Table_3_On a path to becoming more self-regulated: Reflective journals’ impact on Chinese English as a foreign language students’ self-regulated writing strategy use.docx

A number of studies have confirmed the positive effect of writing reflective journals on L2 learning. However, the relationship between writing reflective journals and the use of self-regulated writing strategies remains unclear. To redress this knowledge gap, we assigned 38 Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) students three journal-writing tasks in which they reflected on their writing processes and explored (1) the types of self-regulated writing strategies and changes to those strategies that the students’ reflective journals documented; (2) how students with varied writing-proficiency levels differed in their use of self-regulated writing strategies; and (3) the effects of reflective-journal writing on students’ self-perceived use of self-regulated writing strategies in particular, and on their L2 writing in general. Among the 19 kinds of strategies identified in 112 reflective-journal entries, only five (i.e., handling feedback, resource management, text processing, emotion regulation, and idea planning) were demonstrated relatively frequently. The use of seven strategies (i.e., self-monitoring and evaluation, idea planning, perspective change, emotional control, effort regulation, peer learning, and resource management) exhibited significant increases over time, especially during the second-half of the focal semester. In addition, our journal data highlighted individual variation in proficiency levels: with high-proficiency students significantly more likely than others to apply idea planning, feedback handling, and resource management and low-proficiency ones significantly more likely than others to engage in goal-setting. The qualitative results suggest that the practice of journaling raised students’ awareness and may have contributed to an increase in their use of self-regulated writing strategies. In particular, the findings reveal how students internalized and reconstructed the various SRL processes taking place via writing reflective journals. For L2 educators using or considering using reflective journals, these findings contain fresh insights that could help them not only to increase their students’ SRL levels, but also to provide more individualized SRL guidance.

众多研究已证实撰写反思日记对第二语言（L2）学习的积极影响。然而，撰写反思日记与自我调节写作策略运用之间的关系尚不明确。为填补这一知识空白，我们针对38名中国英语作为外语（EFL）学生分配了三项日记写作任务，让他们反思自己的写作过程，并探讨以下三个方面：（1）学生反思日记中所记录的自我调节写作策略的类型及其策略的变化；（2）不同写作能力水平的学生在自我调节写作策略运用上的差异；（3）反思日记写作对学生自我感知的自我调节写作策略运用，尤其是其二语写作能力的一般影响。在112篇反思日记条目中，共识别出19种策略，其中只有五种（即处理反馈、资源管理、文本处理、情绪调节和想法规划）被相对频繁地展示。七种策略（即自我监控与评估、想法规划、视角转变、情绪控制、努力调节、同伴学习和资源管理）的使用随着时间的推移显示出显著的增加，特别是在关注学期的后半段。此外，我们的日记数据突显了不同能力水平之间的个体差异：高能力水平的学生比其他学生更有可能应用想法规划、反馈处理和资源管理，而低能力水平的学生比其他学生更有可能参与目标设定。定性结果表明，日记练习提升了学生的意识，并可能促进了他们自我调节写作策略运用频率的增加。特别是，研究发现学生如何通过撰写反思日记内化和重构发生的各种自我调节学习（SRL）过程。对于使用或考虑使用反思日记的二语教育工作者而言，这些发现提供了新的洞见，不仅有助于提高学生的自我调节学习水平，还能提供更为个性化的自我调节学习指导。