대학교양영어에서 학습일지와 교수자 피드백을 활용한 문법 교수 및 학습 방안 연구

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the effects and the applicability of a learning journal as a tool to enhance the effect of explicit grammar teaching and promote students' grammar learning through production practices in university general English classes in an EFL context. To this end, this study employed a learning journal with university students learning English grammar in general English classes. The study investigated its effect on students' understanding of grammar, students' response about their journal writing, and students' perception on grammar learning. In this study, two classes of 117 university students were randomly assigned to one experimental group of 59 students and one control group of 58 students. The students in the experimental group wrote the learning journal targeting 14 grammar structures over a ten-week period. The learning journal consisted of two prompts. The first one was the question of "What did you learn today?" which was to help students understand the grammar structures. The second one was the prompt of "Compose sentences, a dialogue, or a short story using the grammar structure you learned today", which was to help students learn the proper use of grammar structures through production practices. Students handed in their journal once a week and they were given feedback on their journal writing from the instructor. The pretest, the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest were conducted to assess whether the learning journal could have a positive effect on their target grammar learning, compared with the students in the control group. The three target grammar structures – tense, aspect, and subject and verb agreement – were chosen out of 14 grammar structures for the pretest and the two posttests, based on the result of the pilot test and the literature review. In addition, a questionnaire survey and a semi-structured interview were administered to examine how students felt about their journal writing. Their perception on grammar learning was also investigated through the pre and post surveys in order to observe any changes after their journal writing. The major findings of the study are as follows. First, the learning journal has a positive effect on students' target grammar understanding and it has a long-term effect, since the experimental group scored significantly higher on both the immediate posttest and the delayed posttest than the control group. Consequently, the learning journal seemed to promote students' understanding and learning the target grammar and was found to be effective in the long-term. Second, the results of the survey and the interview showed that students felt a slight improvement to their English ability, especially their grammar understanding and reading. Students also appeared to feel an achievement in their English learning through journal writing and expected that continuous journal writing would improve their grammar knowledge. This may be the reason why they were willing to recommend journal writing to other students. Moreover, the journal writing appeared to help students understand and review what they learned in class, learn grammar and English, and notice what they did not know and what they need to know. In addition, most students showed a positive attitude about the feedback they received from the instructor. The feedback, therefore, seemed to help students enhance their understanding and use of grammar. However, the learning journal appeared to be a challenging or an annoying task for some students who are low leveled or have a negative attitude about the learning journal. Meanwhile, students evaluated the second prompt of the learning journal, production practices, as the best and the most difficult at the same time in their grammar learning. Besides, it is ranked the most helpful for students' grammar learning, followed by the feedback and then the first prompt of summary of what students learned. Hence, it can be said that students want production practices using what they learned and it seems to corroborate the applicability of a learning journal as a production practice tool. Third, both experimental and control groups showed a positive change in the post survey on grammar learning perception. In other words, there was no difference of perception on grammar learning between students who wrote the learning journal and who did not. Thus, it cannot be said that students' perception on grammar learning is affected by the journal writing. On the basis of the results mentioned above, this study suggests the following implication for English education. First, it is suggested that a learning journal would be an effective tool to enhance the effect of explicit grammar teaching and boost students' grammar learning through production practices in an EFL context. Second, a learning journal could be a useful tool for teaching and learning English to upgrade the quality of class and students' learning performance by promoting students' learning and cognitive processes and improving the relationship between students and teachers. Third, thanks to its flexible style, a learning journal could be employed in any circumstance including an EFL context. It could be an effective teaching tool if it is well adjusted according to the purpose and the content of the class and students' level. Last, it is suggested for easing the burden of journal writing to design the various and detailed prompts appropriate for both classes and students. This would make it possible to make the best use of a learning journal as an alternative tool to improve the effect of explicit grammar teaching and foster students' grammar learning through production practices in university general English classes in an EFL context.