T1 112010089 Full text

AN ANALYSIS OF JOURNAL ASSIGNMENTS IN INTRODUCTION TO
LITERATURE CLASS BASED ON BLOOM’S TAXONOMY ORDER OF
THINKING
Pranika Sarastiti

ABSTRACT
Journal writing is believed to improve students’ critical thinking. Many
lecturers use it to enhance students’ thinking and through the journals, students’ orders
of thinking can be identified. This thesis aims to analyze the students’ orders of thinking
which are reflected through the journals. The researcher collected the students’ journals
in Introduction to Literature (InLit) class, at English Teacher Program of a private
university in Salatiga, 2014, to be analyzed descriptively. The analysis is based on
Bloom’s taxonomy which consists of six levels of intellectual behavior. From the data
analysis, it was indentified that all levels of thinking process in Bloom’s taxonomy
existed in the students’ journals. The InLit students’ journals showed not only the lower
orders of thinking process, but also the Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation levels, which
belonged to higher orders of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy. However, the lecturer still
needs to enhance students to have Synthesis and Evaluation levels of thinking process
because of the limited students who have reached these two levels of thinking process.
Keywords: Journal writing, Critical thinking, Bloom’s taxonomy

INTRODUCTION
Critical thinking is very important. Colley, Bilics, and Lerch (2012) even argued
that thinking critically must be a focus of higher education in order to provide intellectual
training for its students to participate in this world. As a result, many lecturers try to
develop critical thinking through their teaching.
Journal writing technique has been promoted by educators in many fields,
including nursing, counseling, and management, as a means of stimulating critical
thinking (Sarah, 2006). According to Moon (1999, as cited in Dianovsky and Wink,
2012), journal writing provides an opportunity for students to understand their own
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learning processes, increase their active involvement in learning and gain personal
ownership of their learning. In other words, when writing journals, students do not only
accept the knowledge, but also be critical by delving into their thoughts (Colley, et al.,
2012) to achieve new understandings and appreciations (Boud, Keogh, & Walker, 1985
as cited in Dianovsky, et al., 2012).
Previous studies which have been summarized by Dianovsky et al. (2012) showed
that journal writing could enhance students’ thinking. Based on their summary, it is
known that in Karpicke and Blunt’s study (2011), they found out that students, who wrote
about what they had just read, improved performance in successive recall and transfer

tasks. Then, Davis (2003) also found that students who wrote reflective journals had a
more logical understanding as they worked on complex projects than students who did
not. Finally, Colley et al. (2012) also demonstrated that writing reflective journal could
be a key component to thinking critically. Meanwhile, in Introduction to Literature class,
at English Teacher Program of a private university in Salatiga, the students are required
to write reflective journals as a response to a text. Because of the belief that journal
writing could be used as a tool to train students’ critical thinking, this research was
conducted to know about how the journals in InLit class showed the students’ orders of
thinking. Basically, this study aimed to analyze journals that the students made in InLit
class of a private university in Salatiga, to see about how the journals show the students’
order of thinking based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. As this study focused mainly on the use
of journal writing and its’ relevance with critical thinking, this study tried to answer the

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research question “How do the journals show the students’ order of thinking in InLit class
of a private university in Salatiga?”
Hopefully, for InLit lecturers, this study could give insight about how university
students’ order of thinking is when given journal writing assignments. Through this
research, the InLit lecturers could know the order of thinking that was rarely used by their

students in the class. This information could then be taken as consideration in the attempt
to make the students think deeper. Furthermore, this study is also hoped to add
knowledge for the next researcher who wants to conduct a study about students’ orders of
thinking and journal writing.

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
1. The Importance of Critical Thinking
“Critical thinking is a habit of mind characterized by the comprehensive
exploration of issues, ideas and events before accepting or formulating conclusion”
(Rhodes, 2010, as cited in Colley et al., 2012). In other words, when people are critical,
they will not easily accept the knowledge given to them but raise vital questions and
problems, formulate them clearly, gather and assess relevant information, (Duron,
Limbach, and Waugh, 2006) evaluate arguments or propositions, and make judgments
(Huitt, W., 1998 as cited in Wibowo, 2009) by the use of existing information, previous
knowledge, experience, and world knowledge (Bamawi, 2011).

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To think critically is an important thing to do because with today’s multinational,
multicultural, complex issues, citizens must be able to sift through large amounts of data

to make intelligent decisions (Colley et al., 2012). Hatcher and Pencer (2005, as cited in
Adeoti & Adeoye, 2012) also argue that critical thinking is required in the workplace as it
can be used to evaluate people, policies, and institutions, thus avoiding social problems.
However, many people do not engage in critical thinking because of some reasons. First,
RPI (1996) stated that people’s ‘institutionalized thinking’ becomes a big obstacle to
think critically. This kind of thinking happens when the surroundings keep saying the
same things that lead people to think the same way, and it is hard to break this habitual
hold. Second, RPI (1996) also stated that people’s laziness hinders them to think
critically. They found that it is a hard work to have critical thinking and thus they only
have little or no incentive to do that. Finally, the other reason of why many people do not
engage in critical thinking is because of their dislike to challenge and evaluate their
surroundings. They fear of being alienated from them (RPI, 1996). These all three
reasons hinder people to have critical thinking although it is actually important for the
better life. People’s actions are based on their beliefs which can be true or false. When it
is false, the action based on that belief is going to hurt others. Therefore, people need to
know this importance of critical thinking and think critically before accepting any belief.
To promote critical thinking, many lecturers suggest active teaching methods.
(Karabulut, 2012) These methods are:
1. Discussions as a way to promote critical-thinking in classrooms
2. Use of writing as a way to promote critical-thinking in classrooms.

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3. Use of questions as a way to promote critical-thinking in classrooms.
From the methods explained by Karabulut (2012), it is recognized that writing can
be used as a way to promote critical thinking in classrooms.

2. Journal Writing to Promote Critical Thinking
“Writing involves mental manipulation of numerous forms of data, demands to
differentiate between essential and non- essential information and examination of one’s
own assumptions on an ongoing basis. Therefore, writing simply helps one to think
interpretively and critically about the content as well.” (Giroux, 1979 as cited in
Karabulut, 2012)
According to Gage (1986, as cited in Colley et al, 2012) writing can be used in
two ways: as a means of communication and as a learning tool.

As a means of

communication, writing communicates one’s thoughts, ideas, and knowledge to oneself
as well as to others. Meanwhile, as a learning tool, writing helps students put concepts in
their own words. Therefore, journals could become the written evidence that both the

students and the lecturer may use to understand the thought processes involved in
understanding the new concepts presented in the lessons. (Mayher & Lester, 1983, as
cited in Colley et al, 2012)
According to Genesee and Upshur (1996) “Journals are written conversations
between students and teachers.” Many educators in many fields promote it to improve
students’ critical thinking, including reflective journal (Bain et al., 1999, as cited in
Sarah, 2006). Reflective journal writing can move the students from Knowledge and
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Comprehension of information through Application, Analysis, Synthesis and Evaluation
(Park, 2003 as cited in Cooper, 2006) to examine the justification for one’s beliefs … and
to reassess the effectiveness of the strategies and procedures used in problem solving
(Mezirow, 1990 as cited in Colley et al, 2012). According to Hogsette and Glazer (2012),
journal writing encourages students to practice three key phases of critical thinking.
1. Understanding (summarize a key point),
2. Evaluating arguments (discuss to what extent the student agrees and disagrees
and why),
3. Establishing a position (in this example, explain how the assigned article
helped the student understand more clearly).
Meanwhile, Hogsette et al. (2012) gave some tips on how critical thinking could

be more promoted through the journal writing assignments. These tips are to:
1. teach students how to identify key elements of a logical statement, the principles
and assumptions informing the positions, and the evidence used to support the
points of view stated in a written work,
2. give reading assignments related to text read in the course,
3. give specific guidelines or questions for students as to:


summarize one key point or argument the student finds interesting,



explain why the student finds it interesting,



discuss one example from the text read that illustrates this idea, and



explain the extent to which the student agrees or disagrees with the
author’s main point.
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3. Critical Thinking and Higher Order of Thinking
Critical thinking is actually similar to higher order of thinking in Bloom’s
taxonomy. When people are thinking critically, given the knowledge, they will raise
questions, evaluate arguments or propositions, and make judgments that can guide their
development of beliefs and taking action (Huitt, W.1998 as cited in Wibowo, 2009). This
is similar to the higher order of thinking in Bloom’s taxonomy (1954) because evaluation
and judgment also exist in this taxonomy. Thus, critical thinking and higher order of
thinking share the same characteristic. When the students are critical, they also have
higher order of thinking.

4. Bloom’s Taxonomy
Bloom's Taxonomy is a multi-tiered model of classifying thinking according to
six cognitive levels of complexity (Forehand, 2005). According to Forehand (2005), the
levels in this taxonomy have often been described as a stairway. In this case, the teachers
encourage their students to "climb to a higher (level of) thought." Figure 1 is the
adaptation of Bloom’s taxonomy of thinking processes to measure the level of students’

achievements in journal writing assignment.

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FIGURE 1
Bloom’s Taxonomy of Thinking Processes (Adaptation)
Level of

Definition

taxonomy
Knowledge

Students’ roles

Recall of specific information

Action verbs

responds,

quote;

remembers,

identify;

recognizes

repeat;

list;

define;

state;

Comprehension

Understanding of

explains,

transform;

(understanding)

communicated information

translates,

explain;

interprets

generalize; infer

Application
(using)

/ Use

of

rules,

remember;

restate;
review;

name;

describe;
paraphrase;

concepts, solves problems, apply; practice; employ; use;

principles, and theories in demonstrates,
uses knowledge

new situations

demonstrate; illustrate; show;
report

Analysis (taking Breaking down information discusses,

analyze; dissects; distinguish;

part)

uncovers,

examine;

dissects

survey; investigate; separate;

into parts.

compare;

contrast;

categorize; classify; organize;
criticize;
Synthesis

Putting together of ideas into discusses,

create;

(creating new)

a new or unique plan or generalizes,

construct;

propose alternative solutions.

produce;

relates, contrasts

invent;

compose;

design;

modify;

propose;

imagine;

combine; develop
Evaluating

Judging the value of materials judges, disputes, judge; decide; justify; evaluate;

(judging)

or ideas on the basis of set forms opinions, debate;
standard or criteria.

debates,

critique;

recommend; assess; defend;

evaluates

Adapted from Shrum and Glisan (1994, as cited in Richards & Renandya, 2002).
The first level of Bloom’s taxonomy is ‘Knowledge.’ The knowledge itself is the
material or the information given by the teacher to the students. This material or
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verify;

information can be specific or universal (Armstrong, 2014). The specific information can
be about terminology, facts, conventions, trends and sequences, classification and
categories, criteria, and methodology. On the other hand, the universal information can be
about principles, theories and structures (Bloom, 1954). In InLit class of a private
university in Salatiga, one kind of the materials given to the students is poem. Based on
Bloom (1954), poem could be categorized as specific information, especially in
terminology because it talks about specific symbols of a large number of words in their
common range of meaning (Bloom, 1954). In ‘Knowledge’ level of thinking process,
students should recall this kind of information. They should show the action of quote, list,
define, name, identify, state, remember, and repeat the information they got before
(Richards & Renandya, 2002). According to TEP (2013) this level of thinking process
represents the lowest level of learning outcomes in the cognitive domain.
Then, ‘Comprehension’ is the second lowest level in Bloom’s taxonomy. At this
level, students should show their understanding of communicated information which is
the poem (Bloom, 1954). They should show their understanding toward the poem by
translating them into ordinary English and thus put the poem into another form (Bloom,
1954). The actions of putting the poem into another form are to transform, restate,
explain, paraphrase, generalize, review, infer, and describe (Richards & Renandya,
2002).
The third level of Bloom’s taxonomy is ‘Application.’ To apply something
requires ‘Comprehension’ of the method, theory, principle, or abstraction applied. In this
case, the abstractions might be in the form of general ideas, rules of procedures, or
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generalized methods which must be remembered and applied (Bloom, 1954). At
‘Application’ level of thinking process, the students can use the ideas of the poem to their
real life by doing the actions of apply, practice, employ, use, demonstrate, illustrate,
show, and report (Richards & Renandya, 2002).
‘Analysis’ on Bloom’s taxonomy stimulates students to talk and dig their thoughts
or opinions (Bloom, 1954). At this level, students should break down the information of
the poem into parts and find evidence to support generalization (Richards & Renandya,
2002). Students who are in the ‘Analysis’ level should analyze, dissect, distinguish,
examine, compare, contrast, survey, investigate, separate, categorize, classify, organize,
and criticize the poem given by the teacher (Richards & Renandya, 2002).
The fifth level of Bloom’s taxonomy is ‘Synthesis.’ At this level, students should
engage in original creative thinking and Bloom classified this level as higher level of
thinking (Forehand, 2012). In this case, students should put together of ideas into a new
or unique plan or propose alternative solution. According to Bloom (1954) students who
are in the ‘Synthesis’ level will generally involve a recombination of elements from many
sources with new material. This Synthesis level of thinking process can be identified
through the actions create, invent, compose, construct, design, modify, produce, propose,
imagine, combine, or develop done by the students.
Afterwards, the highest level of Bloom’s taxonomy is Evaluation. ‘Evaluation’ is
defined as the making of judgments about the value, for some purpose, of ideas, works,
methods, material, etc” (Bloom, 1954). Therefore, when students judge the value, they
should have some purpose in their mind which could be to give ideas, material and so
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forth. At the Evaluation level, students can judge the value of the materials based on the
basis of criteria either those determined by the students or those which are given to them
(Bloom, 1954). When doing the ‘Evaluation,’ students can judge, decide, justify,
evaluate, debate, critique, verify, recommend, assess, argue, and defend (Richards &
Renandya, 2002).
These all levels of thinking process will be used in analyzing the students’
journals in InLit class of a private university in Salatiga, 2014.

5. Previous study
In his study, Colley et al.,(2012) investigated students’ critical thinking by
critically examined their reflective writing assignments. He used classroom-based
educational action research as a method to conduct his research. Then, he analyzed the
students’ critical reflection through their journals by using Marzano’s New Taxonomy of
Educational Objectives. In this case, Marzano’s New Taxonomy of Educational
Objectives (2001, as cited in Colley et al, 2012) is similar to Bloom’s Taxonomy since it
provides a framework that can be used to analyze the level of students’ thinking through
the journals. Finally, by examining students’ reflections throughout one semester, Colley
et al.,(2012) identified all levels of thinking in Marzano’s New Taxonomy existed in the
students’ journals.
Along with what Colley et al. (2012) said that critical thinking is very important,
many educators in many fields also try to promote it in class. One of the ways to practice
students’ critical thinking in class is by writing journals (Sarah, 2006). According to
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Colley et al., (2012) journal writing is believed to be a technique that can promote critical
thinking and by seeing on the journals, the journal writers’ order of thinking can be seen.
Bloom’s Taxonomy which classifies thinking according to six cognitive levels of
complexity can be used as a tool to see students’ order of thinking through their journals.

THE STUDY
1. Context of the study
The study took place at English Teacher Program in a private university in
Salatiga. This university was selected because of the requirement in Introduction to
Literature (InLit) class, in which the students have to write reflective journals. The
objective of InLit course is to introduce to students three literary forms which are short
fictions, poetry, and dramas, by various authors of different time periods and
nationalities. Besides, this course encourages students to be aware of how literary works
reflect people’s interior and social life and how the study of the literature enhances their
abilities to understand, tolerate, and empathize with other people as well as to read
carefully and criticize creatively which is expressed through spoken and written response
of the text.
Journal is one kind of the written responses that all students have to write to pass
Introduction to Literature class. For three weeks, each student has to write three journals
based on the poems that are provided by the lecturer. In each journal, students are given
instruction to choose one poem that they like and then give comment on it through their
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journals. This journal assignment is taken as homework and the expected journals from
this InLit class are journals that showed the students’ attempt on deeper thinking.

2. Materials
The materials in this study were 20 journals which were selected randomly from
the first journals that the students wrote in InLit class. These journals were written by
Indonesian students at English Teacher Program of a private university in Salatiga,
Central Java, whose ages were around 17 until 23. The content of these journals were
about the students’ reflection and comment toward the one poem that they like and chose.
The reason for selecting these journals was because of the objective in InLit class in
which to make students criticize some texts and attempt to think deeper on the texts.
Whereas, one of the ways to train students’ thinking was by asking them to write journals
about the poems they liked. Afterwards, through the journals, students should show their
deeper thinking. Because of that, these journals from InLit class were used to know the
students’ orders of thinking while writing the journals. The poems’ title and the numbers
of journals talking about the poems can be seen in Table 1.

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Table 1.
The Poems’ Title and the Numbers of Journals Talking About the Poem
Poems’ Title

A Red, Red
Rose
By Robert Burns

Numbers of
Journals

7

Fire and Ice

The Capital

By Robert Frost

By Remy Silado

9

1

Total Journals

Stopping by Woods
on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

3

20

3. Data collection instrument
Qualitative data collection methods provide useful information to understand the
processes behind observed results and assess changes in people’s perceptions of their
well-being was used. One of the most commonly used methods is document review
(Claire, 2014).
In this study, the instrument for collecting the data was document review in which
the researcher got the data from the written documents which were the students’ journals.
By reviewing the students’ journals, the information about the actions done by the
students through the journals could be identified and categorized based on Bloom’s
taxonomy order of thinking.

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4. Data collection procedures
The data were taken from the students’ journals in InLit class, at English Teacher
Program of a private university in Salatiga, 2014. To collect the data, the following
procedures were done:
Step 1 : The researcher chose the class (InLit class) which was easily accessible.
Step 2 : The researcher asked permission from the teacher to collect the data and copied
all of the first students’ journals in the class.
Step 3 : The researcher randomly chose 20 representative journals to be analyzed. For
the researcher, 20 journals were enough to represent journals in InLit class.

5. Data analysis procedures
To analyze the data and answer the research question “How do the journals show
the students’ order of thinking in the InLit class of a private university in Salatiga?” the
qualitative descriptive study design that provides a detailed profile of an event, condition
or situation was used (Jacobson et al., 2008, as cited in Dos & Demir, 2013). First, the
researcher read carefully the content of the journals that the students wrote in InLit class.
Then, the researcher identified the action verbs in the journals based on Bloom’s
Taxonomy per sentence. Afterwards, students’ roles could be seen within the journals.
These roles were to respond, explain, use, discuss, modify, or judge the knowledge (the
poem).

From these roles, the data or the students’ journals were categorized into

Bloom’s taxonomy order of thinking. Finally, the researcher explained how the students’
journals showed their levels of thinking (Knowledge, Comprehension, Application,
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Analysis, Synthesis, and Judgment). Thus, the students’ order of thinking was identified
within the journals. In this study, the data was presented descriptively based on Bloom’s
Taxonomy order of thinking.

FINDINGS AND DATA ANALYSIS
This study answered the research question “How do the journals show the
students’ order of thinking in InLit class of a private university in Salatiga?” The
researcher analyzed the data that have been obtained by copying the students’ journals in
InLit Class of a private university in Salatiga, 2014. However, when analyzing the data,
the action verbs of Bloom’s taxonomy could not be seen directly on the journals because
the verbs written in the journals somehow did not really show the students’ level of
thinking process. When the students wrote that they were analyzing the poem, it did not
always mean that they were really analyzing it. For example, in Journal 5 about Fire and
Ice, the journal writer wrote that he was analyzing the poem like the sentence below:
… I try to analyze the poem, the first thing that comes in my mind is how bad our
world now. There are so many irresponsible people who try to destroy our world.
They make the water, air and land polluted with their dirty hands … Many
disasters happen such as skin cancer, global warming, heavy rain, unpredictable
weather and wild flood.
From the sentences above, Journal 5 showed the word “analyze” and thus should
actually be categorized as an action verb in the Analysis level of Bloom’s taxonomy.
However, instead of being in the Analysis level, the sentences above were actually

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showing the Application level of thinking process. Based on Bloom (1954), in the
Analysis level, students should break down the information of the poem into parts to
support generalization. In fact, Student 5 only did the action “apply” of the idea of hate
and anger from the poem to the real life he faced. After that, he found out that hate and
anger had become the source of many bad things in the real life such as polluted
environment, global warming, wild flood and so forth. From this matter, when analyzing
the data, the researcher interpreted whether the students really did the action verbs of
Bloom’s taxonomy in their journals or only assumed that they did it. After interpreting
the students’ actions within the journals, the students’ order of thinking was then
classified into six categories according to Bloom’s taxonomy. They were Knowledge,
Comprehension, Application, Analysis, Synthesis, and Evaluation. The analyses of all 20
students’ journals have been graphically displayed in Table 2.

Table 2.
Students' Orders of Thinking in Introduction to Literature Class (2014)

Numbers of journals

25
Knowledge

20

Comprehension

15

Application
Analysis

10

Synthesis

5

Evaluation

0

Students’ orders of thinking in Bloom’s Taxonomy
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Knowledge
The first level of Bloom’s taxonomy is ‘Knowledge’ in which the students
recalled the information they got before. After analyzing the action verbs of Bloom’s
taxonomy in the students’ journals, the researcher found all twenty journals that showed
the students’ Knowledge level of thinking process. In the students’ journals, the action
“quote” and “remember,” which belong to action verbs in the Knowledge level of
thinking process were used. In Journal 1, the action “quote” was done by Student 1 by
writing the poem again without changing anything. At this point, this student chose The
Capital poem to be his material to write the journal and below was his action to “quote”
the poem that contained specific symbols of a large number of words in their common
range of meaning (Bloom, 1954).
If I am rich I will buy Jakarta, and paint in white
From the sentence, it was identified that Student 1 showed the action “quote” by
writing the stanza of the poem again without changing anything. This action of “quote”
was categorized as in the Knowledge level of thinking process based on Bloom.
However, there were some journals that also showed this lowest level of thinking process
by showing the action “remember.” Within Journal 4 which talked about A Red, Red
Rose poem, the sentence that showed the action “remember” was identified.
The poet will love his lover until the bonnie lass …
The sentence above was actually showing Student 4’s explanation toward the
meaning of the poem. Anyhow, while explaining, this student also showed the action
“remember” toward the words ‘bonnie lass’ from the poem. This action of “remember”
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showed the lowest level of thinking process based on Bloom’s taxonomy, which was the
Knowledge level.

Comprehension
After identifying the Knowledge level of thinking process, the second level of
Bloom’s taxonomy, ‘Comprehension,’ was identified. Based on the action verbs
“generalize, describe and explain” which were identified within the journals, it could be
concluded that all 20 students’ journals showed the Comprehension level of thinking
process in Bloom’s taxonomy. At this level, the students put the poems into another form
like what had been showed in Journal 3 about A Red, Red Rose poem.
The writer wants to tell about a man who is falling in love with his beloved. It
begins in the early of June, at that time the flowers already have blooms...
In the first sentence, it was identified that Student 3 did the action “generalize” by
writing what the poem actually talked about. He put the poems into another form by
generalizing the meaning of the poem. However, in the next sentence, he began to do the
action “describe” toward the content of the poem. He described the time of June in the
poem in which many flowers were blooming. These actions of “generalize and describe”
showed the Comprehension level of thinking process in Bloom’s taxonomy. Another
action that categorized journal as in the Comprehension level was identified in Journal 2
that talked about Fire and Ice. Student 2 showed the action “explain” as below to show
the Comprehension level of thinking process.

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… some say the world will end in fire, … means that some people think that the
universe will end by hate and crime; here I describe fire into a bad meaning...
The underlined sentence above showed that Student 2 did the action “quote” and
thus should be categorized as in the Knowledge level of thinking process. However, after
quoting the stanza in the poem, this student did the action “explain” to the quotation he
wrote before in the next sentence. Whereas, the action “explain” was one of the action
verbs in the Comprehension level of thinking process based on Bloom.

Application
The third level of Bloom’s taxonomy is ‘Application’ and there were 11 journals
that showed this level of thinking process. At this level, students have already accepted
the poem (the knowledge), understood the idea of the poem, and then applied what they
understood to the real life (Richards & Renandya, 2002) as what Student 20 did in
Journal 20 about Fire and Ice.
I think this poem tries to tell us about days that will come in the future or people
will know it as a doomsday. In the real life this might happen because there are so
many natural disasters lately. A crime is rising along with murdering that is
caused by hatred.
From the sentences above, it could be identified that the journal writer did the
action “apply” of the idea in the poem to the real life he faced. In the first sentence, he
showed that he had understood the idea of the poem, but then in the second line, he tried
to apply this idea to the real life he faced. As he “apply” the idea from the poem to the
real life, he realized that those idea might happen as there were many disasters caused by
25

hatred in the real life. Another example that showed the Application level of thinking
process was identified in Journal 15. In this case, Student 15 got the understanding that
the poem Fire and Ice talked about where men go after they died. Then he did the action
“apply” of the idea from the poem to his religious life as a Moslem like the sentence he
wrote below:
As I am a Moslem, my traditional thought believes that for those who are believer
will be in heaven, and for those who are unbeliever will be in hell.
From the sentence, the researcher identified the action “apply” was done. Student
15 applied the idea of the poem, which talked about the end of the world, to his religious
life. Then after applying, he found out that men will go either to heaven or hell when they
died referring to his religion beliefs as a Moslem. This action of “apply” showed the
Application level of thinking process based on Bloom.

Analysis
‘Analysis’ on Bloom’s taxonomy stimulates students to talk and to dig their
thoughts or opinion (Bloom, 1954). At this level, students broke down information into
parts and found evidence to support generalization (Richards & Renandya, 2002). From
the analysis of 20 journals, it was identified that 12 journals showed the Analysis level of
thinking process in Bloom. In Journal 7 about A Red, Red Rose, there was an action of
“examine” toward the knowledge that had been accepted and understood.

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Love can make someone has a high imagination that can be seen in the third
stanza, the first and the second line. Both lines are seen exaggerating and they
were usually called as hyperbole.
After generalizing the meaning of the poem in the first sentence, Student 7
supported his generalization by doing the action “examine” to the poem. He broke down
the information of the poem and examined the poet as using a device of figurative
imagery which was hyperbole to show that love makes people exaggerate something.
This action of “examine” showed the Analysis level of thinking process based on
Bloom’s taxonomy. Another example of journal that showed the action “examine”
toward the poem was identified in Journal 13 about A Red, Red Rose.
In this poem the author use simile to compare his love as a red rose …
At first I don’t understand because this poem is using Scottish dialect
At this point, Student 13 did the action “examine” to the poem and identified the
simile device of figurative imagery and Scottish dialect in it. He examined the poem and
found out about these two facts there. This action “examine” was categorized as in the
Analysis level of thinking process. In Journal 18, there was also an action “compare” that
showed the Analysis level of thinking process.
Even when I tried to look at internet, I found a lot of ways of people to interpret
this poem. Most of them tell that this poem is about death and someone else tells
that this poem just simply tells about appreciation to the nature.
From the sentences above, it was identified that Student 18 read other books while
doing his journal writing assignment. He did the action “compare” of the idea from the
poem with those he got from the internet. This action of “compare” showed the Analysis
level of thinking process based on Bloom.
27

Synthesis
The fifth level of Bloom’s taxonomy is ‘Synthesis.’ At this level, students engage
in original creative thinking. Bloom classified this level as higher level of thinking
(Forehand, 2012). Students could put together of ideas into a new or unique plan or
propose alternative solution in this level of thinking process. From the journals, there
were only 2 journals that showed the Synthesis level of thinking process. The first journal
was Journal 15 that was written based on Fire and Ice poem. The sentences that were
taken from Journal 15 below showed the Synthesis level of thinking process.
But later when I read a book about Buddhism, Hinduism and philosophy, I find
that men will never die because of their karma; they will reincarnate (Buddhism
and Hinduism perspective), and men also cannot perish when they always think
and their thinking still exists (Philosophy perspective). … I conclude my own
perception that men will go to a place that they dream as the death is a long sleep.
The sentences above showed that Student 15 did the action “compare” of the idea
he understood with another idea from Buddhism, Hinduism, and Philosophy books.
Anyhow, after comparing the ideas of Buddhism, Hinduism, and Philosophy, Student 15
put together the ideas into a new or unique plan and did the action “construct” of his own
knowledge. He constructed his own knowledge based on the three perspectives from
books and wrote that men will go to a place that they dream as the death was a long sleep.
This action of “construct” showed the Synthesis level in Bloom’s Taxonomy. Then, the
other example that showed the Synthesis level of thinking process was identified in
Journal 1 about The Capital. Student 1 did the action “propose” within this journal.

28

We need a revolution, to turn Jakarta, the power of city into white. But people
who are powerless cannot do much effort unless we have a choice to voice it out.
From that sentence, it was identified that Student 1 proposed the reader to have a
revolution to solve problems in Jakarta. Indirectly, he also proposed the powerless people
to voice out their thought to solve these problems. This action of “propose” showed the
Synthesis level of thinking process based on Bloom’s taxonomy.

Evaluation
The sixth and the highest level of thinking process in Bloom’s taxonomy is
‘Evaluation.’ From the analysis, there was only one journal that showed the Evaluation
level of thinking process. In Journal 14, it could be identified that Student 14 used the
action “debate” of the knowledge that he got from the poem A Red, Red Rose.
In my opinion, a man who truly loved a woman will prove his love through his
action which comes from his true feeling. He can say romantic words, but it is not
his priority to express his love to a woman. When a man promises something for
their future, a woman will know the truth through his action.
From the sentence above, it could be seen that the Student 14 tried to evaluate the
idea he got from the poem. He formed opinion that action was more important than
romantic words delivered by the poet through his poem. Finally, this action to “debate”
the knowledge was categorized as in the Evaluation level based on Bloom’s taxonomy.
After analyzing all 20 journals written by 20 students in InLit Class, at English
Teacher Program of a private university in Salatiga, 2014, the researcher identified all
levels of thinking process in Bloom’s taxonomy existed in the students’ journals. The
29

highest percentages were Knowledge and Comprehension level because all 20 journals
that have been analyzed showed these levels of thinking process. The second place was
Analysis level which was identified within 12 journals. Then, Application level was
identified in 11 students’ journals. However, there were only 2 journals that showed the
Synthesis level and in the fewest percentage was Evaluation level because only one
journal that showed this level of thinking process. The summary of the students’ level of
thinking process in the journals could be seen in Table 3.

Table 3.
Students’ Levels of Thinking Process within the Journals
J1 J2 J3 J4 J5 J6 J7 J8 J9 J10

J11 J12 J13

J14 J15 J16 J17 J18 J19 J20 Total

Know
ledge

20

Compre
hension

20

Appli
cation

11

Ana
lysis

12

Syn
thesis

2

Evalu
ation

1

J: Journal

Table 3 showed the detail on how each journal showed the students’ orders of
thinking. But interestingly, the researcher sometimes found more than one level of
30

thinking process in a single sentence within the journal. For example, in Journal 14 about
A Red, Red Rose, there were two levels of thinking process identified within one
sentence as below.
Firstly, a man expresses his feeling when he is falling in love as a red rose which
is blossoming beautifully in the spring season in June.
The sentence above showed the Knowledge and Comprehension level of thinking
process. Student 14 did the action “describe” toward the content of the poem. He
described the poem as talking about a man who was falling in love. This action of
“describe” was categorized as in the Comprehension level of thinking process. Anyhow,
while describing, Student 14 also did the action “remember” of the words ‘red rose’ and
‘June’ in the poem. This action of “remember” showed the Knowledge level of thinking
process. Therefore, Student 14 showed both the Comprehension and Knowledge level of
thinking process in a single sentence as above.

Some Possible Reasons of Why Students Tend Not to Think Critically
One of the ways to train students’ thinking is by writing journal. In Colley’s et al.
(2012) study, they found that the students’ journals showed all levels of thinking process.
This study also found that the students’ journals in InLit class showed all the levels of
thinking process based on Bloom’s taxonomy. However, only a few numbers of students
who have engaged in the higher level of thinking process.
Along with what RPI (1996) stated, a few students who did not think critically
could be caused by their ‘institutionalized thinking.’ From the past, the institution around
the students in InLit class may influence them to believe that whatever the teacher had
31

given to them was true. Because of that, they tended to accept the knowledge given by
the teacher and showed the lower level of thinking process. This habitual belief to accept
the knowledge given by the teacher without thinking critically may then make the
students confused on what to do when they were asked to write journals critically. This
confusion may lead them to be lazy on thinking critically. As a result, they only gave
comment on the text as they wanted to. Therefore, specific guidelines or questions from
Hogsette et al. (2012) could be used as a consideration to more promoting the students’
critical thinking through journal writing. This guideline then could guide the students to
comment but with a deeper thinking.

CONCLUSION
This study aimed to analyze journals that the students wrote in InLit class of a
private university in Salatiga, to see how the journals show the students’ order of thinking
based on Bloom’s Taxonomy. After analyzing the students’ journals, the researcher
identified all six categories in Bloom’s taxonomy were used. The students’ journals in
InLit class showed not only the lower orders of thinking but also the higher orders of
thinking process. Therefore, along with what Colley, et.al (2012) stated, this study also
supports the idea that journal writing can be used to promote critical thinking.
However, although students’ journals in InLit class of showed all the orders of
thinking process, there were only a few students who showed the higher level of thinking
process, especially in Synthesis and Evaluation level. Because of that, along with the tips
from RPI (1996), the researcher would like to give some suggestion to the InLit lecturers
32

to give more specific instruction to guide the students showing their higher level of
thinking process through the journals.
Finally, this study was mainly conducted to see only the journal writing
assignments in InLit class of a private university in Salatiga, 2014. Therefore, it could not
be generalized into another field of study. Further research about journal writing
assignment in another field of study would be necessary. By doing the research in another
field of study, it is expected that the researcher will get more comparable data. Therefore,
the knowledge about journal writing assignment and its’ relevance with critical thinking
could be broaden, not only limited in InLit class, but also in another class.

33

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Praise to the almighty God for the blessings that are given to the researcher, thus
this thesis could be finished. I believe that without Him, I would never have finished this
thesis to be submitted as one of the requirements for the degree of Sarjana Pendidikan. In
this occasion, the researcher would like to thank to:
1. My beloved family, my father and mother, my sister, for your prayer and supports
during my thesis writing,
2. My supervisor, Ibu Martha Nandari, M.A. for your guidance in writing this thesis.
Without your valuable suggestion, support, and patience, this thesis would have
never been accomplished,
3. My examiner, Ibu Victoria Usadya P, M.A-ELT who have spent time reading my
thesis and made the perfect finishing for this thesis,
4. Ibu Fany Novita and Ibu Suzana Maria who have become my academic advisors,
5. All teachers and staffs in the English Department, who have taught and helped me
during my study in this Department,
6. My best friends in the boarding house and in the Department who have shared the
happiness during our study,
7. Everyone that I have not mentioned here but have helped me in writing this thesis.
Finally, the writer hopes this thesis will be useful to all readers, especially for
those who love journal writing and have concern in critical thinking.
Salatiga, 12 June 2014
Pranika Sarastiti
34

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36

APPENDIX A
Below are the poems that the students used to write journals in InLit class at the
English Teacher Program of a private university in Salatiga, 2014.
A RED, RED ROSE
Robert Burns

FIRE AND ICE
By Robert Frost

O my Luve's like a red, red rose
That's newly sprung in June;
O my Luve's like the melodie
That's sweetly play'd in tune.

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
Till a' the seas gang dry:
Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,
And the rocks melt wi' the sun:
I will luve thee still, my dear,
While the sands o' life shall run.
And fare thee well, my only Luve
And fare thee well, a while!
And I will come again, my Luve,
Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

37

STOPPING BY WOODS ON A
SNOWY EVENING
By Robert Frost

THE CAPITAL
By Remy Silado
If I am rich I will buy Jakarta, and paint it
white
Can you imagine Jakarta suddenly turns all
white
Gold on top of Monas, White welcome
statue,
white trees in Surapati Garden, white Istora
football stadi