THE EFFECTIVENESS OF USING LITERATURE RESPONSE JOURNAL TO IMPROVE STUDENTS’ WRITING FLUENCY

Abstract

Writing fluency has always been one of the difficult writing skills faced by low and average
proficiency students. It requires students to be able to write smoothly as the ideas flow through their
mind. Even though low and average proficiency students are recommended to write freely without
worrying about their spelling and grammar, they still find it hard to pen their thoughts and feelings
due to the lack of vocabulary knowledge, writing practice and reading. The purpose of this study was
to determine the effectiveness of using literature response journal to improve students’ writing
fluency. Firstly, it utilizes the quantitative method using the quasi-experimental approach, specifically,
the non-equivalent group pre-post tests design. Secondly, four factors viz. writing practice, reading
habit, parental encouragement and students’ perceptions towards the English language were chosen to
determine their degree of correlation with students’ writing fluency. Two groups of 30 Form Four
students were systematically selected from six Form Four classes to form a control and treatment
group respectively. In the treatment group, the 30 students were introduced to literature response
journal and were asked to write seven journal entries, one journal each day, over seven days. Selected
topics were given to the students at the end of every literature lesson. At the end of the seventh day,
the total word count of each student’s journal entry was counted. The paired samples t-test was used
to determine any significant difference in the total word count between Day 1 and Day 7 of the
journal entries. In addition, students in the treatment group were given a four-point value Likert scale
questionnaire related to their writing practice, reading habit, their parents’ encouragement in their
English learning and their perception towards the English language. Each factor is correlated with
their writing fluency using the Pearson Product-Moment to determine the degree of correlation. The
data analysis showed a significant difference in the paired samples t-test and supports that literature
response journal helps improve students’ writing fluency. Furthermore, the Pearson Product-Moment
showed that students’ writing fluency had a moderate and significant correlation with their writing
practice and reading habits while students’ writing fluency had a weak and no significant correlation
with parental encouragement and students’ perceptions towards the English language.