Action Research: Writing Diary – Old and New
學習誘因融入教學實作－英文日記書寫活動 2005
Introduction
As a TEFL English teacher in a senior high school, how to best teach composition to students has always been my concern. During the summer session, was fortunate to read “Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing.” This comprehensive, yet, focused book helped solve many questions that I had toward a writing project. This writing project had been done before the Advanced Writing class, and yet it now serves a platform to test and examine what I have learned from this class.
緣起：
若能將課堂教學內容與學生的學習需求緊密的結合，則能激起學生主動學 習的動機和興趣。而這個公式中有個重要的因子—一個能使學生持續投入學習的誘因。接下來為各位介紹一個含有此學習誘因的活動。它是一個適合高一的英文 書寫活動，可以在高一正式上作文課之前，先作的一個寫作暖身活動；其中有 實作的經驗也分享一些好用的網站和新的作法。另在文件最後，附上一份問卷調 查的結果，供各位參考。
The writing project started because language teaching style would be more meaningful and captivating to students if the material as well as the topics are related to students' need, daily life and surroundings. This diary writing project was intended 1) to create more motivation and 2) maximize learning results in a place where English is taught as a foreign language. The other desired effect is 3) to match teaching style with learning needs.
Literature Review
Incorporating learner autonomy activities, such as keeping a diary, helps learners to put what they learn into practice. John Dewey (1859 - 1944) firmly believed that active learner participation, instead of staying on the receiving side, is vital to successful acquisition of knowledge or skill. And the importance of meaningful learning in connection to successful language acquisition is stressed by Brown, saying that “meaningful learning ‘subsumes new information into existing structures and memory systems, and the resulting associative links create stronger retention.”
And as others have observed, students usually find a sense of achievement at the end of a diary writing process, recognizing one’s own potential and showing more confidence that teachers would like to instill. It is concluded that the learning journal has good potential to increase student interest in and engagement with course material, to encourage and empower students to take more responsibility for their own learning, to be more reflective in their study, and to allow them to have a voice and provide valuable feedback to the teacher.
為何寫英文日記? Why Keep a Diary in English?
寫日記的好處很多 - 包括對問題的分析，隨之增長的處事智慧。而寫英文日記對一個高中生來說，最大的優點是在大考英文時刻，能夠在二十或十五分之 內，寫下一篇符合要求的短文。九三年的英文考科，作文佔總分 20%，需要按圖 片的提示來寫出一篇約 120 個字的短文；其三張圖片的呈現和要求考生在文中 加上連貫的要求，完全和行之有年的主題式作文相異,而對天天寫英文日記的同 學，會在這項目中擁有較大的優勢。對教師來說，這個活動的誘因存在於學生的成長－個人所帶的班級學生， 在此類寫作活動之後，也主動反應這個學期的日記寫作活動已經培養出他對寫 作的信心並使他瞭解自身的優缺點。而我本身經由批閱日記，也直接的瞭解學生 在英語學習上的個別差異，進而提供個別化的指導，適時滿足學生的學習需求。
Procedure
The whole project was conducted within a 10 week period, focusing on fluency in the beginning three weeks, and gradually shifting student attention to accuracy. Continual efforts had been made to provide feedbacks based on students performance.
First, students were given the grading policies and basic examples – form and rules of writing a diary entry. They were to write down two diary entries per week. Every Monday, diaries were collected, evaluated and later returned to its owner. Misspelled words, incorrect sentence patterns were pointed out and sometimes short comments to inform the diary’s owner where to look for the errors and how to correct them.
Writing with computers, word processing soft programs, was introduced to aid students' efforts in the first two weeks. As noted by Greenia (1992) the use of word processors has been recognized useful in helping students producing more writing in a semester reducing common spelling errors and incomplete sentence. However, students were encouraged to write instead of typing on the computer screen because participants in the college entrance examination, which takes place every year and determines who would go to which university, are asked to write down a short passage on paper.
During the first weekend, students tried their hands at writing their first diary entry. On Monday, these diaries were collected and corrected. From here the writing-feedback-rewriting process began.
In the first 3 to 4 weeks, both students and the instructor had to adjust to a new and considerable challenge – putting thoughts into words and correcting a huge pile of diaries. After 5 to 6 weeks, many students reported that they now could write with more ease compared with the first few weeks' struggles with words and thoughts.
At the same time, students who could perform well also served as advisors to their peers. These tutors, 3 or 5 in each classroom, were responsible for 5-6 diaries. Their excellent job greatly reduced the time-consuming job of writing suggestions for diary entries. The selecting and training process is described below.
實施步驟 Procedure:
作業規定(發給學生)在為期 12 週（扣掉二週段考不用寫）的活動中前三週，每週書寫一篇英文日 記（字數不低於 60 字以下）；於第四週開始，每週書寫二篇英文日記。座號 1-10 號於每星期一繳交，座號 11-20 號於星期二繳交，以此類推。總篇數 17 篇。
其中，按座號繳交作業的方式，可免去一口氣面對全班日記而無法於隔天立即批改完成，交還同學的缺失。也可使教師不致於將課後時間會耗在批改日記上頭。在宣佈這個書寫活動的要求和細節之後，進入另一個準備階段－基本的日記書 寫規格的介紹。
基本的日記書寫規格的介紹以兩堂課各十五分鐘的時段，以單張講義和口說講解的方式 為學生說明－日記內的文體格式:
（例如，日期、天氣和內容的包 羅萬向，書寫時可以省略掉“I”）；變化寫作主題的方式（如引入報章雜誌的圖片或短 文，或說明圖片的內容或是針對時事來發表個人的感受）。
基本寫作工具的介紹：
另外，為了增進學生的“自主學習能力”，在這個日記書寫活動的過程中，我也帶學生到電腦教室內來 學習 1) 如何利用網際網路和搜尋引擎，如 google，來查詢台灣的節日、慶典和常見事物；2) 如何運用 Word 文書處理軟體來自行處理文法和拼字的問題。這幾個準備工作完成之後，就開始進入整個英文日記的書寫活動。
Training of Tutors
In a writing project where peer response is introduced, there are several factors to consider. Ferris recommended in Responding to writing that peer response should not be a random process, but a regulated one. This means if peer response is to work well within a certain project, a training session and constant monitoring from the teacher are required. Other minor considerations also included careful grouping, degree of control relinquished and a list of clear requirements to be implemented. The following will being with selecting through training.
Selecting:
If a teacher teaches have four classes’ diaries, 160 students in total, to go through, the workload is apparently too heavy. In the first three weeks, I sieved through the notebooks in each class and graded each writer according to his/her writing fluency and accuracy. This grading was not on their diary, but on another separate sheet that I kept. In a class of forty students, there are usually five or eight students who can express their thoughts clearly.
Training:
Since students usually have a fixed schedule to follow in the school, it was not possible to do this training in the school hours. An alternative, email, was brought in to solve this problem. First, through email correspondence, these potential tutors were sent exercise questions and asked to look for specific types of errors within a given paragraph. These questions range from spelling errors, to the conflicting tenses within a paragraph that describes past events. This training aimed to make these advanced learners aware of the common errors that often appeared their classmates’ diary entries.
Ways to encourage using new words
Using appropriate words, phrases to describe things is a prerequisite in wiring. During the project, students were encouraged to use new vocabulary that they had just learned in the regular classroom hours. This was done by giving positive feedback to those who did use newly taught words in writing. Another way was to show them how to integrate new words into their writing while teaching them these words and phrases.
Ways to helps students diversify topics
Having difficulty in choosing the starting point was another major obstacle during the process. Students reported having difficulty finding topics for writing journal entries. Interviews showed that they had grown accustomed to copying from “exemplary essays.” The following tips were given to help solve this particular problem.
1. Pictures from newspapers, magazines or personal albums are good starter for a new entry in the diary (文庭澍).
2. Go to websites that provide examples of how people write down diaries. For example:
Classroom Feedback:
Matching Teaching Style with Students Needs
Having analyzed student errors, teachers then have the advantage of changing teaching style to match student learning styles and needs. During this project, the recurring problematic sentence patterns during one writing session were presented to students on the blackboard, one or two patterns at a time. These two sentence patterns were presented in the fashion of a multiple-choice question. Students were encouraged to spot the incorrect section.
This step was found effective as an attention getter. Since the focused questions on the blackboard were what students they themselves wrote, students apparently pained more attention in the process. On the students’ side, they had instantaneous feedback from the instructor. The teacher was able to monitor students’ learning progress gaining the advantage of knowing what students need and where students are.
教師回饋 Feedback from teacher
在批改的過程中，我會記錄下重複出現的錯誤，並加以分析；之後通常會以兩種方式來提醒學生不要再犯同樣的錯；也是在這個部份，老師的教學更進一步的貼進學生的學習需求：
A) 課堂上的說明：在課堂授課前，將該班日記中最常見的語法／單字的誤用以＜除錯題型＞的方式呈現在黑板上，然後以一題抽問學生，一題讓學生搶答的方式來請學生找出其中被誤用的字詞。
They were happy because they haven't seen us for a long time.
A B C D
I did know that compliment people could make the world a better place.
A B C D
這個方法可讓教師一目了然的“目測”所教授班級的整體程度－因為題型若較有挑戰性，而班內搶答的人也多，就反應出該班的程度較佳；若某一基本句的抽問反應不佳（初／中學力等級的指標學生都無法回答），則有必要針對
該句的觀念加以深入的解釋。B) 網路的運用：有些誤用字／語／句，所牽涉的觀念較廣，無法在五分鐘內說明完畢，則在經過彙整和加入更完整的解釋和例句說明之後，整理成單張講義，發送學生。其內容另外置於教學網頁上，以利其它學生爾後參閱修正。
B) 網頁以表格分列的方式來突顯出各誤用字／詞／句的內容；內分上方的左右格，左格列出較不正較的用法（以紅色指出關鍵）；右側表格提出被接受較正確的用法。下方則提供更詳細的解釋（如下圖示)
老師要做的事：
在批改的過程中，學生紛紛提出不同的要求，其中要以日常生活中常用的中文字詞要如何以英文解釋的問題最多，如：
七期重劃區 7th redevelopment zone 家政課 Home Economics; 文化中心 culture center; 合唱比賽 chorus competition; 自然組 science group; 社會組 humanity group; 檳榔 betel nut 高一 freshman 高二 juniors, 高三 seniors
在這一問一答的過程中，學生能深刻認識到－英文，其實就在眼前。在期末的問卷調查中，學生反應，這個日記書寫活動大大的拉近了他們與英文之間的距離。因為在日記中，他們重新去思考、重新去尋找存在於他們生活環境中的英文，而不是被動的坐在課堂上背誦課本上的資料和單字。
結論與建議：
這個寫作活動，要求主持的老師持續不斷的投入相當多的時間和心血來作批改和回饋的動作，是對老師要求比較多的一種活動；然而這一切的辛苦都是有代價的：除了使教學的內容能符合學生的需求，引發學生持續不斷的學習動 機之外，其中最大的收獲出現在期末的意見調查時，數據中所顯示出的＜對寫作變的較有信心這一項>。
另外，這個日記寫作活動，除了能使教與學緊密相結合的作用之外，若有老師或先進能搭配上現在剛出現的網路 BBS，更可建立起自己班級／年級／學校的學生語料庫，由累積下來的資料中來分析出班內學生的常用字彙，較容易犯的錯誤，瞭解校內學生的優缺點，以利更有效的教學，並供爾後教學研究之用。
和英文日記書寫活動相關的網站： 雙語學生郵報 Student Post http://www.studentpost.com.tw/
台灣節慶英文版(useful for describing local customs)
http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/index_e.htm
http://www.proboards.com/index.html－提供免費的網路ＢＢＳ
http://www.toastforums.com/ 下載可在學校主機執行的版本）
htt://www.my3q.com/ 提供付費及免費的線上問卷統計服
Suggestions
This project is in sync with Communicative Approach. The teacher provides a meaningful task, a means of actively engaging students in the learning process. At the same time, there are other benefits such as:
A. Bringing teacher’s teaching style, content, closer to students’ actual needs.
B. Reinforcing vocabulary, sentence patters in real-life context.
C. Building better foundation for writing structured compositions.
D. Training students to think and write in English with better fluency and accuracy.
However, there are certain pitfalls found in this writing project. These points are described in below. This may help other teachers who may want to use method.
Aid to the Correcting Process
First, if efficiency is to be achieve in grading students’ writings, a set of symbols is needed. Since students come from the same age group, and possess roughly the same capacity, they sometimes make the same mistakes. A teacher correcting diary entries and compositions would spend too much time writing down the same suggestions for a recurring error. With a set of symbols that immediately point out what teachers expect and what students should correct, the job seems less daunting and time-consuming. (Index A)
Second, the material produced in this writing project can be used in corpus study and systematic analysis would enable teachers to find out students’ working vocabulary in comparison to their reading vocabulary. This requires teachers to vigorously collect from the collective trove of writing entries, analyze the range of their working vocabulary. These diary entries provide excellent quantitative data that reveals the range of vocabulary used by these 10th graders. The result will be compared to what MOE (Ministry of Education) had prescribed and to see how much has been absorbed.
References
吳繼平 (從學生偏好及教師實行兩方面來看高中英文寫作回饋使用之研究)。國立高雄師範大學碩士論文。民92。
文庭澍。（生字不夠，如何下筆成文?）敦煌英語教學雜誌。
Brown, H. Douglas. “Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.” Addison Wesley Longman: New York, 2001. 2nd Ed. P 56-57.
Ferris, Dana. “Chapter 5: Responding to writing.” Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing. Ed. Kroll, Barbara et al. Cambridge University Press: US, 2003.
Greenia, George D. “Computers and Teaching Composition in a Foreign Language.” Foreign Language Annals 25, I (1992): 33-46.
Rao, Zhenhui. “Matching Teaching Styles with Learning Styles in East Asian Contexts” The Internet TESL Journal
Sae Matsuda. “What Counts as Success?: A Sense of Achievement in Language Learning Diaries.” The Language Teacher. August 2003.
學習誘因融入教學實作－英文日記書寫活動 2005
Introduction
As a TEFL English teacher in a senior high school, how to best teach composition to students has always been my concern. During the summer session, was fortunate to read “Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing.” This comprehensive, yet, focused book helped solve many questions that I had toward a writing project. This writing project had been done before the Advanced Writing class, and yet it now serves a platform to test and examine what I have learned from this class.
緣起：
若能將課堂教學內容與學生的學習需求緊密的結合，則能激起學生主動學 習的動機和興趣。而這個公式中有個重要的因子—一個能使學生持續投入學習的誘因。接下來為各位介紹一個含有此學習誘因的活動。它是一個適合高一的英文 書寫活動，可以在高一正式上作文課之前，先作的一個寫作暖身活動；其中有 實作的經驗也分享一些好用的網站和新的作法。另在文件最後，附上一份問卷調 查的結果，供各位參考。
The writing project started because language teaching style would be more meaningful and captivating to students if the material as well as the topics are related to students' need, daily life and surroundings. This diary writing project was intended 1) to create more motivation and 2) maximize learning results in a place where English is taught as a foreign language. The other desired effect is 3) to match teaching style with learning needs.
Literature Review
Incorporating learner autonomy activities, such as keeping a diary, helps learners to put what they learn into practice. John Dewey (1859 - 1944) firmly believed that active learner participation, instead of staying on the receiving side, is vital to successful acquisition of knowledge or skill. And the importance of meaningful learning in connection to successful language acquisition is stressed by Brown, saying that “meaningful learning ‘subsumes new information into existing structures and memory systems, and the resulting associative links create stronger retention.”
And as others have observed, students usually find a sense of achievement at the end of a diary writing process, recognizing one’s own potential and showing more confidence that teachers would like to instill. It is concluded that the learning journal has good potential to increase student interest in and engagement with course material, to encourage and empower students to take more responsibility for their own learning, to be more reflective in their study, and to allow them to have a voice and provide valuable feedback to the teacher.
為何寫英文日記? Why Keep a Diary in English?
寫日記的好處很多 - 包括對問題的分析，隨之增長的處事智慧。而寫英文日記對一個高中生來說，最大的優點是在大考英文時刻，能夠在二十或十五分之 內，寫下一篇符合要求的短文。九三年的英文考科，作文佔總分 20%，需要按圖 片的提示來寫出一篇約 120 個字的短文；其三張圖片的呈現和要求考生在文中 加上連貫的要求，完全和行之有年的主題式作文相異,而對天天寫英文日記的同 學，會在這項目中擁有較大的優勢。對教師來說，這個活動的誘因存在於學生的成長－個人所帶的班級學生， 在此類寫作活動之後，也主動反應這個學期的日記寫作活動已經培養出他對寫 作的信心並使他瞭解自身的優缺點。而我本身經由批閱日記，也直接的瞭解學生 在英語學習上的個別差異，進而提供個別化的指導，適時滿足學生的學習需求。
Procedure
The whole project was conducted within a 10 week period, focusing on fluency in the beginning three weeks, and gradually shifting student attention to accuracy. Continual efforts had been made to provide feedbacks based on students performance.
First, students were given the grading policies and basic examples – form and rules of writing a diary entry. They were to write down two diary entries per week. Every Monday, diaries were collected, evaluated and later returned to its owner. Misspelled words, incorrect sentence patterns were pointed out and sometimes short comments to inform the diary’s owner where to look for the errors and how to correct them.
Writing with computers, word processing soft programs, was introduced to aid students' efforts in the first two weeks. As noted by Greenia (1992) the use of word processors has been recognized useful in helping students producing more writing in a semester reducing common spelling errors and incomplete sentence. However, students were encouraged to write instead of typing on the computer screen because participants in the college entrance examination, which takes place every year and determines who would go to which university, are asked to write down a short passage on paper.
During the first weekend, students tried their hands at writing their first diary entry. On Monday, these diaries were collected and corrected. From here the writing-feedback-rewriting process began.
In the first 3 to 4 weeks, both students and the instructor had to adjust to a new and considerable challenge – putting thoughts into words and correcting a huge pile of diaries. After 5 to 6 weeks, many students reported that they now could write with more ease compared with the first few weeks' struggles with words and thoughts.
At the same time, students who could perform well also served as advisors to their peers. These tutors, 3 or 5 in each classroom, were responsible for 5-6 diaries. Their excellent job greatly reduced the time-consuming job of writing suggestions for diary entries. The selecting and training process is described below.
實施步驟 Procedure:
作業規定(發給學生)在為期 12 週（扣掉二週段考不用寫）的活動中前三週，每週書寫一篇英文日 記（字數不低於 60 字以下）；於第四週開始，每週書寫二篇英文日記。座號 1-10 號於每星期一繳交，座號 11-20 號於星期二繳交，以此類推。總篇數 17 篇。
其中，按座號繳交作業的方式，可免去一口氣面對全班日記而無法於隔天立即批改完成，交還同學的缺失。也可使教師不致於將課後時間會耗在批改日記上頭。在宣佈這個書寫活動的要求和細節之後，進入另一個準備階段－基本的日記書 寫規格的介紹。
基本的日記書寫規格的介紹以兩堂課各十五分鐘的時段，以單張講義和口說講解的方式 為學生說明－日記內的文體格式:
（例如，日期、天氣和內容的包 羅萬向，書寫時可以省略掉“I”）；變化寫作主題的方式（如引入報章雜誌的圖片或短 文，或說明圖片的內容或是針對時事來發表個人的感受）。
基本寫作工具的介紹：
另外，為了增進學生的“自主學習能力”，在這個日記書寫活動的過程中，我也帶學生到電腦教室內來 學習 1) 如何利用網際網路和搜尋引擎，如 google，來查詢台灣的節日、慶典和常見事物；2) 如何運用 Word 文書處理軟體來自行處理文法和拼字的問題。這幾個準備工作完成之後，就開始進入整個英文日記的書寫活動。
Training of Tutors
In a writing project where peer response is introduced, there are several factors to consider. Ferris recommended in Responding to writing that peer response should not be a random process, but a regulated one. This means if peer response is to work well within a certain project, a training session and constant monitoring from the teacher are required. Other minor considerations also included careful grouping, degree of control relinquished and a list of clear requirements to be implemented. The following will being with selecting through training.
Selecting:
If a teacher teaches have four classes’ diaries, 160 students in total, to go through, the workload is apparently too heavy. In the first three weeks, I sieved through the notebooks in each class and graded each writer according to his/her writing fluency and accuracy. This grading was not on their diary, but on another separate sheet that I kept. In a class of forty students, there are usually five or eight students who can express their thoughts clearly.
Training:
Since students usually have a fixed schedule to follow in the school, it was not possible to do this training in the school hours. An alternative, email, was brought in to solve this problem. First, through email correspondence, these potential tutors were sent exercise questions and asked to look for specific types of errors within a given paragraph. These questions range from spelling errors, to the conflicting tenses within a paragraph that describes past events. This training aimed to make these advanced learners aware of the common errors that often appeared their classmates’ diary entries.
Ways to encourage using new words
Using appropriate words, phrases to describe things is a prerequisite in wiring. During the project, students were encouraged to use new vocabulary that they had just learned in the regular classroom hours. This was done by giving positive feedback to those who did use newly taught words in writing. Another way was to show them how to integrate new words into their writing while teaching them these words and phrases.
Ways to helps students diversify topics
Having difficulty in choosing the starting point was another major obstacle during the process. Students reported having difficulty finding topics for writing journal entries. Interviews showed that they had grown accustomed to copying from “exemplary essays.” The following tips were given to help solve this particular problem.
1. Pictures from newspapers, magazines or personal albums are good starter for a new entry in the diary (文庭澍).
2. Go to websites that provide examples of how people write down diaries. For example:
Classroom Feedback:
Matching Teaching Style with Students Needs
Having analyzed student errors, teachers then have the advantage of changing teaching style to match student learning styles and needs. During this project, the recurring problematic sentence patterns during one writing session were presented to students on the blackboard, one or two patterns at a time. These two sentence patterns were presented in the fashion of a multiple-choice question. Students were encouraged to spot the incorrect section.
This step was found effective as an attention getter. Since the focused questions on the blackboard were what students they themselves wrote, students apparently pained more attention in the process. On the students’ side, they had instantaneous feedback from the instructor. The teacher was able to monitor students’ learning progress gaining the advantage of knowing what students need and where students are.
教師回饋 Feedback from teacher
在批改的過程中，我會記錄下重複出現的錯誤，並加以分析；之後通常會以兩種方式來提醒學生不要再犯同樣的錯；也是在這個部份，老師的教學更進一步的貼進學生的學習需求：
A) 課堂上的說明：在課堂授課前，將該班日記中最常見的語法／單字的誤用以＜除錯題型＞的方式呈現在黑板上，然後以一題抽問學生，一題讓學生搶答的方式來請學生找出其中被誤用的字詞。
They were happy because they haven't seen us for a long time.
A B C D
I did know that compliment people could make the world a better place.
A B C D
這個方法可讓教師一目了然的“目測”所教授班級的整體程度－因為題型若較有挑戰性，而班內搶答的人也多，就反應出該班的程度較佳；若某一基本句的抽問反應不佳（初／中學力等級的指標學生都無法回答），則有必要針對
該句的觀念加以深入的解釋。B) 網路的運用：有些誤用字／語／句，所牽涉的觀念較廣，無法在五分鐘內說明完畢，則在經過彙整和加入更完整的解釋和例句說明之後，整理成單張講義，發送學生。其內容另外置於教學網頁上，以利其它學生爾後參閱修正。
B) 網頁以表格分列的方式來突顯出各誤用字／詞／句的內容；內分上方的左右格，左格列出較不正較的用法（以紅色指出關鍵）；右側表格提出被接受較正確的用法。下方則提供更詳細的解釋（如下圖示)
老師要做的事：
在批改的過程中，學生紛紛提出不同的要求，其中要以日常生活中常用的中文字詞要如何以英文解釋的問題最多，如：
七期重劃區 7th redevelopment zone 家政課 Home Economics; 文化中心 culture center; 合唱比賽 chorus competition; 自然組 science group; 社會組 humanity group; 檳榔 betel nut 高一 freshman 高二 juniors, 高三 seniors
在這一問一答的過程中，學生能深刻認識到－英文，其實就在眼前。在期末的問卷調查中，學生反應，這個日記書寫活動大大的拉近了他們與英文之間的距離。因為在日記中，他們重新去思考、重新去尋找存在於他們生活環境中的英文，而不是被動的坐在課堂上背誦課本上的資料和單字。
結論與建議：
這個寫作活動，要求主持的老師持續不斷的投入相當多的時間和心血來作批改和回饋的動作，是對老師要求比較多的一種活動；然而這一切的辛苦都是有代價的：除了使教學的內容能符合學生的需求，引發學生持續不斷的學習動 機之外，其中最大的收獲出現在期末的意見調查時，數據中所顯示出的＜對寫作變的較有信心這一項>。
另外，這個日記寫作活動，除了能使教與學緊密相結合的作用之外，若有老師或先進能搭配上現在剛出現的網路 BBS，更可建立起自己班級／年級／學校的學生語料庫，由累積下來的資料中來分析出班內學生的常用字彙，較容易犯的錯誤，瞭解校內學生的優缺點，以利更有效的教學，並供爾後教學研究之用。
和英文日記書寫活動相關的網站： 雙語學生郵報 Student Post http://www.studentpost.com.tw/
台灣節慶英文版(useful for describing local customs)
http://www.gio.gov.tw/info/festival_c/index_e.htm
http://www.proboards.com/index.html－提供免費的網路ＢＢＳ
http://www.toastforums.com/ 下載可在學校主機執行的版本）
htt://www.my3q.com/ 提供付費及免費的線上問卷統計服
Suggestions
This project is in sync with Communicative Approach. The teacher provides a meaningful task, a means of actively engaging students in the learning process. At the same time, there are other benefits such as:
A. Bringing teacher’s teaching style, content, closer to students’ actual needs.
B. Reinforcing vocabulary, sentence patters in real-life context.
C. Building better foundation for writing structured compositions.
D. Training students to think and write in English with better fluency and accuracy.
However, there are certain pitfalls found in this writing project. These points are described in below. This may help other teachers who may want to use method.
Aid to the Correcting Process
First, if efficiency is to be achieve in grading students’ writings, a set of symbols is needed. Since students come from the same age group, and possess roughly the same capacity, they sometimes make the same mistakes. A teacher correcting diary entries and compositions would spend too much time writing down the same suggestions for a recurring error. With a set of symbols that immediately point out what teachers expect and what students should correct, the job seems less daunting and time-consuming. (Index A)
Second, the material produced in this writing project can be used in corpus study and systematic analysis would enable teachers to find out students’ working vocabulary in comparison to their reading vocabulary. This requires teachers to vigorously collect from the collective trove of writing entries, analyze the range of their working vocabulary. These diary entries provide excellent quantitative data that reveals the range of vocabulary used by these 10th graders. The result will be compared to what MOE (Ministry of Education) had prescribed and to see how much has been absorbed.
References
吳繼平 (從學生偏好及教師實行兩方面來看高中英文寫作回饋使用之研究)。國立高雄師範大學碩士論文。民92。
文庭澍。（生字不夠，如何下筆成文?）敦煌英語教學雜誌。
Brown, H. Douglas. “Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy.” Addison Wesley Longman: New York, 2001. 2nd Ed. P 56-57.
Ferris, Dana. “Chapter 5: Responding to writing.” Exploring the Dynamics of Second Language Writing. Ed. Kroll, Barbara et al. Cambridge University Press: US, 2003.
Greenia, George D. “Computers and Teaching Composition in a Foreign Language.” Foreign Language Annals 25, I (1992): 33-46.
Rao, Zhenhui. “Matching Teaching Styles with Learning Styles in East Asian Contexts” The Internet TESL Journal
Sae Matsuda. “What Counts as Success?: A Sense of Achievement in Language Learning Diaries.” The Language Teacher. August 2003.
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