Table_2_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学习所具有的积极影响。然而，撰写反思日记与运用自我调节写作策略之间的关系仍处于模糊状态。为填补这一知识空白，本研究将38名中国英语作为外语（EFL）学生分配至三项日记写作任务中，让他们反思其写作过程，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变化；（2）不同写作熟练程度的学生在运用自我调节写作策略上的差异；（3）反思性日记写作对学生自我感知的自我调节写作策略的使用，尤其是对其第二语言写作整体效果的影响。在112篇反思日记中识别出的19种策略中，仅有五种（即处理反馈、资源管理、文本处理、情绪调节和构思规划）被相对频繁地展示。七种策略（即自我监控与评估、构思规划、视角转换、情绪控制、努力调节、同伴学习和资源管理）的使用在时间上显示出显著的增加，尤其是在学期的后半段。此外，我们的日记数据突显了在熟练程度上的个体差异：高熟练程度的学生相较于其他学生更有可能应用构思规划、反馈处理和资源管理，而低熟练程度的学生相较于其他学生更有可能参与目标设定。定性结果提示，日记的实践提升了学生的意识，并可能促使他们增加自我调节写作策略的使用。特别是，研究结果揭示了学生如何通过撰写反思日记内化和重构各种自我调节学习（SRL）过程。对于使用或考虑使用反思日记的第二语言教育工作者而言，这些发现提供了新的洞见，不仅有助于提升学生的自我调节学习水平，还能提供更具个性化的自我调节学习指导。