{"id":58246,"date":"2021-07-21T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-07-21T12:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?p=58246"},"modified":"2021-07-26T23:36:09","modified_gmt":"2021-07-27T03:36:09","slug":"keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/","title":{"rendered":"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Many of us have difficulty learning a foreign language.\u00a0Assimilating vocabulary and grammar rules requires specific skills;\u00a0it is also necessary to be able to converse fluently with a native speaker.\u00a0So how do you actually learn another language?\u00a0What is the best method?\u00a0And how can teachers help their students memorize the more complex aspects of it?<\/p>\n

Adults need to have\u00a0explicit foundations in order<\/a>\u00a0to learn: they need clear explanations of the points that pose a problem for them, and remove the uncertainties.\u00a0They analyze the elements of the new language and make connections from their own linguistic knowledge.\u00a0We all resort to these\u00a0highly developed explicit learning processes<\/a>\u00a0, often acquired with a great deal of time and effort.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, students need techniques that can help them overcome learning challenges, including those caused by the\u00a0Covid-19<\/a>\u00a0pandemic\u00a0, which ended classroom instruction.<\/p>\n

During our\u00a0research<\/a>\u00a0, we found that keeping a journal transformed a good teaching method into a more concrete, more immediate experience, by allowing students to review the stages of learning as they were writing.<\/p>\n

An educational toolbox<\/strong><\/h4>\n

As part of our investigation, we looked at a group of students enrolled in evening Spanish classes at a Scottish university.\u00a0The objective was to determine how they understood the language being acquired based on their source language (English).<\/p>\n

What were they focusing on in learning Spanish?\u00a0What aspects of the language had caught their attention?\u00a0How did they explain the concepts learned, to themselves or to each other, and what links did they establish with their mother tongue?<\/p>\n

We introduced the educational journal as an end-of-session exercise in three classes of 38 students.\u00a0The students had to answer two questions: What did they learn during the lesson?\u00a0What differences and similarities have they noticed between their mother tongue and Spanish?<\/p>\n

The questions were always the same.\u00a0The students were free to comment, analyze, reflect on the content of the lessons.\u00a0It was up to them to choose the topic of discussion in their journal, the teacher not trying to orient them towards specific elements of linguistics or culture.<\/p>\n

At the end of the experimentation period set for this educational journal, we organized a discussion group to determine the impact of the tool.\u00a0We mainly wanted to know if, in the eyes of the students, the newspaper had influenced their performance and improved their self-confidence in using this new language.<\/p>\n

Students’ words<\/strong><\/h4>\n

The educational journals illustrated their capacity for linguistic analysis of students.\u00a0They identified common language mistakes that (mainly) English speakers make in Spanish, described how the foreign language works, like that of their mother tongue, and transcribed the grammar rules that apply in both languages, as well as what differentiates them from each other:<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Spanish,\u201c me gusta \/ n \u201dmeans\u201c I like it \u201dor\u201c I like them \u201dor, literally,\u201c Mine, I like it \u201d, the\u201c that \u201drepresenting the object of the sentence.\u00a0It is a rather difficult concept to grasp.\u00a0“<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The students seemed to enjoy describing what they understood and assimilated;\u00a0they found it pleasant to learn compared to their mother tongue.\u00a0According to their texts, these connections helped them memorize their lessons.\u00a0The newspapers also made it possible to initiate class debates and discuss their learning methods:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe newspaper [\u2026] helped me to remember the colors.\u00a0I found the answer more easily in Spanish when I repeated (over and over) the question \u201cWhat is this color?\u201d\u00a0“<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

However, we were surprised to find that the students did not discuss any cultural subject in their journals.\u00a0The lessons purposely contained elements of culture from the Spanish speaking world as a whole, from\u00a0the<\/a>\u00a0Mexican\u00a0Day of the Dead<\/a>\u00a0to the Easter celebrations in Madrid.<\/p>\n

Their reflections seemingly confined to the linguistic spectrum, focusing on differences between languages, such as the concept of gender in Spanish and how to determine the gender of a word.\u00a0It appears that newspapers have served above all as a consolidation tool in their language learning.<\/p>\n

The answers to the first question (relating to what they had learned from the lesson of the day) overlapped very little between the three groups, a rather unexpected element since each lesson had specific teaching objectives, stated at the beginning of the lesson as it should be in terms of good teaching practice.<\/p>\n

This result in itself has led us to reflect on the evolution of personalized language teaching as students progress.\u00a0The students obviously remembered a variety of information, which is simply not predictable.<\/p>\n

These findings, based on how students analyze language, could help shape the teaching and learning of tomorrow.\u00a0In particular, we found that educational journals allowed students to more precisely identify their points of interest and highlight their ability to reflect on their own knowledge in order to refine their learning.<\/p>\n

At the end of the experiment, the students wanted to maintain this exercise.\u00a0They found real benefit in understanding the language and its mechanisms, as well as in assimilating the Spanish vocabulary as they progressed.\u00a0For the teachers involved, the newspapers provided an excellent initiator of debates and offered a practical tool for language teaching.<\/p>\n

Author Bios:<\/strong>Argyro Kanaki is a Lecturer in Education and Susana Carvajal is a Lecturer in Language, School of Humanities bth at the University of Dundee<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of us have difficulty learning a foreign language.\u00a0Assimilating vocabulary and grammar rules requires specific skills;\u00a0it is also necessary to be able to converse fluently with a native speaker.\u00a0So how do you actually learn another language?\u00a0What is the best method?\u00a0And how can teachers help their students memorize the more complex aspects of it? Adults need […]\n… learn more→<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":58247,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15645],"tags":[11904],"coauthors":[11733],"class_list":["post-58246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-education","tag-foreign-language"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nKeeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language? - World leading higher education information and services<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language? - World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Many of us have difficulty learning a foreign language.\u00a0Assimilating vocabulary and grammar rules requires specific skills;\u00a0it is also necessary to be able to converse fluently with a native speaker.\u00a0So how do you actually learn another language?\u00a0What is the best method?\u00a0And how can teachers help their students memorize the more complex aspects of it? Adults need […]\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"World leading higher education information and services\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-07-21T12:00:17+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-07-27T03:36:09+00:00\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/journal.jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"680\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"372\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kevin\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" class=\"yoast-seo-meta-tag\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"headline\":\"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language?\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-21T12:00:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-27T03:36:09+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":885,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/journal.jpeg\",\"keywords\":[\"foreign language\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Education\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/\",\"name\":\"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language? - World leading higher education information and services\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/journal.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-07-21T12:00:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-07-27T03:36:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/journal.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2021\\\/07\\\/journal.jpeg\",\"width\":680,\"height\":372},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/\",\"name\":\"World leading higher education information and services\",\"description\":\"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee\",\"name\":\"Kevin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Kevin\"},\"description\":\"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/world.edu\\\/author\\\/kevin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language? - World leading higher education information and services","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language? - World leading higher education information and services","og_description":"Many of us have difficulty learning a foreign language.\u00a0Assimilating vocabulary and grammar rules requires specific skills;\u00a0it is also necessary to be able to converse fluently with a native speaker.\u00a0So how do you actually learn another language?\u00a0What is the best method?\u00a0And how can teachers help their students memorize the more complex aspects of it? Adults need […]","og_url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/","og_site_name":"World leading higher education information and services","article_published_time":"2021-07-21T12:00:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-07-27T03:36:09+00:00","og_image":[{"width":680,"height":372,"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/journal.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Kevin","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Kevin","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/"},"author":{"name":"Kevin","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"headline":"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language?","datePublished":"2021-07-21T12:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-27T03:36:09+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/"},"wordCount":885,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/journal.jpeg","keywords":["foreign language"],"articleSection":["Education"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/","name":"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language? - World leading higher education information and services","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/journal.jpeg","datePublished":"2021-07-21T12:00:17+00:00","dateModified":"2021-07-27T03:36:09+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/journal.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/journal.jpeg","width":680,"height":372},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/keeping-a-journal-a-way-to-better-learn-a-foreign-language\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/world.edu\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Keeping a journal: a way to better learn a foreign language?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#website","url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/","name":"World leading higher education information and services","description":"Global Higher Education Jobs, University jobs, Lecturer & tenure jobs.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/world.edu\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/world.edu\/#\/schema\/person\/42c1c1d5ff7ffbdf0bd50ed94c6ae6ee","name":"Kevin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g8ba4c352a279c450aa9435d770c1ebf4","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/1e8d491a5f9b9bf3db67c9e46abbba7bb06b26b458bd5025c55e0a4b9b60ea8a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Kevin"},"description":"Kevin is founder of the world.edu project. The past 28 years have been involved in publishing to the education sector in print and the internet. Kevin has a degree in Education and has a many years experience in developing companies and projects.","sameAs":["https:\/\/world.edu"],"url":"https:\/\/world.edu\/author\/kevin\/"}]}},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58246"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58435,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58246\/revisions\/58435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58246"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/world.edu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=58246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}