The effect of journal writing on the achievement of second elementary Lebanese students in English as a foreign language

النوع : Mémoire

The present study attempted to investigate the relative effect of journal writin g on the writing achievement of second elementary Lebanese students in English a s a foreign language. The subjects of this study were thirty seven (n= 37) stude nts who were enrolled in one of the Makassed schools (private school) in Ras Bei rut, Lebanon. Their native language was Arabic and they studied English as a for eign language. The subjects were randomly assigned into two groups: experimental (n= 19) and co ntrast group (n= 18). The experimental group was exposed to the treatment: Journ al writing, while the contrast group wrote answers to questions about the readin g material in their basal reader. All the participants in this group were instru cted to pay attention to grammar, spelling and number of lines. At the end of the treatment period that lasted for eight weeks, (twice a week) b oth groups were administered a standardized test the Test of Early Written Langu age- 2. Also a battery of t- tests was used to determine whether the mean scores on communication and fluency of each of the experimental and contrast groups we re significantly different at a selected probability level ( ل .05). Results of the t- test on written communication indicated that there is a statis tically significant difference in favor of the experimental group t( 34)= 2.913, p=. 006. Similarly, results of the t- test on written fluency indicated that th ere is a statistically significant difference t( 34)= 1.982, p=. 056. The overall results indicated that the writing of the experimental group was mor e communicative and fluent than the contrast group