The Effect of Scaffolding Technique in Journal Writing among the Second Language Learners

It was noted that one of the most distressing challenges faced by the L2 college students was the poor presentation of their journal writing skills. The researcher noticed a prevailing pattern in their journal writing, where most of them were unable to construct proper sentences, making too many grammatical errors and also lacking in vocabulary. These factors have eventually restricted them from expressing their ideas clearly and effectively in their journal writing. Therefore, this study is primarily designed to look at how second language learners have acquired the use of English language through journal writing and how they have improved within a short time frame. The researcher scaffold a number of 3 undergraduate university college students by using several interactive writing techniques and instructions in writing a journal which showed their progress, daily activities and new experiences. The writing errors from the samples of written journals during week 1 were as it was written before and during the scaffolding period. Data were collected and the results of the progression were obtained based on the observation and comparison of written journals on week 1 and 5. The scaffolding technique presented in this study has helped remedy the challenges faced by the target students by further developing their effectiveness in journal writing.