Impact of dialogue journals on language anxiety and classroom affect

Abstract

This study explored the impact of using dialogue journals on language anxiety and classroom affect. The study was conducted with one control group and one experimental group at Zonguldak Karaelmas University in the spring semester of 2005. In total, 48 students and one teacher participated in the study. Following a workshop on the implementation of the dialogue journal, the teacher taught her class as usual and added dialogue journal use. Dialogue journal use was not part of the instruction for the control group. Data were collected through questionnaires and interviews. The questionnaires were administered to both groups before and after the six-week treatment. The questionnaires consisted of Likert scale items from (1)-Strongly Disagree to (5)-Strongly Agree. Interviews were also conducted with the teacher and selected students after the treatment. Questionnaires were analyzed by t-tests and ANOVA tests. The results revealed that no significant differences after the treatment were found between the control group and the experimental group students’ anxiety levels as measured by FLCAS. However, data collected in teacher and student interviews suggested that dialogue journal implementation had positive effects on attitudes towards English courses.