Reconceptualizing language teaching: an in-service teacher education course in uzbekistan

Table 11. Principles of dialogue journals (cited from Chiesa and Bailey, 
2015, pp. 55-56).
Principle 1 Teachers should respond to students’ ideas and comments, not 
their language problems.
When teachers read dialogue journals, they should focus on un-
derstanding meaning rather than fixing grammatical or spelling 
errors. By responding to the content, a teacher is able to create an 
ongoing written conversation outside of class around a student’s 
self-initiated topics of interest. 
Principle 2 Teachers should relinquish power to build interactive reciprocity. 
One of the characteristics of dialogue journals is that the teacher 
is an active participant in the writing process. Traditional teaching 
practices presuppose a power imbalance whereby the teacher 
is the giver and the student is the receiver of information. How-
ever, dialogue journals create an equal relationship, in which the 
teacher can learn and receive information from the student. In 
addition, depending on the topic, the teacher might be asked to 
state opinions or share life experiences. 

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CHAPTER TWO: LANGUAGE TEACHING
The appropriateness of the response is contingent upon what 
the teacher feels comfortable sharing as a participant in the 
conversation.
Principle 3 Teachers should be prepared to learn about experiences that 
might not be discussed in class.
Dialogue journals often provide a platform for further discussion 
outside of class on a topic raised in class. 
Chiesa and Bailey (2015) make the point that dialogue journals give 
teachers opportunity to explore in depth their learners’ zone of proximal de-
velopment
(ZPD) defined by Vygotsky (1978) as “the distance between the 
actual development level as determined by independent problem solving 
and the level of potential development” (cited in Chiesa and Bailey, 2015, 
p. 57). More than that, it helps provide a private and secure communica-
tion between the teacher and student. This private communication gives 
students opportunities to discuss with the teacher personal issues, clari-
fy worries, doubts, and express own feelings which they might consider 
too controversial or personal to discuss in class. However, Chiesa and Bai-
ley (2015) warn that teachers must be prepared to consider several issues 
related to dialogue journals, among them: 1) time; 2) commitment; and, 
3) challenges in handling serious personal problems shared by students. 
Teachers must be very skillfull in order respond to sometimes disturbing 
information which must be handled with maximum attention and care. 
Amount of time spent by the teacher to respond to journal entries can be 
decreased by word processing.
ACTION 
Think of possible advantages and disadvantages for students. How can 
teachers use dialogue journals for language improvement?
REFLECTION
Think of the issues raised in the passage above and answer the follow-
ing questions.
1. What is the most efficient way to respond to dialogue journal entry?
2. How should the teacher react if the student raises a very serious 
personal problem?
3. How to decrease amount of time spent on writing responses?

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TASK