Personal journal writing : an interpretive exploration of the writer-text relationship
Date
1986
Authors
Lund, Darren E.
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Abstract
With the increasing numbers of teachers implementing journal writing programs in their classrooms, studies are needed which explore the process of personal writing from the perspectives of the students involved. An interpretive study is described in which a phenomenological approach is adopted for the study of the writer-text relationships of three secondary students and their journals. Over a period of several weeks the researcher engaged in reflective, hermeneutic conversations with two grade 11 boys and one grade 11 girl. During these meetings, the researcher and students wrote in their journals, and shared their experiences of the composing process. Three separate interpretations of the students' journal writing experiences were written in the form of descriptive, narrative accounts. From this exploration of expressive writing as an important sense-making process, the researcher outlined implications for teachers wishing to establish a classroom environment most conducive to rewarding journal writing experiences for their students.