 4. Special Edition
tation resulted in a
t
of 0.454. The
t
table was used to determine whether
null hypothesis could be rejected. Using 26 (nl+02-2) degree of freedom,
the required tat the 0.05 level was at least 2.056. Since the calculated
tof 0.454 does not exceed the 0.05 level, the null hypothesis was
accepted. In other words, there is no significant difference in the ability
in writing essays between the students who were given journal writing
and those who followed regular writing.
However, in general, students' responses indicate positive evaluation
on the application of journal writing. This conclusion can be derived
from the data in Table 3 which presents the means of the students'
responses on the application of journal writing. TIle first item which
inquires the students' preference gains a mean of 3.52. This indicates
that students' preference is positive. Concerning the second item, a mean
of 3.6 indicates that students feel a positive freedom in expressing their
ideas in the journal. Computation of answers of item number 3 concerning
the regularity of the teacher to respond the students' journal results in
the mean of 4.8. This means that the teacher gives responses in very
positive frequency to the students' journal. A mean of 3.3 for item
number 4 indicates that the responses that the teacher gives are adequate
enough.
Items 5 and 6 are intended to know whether journal writing helps
the students solve their academic and non-academic problems. Means
of 3.45 and 3.85, respectively, for the two items indicate that through
journal writing student's academic and non-academic problems can be
solved in a positive degree. Items 7 and 8 are aimed at knowing whether
the journal helps the students improve their ability in developing and
organizing ideas. TIle means of the two items, 3.89 and 3.6 respectively,
indicate that journal writing could help improve in a positive degree the
students' ability in developing and organizing ideas. Besides, the students
are also sufficiently motivated to write through journal. This is indicated
by a mean of3.2 for item 9 which inquires their motivational development
to write because of the journal.
When the students were asked whether they think it is necessary
to have journal writing in the next writing course (Writing IV), their
response is positive enough. This is indicated by the mean of 3.43.
A chance which was given to the students to write their comments
and impressions about the application of journal writing results in various
Cahyono, Effectiveness of 'Journal Writing in Supporting Skills 317
comments. The comments commonly are in line with what they have
stated in the questionnaire. A student states: 'journal writing makes us
like to write because we're free to express any problems or memories
without fear of being evaluated.' Another student writes: 'journal writing
is good and should be continued because we can get a lot of good things.
Besides, we are trained in writing and in expressing what is in our mind
or problems we face. In short, journal writing is OK.'
Besides positive evaluation, some notes are worth. considering to
improve the implementation of the journal writing. A student writes:
'the difficult times in journal writing is when I have nothing to write
in the journal, so I just write as long as I could hand it in.' Another
student states: 'in journal writing, a student must have a desire that the
lecturer will respond her joumal. But sometimes, the responses are not
satisfactory (i.e. too brief) although she has to realize that a lecturer is
so busy because of other matters that he only gave a little comment.'
One more important comment is as follows: 'journal writing is important.
But it could be an additional burden when it has to be written. Because
the students are demanded to do so, they did it reluctantly.'
CONCLUSIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
Conclusions
It can be concluded that journal writing does not give significant
contribution to the development of the students' writing skills. This is
proven by the result of the statistical analysis that shows that there is
no significant difference between the scores of the experimental group
who were given joumal writing activity and the control group who
followed regular writing. However, the students' evaluation indicates
that the application of journal writing gives positive effects towards
some aspects in writing though they are not necessarily related to the
ability in writing essay, for example freedom in writing, ideas generation
and development, motivation, and the relation of teacher-students in
solving both academic an non-academic problems through joumal.
Suggestions
In relation to the findings of the research some suggestions could
be given. First of all, although joumal writing does not support the
318
THE JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, December
1997,
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4,
Special Edition
students' skills in writing English essay, journal writing could be main-
tained. This is because of some positive elements that it could provide.
Secondly, in the application of journal writing, the teacher should provide
more adequate responses which could satisfy what the students want
from the teacher. Thirdly, journal writing should not be made compulsory.
However, the teacher has to remind the students that journal writing is
still necessary, both for their practice in writing and for the beneficial
influence as stated in the evaluation of the students. Finally, more
research on the application of journal writing should be carried out.
Among other topics that could be studied are the adequacy of responses,
the variety of topics that the students write, the sense of audience and
purpose in the journal, rhetorics in journal writing versus in essay writing,
and language styles in journal writing.
REFERENCES
Ewald, H.R. 1983. Writing as Process: Invention and Convention. Columbus:
Charless E. Merrill Publishing Company.
Hartfiel, V. F., Hughey, J.B., Wormuth, D.R., and Jacobs, H.L. 1985. Learning
ESL Composition. Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers,
Inc.
Mukrninatien, N. 1991. Developing Writing Skill by Providing Interactive
Experiences. Unpublished Thesis. Malang: Graduate Program of IKIP
MALANG.
Prayogo, y.A. 1997.Journal Writing: A Self-Improving Activity. Paper presented
in a seminar at the Department of English Education, IKIP MALANG,
February 21, 1997.
Stanley, J. 1993. Testimonials: Students Reflect on Journal Writing. The
Language Teacher: March 1993. Tokyo: International University of Japan.
Wiersma, W. 1980.Research Methods in Education. Itasca, Illinois: F.E. Peacock
Publishers, Inc.
