Trends

1. Trends • BALLI: a movement away from traditional views of language learning and teaching. • FLCAS: a growing feeling of comfort in the language classroom (decreasing anxiety). • LSI: Twice as many Visual Learners as Auditory Learners. Almost no Tactile Learners. • SILL: General raised awareness of learning strategies. • MIS: Comparable presence of all 9 intelligences, with Intrapersonal strength being the strongest and Interpersonal strength being the weakest.

2. Trends • CLE: heightened awareness of the significance of the learning environment. • CEQ: heightened awareness of the importance of matching preferred and actual learning environments. • Self-Assessment, Confidence: students responded positively. • Self-Assessment, Motivation: students responded positively.

3. Results • weekly entries in the journal increased in length over the course of the semester; • the number of grammatical inaccuracies decreased without teacher-correction; • the individual reflections gained in depth as students became more articulate; • topics of the individual reflections became more oriented to language learning (students wrote about whatever they felt to be important to them); • there was a noticeable shift in the entries from initial confusion (about the future) and lack of confidence, towards determination to "do my best"; and • individual reflections showed encouraging indications of positive attitude change.

4. Results • The interactive/reflective learner journal was a definite factor in attitude change for a number of reasons: • Being both interactive and reflective, the journal gave students a framework in which to discuss issues which had not previously been explored by them in any depth. • By allowing students to reflect individually upon whatever they found to be important, and by stressing that there were no "correct" answers, the journal encouraged growth of confidence and self-esteem in students who had previously labeled themselves as poor learners.

5. Results • By allowing groups to proceed through the journal at their own pace, students were allowed to spend time on issues that they found meaningful. • By bringing teaching/learning-related issues to the attention of the students, the journal promoted cooperative exploration of beliefs, leading to positive modification of attitudes to learning. • By encouraging students to make individual reflections on a regular basis, without correction by the teacher, the fear of "making mistakes" was disabled, and writing skills were allowed to improve simply through extended practice and occasional peer-feedback.