Graduation Date
Spring 2019
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Arts degree with a major in Education
Committee Chair Name
Dr. Eric Van Duzer
Committee Chair Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Dr. Elizabeth Miller
Second Committee Member Affiliation
HSU Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Dialogue journals, Journal writing, Peer feedback, ESL college students, English fluency
Subject Categories
Education
Abstract
This study investigated research methodologies which were proven to be successful in promoting English fluency among ESL students in the college level classroom. The history of second language learning was tied to popular teaching practices, such as journal writing, dialogue journals, peer feedback, and teacher feedback. Due to a lack of cohesion between the above methods and a rising gap in related literature, an experiment was formed to determine whether dialogue journals could be combined with peer feedback to facilitate an accelerated comprehension of English as an L2 language. Over a three-month period, 19 ESL students at Gavilan College were instructed to write about their weekly course experiences by answering one or more prompt questions in a notebook. The class was observed for both positive and negative reactions to peer encounters, consistent English language use in verbal and written form, and number of errors made in grammar and spelling. Pre and post scores were also compared to represent whether English comprehension improved after the intervention of the peer feedback method. By the end of the study, field notes from the observations and an analysis of dialogue journal entries proved that students became more confident with English language use, and overall English fluency increased. On average, 14 out of 19 participants (74%) improved their grammar, and 16 out of 19 participants (84%) improved their spelling. Therefore, it can be concluded that dialogue journals and peer feedback help achieve English fluency among college level ESL students when combined simultaneously.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Stone, Sarah L., "Promoting English fluency through peer feedback and dialogue journals in an ESL college classroom" (2019). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 284.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/284
Included in
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