A diary study is an in-depth reflection on

learning process Learning is the process of acquiring new understanding, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, attitudes, and preferences. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, non-human animals, and some machines; there is also evidence for some ...

es or teaching experiences regularly kept by an individual and then analyzed to look for recurring patterns or significant events.

Diary studies Diary studies is a research method that collects qualitative information by having participants record entries about their everyday lives in a log, diary or journal about the activity or experience being studied. This collection of data uses a&nb ...

are often used in

qualitative studies Qualitative research is a type of research that aims to gather and analyse non-numerical (descriptive) data in order to gain an understanding of individuals' social reality, including understanding their attitudes, beliefs, and motivation. This ...

and can be analyzed by diarists themselves or by researchers. It is a research genre gaining popularity in the TESOL field. Originated from both

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

and

anthropological Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including archaic humans. Social anthropology studies patterns of behaviour, wh ...

research, diary studies involve systematic personal accounts of the feelings, thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and reactions over a period of time. In other words, it is a kind of

self-observation In philosophy, self-awareness is the awareness and reflection of one's own personality or individuality, including traits, feelings, and behaviors. It is not to be confused with consciousness in the sense of qualia. While consciousness is be ...

introspection Introspection is the examination of one's own conscious thoughts and feelings. In psychology, the process of introspection relies on the observation of one's mental state, while in a spiritual context it may refer to the examination of one's s ...

and retrospection. Diarists can freely write about their thoughts and have no need to answer some previously imposed questions for the research. We can often find unexpected underlying factors, especially affective factors through diary studies. Common external research tools such as observation cannot reach the affective part so far.

Types

Learning diary

There are two broad types of diary study in the field of TESOL: learning diary and teaching diary. Learning diaries, also known as learner diaries, can be documented as a pedagogical tool for teachers in the EFL classroom to discover learners' perception of classroom activities, learning difficulties and their interaction with teachers and peers. They can be adopted as a research tool to gain insight into learners'

language learning Language acquisition is the process by which humans acquire the capacity to perceive and comprehend language. In other words, it is how human beings gain the ability to be aware of language, to understand it, and to produce and use words and ...

experiences. A well-known diary study in this field is Schmidt and Fronta's research on Schmidt's Portuguese learning diary in

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In addition, learner diaries can be documented as a

teacher training Teacher education or teacher training refers to programs, policies, procedures, and provision designed to equip (prospective) teachers with the knowledge, attitude (psychology), attitudes, behaviors, approaches, methodologies and skills they requir ...

tool in teacher education programs to help pre-service teachers have varied and rich perceptions about teaching. A learner diary can not only fill gaps between what we generally think and what diarists really think, but also enhance

learner autonomy Learner autonomy has been a popular concept in foreign language education in the past decades, specially in relation to lifelong learning skills. It has transformed old practices in the language classroom and has given origin to self access lang ...

. By keeping the diary, learners can have a clearer idea of their current learning progress and try to find different strategies to manage their own learning.

Teaching diary

Teaching diaries can offer a fresh perspective of teachers' experiences, their teaching styles and strategies, their feelings about the

student A student is a person enrolled in a school or other educational institution, or more generally, a person who takes a special interest in a subject. In the United Kingdom and most The Commonwealth, commonwealth countries, a "student" attends ...

s, and their judgments in the classroom. Teaching diaries can help teachers to find the patterns in their classroom, make appropriate instructional decisions, adjust their

teaching Teaching is the practice implemented by a ''teacher'' aimed at transmitting skills (knowledge, know-how, and interpersonal skills) to a learner, a student, or any other audience in the of an educational institution. Teaching is closely related ...

and reconsider their future roles while teaching. Numrich in 1996, for example, found interesting issues about early preoccupations of novice ESL teachers and the reasons why they chose some instructional methods through her diary study.Numrich, C. (1996). On becoming a language teacher: Insights from diary studies. ''TESOL Quarterly'', 30, 131–153.

Drawbacks

However, there are some drawbacks in the diary studies. Diary studies rely heavily on the diarist's willingness to keep the diary regularly and candidly. If the diarist only keeps the diary infrequently, the original entries collected may not be enough for analysis. The data may also be contaminated because the diarist doesn't want their thoughts and feeling to be published or they may make up their entries to cater to the

researcher Research is creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge. It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to ...

's needs. Furthermore, it is time consuming to collect and analyze all the entries. It takes a long time for a diarist to provide enough entries and the analyst needs to re-read the entries many times to find the regular patterns.

References

{{reflist Diaries English-language education English as a second or foreign language Second-language acquisition