39
rules say not to worry about grammar and spelling. On the other side, with a little modification by applying the accuracy aspects of writing into the writing
activities, it is possible to mind about language use and writing mechanics when the students are writing.
G. Related Studies
Dealing with the efforts to improve writing fluency performance, there are already some researchers who had been conducting studies on dialogue
journal technique. One of the few studies, which was conducted by Yoshihara 2008,
investigated the relationship between dialogue journal writing and improvements in written English and the affective consequences of dialogue
journals. This study was conducted for Japanese university students in a year, over two semesters and took three writing classes for the research which each
class consisted of 30 students. Unfortunately, only 36 students volunteered to write dialogue journals and in the end, there were only 19 students who
continued writing journals throughout the course. As a result, each student wrote 10 to 14 entries per semester and
finally the journal entries could be collected 354 in total. The research showed that there was not really significant improvement in students writing.
However, the students found many positive effects on themselves regarded to the use of dialogue journal writing. First, they enjoyed writing about
themselves openly and in private, as well as reading the tearcher responses. It
40
also influenced the student-teacher relationship. Second, they got a lot of support and encouragement from the teacher. Third, they developed a more
positive attitude through interaction with their teacher as they developed their language skills.
Furthermore, a study on the use of writing journal to improve the students‟ writing fluency had been conducted by Thohid 2014. She
examined one class of eight grade students of junior high school and found the problems related to fluency in writing. She implemented the writing
journal as the strategy to improve the students‟ writing fluency by asking them to write one story per day in the journal books. The study had been
conducted for three weeks. Although there were students who did not write regularly, most of them realized that their writing products improved both
from the quantity number of words and quality aspects grammar, spelling, punctuation.
In addition, Liao and Wong 2007 examined the efficacy of dialogue journal writing on students‟ writing fluency, reflections, anxiety, and intrinsic
motivation, as well as their responses to dialogue journal writing. The participants were 41 students of tenth grade in Taiwan. Each of them was
required to write 24 journal entries at two journl entries per week. The data included 984 students‟ journal entries, open-ended questions, interviews, and
the results of the pre- and post-tests writing performance. The study proves that the dialogue journal writing improved their writing fluency; writing
41
performance on content, organization, and vocabulary. It also reduced their writing anxiety.
H. Conceptual Framework
