Developing students' ability in monitoring learning via reflective journal writing

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of reflective journal writing in helping learners monitor their own learning. In this study, monitoring refers to the ability of students to check, verify and correct oneself in the performance of a learning task. The study was conducted in an intact Malaysian ESL class of 42 students at an urban secondary school located in Petaling Jaya in Selangor. In this study six students out of the total 42 students were used as case studies. The six students are referred to as Students A1, A2, A3, B1, B2 and B3. Students A1, A2 and A3 were students who displayed the highest improvement in language learning whilst students B1, B2 and B3 were students who had shown the least improvement during a 15-week Strategy Training Programme (STP) in the ESL classroom. The overall findings suggest that reflective journal writing is a valuable tool that can help students monitor their learning-a part of students' ability to take responsibility for their own learning.