Using learning journals to promote

learner autonomy
Muthita Chinpakdee

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This article presents some of the findings from a larger research project which
aimed to promote learner autonomy among Thai secondary school learners
through strategy-based intervention. It looks specifically at how reflective journal
writing, as a part of the intervention programme, helped learners develop the
capacity to direct their own learning. The article also identifies potential challenges
in using learning journals to promote learner autonomy in a language classroom.
Findings indicate that guided reflective learning journals can be an effective tool
to help learners develop metacognitive awareness about their learning process and
the ability to independently direct their learning activities. The article concludes
by considering how reflective journal writing can be incorporated into regular
classroom practice to promote autonomous language learning.

Key words: Reflection, Reflective journal writing, Learner autonomy,

Autonomous language learning

Introduction Reflection has been recognized as an essential component of language

learning and learner autonomy (LA) (Benson 2011). This is because
reflection is a process that helps learners turn their past learning
experience into future learning actions. Reflection, practised through
reflective writing, can help learners articulate their understandings about
their learning process and develop useful insights that enable them to
learn more effectively and independently (Cotterall 2017). In completing
a journal, learners have to consciously examine their own learning
experience, identify what supports or hinders their progress, and plan
how to further improve their learning (Rubin 2003). In this way, reflective
journaling can raise learners’ awareness of their learning as well as
stimulate active involvement and ownership of the process. For teachers,
journals can serve as a platform through which they can track learners’
progress, build mutual trust, and give supportive comments to stimulate
further learning (Watson Todd et al. 2001).
Implementing reflective journals, however, can be challenging for both
learners and teachers. Learners may not want to keep learning journals
when the purposes of using the journals do not align with their learning
needs, or when they are not familiar with self-reflection (Huang 2005;
O’Connell and Dyment 2011). In a similar vein, responding to learners’

ELT Journal Volume 76/4 October 2022; https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccab056  432

© The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved.
Advance Access publication September 11, 2021
 reflections can be time-consuming for teachers (Cowie 2018). Considering
these potential benefits and challenges, more classroom-based studies
are needed to explore whether and how learning journals can be used to
promote autonomous language learning.
This study reports findings from a larger research project which aimed
to foster LA and develop language proficiency among a group of Thai
secondary school learners via a strategy-based instruction programme.
The programme consisted of ten weekly lessons of fifty minutes in

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which learners were introduced to nine reading strategies. At the end of
each lesson, I, as their teacher, prompted them to reflect on their overall
performance and exchange with their peers what they did or did not do
well, and what more they could possibly do to improve their reading. Self-
reflection was further encouraged through guided learning journals that
learners used to document their independent strategy practice outside of
class. This study investigates how learners used guided learning journals
to develop their ability to autonomously regulate their reading process
and improve their reading outcomes. It also addresses practical issues in
implementing reflective journals in a language classroom.

Learner LA is conceptualized as learners’ capacity to take control of their own learning

autonomy, (Huang and Benson 2013). It involves learners’ ability and willingness to
reflective journal take an active role in managing key aspects of their learning process, such as
writing, and defining learning goals, planning what to do to achieve the goals, executing
effective language their plans, and evaluating their own learning efforts. The promotion of
learning LA in language education is justified by the argument that learners’ active
involvement in their learning process is necessary for successful language
learning (Illés 2012; Little, Dam, and Legenhausen 2017).
LA thus entails learners’ ability to make informed decisions about
their learning. This highlights the role of reflection in helping learners
analyse their past learning experiences and beliefs in order to formulate
conceptual understandings about themselves, their learning, and how they
can learn better (Benson 2011). Learning experiences that are perceived
as negative are not likely to lead to productive learning actions, whereas
positive experiences can motivate learners’ active engagement in the
learning process (Boud 2001).
In the context of language learning, reflection can be prompted by the
teacher through classroom discussions and the use of reflective journals
or diaries (Benson 2011). The benefits of reflective writing on autonomous
language learning have been acknowledged in a number of studies. For
example, Kemp (2009) reported that after using listening logs to reflect
on their learning experiences for eight weeks, her learners became
more aware of their progress as well as what made listening tasks easy
or difficult for them. This awareness further prompted the learners to
develop strategies to cope with their difficulties and seek more listening
inputs to improve their listening skills. Hayashi (2012) examined the
effects of learning journals on learner development and found that
journal writing helped her learners establish ownership of their learning
process through decision-making. The sense of ownership, in turn,
motivated autonomous learning behaviours and made language learning

Using learning journals to promote learner autonomy 433

 a more meaningful experience to the learners. Similarly, Little, Dam,
and Legenhausen (2017) note that logbooks can provide a framework
for reflection which enabled learners to systematically evaluate how they
learnt. As a result, their learners were able to approach their language
learning proactively.

The study This study involved thirty eleventh-grade (age 17) Thai EFL secondary
school learners from one intact class. Prior to data collection, learners

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were informed, both in class and through participant information sheets,
of their right to voluntary participation. All learners agreed to participate
and gave written permission for their data to be used for research
purposes. This study addressed the following research questions:
1 How did the use of weekly learning journals help learners develop skills
to direct their learning?
2 What are the challenges in using weekly learning journals to promote
LA in language classrooms?
Data were obtained from guided learning journals and group interviews.
The journals used in this study were designed to foster reflective thinking
and autonomous learning. Each entry consisted of two main parts (see
Appendix). The first part required learners to state their weekly learning
goals and activities they did to achieve the goals, record strategies they
used, and comment on whether and how the strategies were useful. The
second part prompted learners to reflect on their performance, and to plan
what they would do, based on their reflection, to further improve their
learning. Space was also provided for learners to write their additional
comments and questions. In week 1, I clarified to learners that their
journals would not be graded because the purpose of writing journals
was to help them reflect on their learning as they were developing
their reading skills. I also explained what each prompt meant and
guided learners through completing a sample entry to ensure that they
understand what should be considered and how much detail they were
expected to provide in their entries.
Although they were given a choice to write either in Thai or English, all
learners decided to write in Thai. They submitted their entries on a weekly
basis, and in total 246 entries were collected. The length of the entries
ranged from 53 to 177 words, with an average of 90.9 words per entry.
Each week, I read the submitted entries and commented on learners’
learning plans and strategy use. Sometimes I responded by sharing similar
experiences I had when using the same strategies. I also reminded them
not only to record what they did, but also describe how they felt. Once
I noticed that their entries became more reflective, I responded with probing
comments such as ‘It seems that this strategy works well for you when you
read short stories. Do you think it will be as useful with other text types
or learning activities? How?’ This process not only provided me with an
opportunity to track the learners’ progress and give them guidance, but also
appeared to help stimulate learners’ engagement in reflective journal writing.
In addition, four groups of forty-five-minute learner interviews (five or six
learners per group) were conducted to find out, from the learners’ own
perspectives, how reflective journaling has affected their approaches to

434 Muthita Chinpakdee

 learning and their performances. The interviews were conducted in Thai,
audio-recorded, and transcribed verbatim. All transcripts were verified by
the participants.
To answer the research questions, journal entries and interview
transcripts were coded in Nvivo 12. Following Miles, Huberman, and
Saldaña’s (2014) approach, I created a provisional code list based on the
research questions and used it as a framework for coding. The provisional
code list and the relationships between codes were subsequently modified

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to accommodate the data and evolving interpretations as the coding
progressed. The revision process continued until conceptual unity
from the codes could be established to answer the research questions.
I coded all data three times, immediately after the intervention, and one
month, and three months afterwards, to ensure consistency. All excerpts
presented in this article were translated from Thai.

Findings This section first addresses research question 1 by illustrating how

learners used their learning journals to make plans for their learning,
monitor their progress, solve problems, and evaluate their performance.
These findings are accompanied by interview findings showing learners’
understandings of how the learning journals and their active involvement
in learning affected their reading ability. Then, two main challenges in
using learning journals are discussed to answer research question 2.

Learning journals First, journal entries show how learners created and made use of learning
and learners’ opportunities to develop their reading and other English skills.
developed skills
to direct their own Planning I want to know more about the festival, so I will read ‘La Tomatina’
learning and learn some new words (1 hour). (Learner 25, Week 2)
Listen to English language songs, read the lyrics, and try to come up
with questions about the meaning of the songs. (Learner 5, Week 6)
Watch Zootopia and note down interesting new words (2 hours).
(Learner 10, Week 8)

These learning plans show learners’ ability to decide independently how

they want to interact with English outside of class and how they would go
about developing their English in ways that are relevant to their own needs
and interests. Learning journals, in this sense, appeared to help learners
self-direct their own learning in a personalized and focused manner.
Moreover, learners also used the journals to keep track of their progress
by identifying what impeded their learning and whether the strategies
they used were helpful in solving the problems. At an early stage (weeks
1–4), most learners only recorded what their problems were. However,
with weekly feedback and suggestions from the teacher, they started to
experiment with different strategies to solve the problems by themselves.
This development is illustrated in excerpts from learners 17 and 3.
These examples of active problem identification and problem solving are
a clear manifestation of LA. They indicate learners’ ability to monitor their
own learning experience and make informed decisions to further their
progress with minimal help from teacher.

Using learning journals to promote learner autonomy 435

 Monitoring and I couldn’t understand the short stories I read because
problem-solving there were words I don’t know. (Learner 17, Week 3)
I want to understand what I read, but I still have prob-
lems with some parts of the stories. I used a dictionary
and this week I tried to guess word meanings from other
surrounding words. It’s quicker. (Learner 17, Week 5)
I couldn’t understand some words in the passages. They
were new and some were long. (Learner 3, Week 3)

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I couldn’t make out some words and I tried to break
them down into parts just like what I learnt in class. If
that didn’t work, I would look up the meanings and try to
remember them. (Learner 3, Week 8)

Finally, journal entries also reveal that each week learners evaluated their
progress by comparing their current performance with what they were
able to do in the previous weeks. By using their old entries as a point of
reference for self-evaluation, learners could see the effectiveness of their
strategy practice and notice improvement in their English reading. This
perceived success appeared to further motivate active engagement in
learning.

Evaluation This week I could read and understand more. I also feel that
I want to try more. (Learner 13, Week 2)
When I read English articles, I felt that I got better. I under-
stood the stories better than the previous weeks. I think I will
continue with my strategies. (Learner 1, Week 7)
I could guess word meanings more accurately and quickly.
I felt good because it helped me save time in reading and
doing exams. (Learner 9, Week 8)

Positive changes between weeks appeared to be incremental. However,

the cumulative effects of reflective journal writing on learners’
development of metacognitive knowledge and autonomous learning skills
were evident in most journals submitted in weeks 8–10. The following
excerpts, taken from week 10 entries by learners 4 and 6, reveal the
learners’ emerging understanding of how their active involvement in
the learning process, or the lack thereof, could significantly affect their
overall learning outcomes.
I knew from writing the journals every week that I still have some
problems. I also knew what I should do next time. When I reflected on
what I learnt, I knew where my mistakes were. If I continue to manage
myself like this, I think I can improve. But if I become lazy, things
won’t get better. I also knew that my plans and strategies really helped
me improve each time. (Learner 4)
Writing the journals or just reflecting on what I learnt is like giving
myself a reminder that I still needed to work on my goals. I won’t
improve if I don’t do something to fix my problems. When I knew what
I needed to work on, I could start working on that. (Learner 6)

436 Muthita Chinpakdee

 These views were later confirmed and elaborated by learners during group
interviews. The following interview excerpt shows learners’ understanding
of how the use of weekly learning journals helped them notice their
problems and think of ways to independently improve their performance.
R: Do you think you have made any improvement in your
English at all this semester? Which area do you think you
have improved the most?

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Learner 23: I think there’s an improvement in my reading.
R: How do you know?
Learner 23: I know because I could do the reading part in the
midterm exams. This time, I could understand the
passages better. Every week, we spent time practising
the reading strategies when we read things on our own
and then we did the journals, thinking about what our
problems were. This helps me improve a lot and I got
better at reading and understanding English passages.
Learner 28: I got better at reading and I also learnt many new words.
I tried the strategies we learnt in class on the exams and
on my homework. I also learnt to find things that would
help improve my skills outside of class. Each week I set
myself a goal . . . what I would practise. I asked myself if
I would be able to do it and how much I would achieve.
Then I followed my plans and submitted my journals.
When you returned them, you always have suggestions
on what I could do differently. I tried it and it worked.
(Learner interview, Group 1)
The learners’ ability to critically reflect on how they learn and use their
reflection as a basis for future learning actions is a clear evidence of
autonomous learning. Their use of learning journals helped them notice
the link between their independent strategy practice and their improved
reading performance. This perceived success, according to Boud (2001),
is what motivated them to take an active role in their learning. In sum,
the learners’ reflection on their learning experiences contributed to the
development of both the metacognitive insights and skills which enabled
them to take control of their learning with confidence.

Challenges in While this study shows that reflective journals can be a useful tool to
using learning foster autonomous learning skills and effective language learning, it
journals to also reveals two main challenges that need to be considered when using
promote learning journals in a language classroom.
autonomous First, the analysis of early journal entries reveals that most learners were
learning not familiar with self-reflection. Most entries submitted in the second and
third weeks were permeated with descriptive accounts of what the learners
did, vague statements of weekly goals, and unclear learning plans.
Moreover, because the weekly learning journals were a new component
of their English reading lessons, a few learners in this study reported that
they were initially sceptical about the journals’ benefits to their learning.

Using learning journals to promote learner autonomy 437

 However, as illustrated in Learner 10’s interview excerpt below, this
issue could be managed through time, practice, and teacher support.
Clear instructions and teacher feedback (in both written and spoken
forms) helped eliminate confusion learners had about the procedures of
reflective journal writing and how this activity could benefit their learning.
As learners practised writing about their own learning each week,
they seemed to have less difficulty with self-reflection and were able to
appreciate the benefits of keeping the journals.

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The weekly journals taught me to plan and manage how I would
practise reading and do other learning activities on my own, and
it has become my habit now. At first, I questioned its value and
thought it wouldn’t really help me much. Later on, I began to pick
activities and planned by myself what I would do for the week. Then
if my plan turned out to be a success, I would do it again. Or if
the plan didn’t work out, I wouldn’t repeat it. (Learner 10, learner
interview group 4)

Secondly, keeping learning journals requires time. This can be

challenging for learners and teachers who were already faced with heavy
workloads and time constraints. Despite being aware of the potential
benefits of the learning journals, a few learners chose not to complete
their weekly entries. They explained that they needed to focus on
completing other assignments and preparing for the school’s exams.
Similarly, I found that reviewing learners’ journals could take up
to three hours per week. This additional workload can demotivate
teachers who teach large classes or multiple courses at the same time.
I occasionally asked the learners to exchange the entries and read
each other’s reflections. Then at the beginning of the subsequent
class, I asked some learners to discuss the content of their entries and
their peers’ comments with the whole class. Classroom discussions
have proved to be a useful alternative not only in helping learners
examine their learning problems from different perspectives, but also
in engaging those who did not have time for reflective journaling in
the process of reflection. Moreover, this practice allowed me to filter
out repeated questions and give suggestions to learners with similar
problems at the same time. Therefore, classroom discussions can be an
alternative means for learners to practise reflective thinking as a part of
their learning process and for teachers to save time when dealing with
an overwhelming number of journals.

Discussion and Despite the challenges in its implementation, reflective learning journals
implications can support LA development and language learning in several ways. For
learners in this study, the journals appeared to have promoted higher-
order thinking, generated motivation, and sustained the iterative processes
of planning, monitoring, problem-solving, and self-evaluation. Together,
these are key to successful and autonomous language learning. These
findings confirm the benefits of learning journals on LA development
identified in previous research and highlight the important role reflection
plays in helping learners turn their learning experiences into productive,
self-initiated learning actions (Benson 2011; Boud 2001).

438 Muthita Chinpakdee

 If autonomous learning entails learners’ critical reflection, decision-
making, and independent actions, reflective learning journals can be a tool
to facilitate the development of such abilities in learners. However, this
study indicates that the ability to reflect critically on one’s own learning
may not come naturally to all learners. Thus, it needs to be prompted and
supported by the teacher.
Before implementing journals in class, teachers can prompt reflection by
making it an integral part of classroom practice. Questions such as ‘what

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did we do today?’, ‘what did you find difficult?’, ‘what did you do to solve
the problems?’, and ‘what can you do differently next time to improve your
learning?’ can be used at the initial stage to guide learners into talking
about their learning experiences and engage them with reflective thinking.
Once learners start writing their reflective journals, teachers should also
provide ongoing support through regular feedback and constructive
comments. This is to make journal writing an activity where learners can
deliberately reflect on their learning and exchange ideas with the teacher
(Watson Todd et al. 2001). As illustrated in this study, prompts provided
in the journals and probing questions from teacher’s weekly feedback can
provide structured opportunities for reflection and reinforce reflective
thinking outside the classroom. If the purpose of journal writing is to help
learners develop as autonomous learners, both in-class and out-of-class
support are important in helping them become reflective and proactive in
their language learning.
Reflective learning journals, as a learning tool, can provide a window
into individual learners’ development as autonomous language learners.
As a process, reflective journal writing can raise learners’ awareness
of how they learn and encourage them to draw on such awareness to
make necessary changes in their learning. Therefore, teachers aiming
to foster LA and effective language learning should treat reflection as an
important part of their practice. By providing opportunities for reflection
and encouraging the use of reflective learning journals, teachers are
helping learners recognize that the learners themselves can influence
both the learning process and the outcomes. It is through supporting
reflective thinking that teachers can prepare their learners to learn more
autonomously.
Final version received November 2020

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Little, D., L. Dam, and L. Legenhausen. 2017. Language Watson Todd, R., N. Mills, C. Palard, and
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Guidelines 25(2):10–14. Email: m.chnpkd@gmail.com

Appendix: The weekly learning journal.

Name:_____________Date: ___________My goal(s) for this week: _______________________________

Activities and time spent Purposes Strategies used How did the strategies help
you?

1. What went well? How did you know?

Your comments/ suggestions/ requests:

2. What did you find difficult and what did you do to solve
the problem? Teacher’s comments:

3. Based on your experience this week, how do you plan to

improve your learning next week?

440 Muthita Chinpakdee