The Underlying Reasons for Giving Journal Assignments in
Academic Reading Class
Olivia Agnes
Abstract
This study attempts to find out and reveal the underlying reasons for giving journal assignments in academic reading class. This study was conducted in the Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga. It used qualitative analysis method and the subjects of the study were seven lecturers who ever taught Academic Reading Course in the Faculty of Language and Literature. The data for the study were collected from interviewing, recording the interview and transcribing the recording. The analysis of the data shows that there were six main reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic Reading Class that stated by the lecturers whoever taught in Academic Reading Class. The first main reason is to develop the students‘ critical thinking skills. The second reason is to check the students‘ critical opinion or critical response. The third is to see the way the students work with the skills such as: synthesizing and summarizing. The fourth is to check the students‘ comprehension or understanding about the content of the articles. The fifth is to make the students prepared (read) before class, and the last, is to express feeling and to communicate with the text. Actually, there were three additional underlying reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic Reading Class that stated by the lecturers but in order to make my study more focus, I limited the number of reasons, and I would like not to discuss them in this research study. Keywords: journal, journal writing, assignments, homework.
Introduction Background of the Study
In my view, a long time ago, many teachers faced difficulties to make the students comprehend the reading text in an active interaction. They hope by teaching reading through answer question is the best way to make the students active in class, but it does not make the students think critically, it only force them to get the answer just by focus on the teacher‘s question and automatically they
appear are some of them may feel shame, not confident or even afraid to share their thought toward the text in front of class, the text given by the teacher to read. Because of these problems, the possible solution is by applying reflective journal writing based on the text.
The teacher must have interesting techniques whether in delivering the tasks and assignment or in explaining the activity that will be held during the class, even when the classroom‘s activity is going on. So, the students will participate immediately to the class activity and they will feel interested to do and finishing the assignments inside or outside the classroom. And when they are ordered to make journal, they will have passion to write journal.
It is also mentioned by Davies as cited in Walker E. (2006) that most of the research involving journal writing has been qualitative in nature, with the journal entries analyzed for trends. He found that in the process of journal writing, students move from being passive to active learners. The method by giving the students to make daily, weekly or monthly journals is the alternative way to expand the students‘ ability in thinking. Since giving the students journal as
assignment becomes popular, many teachers apply this methods to assess the students‘ comprehension about the topic that have been discussed in the
classroom.
Journal of Cheryl A. Cisero with the title ―Does Reflective Journal Writing
information or creating a product based on the information.‖ It is clear that having journal through writing is the appropriate method to make the students interact with the text and it also shows the developing steps to become critical thinker based on the reading materials. The teachers‘ goal is to lead the students in
practicing the important skills in the course, such as make students to do commenting on the text, students can criticize the information on the text; students can also gather or sum up the information given on the text.
According to Good and Whang as cited in Cisero A. (2006) also says, ―Students are able to ask questions, admit confusion, make connections, and grow
ideologically.‖ It means that the students can explore their curiosity about the text;
they are free to interact with the information on the text as if they meet directly with the author of the text. But, to make the students communicate with the text itself, they just need to deliver their thought; their questions, their confusions, their comments and also they can compare their daily life that related to the provided information via writing in the form of journal.
Another researcher, Holmes as cited in Walker E. (2006) believes that by recording and describing experiences, feelings, and thoughts, students are able to recreate their experiences for additional exploration. The researcher believed if the students can react towards the information by putting their personal experience related to the text, the researcher‘s goal to make students recall to their
Jackson and Pinkstaff as cited in Walker E. (2006) declared, ―The single
most important factor in the successful use of journaling is allowing the journal to be a safe space for free expression.‖ In brief, the main point to make the
journaling concept to be successful, journaling must let everyone to express their feelings. The process of journaling needs a pure expression of everyone. As a result, everyone who produces journals will not have intimidation feeling when they pour their personal opinion. Automatically, they have a thought that they can write anything which come up immediately in their mind without feeling worry. A journal about Nurse Education reported these shocking results at that time:
When completing some journal assignments, students should be allowed to write using a freeform style. Although this seems nontraditional, it is important to remember that if the focus is on the thought process, then grammar and punctuation should not be a part of the evaluation of the journal. If the focus of the journal is to reflect, then the journal should be a forum where students can write and not worry about punctuation, grammar, and spelling. As stated by Hahnemann, journals are a means by which students should be allowed to experiment and test their wings. Focusing too much attention on grammar and punctuation may lead a student to misinterpret the purpose of the journal writing activity. Instead, the attention should be on the content of what is written and not how it is written (Hahnemann & Holmes in Walker E, 2006).
The study aims to reveal various opinion on the lecturers when the interviewing session done individually. Also to find out the research participants‘ motivation to give journal as assignment based on their way of teaching. The teachers‘ style teaching can also be measurement because they will have their own
This study is significant in two ways. Academically, this study can give input to the general studies on reading, in which it will provide information about journal assignment strategies when applying it as assignment and shows the advantages of having journal as assignment. The advantages can be seen by applying it in long-terms learning process. The quality of writing journal will show improvement during the learning process. Practically, this will be meaningful for other teachers, especially who will teach Academic Reading, in helping them to get the new side on giving journal assignment.
This study is guided by the following main research question:
―What are the underlying reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic
Reading Class?‖
Theoretical Framework Definition of homework
The purpose of homework
Epstein as cited in Sidhu, Gurnam K. & Chan Y.F. (2010) summarizes the following as the seven purposes of homework: for further practice, increased participation in the learning process, personal development of the student, enhancing parent-child relations, effective implementation of homework policy, improved public relationship and as a form of punishment (p.27).
Although teachers set goals and expectations for homework, students must independently complete homework by practicing self-regulatory behaviors such as planning, inhibiting distractions, persisting at difficult assignments, organizing the environment, overcoming unwanted emotions, and reflecting on what they have learned (Boekaerts & Corno; Xu as cited in Ramdass & Zimmerman, 2011).
According to Brock, Lapp, Flood, Fisher, & Han; Cashmore & Goodnow; Corno & Xu; Foster; Hoover-Dempsey et al; Warton; Van Voorhis; and Wigfield as cited in Brock, Cynthia, Diane Lapp, and Douglas Fisher. (2011), teachers demonstrate a variety of different perceptions about the value of homework. For example, many teachers believe that homework improves students‘ academic
achievement and it serves as a way to communicate with parents. Many teachers also assign homework because their school districts require it and/or they believe that parents expect it.
(Skinner, as cited in Wilson, 2010). Professional and upper class parents want their children to be challenged to perform to the best of their ability and be prepared for success in the real world.
Not only do Chinese teachers assign a large amount of homework, but Chinese parents want their children to be given large amounts (Ebbeck, as cited in Eunsook, 2011). It is likely that Chinese teachers and parents perceive additional practices and reviews provided by homework as a useful contribution to students‘
achievement at school. Research on homework with Chinese students is pertinent due to the high level of interest in homework by teachers and parents (Dandy & Nettelbeck, as cited in Eunsook, 2011). And it is also relevant to the high level of academic achievement of Chinese students as compared to students of Western countries (e.g., Chen & Stevenson, as cited in Eunsook, 2011).
Additionally, the current general consensus of most Americans' opinion on homework appears to retain the notion that the more the teacher assigns, the better the school. More homework is sometimes correlated with schools that offer 'rigor and challenge' (Brock et al., as cited in Wilson, 2010).
The independent reading
All teachers should encourage students to become lifelong readers. People who read frequently possess stronger literacy skills overall—larger vocabularies,
enhanced writing abilities, improved spelling, and better awareness of grammar and punctuation rules (Krashen as cited in Duncan P.S., 2010). Taboada et al., as cited in Kirby (2011), found higher correlations, but their predictor was teacher-judged ‗internal motivation‘ for reading, based on items assessing characteristics
such as reading self-efficacy, thinking deeply about text content and frequency of independent reading, which go beyond the usual sense of reading interest. Using categorical teacher reports of children‘s reading ability (above average, average or
below average).
The difficulties posed by expository texts are especially significant for students required to write papers based on assigned texts; if the set text has not been properly understood, follow-up writing tasks become that much more difficult. Such ‗reading-to-write tasks‘ are particularly demanding as students are
required to summarize, analyze, synthesize, and present opinions on ideas contained in the set text(s) in an academic genre. In other words, students need to critically engage with the set text(s) before formal writing assignments are addressed. The writing process in general has been much discussed and researched, while the reading-to-write process has received little attention (Ruiz-Fines as cited in Evans F., 2008).
improvement of students‘ critical thinking. It can be seen through journal.
Because in journal, teachers can see students‘ progress after they discussed the
text in class. While the reading-to-write process has received little attention, teachers need to pay attention to students‘ ability in reading. If students seem do not interest in reading, they will not write deeper thought in their journal.
The scope of general writing
Writing activities in general are recognized as methods that enhance critical thinking (Hettich & Young and Fulwiler, as cited in Cisero A., 2006).However, writing activities have big effect to the teacher when they apply this activity to the students. First, the students need to think critically about the content of the text. After that, the students can pour down their thought through writing. One immediate advantage is that writing allows students to contextualize the new information they are acquiring, allowing them to make sense of what they are learning rather than merely memorizing (Elbow as cited in Cisero A., 2006). It can be seen clearly that writing has a lot of advantages to the students‘ learning
process. The long-terms of memorizing can be gained because after they read the information provided in the text, they will try to relate it to their experience (it is more logical), rather than provided text with questions to be answered in general exercises.
The benefit of journal writing assignments
express feelings and frustrations on paper. It can be seen clearly that assessing students by writing journal is necessary. Through journal writing, the students are trained to be critical whether in express their deep feeling of the problems in the text or in expressing their comments, their disagreement of the text into paper. They also need to give solution and logical reasons after addressing their opinion of the text.
The Study Context of the Study
The setting (of the study) was Faculty of Language and Literature or English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University. It was located in a small town, Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. The subject of this small study was the English Department lecturers who taught Academic Reading Course. The reason why I chose only the lecturers who ever taught the Academic Reading Course was because every tasks or assignments or homework was always in the form of journals. The teachers who became my participants gave journals as an assignment to make the students thought wider based on the situation in the text and forced students to comprehend the text. For these reasons I chose to investigate the underlying reasons of giving journals assignment in Academic Reading Class.
Participants
giving the journal assignments. In this chapter, I would focus on two of the participants‘ background based on their different teaching office whose office
location and experience caught my attention. I chose to frame it into main purpose to find the underlying reasons of giving journals assignment.
Data Collection Instrument
I chose to use interview to collect data for my study. I would use unstructured interview to get richer data. The interview would be recorded and transcribed. And the last, to get completed information and to prevent data that might be loss because of the technical things, I would take note when doing the interview. Data Collection Procedure
A semi-structured interview type would be chosen for conducting the study and also extending the interviewees to clarify on the particular issues that always came up. Semi-structured interview was similar to structured-interview but it allowed for greater flexibility (Patton, 1990). The interviews took 15-30 minutes on average. It would be recorded and transcribed.
The interview schedule consisted of two parts. The first line of questioning would involve general questions to get the background knowledge about the course and to set the situation. The second set of questions would concentrate on how the interviewees‘ motivation strategies over the years whether it really
changed or improved by narrowing the topic further by ‗zooming in‘ on the
interviewees‘ motivation/purpose that changed over the time to improve the
Data Analysis Procedure
After finishing all the interview sessions, I collected the data in the recorder and note-taking, then I started to analyze the data by transcribing the recording first. Second, I would analyze their reasons based on the questions, whether the answers were different or same. Moreover, I would categorize the answers into several themes to analyze the data easily. Finally I could find out the results based on the themes.
Findings and Discussion
In this section, I will categorize the results of the data analysis that I got from several interview sections. There are six big reasons and three additional reasons for giving journal as an assignment in Academic Reading Class, and I will discuss them one by one from the first main reasons to the last reasons told by the participants I had been interviewed.
1. To develop the students’ critical thinking skills.
My topic was The Underlying Reasons for Giving Journal Assignment in Academic Reading Class and my research question was about what the underlying reasons for giving journal as assignments were. I got the answer by interviewing some lecturers. I conclude their statements started from the first rank to the bottom rank.
Some of my participants said their reasons by giving journals as assignment is to develop the students‘ critical thinking skills, which means that the teachers
want the students to think about the text, the content of the text and then the teacher will give them an activity in order to see their students‘ critical thinking
give solutions based on the problems that appear in the text. Its purpose is just to raise the students‘ awareness about the problems discussed in the text, so that the
students will automatically think deeper to find the solution that might help to solve the problem in the text.
These are some of the participants‘ opinion that said to develop the students‘
critical thinking skills in giving assignment in the form of journal in Academic Reading Class:
Extract 1:
Mrs. A: I the third and Mr. C’s syllabus and then asking the students to write journal, especially to find out whether the student have read the text critically or not. The journal reflect how critical the student about the text.
According to Mrs. A, who has ever become the coordinator of this course, actually she never ordered her students to write a journal while she was the coordinator of this course. And then, after the coordinator changed, and Mr. C was chosen, he gives journal as the assignment to develop the students‘ critical
thinking. The purpose is to find out whether the students have really read the text or not, and it will be shown in the students‘ journal. This is the statement of Mr. C who delivered his goal for giving journal as assignments:
Mr. C: Because I want them to be more brief to think about the article, to try to think deeper to the article. It helps them reflect and think before.
annotate (one of the skills that had to be learned) if the students read and tried to respond to the content critically.
Mrs. E: We cannot just separate those skills. I mean, in doing Annotation as well, it requires readers’ criticality. We cannot annotate the important part or the relevant part unless we are critical to the text, ok? … And we cannot write any comment unless we are critical to the text, ok?
Moreover, according to Mrs. F and also Ms. G, both of them stated that they applied the required skills but in order to develop the students‘ critical thinking
skills. In the same line with Mrs. E who said that skills and criticality to the content of the text cannot be separated especially in annotation; Mrs. F also focuses in developing the critical thinking skills, but she emphasizes on synthesizing skill which means that the students have to support their position with some arguments stated in the text. Whether they agree or disagree, they need to collect the arguments; in other words, students must read and think about it. All of this makes the students read and decide in what position they must be in.
Besides that, Ms. G stressed on how to get the main idea in academic text, she thought that the students need to be taught first before they start writing their journal. She also stated that in every reading passage, the students must find the main idea or the message delivered by the writer; by trying to find the main idea of every paragraph, it automatically raises the students‘ critical awareness.
From the lectures‘ quotation above, it can be seen that their purpose is just to
Walker E (2006)stated that journal writing provides students with an opportunity to return to their experiences in an attempt to develop new perspectives, also writing encourages and provides an opportunity for students to reflect on an experience, connect, and think critically about ideas or situations. According to Davies as cited in Stacy E. Walker‘s journal (2006), a journal in the form of
writing can raise the students‘ critical thinking skill to broaden their ways of
thinking about the issue or problem discussed in the text. It also generates the students‘ point of view; they will try to think in a different way about the issue in
the text; they will be trained to think deeper about the situation given in the text. Campbell et al., as cited in McDowell (2008) suggest that students need explanations, modeling and opportunities to practice activities such as ‗critical
analysis‘ in order to acquire ‗full understanding of [the] academic conventions
and ways of thinking‘ (467). Here, as stated by Campbell et al., as cited in McDowell‘s journal, to have a critical thinking skill, the students must be given
an example by the teacher, such as the teacher lead the students to find the main idea of paragraph one, and then let the students to find the main idea in the next paragraph. It is a teaching modeling to make the students think critically about the main idea of every paragraph in the text. Or, the teacher can give a little guidance to guide the students in finding the purpose of the academic text discussed during the class; the teacher‘s focus is on expanding the students‘ critical thinking skill to
2. To check the students’ critical opinion or critical response
In Academic Reading Course, the teachers need to check the students‘
critical opinion about the academic text to gain the students‘ critical response and
of course, it can be seen through ordering the students to make journal. It is mentioned in Reading Response Journals. It is stated clearly in the Academic Reading Syllabus Semester 2- 2011/2012, ―These journals are NOT just your own opinion about the article. However, they are also NOT a summary of the journal.
Instead, you will use critical reading skills to offer your own response to specific
ideas, arguments, or parts of our text.‖
If I take a look at this description of reading response journals, then I can conclude that not all the content of journal is about the students‘ opinion and students‘ summarizing about the text. The students need to pour down their
opinion about main idea in certain paragraph or in some writer‘s point of views in
the text. This journal also helps the students read the text earlier in order to make them think first before the class discussions begin.
These are some of the participants‘ opinion that said to develop the students‘
critical thinking skills in giving assignment in the form of journal in Academic Reading Class:
Extract 2:
in the text and how they used the text to support their argument as well.
It was clearly stated from Mrs. A‘s statement that she assessed only on certain
texts (not in every text the students must write a journal), but her emphasized here is on the students‘ critical response about the issue discussed in the text. The
journal is assessing on how the students using several arguments in the text to sustain their respond. Here the focus is not only on the students‘ understanding
about the content of the text but also the students‘ response and the students‘
opinion whether they have deeper opinion to the text or just giving general opinion.
However, Mr. D claimed that journal is not only about the opinion even though he thought that opinion itself is still important. He admitted that critical response skills were part of analyzing. So, when the students do analyze the content of the text, they have to be critical in responding. As well as Mr. D statement, Mrs. E also gives personal reasons about journal:
Mrs. E: For me, journal is a kind of personal. I mean, actually it is subjective. So, the journal that I assign to write, mostly were their immediate response to the text. And we cannot write any comment unless we are critical to the text, ok?
It can be seen clearly that Mrs. E preferred to have a direct response through the text rather than applying the skills on the journal assignments. She also mentioned that journal helps the students to make their idea visible by putting down their idea on the paper, so she can see every student‘s idea which are
Similar to all of the lecturers‘ reasons about checking the students‘ critical
opinions in responding or in giving opinion, there is a researcher that stands in the same line with (my participants‘ reason) the lecturers‘ reason. Simon Evans
(2008) said that student reactions to the ideas and arguments presented in a text are extremely important. Students need to give reasons and examples to support their reactions (p. 243). Here, the teacher tries to train the students not only give opinions, but the critical response. For the students‘ critical response, they need to
explain their underlying reason why the students saying their response, I mean, the students not just give their opinion but, they also need to support their argument related to their response.
Simon Evans (2008) also did his own research and said that, “First-year students at ICU are required to enroll in the English Language Programme
(ELP), which trains students in critical thinking, reading expository texts, and
argumentative writing. Students read set texts which form the basis of their
Academic Reaction Papers (ARP), where they summarize a writer’s arguments
and ideas, before presenting a critical response.” (p. 242). In this line, the
researcher tries to give the students steps that lead the students into critical response. He provides the texts which had been in the category of academic text, and he wants the students to be able to do the academic skill first, just like summarizing the writer‘s point of view. Finally the students will find their
The researcher‘s goal is just the same as my participants‘ goal in teaching
Academic Reading Course that is to make the students able to produce critical opinion or critical response to the academic text, and to the writer‘s argument.
Usually, the teachers found that the students do not really engage in responding to everything written in the text, because the length of the text, the unfamiliar words that appeared in every paragraph. But then, the teachers try to encourage the students to be more critical in some creative way, like fun discussion related to the text during the classroom, or question answer that lead the students to find the writer‘s argument or idea, etc.
3. To see the way the students work with synthesizing and summarizing Summarizing and synthesizing are the skills that required in Academic Reading Course. This is one of the reasons why the teachers want to see how the students do synthesize and summarize the academic text, because it is important for the students to acquire those skills in order to be used in their thesis later. Actually there are another two skills that required in the Academic Reading Syllabus, annotating and paraphrasing.
The first required skill on the syllabus is Skills assignments. The brief descriptions for this assignment is, ―These short assignments will help you to
practice skills of summarizing, paraphrasing, synthesizing, annotating, and note
taking. I will then be able to provide feedback to help you improve your skills in
these areas.‖ For me, it is crystal clear show that those skills are really important
also directs the students to recognize the types of various academic texts, so the students will be familiar with those kinds of text. So, later when they face thesis, they will not shocked.
The second required skill on the syllabus is Two Synthesis Skill Homeworks. The brief descriptions for this assignment is, ―To help you prepare for the final
assignment, these homeworks will give you a chance to practice specific skills in
preparation for the final paper. The homeworks will be done on the readings used
for the final assignment. This will give you a chance for feedback and practice
before completing the final paper.‖ It is also stated clearly that synthesizing is
important for preparing the students for the assignment at the end of the course in that semester. By giving homework, the teachers hope during learning process, students can apply the skills that have been taught.
These are some of the participants‘ opinion that said to see the way the
students work with synthesizing and summarizing in giving assignment in the form of journal in Academic Reading Class:
Extract 3:
According to Mrs. B, she believed that the skills which were required to be mastered in Academic Reading Course will be reflected in the journal assignment. The skills that she meant is, how to paraphrase someone‘s statement, how to synthesize, and how to avoid plagiarism (by changing someone‘s statement into
their own words), afterwards, she is definitely sure that the students can realize these things.
Since the discussion is about the skills such as synthesizing and summarizing, there is a little bit different opinion that is uttered by Mr. C, how the students evaluate evidence, how the students find arguments on the text. Actually, it is also skills because in the Course Objectives, in the third point, it has been written that the students will be able to identify evaluate arguments. So, in my opinion, evaluate evidence is also a skill to be taught.
Another reason was stated similarly between Mr. D and Mrs. F. In brief, he asserted that journal is basically should be consist of paraphrase and analyze of the reading. When the students analyze, they have to be critical because they must compare one text to the other text to be analyzed. For summarizing skill, he emphasizes his students not just write summary from the conclusion of the text, but using their own word, their own understanding. And, the point for his assignment is not on the students‘ understanding to the text, it is more on the
students‘ skill to understand and to analyze the text. The same presented by Mrs.
F like this:
4. To check the students’ comprehension or understanding about the content
of the articles
It is necessary for the teacher to make sure that the students really read the text in every class meeting because if they do not read the text before, then the discussion during the classroom‘s activity will not work. So, what will happen is,
for example, when the teachers ask about the main idea of the first paragraph, and there will be no answer because the students do not read the text yet. It is also important for the teacher to guide the students by asking questions in class discussion that will direct the students to some important point of the text or the article. The teachers usually have in-class discussion in every class meeting because there will be one reading passage for every class meeting. This is the way to check all of the students‘ comprehension or understanding about the text. Then,
to check the personal understanding about the text, the students have to write a journal.
These are some of the participants‘ opinion that said to check the students‘
comprehension or understanding about the content of the articles in giving assignment in the form of journal in Academic Reading Class:
Extract 4:
Mrs. B: Well, yes. First, I would like to check whether they understand, comprehend the content of the article.
There are similarities among Mrs. B, Mr. C, Mr. D, and Mrs. E; all of them would like to check their students‘ understanding about the content of the article
would like to have a journal to check the comprehension level, as Mrs. E stated that journal will be based on the students‘ understanding of what they read, Mr. C
like to feel students‘ understanding or confidence that pour down in journal.
Otherwise, Mr. D, he likes to make his students produce a poster presentation so that he can see how far his students‘ understanding about those text, whether
they really had a deep thought of reading or just a last minute work. 5. To make the students prepared (read) before class
Usually the teachers in my study would distribute the text in the class and then gave time for the students to read in some minutes, and then discussed it in the classroom. This technique will not work in Academic Reading Class because the text given is the academic texts which have many unfamiliar words with high level of language. This text is not a kind of some simple texts like, story book, fiction story, and magazine story. This text is related to research article about many topics but always regarded to educational side.
These are some of the participants‘ opinion that said to make the students
prepared (read) before class in giving assignment in the form of journal in Academic Reading Class:
Extract 5:
Mr. C:It was more to help them think about the reading before class, and then entered the class, they could be a part of discussion. On the positive side, I feel like it help make sure the students do the reading which because their long text, they have to read it at home rather than in class, too, it helps them reflect and think before. So that, when the class discussion would be better because they have their reason part into this journals.
Thus, there were two others participants who were in the same line with Mr. C. The first was Mrs. B, she said that journal is one of the ways to check whether the students made some preparation (read) at home before class or not. The second was Mrs. F, for the short term reason, journal was made to make sure they had read the material before they arrive in the classroom, whether they have already interacted with the text or not. Then, by running from line to line, paragraph to paragraph, they will activate their reading with the text. The most significant for Mr. C is to prepare the students‘ mind about the text.
In short, all of the lecturers‘ reasons are for preparing the students to read the text and think about what the text mean, the writer‘s idea or the meaning of the
6. To express feeling and to communicate with the text
For some of my participants, they prefer to have a journal as a media to express what their students feel about the text or about the issue discussed in the text. Also, they set the function of a journal as a media for the students to communicate with the text. The teachers always try not to burden the students by giving assignment in the form of journal as a test, so the students will feel free to express what they are thinking about the text, what are their thought, and they are free to write it down into a paper that can be called as a journal.
Even though the reasons given are to express feeling and to communicate with the text, the students must notice that the journal they make will not just about what they feel but the students must include their reasons why they feel like that. This is the other additional way to raise the students‘ critical thinking skill
and also critical response about the text. Thus, to communicate with the text actually it need the critical response too, because when the students do not understand some part in the text, they need to ask or arguing that sentence. If the students lack of critical response, they will just agree or accept what is written in the text.
These are some of the participants‘ opinion that said to express feeling and to
communicate with the text in giving assignment in the form of journal in Academic Reading Class:
Extract 6:
The extract 6 above explained the reasons from Mrs. A, her reasons is just the same with the other participants like Mrs. E that is to communicate with the text. Both of the participants‘ desire is to let their students express their feeling about
the text into journal assignment. But then, I found out that Mrs. E have more in detail, I meant, she has some specific criteria for her students when communicate with the text.
Mrs. E: So, firstly like what I said earlier, comprehension was there, doubt was there, question, even if they do not understand, they can ask question in the journal, and also, if they agree or disagree with an idea, they can critically comment on it. So, journal is not only for one thing because journal is an expression of communication between the text and the reader.
From Mrs. E statement above, I can say that there are some components that must be put down in her students‘ journal, such as, comprehension of the content,
asking questions to the text, restate part of the text whether agree or disagree. She has ever told to me that she would like the students to comment on what they understood, she forced her students not to just believe in everything the article said, and it means that she wants her students to doubt or questioning the article‘s
idea. For the skills that are required in this course, she added that the students are allowed to use those skills, but her main point is the students‘ connection with the
Mrs. F: …, also to make sure that you have already interactive with the text, in order to be able to interact when we come to the class.
In the same line has been delivered by Mrs. F also wants to make sure that the students have been interact with text, so when they come to the class, they have already had something in their mind about the text, and it will make the students can transferring and exchange information to the other during the discussion.
Conclusion
This research study was aimed to explore the underlying reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic Reading Class. I came up with several semi-structured interview questions in order to get richer data about their underlying reasons. I found that there were six main underlying reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic Reading Class. All participants set to raise students‘ critical thinking, to make the students active in giving comment, and to
introduce the types of academic texts itself to the students.
The result of this study showed that the big main reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic Reading Class were (1) to develop the students‘
critical thinking skills, (2) to check the students‘ critical opinion or critical
response, (3) to see the way the students work with synthesizing and summarizing, (4) to check the students‘ comprehension or understanding about
After conducting this research, I found that there were six underlying reasons for giving journal assignments in Academic Reading Class. The lecturers stated that giving journal as assignment was meant to develop the students‘
critical thinking skills because through journal teachers believed that the students‘ critical thinking skill would be reflected on journal. Furthermore, by giving journal as assignment the teacher could check the students‘ critical responded
about the text. It could also help the teacher to see the way the students worked with synthesizing and summarizing because to have a good academic journal, the students needed to apply those skills. Other than that, the teacher could also check the students‘ comprehension about the content of the articles such as the writer‘s
idea, what the text was about, how to differentiate between facts and evidences. The journal showed how far the students understood the text. Therefore, the teacher could see whether the students had read the text before the class or not. If they have not read the text yet, they were surely could not have anything to write or to say to the teacher. Besides, through journal, the teacher let the students to express what they felt about the text, agree or disagree, like or dislike with the main idea or the writer‘s thought, and also gave the students chance to
communicate with the text such as questioning about some parts that they might not understand or arguing the writer‘s main idea, etc.
References
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Ramdass, Darshanand, and Barry J. Zimmerman. (2011). "Developing Self-Regulation Skills: The Important Role of Homework." Journal Of Advanced Academics 22, no. 2: 194-218. Academic Search Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed October 31, 2012).
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
APPENDIXES
APPENDIX 1
INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
1. How long have you taught Academic Reading in this faculty? 2. How many times have you taught Academic Reading?
- If more than twice, what kinds of assignment you give to the students? (Journals/in-class assignment/homework)?
- If just only twice or less, will you teach this course again?
3. Do you always follow the rules of the syllabus including the assignments in
Academic Reading course?
- If yes, then, based on the syllabus, the description for the assignment is written that ―There will be approximately 5 journals throughout the semester.‖ So, how many journals do you give to students throughout the semester?
- Why only once/twice/three times? What are your reasons?
- (IF) on one semester you only give 1 assignment, but it is clearly written by the coordinator on the syllabus there will be around 5 journals, what are your reasons?
- Why the assignments are always in the form of journals?
4. What are your underlying reasons of giving assignments in the form of
journal?
- Does it just to make the student comprehend the academic texts in every class meeting?
APPENDIX 2 Underlying Reasons for Giving Journal Assignment in Academic Reading Class? And lets we proceed to the first question, how long have you taught Academic Reading in this faculty?
C: I started my first year but I doubt each other, I think 3 times total, maybe 4, 3 or 4.
I: Ok, so, what kinds of assignment you give to your students? For example, is it only in the form of journal or you can vary it with the in-class assignment or either homework?
C: Yeah, so it is depend on the last semester, so, sometimes it is a journal, and then sometimes presentation, sometimes a lot of class discussion in terms of short answer instead the assignment. It's more like annotation instead of journal, so like for example, questions, things like that, and then portfolio. I: How many times you ever taught?
C: I think 3, 3 times.
I: Ok, as I know you from Mrs. A. You are the coordinator of the previous Academic Reading. And you provide the syllabus. Ok, I'll take it. (I take the syllabus from my bag and show it to him). Here, I want to ask you, do you always follow the rules of your own syllabus in Academic Reading?
C: No. For any class sometimes, I'll just depending on the semester. Like sometimes, if I can say, like if I tell them the certain number of journals sometimes they might cut it down because the stream of the things are getting to worse, the students overwhelmed by too many journals like say, "ouh, lets not do one this."
I: Ok, so you have written by yourself that (search about assignment's brief description's part on the syllabus).
C: Ouh, especially here, like I didn't give any quizess because I thought they were doing like reading but instead, I might give like short question, like, "ouh write down your 3 main questions of the text", and that will show they are reading instead of the quiz.
I: Ok, you have here (pointing on the syllabus about the journals assignment) there will be approximately 5 journals throughout the semester. Did you fulfill the requirement?
C: I can't remember, sometimes I cut the number of journals, I don't know if I can give the students can have 5, that's the question I wondering. It possible to make it of 4 but I can't remember.
I: Do you have any presentation in a class?
C: No, so have the class when usually there was discussion, so we will divide in two groups and then they would share their idea. Sometimes too, we did like debate especially with argumentative, so I will put them up, and say "you have to defend this, so I will defend this, so I use the article to help the debate. I: Ok, for the class activity, the students will be 1,2,3,4, until 8?
C: Aha.
I: Is it just to make the students comprehend the academic text in every class meeting or?
C: No. No. So, this course objectives are to the whole course, so by the end of the course, they should be able to do each of it. Like to be able to know how to, like summarize the text but this is just for the whole semester.
I: Ok, as I heard before that Academic Reading is always about academic texts. Is that not sounds too hard for the students?
C: Sometimes, it is. Yeah, very hard, so, sometimes for example, I will mix it in a shorter text or text that were more personal narrative. So, it will still academic because we might still gain them inside or knowledge but it's not academic like journal. We try to give one or two journals just to introduce the students to them but those are very very complicated.
I: Ok, and have you ever taught about Critical Reading? C: Aha.
I: There is written that "These journals are NOT just your own opinion about the article, are also NOT a summary of the journal. Instead of you will use critical reading skills". I can say that Critical Reading is easier than academic text? C: Ouh, so here, I don't mean like critical reading like, the class critical reading. I
mean if you look at the book, do you have the book that for the class? I: No.
C: Ok, so, in the book that for the class, the first few weeks, we practice how to read critically which means like have ask questions to the text, try to evaluate the evidence, or the purpose of the text. So, in another words, I don't want the students to say, "ouh, I like this text or this is what the text said", but they should be more critical like the purpose of the text was to persuade about the author's certain views, a lot of evidence.
I: Ok, based on your experience, you have taught about 3 times. Have you always found that the students find difficulties in apply the skills?
C: Yeah, so it's a very hard course, and I think, before or when I started, I would try to just to like, I give the students a really hard text one week and keep they struggle, and I'll choose, I swap text, so I'll not follow the syllabus, to choose easier text for the next week. So, with the journals I found that some students really understand how to write the journal like differentiate certain value, I give a lot of feedback on the first one, so they can improve later. But then, some students still struggle the whole class, so, it depends.
I: Ok. You said that you'll always give feedback, so the students can know their weaknesses, here that, do you always have to get their journal revision?
like, that is too much, so I didn't have them revised any journals, it was more to help them think about the reading before class and then entered the class they could be a part of discussion. So, in their journals, things like they do ask questions, talk about the part they don't understand.
I: How if you find that in their journal, they are not able, they are not reach your goal in specific skill, how?
C: I tried to let them know what they should do more next time. So, like, for example they choose summarize or they "ouh don't choose summarize" but like look at the text, what we are questioned, what part made them setuju or not, what do your reflection and then usually after the first journal, I try to advice the whole class, like, "ouh, based on your first journal, maybe in the class couldn't understand the part, maybe we can, you know, I will give you some more example.
I: Now if I could know, how about, how you grading, the grading specification is, in the end of the semester, the final project the students will apply annotating, summarizing, paraphrasing, and etc. Do you focus in the grammar too? or? C: No. No. So, I tell them that the grammar is only important in that I need to be
able to understand the idea. So, there is, you know, grammar mistake that's fine as long as I still understand their sentences. So, can't perlu that I can understand it, so I grade the meaning of that.
I: Your focus on Final Synthesize Paper is on the main idea or the students' critical opinion or the skills: annotating, summarizing, and paraphrasing? C: All of them.
Yeah. So, I check first, do they have the main idea about synthesizing like, so can they understand what the article is about so that can make connection, and then part of the grade is also be, you know, how do they use the text to their paraphrase to the text well, do they summarize the article to show they understood the argument, the main idea of the text.
I: So, why you don't apply 5 journals throughout the semester? Journal, I think is just like you write about what have you discussed in the class, what application, and what skills. Why don't you use 5 rather than 4?
C: Ouh, so if I remembered, I can't remember exactly how many I gave in that semester. So, maaf. But, usually I try to judge the number of journals based on how much time we have because there is also the skill assignment like,
C: Yeah, of course. Especially when they put my name as the course coordinator (whispering: I didn't wanna be the course coordinator).
I: (I laugh).
there is nothing in the middle, so I believe, that is quite challenging. So, what I try to do in the beginning of the semester to fit your text and then slowly make it more difficult until they could read like, like academic journal or a text book. I: So, the text that you have chosen about teaching, about education, literature? C: No. So, because I wanna have the class to be engaging, like to have a lot of
There was the hunger game text, so I want them to do some literature analysis because I know there are some literature students as well.
I: Have you ever found that even though if the text is very interesting but the students itself cannot engage, cannot interest?
C: Yeah like, if the text end it up being too hard, then the students may a bit to engage for sometimes to be stress in the part of the semester, and I knew they hadn't read and yeah maybe it was they have to do annotation, and they do not try very hard to engage with the text.
I: How many percentages did you decide whether their critical opinion is higher than their grammar and their skills? Or, you have a lot of percent in the critical opinion and the skills, but less in the grammar? I think, like, your grading's focus is only on the skills and the critical opinion?
C: Not on grammar, because I want it them to be more brief to think about the article, to try to think deeper to the article, and so, I rather very open.
I: Is that any groupwork during the class you have?
C: Ouh, during the class, yeah, so a lot of time which is one of the complain from the student to be end up in too much group work but I like to, they have class discussion.
I: Do you have your own reasons, your personal reasons why always about journal or actually at least it will be a journal in Academic Reading?
C: Iya, so, my struggle with trying to decide journals and how many journals, on the positive side, I feel like it help make sure the students do the reading which because their long text, they have to read it at home rather than in class, too, it helps them reflect and think before. So that, when the class discussion would be better because they have with their reason part into this journals. The negative is, it requires more writing and not all the students are as comfortable as strong in writing, so that's one of the negatives and it also takes more time to write the journal rather than reading and taking notes, so those I try to balance with the writing, like, how many journals should I give, should I do, other types of reflection too.
I: Did you find difficult to grading each journal for the students with a lot of quantity?
change what they have thought, so they engaging with the text deeply or not, and so, it's easier than some other assignments to grade for me.
I: Ok, you have taught 3 times and you feel it challenging, and then you have difficult in grading but you enjoyed it?
C: Yeah. There are the parts that I really enjoy it. Especially a person article that are not students are interested in, engage well and what's not make it fun. I enjoy talking about text with students. So, as long as throughout the semester, you are participating on that, it's oke. But, there other day like, tiring, thinking the students diifficult.
I: Ok, here I can conclude that you love reading. So, that's why you taught more than one time, right?
C: Yeah. So, I do enjoy the reading in the class like, Reading Across Genre, Critical Reading, but I also do choose this class in 2 times, maybe.
I: Ok, (me laugh). So, your reason is not just to make the students comprehend the academic texts in every class meeting?
C: Ehem, (nodding). So, sometimes it would be like a specific skill that reflected thing, even if they don't understand part of the article, but they still practising the skill, how do I find the arguments in the text, and how do I evaluate some of the evidence for critical thinking skills.
I: Ok, I have taken this course in the previous semester and then, I learnt about how to differentiate fact and evidence. I thought it was really hard.
C: Yeah. Another skills were very very challenge skill.
I: Iyeah. Even though we are given the text and then we try to found where is the fact, where is the evidence, I really feel how can, the difference is very difficult. (I knet my forehead).
C: Yeah because sometimes facts are a type of evidence.
I: Yeah. In the beginning or if I'm not mistaken, we learnt about fact and evidence. And then I could imagine, in the first it was really hard. So, why in the end will be like that. And for the Final Project, the teacher provides 4 texts and then we must try to apply all the skills, and facts and evidence, and etc. into 3 until 5 pages long, right?
C: Yeah. Was that like the argumentative argument? Or, the different one?
I: Yeah, I think. And the previous, kebijakannya itu teachers give freedom for the students to choose their own topic but, as I know from the previous teacher, she told that she found difficult because she has to grading and it has a lot of topic, right?
C: That's hard to understand what everyone is reading about, yeah.
I: And why in here, in this semester, the teacher provide the same text for whole the class so, they will not get any difficulties again in grading, right?
that didn't fit the type of assignment as well then they would end up with the lower grade just because they did not have to select an appropriate article. So, that's what my eventual.
I: Also you taught Academic Reading in the previous semester? And then you provide 4 but you let the students only choose 2?
C: Yeah, so there were 2 different topic that the article's address, so they could choose topic one which has two different articles or topic TWO which had two different article, that will be still some choice but a bit selected article, that's the assignment. (I think he is mumbling).
I: Ok.
C: That will this semester. Each semester has been very different, and it's very hard especially for the coordinator to decide which type of assignment because yeah, deciding like, what is the purpose of academic reading, how they can show those skills. but, I often don't want them to be a repeat of academic writing, so, like when they reflect five page paper and end up with very similar to just like academic writing, 'cause you looking for sources, here you think academic article. so, they are both very hard class, so I have to think assignment at the end. But, that's yeah very hard to work.
I: Ok, you are the coordinator for the previous semester; will you be the next coordinator?
C: I won't know till they assign.
I: Ok, so every semester or every year the coordinator will be changed? C: Sometimes. I'm not sure their part of score. Deciding or changing.
I: If you have a chance to teach in Academic Reading again, will you take it? C: I will have to, yeah. So, (both of us laughing) usually I just accept whatever
course they assign, so, I their part of the class, I really like the part that I really struggle.
Because that's the hard class, to teach them, to feel like, the students' understanding, confident, yeah.
