Dialogue Journal as a New Technique in Writing Skill Development: A case study of Iraqi students

Abstract

Many methods and techniques are used in schools to develop the learners' abilities to acquire the foreign languages .Methodologists and applied linguists seek this topic and the impetus for change in approaches to languages teaching came about from the innovation in linguistics, psychology and changes in teaching methods.   It is a matter of fact that teaching any language implies the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. In reviewing the syllabuses of composition courses and writing in most stages of teaching. It has found that writing skills or practical writing is completely ignored .  The use of Audio-Lingual Method for many years in Iraq in  teaching  English as foreign language has contributed in this matter. Especially since the inception of the audio-lingual movement, the oral skills have received major attention and writing has been considered less important. There is another reason for this ignorance which is: some teachers think that teaching writing involves just the following skills : hand writing or typing, spelling, constructing grammatical sentences and punctuating. Moreover, E- Learning gives a big area of communication by using writing because of the pandemic that faces all countries in these days . The students should now give a lot of intention to writing because they use computers and smart phones to send their achievements and doing homework. A dialogue journal is a written conversation in which a student and teacher communicate regularly (daily, weekly, depending on the educational setting ) over a semester, school year, or course ). The dialogue journals would be described as a reflective written conversation kept in a special notebook reserved for that purpose revolving around a variety of topics generated by the learners or guided by the teacher.