1.

Introduction
Writing is a skill, not a natural gift. It is a skill like driving, typing, or
cooking; and, like any skill, it can be learned (Langan, 2011: 11). However,
writing is considered as the most difficult skill to master. According to
Hadfield (2004: v), there are some difficulties related to the writing. Firstly,
there is psychological difficulty in which the writers have to decide what the
information the reader needs and how best to express this. Secondly, there is
linguistic difficulty in that the language used in written language is different
from that used in speech. Thirdly, there is cognitive difficulty in which the
writers have to organize their thought on paper. Consequently, a large number
of students consider English writing as frightening and frustrating activity.
This problems happen because the method or technique used in teaching
writing is not effective enough, moreover, the amount of time given to practice
writing in class is inappropriate. It can be seen that many of teachers use
conventional teaching writing method, like teacher provides topic(s), students
directly practice the writing without learning how to write first, and then the
students writing will be collected, corrected, and graded by teacher.
In fact, building interest for writing is an important point. When interests
are touched, students are totally involved in the writing and appear at times to
be writing above their expected capability (Brookes and Grundy, 1991:45). In
other words, the students interests closely influence the content of their
writing because they believe that they have something worthwhile to say.
Brookes and Grundy (1991: 46) state the importance of using the interests of
writing class as follows:
we as teachers should start by engaging the interest and personal
involvement of the learner by building on learner input, whether it is
connected with past experiences, present knowledge, interests, ideas, and
personal characteristics, or future hopes, plans or predictions. These things
will provide a motivation for writing, as well as the personal stimulus to
take the writer through a number of barriers.

Therefore, students interest for writing should be developed as well as

other aspects of writing such as organization, vocabulary, language use, and
mechanics in order to develop students writing skill.
One media that can enhance the students interest for writing is dialogue
journal. Dialogue journal is used as media of writing that allows students
choose the topic of their writing on their own, or based on their interest.
Dialogue journal can enhance students interest for writing because in
dialogue journaling students do writing for pleasure. It is a free writing
activity, students do not have to follow the strict rules of certain texts that are
taught in class. Students write about topics of their own choice or provided by
teacher as guidance then teacher gives response; answering to the students
questions, giving comments, introducing new topics, or asking questions. The
students entries are not corrected, but teacher gives model of correct
languange usage in responding the journals. Besides, dialogue journal is an
effective media in practicing writing since it involves free writing and
journaling in the same time. Dialogue journal is one way to help students
improve their communicative competence through meaningful written
communication in non-threatening writing activity.
2. Review of Literature
A. Writing Process
Writing is far from being a simple matter of transcribing language into
written symbols: it is a thinking process in its own right. It demands conscious
intellectual effort, which usually has to be sustained over a considerable
period of time (White and Arndt in Sweeting, A., 2010: 91). They also say that
writing is a form of problem solving which covers such processes as
generating ideas, planning, goal setting, monitoring, and evaluating that is
going to be written as well as what has been written, and finding the suitable
expression with which to express exact meaning.
There are many concepts dealing with the writing process. Smalley, et al.
(2001: 3) state that there are three main stages in the writing process:
prewriting, drafting, and revising. Brown (2001: 348) also mentions three

stages of writing process. The stages include prewriting, drafting, and

revising. Langan (2011: 15) points out that the writing process includes four
stages: prewriting, writing the first draft, revising, editing and proofreading.
All those opinions contain similar ideas meaning that when students produce a
piece of writing, they will go through between the stages in which they make
revision for the improvement of their writing until finishing final draft.
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that the main steps on
writing process consists of prewriting, drafting, and revising. The deep
description of writing process is discussed as follows:
1) Prewriting
The first stage in writing process is prewriting. To make writing
communication more effective there are certain customs and conventions.
First, each type of written text has a function and own characteristic.
Second, the students must understand the purpose of writing. It relates to
genre. Each of the genres has had accepted purpose, structure, and layout
and uses certain language and vocabulary. Third, students have to consider
who the audience is. The structure of a genre may always follow the same
rules but the language and style may differ. The prewriting process is
mainly about generating ideas. It is often difficult for students to get started
and find ideas. There are many different ways to come up with ideas and
this process can be a lot of fun and motivating for students. The following
prewriting techniques are often useful.
a) Brainstorming
Brainstorming is a useful technique in writing because it allows the
writer to close a topic with an open mind (Brown, 2001: 349).
Brainstorming is finding ideas quickly and spontaneously. The intention
is to write down as many ideas as possible without worrying whether
they will be used or how they will be used or whether they are good
enough. All that is required is writing down everything that comes to
mind as the writers think of it including words, phrases, sentences,
questions, topics, heading, etc.
b) Clustering

Clustering is a more visual way of generating ideas (Langan, 2001:

22). Clustering shows the relationship between ideas and progression or
sequence or ideas using circles, boxes, arrows, and lines. Here is how to
use the technique in the centre of the paper, write the topic and draw a
balloon around it. Then, write whatever ideas come to the writer in
balloons around the core.
c) Free writing
Many people do this instinctively and it certainly can be a very
effective method to help them find focus on a broad topic or work
through a topic exploring various points of view. Free writing is an
activity in which is designed to help the writers write free ideas that they
might not realize that they have (Brown, 2001:350). While They are
writing, one idea will spark another idea. The purpose of free writing is
to generate as many ideas as possible and to write them down without
worrying

about

appropriateness,

grammar,

spelling,

logic,

or

organization.
d) Listing
Listing is prewriting technique in which the writer thinks about the
topic and quickly makes a list of whatever words or phrases come into
the writers mind. The goal is to accumulate raw material by making up a
list if everything about the subject that occurs (Langan, 2001:21).
2) Drafting
Students begin to organize and put their structure on their writing.
They put additional thought and details that do not emerge during
prewriting. The organization of a text is determined by the conventions of
the genre. Good organization is essential to ensure coherence. In this stage,
the main goal is expressing main ideas clearly and developing the content
with the plenty of specific details. The writer ignores about the correct
grammar, punctuation, or spelling. Therefore, they are able to express ideas
freely without afraid of making mistakes (Langan, 2001: 25).
3) Revising
Revising means rewriting a paper, building upon what has already
been done, in order to make it stronger (Langan, 2001:26). The writer
revises the rough draft focusing on content and organization, including

unity, coherence and logic. In the first revising, the writer can change,
rearrange, add, or delete for the goal of communicating thought more
clearly, more effectively, and in more interesting way. In his stage, the
writer asks help from their peer or their friend to become proofread of their
writing.
B. Aspects of Writing
There are five aspects based on the ESL Composition Profile (Jacobs,
Zinkgraf, Wormuth, Hartfiel, and Hughey; 1981):
1. Content
It is related to the appropriateness with the title chosen, with
indicators:(1) knowlegable; (2) substantive development of thesis; (3)
2.

relevant to assigned topic.

Organization
It is related to the paragraph unity, coherence, and cohesion with
indicators: (1) fluent expression; (2) ideas are clearly stated or supported;
(3) succinct or expressing what needs to be said in clear and short way; (4)

3.

well-organized; (5) logical and cohesive sequencing.

Vocabulary
It is related to the precision of using vocabulary, with indicators:
(1) sophisticated range; (2) effective word or idiom choice and usage; (3)

4.

word form mastery, (4) appropriate register.

Language Use
It is related to the use of tenses and pattern, with indicators: (1)
effective and complex construction; (2) few errors of agreement, tense,

5.

number, word order or function, articles, pronouns, and prepositions.

Mechanics
It is related to the spelling and punctuation, with indicators: (1)
mastery of conventions; (2) few errors of spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, and paragraphing.

C. Writing Assessment
Assessment is an integral part of teaching and learning. Its major functions
are to know the students progress and their achievement. O malley and Pierce
(1996: 237) define assessment as a systematic approach for collecting
information on students learning or performance, usually based on various
sources of evidence. Moreover, Orlich, et. al. (1998: 353) states that assessment

is the process of evaluating students performance by using a variety of

measurement. It means that assessment is a process of getting information
about students development or progress and their achievement in the teaching
and learning process. In addition, Tompkins (1994: 373) states that assessment
is to know the students progress or development and their ability in writing,
there are three kinds of assessment. They are:
1) Informal assessment
Tompkinds (1994: 323) states that informal assessment is a kind of
on going assessment used to keep track of studentsprogress in writing.
Then, Brown (2001: 402) states, informal assessment is involved in all
incidental, unplanned of evaluative coaching and feedback on tasks
desgined to elicit performance but not for the aim of recording results and
marking fixed judgement about a students skill. It means that informal
competence is an on going assessment used to monitor the students
progress in writing, in which counting the score of composition is not
regarded.
Actually the aim of informal assessment is to give information
about the students performance, such as how far the studentsprogress in
writing is, and whether any change is needed in the way of strategy. In this
case, informal assessment seeks to identify and monitor the strength and
needs of individual students.
2) Process Assessment
Process assessment is the assessment that is done during the
teaching and learning process (Latief in Khalik, 1995: 55). In addition,
Tompkinds (1994: 379) states,Process assessment is designed to probe
how students write,the decisions they make as they write, and the
strategies they use.
3) Product assessment
Product assessment means giving score to the studentswriting.
Generally, there are three methods of scoring: primary trait, holistic and
analytic scoring (Mukminaten, 1997).
Primary trait scoring is a way of scoring a piece of writing by
focusing on the specific features or characteristics. Holistic scoring, some
writers call it impression method, is a procedure in scoring students

writing on the basis of general impression of the composition as a whole.

Moreover, holistic scoring gives a single score to a piece of writing based
on the overall impression on the writing. Analytic scoring is the final one.
Mukminaten (1997: 54) states analytic scoring is a procedure in scoring a
piece of writing by referring to a list of features or sub-skills on which a
rater bases his/her judgement. Moreover, in analytic scoring, the rater
gives the score on the basis of the marking scheme containing some
features of components of writing like content, organization, grammar,
vocabulary, mechanics, and spelling. However, dialogue journal is
enclosed to this assessment.
D. Definition of Dialogue Journal
Dialogue journal is a written conversation between a teacher and an
individual student, which is quite confidential and is an on-going writing
throughout a whole semester or school year (Peyton & Reed in Liao and
Wong, 2007). It is a type of written interaction between teachers and students
that focuses on meaning rather than form and is a means of developing
students linguistic competence, their understanding of course content, and
their ability to communicate in written English. Teachers do not evaluate or
rate performance or correct errors but write and respond as a partner in a
conversation.
In dialogue journaling, students do writing for pleasure so this activity is
actually separated from teaching and learning activity in class. It is free
writing activity, students do not have to follow the strict rules of certain texts
that are taught in class. Students write about topics of their own choice or
provided by teacher as guidance then teacher gives response; answering to the
students questions, giving comments, introducing new topics, or asking
questions. The students entries are not corrected, but teacher gives model of
correct language usage in responding the journals. Dialogue journal is one
way to help students improve their linguistic ability through meaningful
interaction.

To sum up, the idea of dialogue journal writing is basically writing for
pleasure. The students can write anything that they like, and there is no
specific format. The journal is used to make them practice writing regularly in
certain period of time. The role of teacher is as a partner in the dialogues and a
model of the correct writing by giving responses such as comments on their
idea, expanding the topic by asking questions, and giving model of correct
diction, language use, and mechanics that have been written incorrectly.
E. Characteristics of Dialogue Journal
According to Peyton (1993), there are some characteristics of dialogue
journal:
1) Materials.
Dialogue journals may be exchanged on paper in bound, easily
transportable notebooks or electronically. Teachers and learners in
programs with access to computers may exchange computer disks or
interact through e-mail. E-mail and listserve messages allow for group as
well as one-on-one interactions.
2) Frequency of writing.
The writing must be done regularly, but the frequency depends on
the number of learners involved, the length of the class, the teacher's
schedule, and the needs of the teacher and learners. Most teachers prefer to
give learners time to write during class-at the beginning as a warm-up, at
the end as a wind-down, or before or after a break as a transition-or the
teacher may let the learners choose a time for writing in their journals. Ten
to fifteen minutes is usually adequate to read the teacher's entry and write
a new one.
3) Length of writing.
Some teachers initially set a minimum (e.g., three sentences) that
learners must write, and after the process is in place, leave the amount of
writing up to the learner. Learners should understand that long, polished
4)

pieces are not required.

Writing instructions.
Learners can be told that they will be participating in a continuing,
private, written conversation with the teacher (or with another learner or

group of learners, depending on the desired set up), who will write back
regularly. The mechanics of when to write, when to turn the journals in or
give them to the writing partner, and when they will be responded to and
5)

returned should also be worked out.

Writing topics.
Topics for dialogue journal writing may be left up to learners and
evolve freely or may be shaped by curriculum topics and goals. If needed
or desired, the teacher might suggest one or two possible topics, hand out a
list of ideas, or lead the class in brainstorming topics together. The class
might also create a list of vocabulary related to a topic, which learners can
then use in their journal writing. If the class is working on a particular
theme (such as health), journal topics might relate to and expand on that
theme. Writing might also respond to a stimulus such as a piece of music,
a photograph or drawing, a field trip, a movie, a piece of literature (a story
or a poem), or other types of writing (newspaper articles, essays, writings

6)

of other learners).
Journal partners.
Journal partners do not have to be teachers. Learners can write with
each other, with program tutors or aides, or with other classes of learners
(e.g., adult learners who are more proficient in English). The teacher or
writing partner should enter into the journal interaction as a good
conversationalist, an interesting writer, an engaged listener, and a
colleague. The goal is to be responsive to topics and concerns, to ask
questions, to introduce topics, and to write about oneself. Teacher entries
that simply echo what the learner wrote or that ask a lot of questions can

7)

stifle rather than promote interaction.

Finally, everyone involved should relax and enjoy the writing.
For many teachers, reading and writing in dialogue journals is one of
the best parts of their instruction-a wonderful time to reflect, find out
about the people with whom they are spending the term or year, and think
together with learners about where their work is taking them.

3. Discussion

According to Peyton (1993), teachers can use dialogue journal to

communicate with their students regularly (daily, weekly, or on a schedule that
fits the educational setting) over a semester, school year, or course. First,
students write as much as they choose on a wide range of topics and in a
variety of genres and styles. Then, the teacher writes back regularly,
responding to questions and comments, introducing new topics, or asking
questions. Topics for or types of writing may be specified to enhance the
curriculum, and some correction may be given by the teacher, but the primary
goal of the writing is communication.
Liao and Wong (2007) had applied dialogue journal in their research
by assigning their students wrote dialogue journals twice a week, one of which
was accomplished at home, free topic writing, and the other in class,
situational reading and writing. They were required to submit the free topic
writing on Mondays to ensure that they would have more time to construct
their content on weekends. Each piece of situational reading and writing held
in class was finished within the class period on Mondays as well. The students
were informed that each piece of writing would not be corrected and graded
for grammar. After collecting the writings, the teachers responded to both
submissions based on what they wrote by showing empathy, asking questions,
providing suggestions, motivating further thinking, or sharing their life
experiences.
The teacher can use dialogue journal in two ways: free writing context
and guided writing context. Students will write in form of free writing at
homes (free writing context) and then use free writing as source of ideas in
composing formal compositions in class by using process writing method
(guided writing context). For example, if the sucject is eleventh grade students
at the second semester of senior high school, the topics of dialogue journal are
narrowed to focus on personal experiences and personal opinion about current
or interesting issues. Those topics lead students to do free writing as
prewriting step of formal compositions in form of narrative and hortatory
exposition text. Students can take their personal experiences entries in

dialogue journal to compose personal narrative compositions and use their

opinion entries to compose hortatory exposition compositions through the
writing process in class. By using dialogue journal for free writing at homes,
students interest for writing will be enhanced. While, the use of dialogue
journal in guided writing context will improve students writing achivement.
Below is the description of dialogue journals procedures:
1) Procedure of free writing using dialogue journal
a) Teacher gives a written introduction in the very first page of dialogue
journal. This introduction includes an explanation about dialogue
journal, a simple question which students have to answer to as their
first entry, and due date to submit the dialogue journal. Below is an
example of the introduction:
Hi, there! Welcome to Dialogue Journal.
Dialogue Journal is a written conversation between you and me. You will
write to me in your journal- this book- and I will respond. We can write
about whatever we feel like. You must write in English absolutely!
To start off, I would like your entries to be a minimum of eight sentences
each and I will expect you to write once a week. I will let you know the
specific due dates each week. I will not correct your journal entries for
grammar and spelling. The goal in dialogue journal is for you to write
entries that I am able to understand. In other words, I will concentrate on
the content, not the form, of what you write. (We will focus on grammar
and spelling in your formal compositions in class). Try to ask me at least
one question in each entry.
For your first entry, why dont you tell me about your happiest moment
ever, with your family or friends. When did it happen and why were you
so happy that day? Please, share it with me. It is better for you to insert
the photo.
This first entry is due to submit on ....

Teacher
See you!

Figure 2.1- Introduction Page of Dialogue Journal

b) Students answer the teachers question by following the instruction

mentioned in the introduction page.
c) Students submit their journals to teacher. Later the submitions will be
done regularly once a week, for example: on Tuesday.

d) Teacher gives responses on students writing, just like a written

dialogue.
e) Teacher returns the journals to students. Later this return also will be
done regularly once a week, for example: on Saturday.
f) Students get their journals back and keep writing based on the
teachers responses. The topics of entries can be changed by students
and teacher. Teacher becomes their partner in the dialogues that gives
model the correct use of some language components such as spelling,
language use, vocabulary, and punctuation.
g) Students submit the journals again on the following week, then teacher
returns the journals after that. This activity is continued until the end of
2)

semester or certain period of time.

Procedure of guided writing using dialogue journal
In the writing classes, dialogue journal is used as one of media and
process approach is used as method of teaching writing.

Table 2.5 Procedure of using dialogue journal as one of media in writing class
STEPS
Prewriting

Drafting

Revising

Teachers Activities
a. Explains
the
characteristics of certain
genre
b. Gives the model text
c. Asks
students
about
content and identification
of the model text
a. Ask students to choose
one topic based on their
journals entries
b. Gives appropriate amount
of times for students to
write their drafts
c. Collects students drafts;
teacher
will
give
individualized feedback
on their works.

Students Activities
a. Give
attention
on
teachers explanation
b. Make some notes
c. Identify the model text
d. Discuss with partners
about the model text
a. Choose topic that they
had written in dialogue
journals

b. Make a draft; the focus

is on the content,
organization,
vocabulary,
language
use,and mechanics.
c. Submit their works to
teacher.
a. Returns the students a. Learn from teachers
draft.
feedback
of
their
b. Asks students to revise
writing
their writing if there are b. Revise the drafts
mistakes.
c. Submit the work to

c. Collects students writing

and marks the writings.

teacher.

Below is the sample of analytic scoring rubric:

Analytic Scoring Rubric
(Taken from ESL Composition Profile)
No Categories
1. Content

Score
30-27

26-22

21-17

16-13

2.

Organization

20-18

17-14

Comment
Excellent to very good:
- knowledgeable
- substantive
- through development of writing
- relevant to assigned topic
Good to average:
- some knowledge of subject
- adequate range
- limited development of writing
- mostly relevant to topic, but lacks
detail
Fair to poor:
- limited knowledge of subject
- little substance
- inadequate limited of topic
Very poor:
- does not show knowledge of subject
- nonsubstantive
- not pertinent
- OR not enough to evaluate
Excellent to very good:
- fluent expression
- ideas clearly stated/supported
- succinct
- well-organized
- logical sequencing
- cohesive
Good to average:
- somewhat choppy
- loosely organized but main ideas
stand out
- limited support
- logical but incomplete sequencing

13-10
Fair to poor:
- non-fluent
- ideas confused or disconnected

9-7

3.

Vocabulary

20-18

17-14

13-10

9-7

4.

Language use 25-22

21-18

17-11

10-6

- lacks
logical
sequencing
and
development
Very poor:
- does not communicate
- no organization
- OR not enough to evaluate
Excellent to very good:
- sophisticated range
- effective word/idiom choice and
usage
- word from mastery
- appropriate register
Good to average:
- adequate range
- occasional error of word/idiom form,
choice, usage but meaning not
obscured
Fair to poor:
- limited range
- frequent error of word/idiom form,
choice, usage meaning confused or
obscured
Very poor:
- essentially translation
- little
knowledge
of
English
vocabulary, idioms, word form
- OR not enough to evaluate
Excellent to very good:
- effective complex construction
- few error of tense, pronouns,
prepositions
Good to average:
- effective but simple constructions
- minor
problems
in
complex
constructions
- several errors of tense, pronoun,
preposition but meaning seldom
obscured
Fair to poor:
- major problem in simple/complex
constructions
- frequent errors of tense, pronoun,
preposition
- meaning confused or obscured
Very poor:
- virtually no mastery of sentence

5.

Mechanics

constructions dominated by errors

- does not communicate
- OR not enough to
evaluate
Excellent to very good:
- demonstrate mastery of conventions
- few error of spelling, punctuation,
capitalization, paragraphing
Good to average:
- occasional errors of spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
paragraphing but meaning not
obscured
Fair to poor:
- frequent
errors
of
spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
paragraphing
- poor hand writing
- meaning confused or obscured
Very poor:
- no mastery of conventions
- dominated by errors of spelling,
punctuation,
capitalization,
paragraphing
- hand writing illegible
- OR not enough to
35-100

4
3

Range of Writing
Score
1.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Dialogue Journal

a) Strengths of Dialogue Journal
There are many strengths in using dialogue journal writing in class.
For the students, dialogue journal writing:
1) Improves communication between the teacher and students. Kim (in
VanderMolen, 2011: 21) argues that the use of dialogue journals may
provide

opportunities

to

practice

authentic

language

through

interactions between the writer and the reader.

2) Leads to significant changes in students attitudes that may affect their
learning. Jones (in VanderMolen, 2011: 21) believes there is a
significant attitude improvements in English Language Learners (ELL).
These attitudes include overcoming fears associated with writing,

willingness to participate in classes with enthusiasm, and re-enrollment

for subsequent classes. In fact, Staton (in VanderMolen, 2011: 22)
found that students who had used dialogue journals in classes were
twice as likely to enroll in subsequent English classes as compared to
those students who did not keep journals.
3) Uses a wide variety of language functions which also occur in a
conversation. These functions include asking questions, complaining,
and expressing other communicative needs and desires (Shuy in
VanderMolen, 2011: 22). Dialogue journal writing allows practice with
skills that second language students need for other types of writing.
4) Improves fluency in writing. One of the areas that can greatly benefit
from dialogue journaling is fluency, that is, the ability to communicate
fairly easily and effectively through the written word (Jones in Voit,
2009: 22). Many researchers have found that when a learner starts
writing in a dialogue journal they might begin with just a few sentences.
However, as their confidence grows, so does their ability to write more
easily and quickly.
Meanwhile for the teacher, dialogue journal writing:
1) Provides teacher a means to get to know students in a way that may not
be possible otherwise, especially with the shyness found in some ELLs.
Teachers can individualize language and content learning based on
journal entries (Peyton and Reed in VanderMolen, 2011: 24).
2) Maintains teachers enthusiasm in teaching and learning activity. The
joy in correspondence, as well as the sense of connectedness to
students, can be powerfully gratifying. It reminds teachers about the
excitement in learning and growing with students and may allow them
to experience a sense of value and satisfaction in the teaching
profession. Teachers often find themselves eagerly looking forward to
each class as the enthusiasm of the students can be infectious.
3) Provides record of students improvement in writing and gains
information for future lesson planning. The topics and questions that
students bring up in their journals can give ideas for future lesson
planning (Peyton and Reed in Voit, 2009: 20). If several students

repeatedly make the same mistake with certain word usage or structure,
the instructor might take those examples and use them for a class
discussion.
b) Weaknesses of Dialogue Journal
There are two issues regarding dialogue journal that can be
included as its weaknesses:
1) Time Management
Dialogue journal requires a lot of time from the teacher.
Responding regularly to student entries, in addition to preparing for the
next class, correcting any other homework and keeping up to date with
program-required paper work can be overwhelming. Teachers need to
know that the journals take time and will need to be worked into the
schedule (Peyton in Voit, 2009: 23).
2) Correcting
Sometimes, students want every piece of work they do corrected.
And, while it is important to validate students expectations, one of the
important qualities in dialogue journaling is that it is not be corrected.
According to Peyton (in Voit, 2009: 23) students need to understand
that writing includes much more than producing a perfect product
that it involves exploring ideas, finding a personal voice and style to
express ideas. The students need to see that the mechanics of writing
the grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. come later in the process and
do not need all the focus.
4. Conclusion
The students interest for writing consists of three aspects; affective
aspect, cognitive aspect, and four phase of interest for writing development.
Those aspects are reflected in seven indicators: 1) attention for writing, 2)
feeling for writing, 3) intensity of writing, 4) duration of writing, 5) effort as
writers, 6) feedback preferences, and 7) value on peer conference. Those
indicators of interest for writing can be well- developed through one of writing
assessment activity, that is dialogue journal writing.
The implementation of dialogue journal also creates good class climate
in writing practices. The writing practices using dialogue journal are
categorized into free writing context and guided writing context. In free

writing context, dialogue journal is used as media for free writing while in
guided writing context, dialogue journal is used as ideas source for formal
composition in writing class.
5. Bibliography
Brookes, Arthur and Grundy, Peter. (1991). Writing for study purposes:
A teachers guide to developing individual writing skills. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Brown, H. Douglas. (2001). Teaching by principle: An interactive approach
to language pedagogy. 2nd ed. New York: Addison Wesley Longman, Inc.
Jacobs, Holly L., et al. (1981). Testing ESL composition: A practical
approach. Rowley: Newbury House Publishers, Inc.
Langan, John. (2001). English skill. New York: Mc Graw-Hill Companies,
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6. Appendix
Sample of Dialogue Journal Writing