Chapter 26

DIARIES IN LANGUAGE LEARNING:

REFLECTING LANGUAGE AWARENESS

ARGYRO KANAKI
University of Dundee (United Kingdom)
a.kanaki@dundee.ac.uk

Abstract
This paper presents the results of an ethnographic, longitudinal research project
with P6 and P7 pupils in a Scottish primary school. The research aimed to explore
manifestations of Language Awareness in primary school pupils who were learning
French: 53 pupil participants took part. They were engaged in writing a diary after
each of their French lessons during an academic year. In these diaries, they were
asked to verbalise their thoughts on language, and their learning experiences after
each language input. The research showed that pupils consciously demonstrated
Language Awareness, expressing detailed reflections on language analysis, and that
they compared French with English, demonstrating multilingual behaviour. This re-
corded coexistence of first and second languages in the diaries, allowed students to
use their own available resources ‘cross linguistically’ in their efforts to be more effi-
cient in language learning (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015). Implementation of diaries simply
as a tactic for retrospection in the process of foreign language learning has shown
that the reinforcement of language learning (Gabry -Barker, 2019), in a diary narra-
tive, offers a more individualised understanding of language teaching and learning
procedures. This paper concludes with some recommendations promoting the im-
provement of both teaching materials, and teaching methods, in the primary school
language classroom.

1. INTRODUCTION
Reflections on language learning, linguistic features and language
connections can help language learning. This paper demonstrates how
612 Argyro Kanaki

diaries, used by primary school language learners, facilitate the process

through which they express their thinking, making it visible to others
as well as themselves. Diaries can offer useful insights into learners’
thinking. Starting from simple and purely linguistic elements, diaries
can be, as this paper shows, important for pedagogical planning on
the part of foreign language educators, and clearly meaningful for
learners.
Therefore, the paper seeks to highlight an approach to language
pedagogy emphasising deeper engagement with language. It does not
seek to present results as if from an empirical study. The paper wants
to focus on a pedagogical approach, and demonstrate those examples
of learners’ manifestations of Language Awareness (LA) elicited by
this approach to language learning through diary work.
This paper also advocates, contrasting against monolingual biases,
language learning through diary work which adopts a mindset with a
multilingual perspective. This view holds learners to be active, multi-
lingual, subjects who are critical and independent regulators of their
own learning (Ruiz De Zarobe & Coyle, 2015). A multilingual mind-
set also agrees with the ‘multilingual turn’ view (Cenoz & Gorter,
2011; Conteh & Meier, 2014; May, 2014), according to which the
separation of languages in education settings, and the preponderance
of the monolingual native speaker, are both challenged. Diaries in lan-
guage learning could work towards the promotion of ‘becoming mul-
tilingual’, a position which might be achieved in an educational setting
(Cenoz & Gorter, 2015). This paper actually focuses on this process of
‘becoming multilingual’ (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015) as it looks at mani-
festations of how pupils acquire a second language (L2) in a primary
educational setting. The paper also offers an example of pedagogical
practice with learners as participants. It also takes the position that
learners each have the disposition to become multilingual, as they
idividually demonstrate relatively novel, multilingual language skills
in reflecting on their own language learning.
The paper presents language learning through diary work, and
maps how diaries could be used in a transformative approach to fore-
ign language pedagogy. It begins by presenting its theoretical concep-
tions of Language Awareness; it then moves on to discuss a bridge bet-
ween theory and practice, which is the pedagogical tool of ‘diaries’,
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 613

and describes using the ‘diary’ in a particular, and applied linguistic

manner. Finally, almost as a matter of self justification, it gives an ac-
count of an ethnographic research study, and offers examples illus-
trating its theoretical and observation material, from primary school
pupils’ diary entries.
The overall aim of the paper is to introduce to educators this diary
approach. It is a generally applicable pedagogical tool that encoura-
ges language learning and that permits and encourages transformati-
ve learning experiences. Simply describing a research procedure, the
paper presents this diary based technique as a point of reference for
language planning and pedagogical thinking.

2. LANGUAGE AWARENESS
Diaries in language learning rely on the concept of Language
Awareness (LA). LA is defined as “explicit knowledge about langua-
ge, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning,
language teaching and language use” (Svalberg, 2007, p. 288). Since
the introduction of the term by Eric Hawkins (1981), it, and its defi-
nition, have been widened, linking it with sociolinguistic issues, with
multilingualism, with language attitudes, and even with citizenship
and individuality (Svalberg, 2007). According to Pinter (2011, p.
11), “we learn via a conscious process of study, and attention to
form and rule learning”. For Singleton (2014, p. 558), “language
awareness is usually thought of as the fruit of particular kinds of
language experience”. Lamb (2017, p. 175) mentions that the LA
movement engages learners “in learning not only about linguistic
patterns and approaches to language learning but also sociolinguis-
tic issues intended to encourage the appreciation of linguistic diversi-
ty and interlingualism”. This is why, and how, LA based approaches
to language see language teaching and learning in a holistic manner,
and they also have some specific characteristics, as summarised by
Svalberg (2007, pp. 290-291):
1. “Language is an ongoing, dynamic and fluid phenomenon.
2. Learners should talk “analytically” about their language and
language experience.
614 Argyro Kanaki

3. Learner involvement is essential in exploration and discovery.

4. Learners should each develop learning skills that help them to
better understand language function and provide them with
autonomy.
5. Learners need to be involved in both a cognitive, and an affec-
tive, manner”.

The above characteristics enumerate and illustrate learners as

‘language aware’ individuals. This means, here, that they can, only,
use language and its resources dynamically, that they own their lan-
guage experience, it is their own living experience (Busch, 2017), and
that they are developing skills that enhance their autonomy. They
are, through diaries, as we will see, involved in a cognitive, affective,
and even effective, manner in their own learning. These features are
always attributed to learners alongside values which depend entirely
on context: being language aware is a solid term for this bundle of
affect and effect, of feeling, and of practical judgement.
Byrd Clark (2009) suggests that linguistic systems, how they
operate, their similarities and differences, as well as external fac-
tors such as school curricula, policies, and language practices and
ideologies, all construct learners’ representations of how they
perceive, and conceive, interactions between their own languages,
and the persons within them. Within this framework, learners, of
course, develop their own representations of language, compe-
tence, and their own learning strategies, from their own language
learning and use. In her work with primary school pupils, Young
(2018) invites practitioners to use children’s curiosity and ability
to analyse language through juxtaposition, comparison and ques-
tioning, so that links between languages are constructed. So, pupils
who have LA always look at language in a critical manner and
talk about it and their own language experience. They reflect on
their own linguistic representations (Stratilaki, 2012). They can
present analytical approaches towards specific linguistic features
and their functions, as well as the social and pragmatic functions
of language as Young (2018) has described in her work. Drawing a
conclusion from this argument, engagement in LA could encourage
pupils to capitalise on their own linguistic skills, and on knowled-
ge acquired both in and outside school settings.
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 615

Jessner (2018) also points out that learners look at similarities

and differences between languages when reflecting. This cross lin-
guistic approach consciously reintroduces the first language (L1)
into the foreign language classroom. The coexistence of first and
second languages, or maybe more, in classrooms, allows students
to use their available resources cross linguistically, and it makes
language learners more efficient, and proficient, in their language
learning (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015). As Jessner (2018, p. 259) ex-
plains, “analysis of linguistic knowledge is described as the skill
component responsible for making explicit those representations
that had previously been implicit or intuitive”, and, of course, this
consciousness raising facilitates learning, and promotes language
development.
To summarise, key aspects of LA approach from a learner’s
perspective involve:
1. Contrasting languages in a framework of cross linguistic
awareness
2. Building on prior language knowledge
3. Perceiving languages in use; considering languages as con-
nected, associated with values, beliefs, ideologies. Languages
do not live separated, hermetically sealed, and enumerated,
lives.
4. Expanding language learning strategies (see also Hufeisen
& Jessner, 2019 for further discussion of the above key as-
pects).

3. THE BRIDGE BETWEEN THEORY AND PRACTICE:

DIARIES IN A PRIMARY SCHOOL SETTING
Diaries have arguably been the ‘poor relation’ of the methodological
family in qualitative social research, by comparison with other research
tools such as interviews (Bartlett & Milligan, 2015) despite their wi-
de use in social sciences. This is because, as Atkinson and Silverman
(2016) point out, our society is an ‘interview society’, where people
find their only route to ‘truth’ via face-to-face interview. Nevertheless,
616 Argyro Kanaki

Bartlett and Milligan (2015, p. 15) highlight that “the purpose of

the diary is to provide access to a more in depth understanding of
people’s interpretations of their worlds”.
According to Rose et al. (2019), the use of journals/diaries,
although widely used in some other social science disciplines, is
very much an exception in the mainstream of applied linguistics
research. This underutilization is declining because they are begin-
ning to be widely seen as straightforward opportunities to gain in-
sights into learners’ practices, thoughts and feelings, which might
otherwise be difficult to elicit through other types of data collec-
tion instruments (Dörnyei, 2007). Porto (2007) claims that diaries
could be considered as a valuable tool for reflection and introspec-
tion for promoting autonomous learners. Dörnyei (2007, p. 157)
goes a step further when he emphasises that “participants become
co-researchers as they keep records of their own feelings, thoughts
or activities”; the diary method is about “an insider account” (ibid,
p. 157) that provides meaningful and contextualised information
about language and its users with minimum interference from ex-
ternal researchers and their biases (Rose et al., 2019).
In language education, the use of diaries has had important pe-
dagogical functions, and not so much research (Rose et al., 2019).
Bartlett and Milligan (2015) distinguish two types of diaries: the
solicited ones that have a clear research purpose, and the unso-
licited ones that are produced for individual reasons. This paper
focuses on the use of diaries with specific research purposes in
applied linguistics research, but it also, inevitably, highlights the
pedagogical benefits that diaries offer.
Diaries explore introspection, that means personal reflection,
looking inside ourselves. As a research method, dairies encourage
us to verbalise our own thoughts and thinking processes (Gabry -
Barker, 2019). As Gabry -Barker (2019, p. 54) points out, “in lan-
guage studies, in practical terms, it means that subjects are asked to
verbalise all their thoughts and emotions when performing a lan-
guage task”. The verbalisation of introspection can occur “either
at a given moment (simultaneous introspection), on completion
of a certain action (consecutive introspection) or after a time lap-
se (retrospection)” (ibid, p. 54). In retrospection, learners reflect
on their learning experiences which are worthy of investigation
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 617

in terms of learners’ language awareness (Gabry Barker, 2019),

either by the learners themselves or their teachers.
Diaries have also been associated with narrative research as part
of ‘autobiographical method’ (Denzin, 1978). Narratives allow an
in-depth examination and analysis of subjective feelings and ex-
periences. Oxford et al. (1996) describe diaries as a type of self-
report that allow learners to record their own learning processes.
For Gabry -Barker (2019), who carries out multilingual research,
diaries bring meaningful information about learner experiences
as expressed in their narratives, as well as their learning proces-
ses and particular their cross-linguistic influences that can emerge
either in the form of thinking aloud, or retrospection.
Little research has been done to explore language awareness
(LA) of primary school pupils themselves, using a learning diary
as a research tool. It has been known that primary school pu-
pils can show language awareness and, especially, metalinguistic
awareness, which can refer to explicit knowledge about L2 gram-
matical, lexical, phonological, syntactic or pragmatic features of
language (Ellis, 2004). Studies in the primary setting from Canada
(Fortier, 2006; Simard, 2004) focused on metalinguistic awareness
using learning diaries with pupils in Quebec, where the situatio-
nal context is bilingual between English and French, and bilingual
education is heavily promoted by the state. In order to analyse
pupil metalinguistic awareness, Simard et al. (2007) explored how
pupils were experiencing the procedure of language learning and
language analysis and demonstrated that journal writing activi-
ty promoted verbalisations about the target language, and that
these verbalisations led to further LA. Fortier and Simard (2008)
also showed pupils to be capable of formulating metalinguistic
knowledge and demonstarting LA. Their 51 primary school parti-
cipants kept a learning log, recording what they had learnt in their
language lessons. Pupils in that study showed linguistic sensitivity
towards error, and could reflect on grammatical errors and mea-
nings, explaining why these constitute a grammatical or syntacti-
cal error. According to their research, pupils developed this skill
when teachers’ approaches were not simply limited to the com-
municative approach, but also drew pupils’ attention to linguistic
forms, particularly to morpho-syntactic norms, in the manner of
618 Argyro Kanaki

what was characterised as a ‘form focussed teaching approach’.

However, one of the limitations of the study was that the resear-
chers did not have any, specific or general, information about tea-
chers’ pedagogical practices and approaches, therefore they could
not hypothesise that there was a link between a specific approach,
and any of their pupils’ linguistic sensitivities.

4. RESEARCH SETTING
The research study for this paper took place in a Scottish, urban
primary school. It followed a qualitative, ethnographic research
approach. Primary school pupil LA was explored in an environ-
ment where English was the first language (L1) and the dominant
language of the society, and a second language (L2), French, was
taught in the primary school, as a minor subject, with no specific
time allocation in the timetable, although it was part of the curri-
culum. The school operated ‘1+2 Language Approach’, which is
the Scottish language policy (see Kanaki, 2020 and Kanaki, 2021).
Participants were 53 primary school pupils who were in the last 2
years of primary school (P6 and P7, around 11 to 12 years old) in
three different classes, and with three different class teachers.
A learning diary was presented. Guidance was given to teachers
before their pupils started completing their own learning diaries.
Pupils were asked to fill in their learning diaries every time they
had a French input. They answered two questions: “What have you
learnt in your lesson?” and “What are the differences, and/or simi-
larities, between your first language (L1), English, and French?”.
It was up to the teachers of each class to decide how many French
inputs they could include in their busy class curriculum schedule.
The researcher did not impose, or participate in, specific numbers
of inputs over specific schedules. The use of a learning diary gave
pupils the privacy and the safety of the known school environment
without presence or oversight of intruders. Diaries were kept for
almost the whole academic year, from October to May 2016-2017.
Emphasising that the diaries were not performance measures, or
efforts to ‘compare standards’, took up much of this introductory
priming.
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 619

In this study, the diaries had the same two questions for every
entry; pupils added an entry in their diaries immediately after they
had engaged in a French input. The diary format followed Rose’s
(2015) recommendation: questions can add structure so that the
diary entries are not simply a narrative account. Entries should
happen immediate after each input so that problems of retros-
pection can be avoided (ibid, 2015). Apart from diaries (one for
each pupil participant), the research project also included various
questionnaires and focus group interviews. In this paper, only the
findings and examples from the diaries are presented. Exploring
questionnaire responses here was excluded due to word limits. As
we will see, the diaries alone offered a rich insight into pupil mani-
festations of language awareness (Kanaki, 2019).

5. EXAMPLES AND DISCUSSION

Examples from pupils’ diary entries demonstrated that pupils
utilized protocols, almost thinking aloud, to analyse and verba-
lise what they were learning. These exhibited different levels of
processing, cross-linguistic influences and affectivity. Diary entries
demonstrate “a kind of monologue or dialogue with oneself”, as
Gabry -Barker (2019, p. 54) points out. This monologue or dialo-
gue is done in the mother tongue, English, and not in the L2, French.
According to the research protocol, a research decision was taken
that English would be the language of the diaries, as monolingual
participants would feel more comfortable to express themselves
using their mother tongue. French language skills were perhaps
not sophisticated enough to allow the pupils to express themselves
fully in their diary notes. In the study, pupils are considered as
autonomous human beings and learners, co-ethnographers effecti-
vely, as well as auto-ethnographic actors via their diaries. For this
reason, the decision was taken not to edit or correct participant
language mistakes either in English or French. The term ‘sic’ was
not used to indicate errors coming from the participants. Correc-
ting errors would have blinded the heterogeneity and authenticity
of participants’ voices (Wilkinson & Wilkinson, 2017).
620 Argyro Kanaki

Examples of diary entries are given here, then, divided into the
following themes: cross-linguistic awareness, building on prior
knowledge, perceiving languages in use and language learning
strategies (Hufeisen & Jessner, 2019). Numbers were assigned to
particular respondents simply as an aid to organisation and do not
carry additional information about respondents.

Cross-linguistic awareness

On vocabulary:
It quickly became clear from exploring pupil data that learners
of a foreign language, focussed strongly on vocabulary and cross
lexical associations between English and French when they were
actually learning. A cross lexical association entails that the target
L2 word (French here) triggered another word present in the lear-
ners’ L1, usually because of the resemblance in word form (Candry
et al, 2017). Many of these elaborations are based on the similarity
in word form between French and English. Pupils looked at words
and tried to guess their meanings based on their knowledge of
English words, and their similarities with French words:
You can see resemblance of English words. Six is the same in
both languages. (Primary pupil 1)
Some words they just looked like English. Nom is your name.
(Primary pupil 3)
I saw it was easy because of quarter in French, so it was four.
(Primary pupil 7)
It’s almost as if some of the words, you look at them if even if
they are not completely similar to English words but someti-
mes you just look at them and you know what it is …I don’t
know why but it just makes it a lot easier. (Primary pupil 4)
Like Vent … you have air vents in your house so il y a du vent
means that it is windy, so that helps. (Primary pupil 9)

It is also worth noticing that primary pupils referred to words

in French in the majority of their entries, without reporting the
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 621

word. The majority avoided writing the French word and the way
they reported the word was usually a transliteration, like “guinea
pig is a pig from India” or “father sounds like pear”. They refrai-
ned from using words such as ‘cochon d’ Inde’ or ‘père’. French
words did not appear so much in any diary entries.

On form:
Form also played an important role in learners’ understanding
and metalinguistic reflection. As Candry et al. (2017, p. 233) re-
port “the learner breaks the word up into smaller parts” and they
reflect here on the form of French words based on morphological
knowledge they have acquired in L1, English.
The country seems to spell the same way as citizens of that country
would say the name of it, so it is basically spelt the same way
they would say it. (Primary pupil 2)
I recognised the numbers especially the first one. Quatre is like
quarter which has a lot to do with four. (Primary pupil 5)
And Russia is like Russia but with i e on the end of it… … Italy is
just like Italie so it’s just basically the same. (Primary pupil 10)

Learners also paid attention to form regarding grammatical fea-

tures, associating the form of a word with a specific word category
such as gender or a specific number for example singular or plural
(Candry et al. 2017).
When they add on to the females the E and once I learned it the
different I found it easier after that. (Primary pupil 6)
Looking at the words you only ever notice if the word has an E on
the end so if you see an E then you know the word is feminine;
well, for the words that stand out in the sentences–but if you
don’t see an E then you know it is masculine, well for those
words that stand out. (Primary pupil 8)
We do not have masculine and feminine. In French they use diffe-
rent adjectives for male and female. (Primary pupil 5)
We do not have adjectives depending on the gender. (Primary
pupil 1)
622 Argyro Kanaki

On pronunciation:
Pupils paid attention to the pronunciation of French words. As
Candry et al. (2017, p. 234) report, “a resemblance was perceived
between the sound or shape of a word and the perceptual proper-
ties of its referent”.
In some ways like Greece, on that one all I had to do was take
away the accent and add an extra E so that when you say it, it
sounds exactly the same. (Primary pupil 4)
Spain looks like Espagne and sounds the same. (Primary pupil 7)
Beau sounds like beautiful. (Primary pupil 10)

All the above examples illustrate ways in which learners con-

trast languages using their intuitive, or otherwise cross linguistic,
awareness. According to Meulleman and Fiorentino (2018), learners
should be trained to acquire and use their cross linguistic awareness
skills as part of the process of language acquisition. That means
“people can learn how to understand what is said or written in a fo-
reign language without necessarily being able to speak or write that
language, provided it is closely related to at least one language they
are already familiar with (Meulleman & Fiorentino, 2018, p. 138).
For example, word resemblance between romance languages (deri-
ved from Latin) becomes apparent quickly, especially if one sees the
words in writing, but also when one hears them spoken. Maiden et
al. (2020) provide plenty of examples of similarities and differences
between languages and how these could be used as ways to promo-
te learner cross linguistic skills, and, therefore, overcome possible
language anxiety. Exploiting similarities and differences (cross-lin-
guistic work) between related languages has also been explored as
a simple learning framework for languages in education (Castagne,
2007). Here, the data excerpts from pupils demonstrate a range of
learner crosslinguistic skills that could potentially been used to cen-
tre teaching planning.

Building on Prior Knowledge

Links with prior knowledge seemed very important to pupils. Pu-
pils made links with prior French inputs where they had learnt specific
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 623

vocabulary and grammatical rules. Pupils used the knowledge acqui-

red in previous inputs in order to understand new language.
Well I got the bottom one because I remembered vaguely when we
did where you live and what your name is … I remembered
‘j’habite Dxxx en Ecosse’… and that’s how I found it. (Primary
pupil 10)
Like we were taught family mon pere and ma mere... they were in
the questioning it helped me quite a lot, like j’aime la musique
and other things like that … I like it. (Primary pupil 2)
I remember from before … we learned to introduce ourselves and
where we lived in French and stuff like that… Écosse and that
and I knew that was Scotland. (Primary pupil 11)

Pupils also referred to specific grammatical rules, for example ad-

jective agreement and masculine and feminine gender, and the fact
that they had been taught before helped them to understand and com-
plete tasks. As Ammar et al. (2010) report in their work, opportuni-
ties for pupils to hear and use linguistic structures previously targeted
with explicit information, promote pupil understanding and actual
language use.
Well, I think it was sort of a challenge, but I got it reading in
French, and trying to tell what the words were, but if I wasn’t
taught about masculine and feminine, it was very hard. (Pri-
mary pupil 5)
We are taught to use femine terms when talking about females but
to describe like hair even though I am female hair is masculine
so my describing words are masculine. (Primary pupil 12).

Building on prior language knowledge is precisely what our lear-

ners are doing here.

Perceiving Languages in Use

Rather than a simple, or a more comprehensible, lack of self-con-
fidence, there are some mistaken, perhaps superstitious pupil beliefs
which guide them to the idea that they do not have the right langua-
ge competences. “Their perception of relative difficulty or easiness in
624 Argyro Kanaki

learning the languages, often suggests a conception of language as an

object of academic study” (Muñoz, 2017, p. 55) and pupils often do
not feel confident enough to learn languages.
I actually found this one fairly difficult because even though there
were pictures I’m just not good at speaking French or reading
it, so I just thought. (Primary pupil 1)
I thought it was quite hard … French isn’t my strong point really.
(Primary pupil 6)
I like French but it is kind of tricky for me … I guess I’m just not
good with other languages. (Primary pupil 8)
I sometimes like French and sometimes not, but not when I don’t
understand such as when
I was doing masculine and feminine, which I do not get. (Primary
pupil 10)

Furthermore, learning a new language can be presented confusing

for primary school pupils.
Learning French just makes things trickier. (Primary pupil 2)
As I regularly get a little confused with I am and I have, it was very
useful to revise their uses. (Primary school pupil 6)

However, pupils retain their own personal interests in languages

and their intrinsic motivations to learn new languages. Pupils refer to
their own personal interests, such as learning Spanish and German.
I don’t like French … I’m not very good at it, and I would prefer
to learn other languages such as Spanish as I go to Spain for
holidays. (Primary pupil 2)
I would much prefer to learn German, because I know I would be
better at it. (Primary pupil 10)

Finally, pupils reflected on links with other languages because they

seemed aware of typological similarities when the languages are in use
(Muñoz, 2017).
English is made out of French and like Viking language so that’s
how I kinda knew how to learned it a bit more. (Primary pupil 6)
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 625

This wouldn’t happen but if you had no language to speak then you
would find it hard because you would have nothing to relate to.
(Primary pupil 11)
Unlike English, in French there is a formal and an informal way,
where the usage of verb is different. (Primary pupil 10).

The data examples have all illustrated how languages are percei-
ved in use; how they are considered as connected, and associated with
values, beliefs, ideologies. Languages do not live separated, existen-
ces in learners’ minds or in their lives, a datum much simpler to ap-
preciate from these responses than from some other data collection
methodologies. Learners should reflect on their own beliefs, emotions
and ideas about languages in use. Diaries offer a space to collect these
elements; this can also offer deeper insights into the complexities of
learning languages (Kalaja et al., 2018).

Language Learning Strategies

Pupils also referred to learning strategies that they employed while
they were learning French.Their experience of learning a modern foreign
language enabled them to familiarise themselves with learning strategies,
adapt them according to their needs and use them (Kirsch, 2012). Lear-
ners were able to memorise and verbalise the target morphological rule
(Muñoz, 2017) and used it as guide to understand the task.
I found the second activity quite easy because after being taught
about the masculine and feminine rules it was quite easy to see
which words stood out and how you could tell which ones were
masculine and feminine. (Primary pupil 3)
It looked like it was gonna be hard but once we knew what mascu-
line and feminine was it was quite easy. (Primary pupil 7)

On visual aids:
Pupils also described their use of pictures and specific characters
accompanying input tasks, from before the diary completion, to un-
derstand the language and help them infer the meaning. For example,
celebrity stars helped pupils to guess genders and the use of pictures
was used by the pupils for their language comprehension.
626 Argyro Kanaki

Some of the characters that were used for the sentences made it
easier to understand. (Primary pupil 5)
Cocoa Pops does not look like that in French and how hard you
would have to look to see the clue that there was cereal written
on the packet in French. (Primary pupil 8)

On language comparisons:
Pupils are particularly sensitive to similarities and differences bet-
ween languages according to Muñoz (2017).
Again it is very similar in French to English, it doesn’t occur to us
when it’s our first language. The main issue for me is the masculine/
feminine aspects that English doesn’t deal with. (Primary pupil 3).

On links with other subjects:

Pupils mentioned other school subjects that helped them to un-
derstand French inputs. As Kirsch (2012, p. 393) mentions, “children
had internalised the strategies used in other curriculum subjects, in
particular in their mathematics and English lessons, and transferred
these to foreign languages”. Pupils mentioned the following links
with specific school subjects:
English:
When we got taught at the start that some words look like
English… that helped … some of the words that I had been
taught in other subjects like English helped me to understand
the French. (Primary pupil 1)

Maths:
And in maths when we learnt quarter it helped with the French
numbers. (Primary pupil 4)

Geography:
We learned the countries in Geography, that helped me. (Primary
pupil 3)
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 627

On continuous learning:
Pupils also highlighted the importance of continuous learning for
modern languages.
It gets easier the more you learn because at the start I found it
quite tricky but now you learn a bit more it gets easier. (Primary
pupil 4)
I don’t know much about genders and need to spend time learning
about this. (Primary pupil 2)

On participation:
Participation and doing things actively were also mentioned as a
mean to better understand languages.
I like active French is easier to understand. (Primary pupil 3)
I liked playing games and exercises. (Primary pupil 7)

On teaching strategies:
Learners also seemed to be aware of teaching strategies and lan-
guage learning tasks. They referred to a variety of techniques to be
used, and as Kirsch (2012, p. 391) reports for her primary school
participants, “things that teachers did with them in their language
classes”.
We played this game once we were outside in teams and had to
write down a word in French and then the next person ran … it
was like a race but you were learning French at the same time.
(Primary pupil 4)
Lessons where teams of {pupils’ names...} use French as part of
competitive games, sing or shout. (Primary pupil 12)

Clearly for every point mentioned above discussions on expanding

language learning strategies would have a useful starting point. The
use of diaries could bring pedagogic attention to learning strategies
for learners and teachers. Ruiz de Zarobe and Coyle (2015) highlight
628 Argyro Kanaki

the importance of analysing “learning moments”, so that learners are

more aware not only of how they learn, but also of how they can
learn more effectively. Learners’ awareness of their own learning stra-
tegies, including those covered by LA (see above), can also guide tea-
chers to adjust their own teaching strategies containing a new scope
for teachers’ personal pedagogy.

6. CONCLUSIONS
This retrospection on language learning using diaries opens new
possibilities, for exploring the efficacy of teaching methods and perhaps
for building a comprehensible picture of classroom learning. Learners
reflect on their language learning, focusing on linguistic elements and
how languages work. Linguistic reflection is a means of mediating our
thinking. Diaries offer the space, and enable the process, through both
of which learners express their thinking, and thus make this thinking
visible to others as well as, perhaps more importantly, to themselves.
Retrospection on language learning in the form of narratives in a
diary offers more and clearer individualised understanding of teaching
and learning procedures, and particularly of individual learning ex-
periences. It provides useful insights into learners’ thinking that could
be, at least, important for pedagogical planning on the part of educa-
tors, and perhaps meaningful for personal growth on the part of many
learners. Even the lack of, or little reflection, for example, on cultural
aspects of language learning in learners’ diaries (Kanaki, 2019) could
be used as a point for further reflection, and for pedagogical planning
for both teachers and learners. Absence of cultural information, or
reflection, in these diaries may be a feature of primary pupils’ per-
ceptions, but it is not a feature of their French lessons: culture and
language are always aspects of each other and it is not possible to
create a French lesson without comparing and presenting, contrasting
and clarifying smaller, or larger, aspects of French culture and English
culture in relation to each other. This is information as important and
seminal as anything strictly linguistic revealed or explored by the dia-
ries themselves.
All these smaller examples offer clear pictures of how diaries can
be used practically, to encourage meaningful language learning which
Diaries in language learning: reflecting language awareness 629

could be characterised as a holistic, humanistic (or even post huma-

nistic), and individually focused, and yet offer a socially rooted and
relevant qualitative teaching approach. Thinking in another language,
and reflection on languages and their connections, can be seen as a
concrete process, outside the body, that links individuals with a dyna-
mic and transformative nature (Ros-i- Solé, 2016). The transformative
nature of language learning starts with very simple and small steps,
like our reflection on linguistic elements.
It can straightforwardly be argued that this approach engages with
users’ culturally learned pathways. A great range of lived experience
can, easily and simply, be associated with emergent notions about lan-
guage only encountered through diaries, and the related, slightly more
public, sharing of a simple diary entry with a teacher or a classmate.
Orienting these dynamic reinforcement processes is easy and fruitful.
Be they discussions, guided interviews, debates on diversity, or inequa-
lity, on social communication or on thinking, which started with diary
entries on perceptions of language, not just ‘buying railway tickets’,
but seeing how you are, with language framing, the others at the same
time as they frame you (Levinas, 1979 and, importantly for this argu-
ment, Sercu et al, 2005).
On a social level, the diaries offer us insight into a series of inter-
pretations, connections, affiliations and adaptations around language
learning. These are the things that happen in learners’ minds: they
take into account the social, spatial, temporal and embodied dimen-
sions of language learning (Pennycook, 2018). The learners in their
diaries “become interpreters and authors” (Ros-i-Solé, 2016, p. 28) of
their own conscious language procedures. As Ros-i- Solé (2016, p. 36)
points out, “self-reflection and heightened awareness of subjectivity
are key in humanised language learning”.
This paper has focussed on the use of diaries and how these can
promote the state of ‘becoming multilingual’ (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015).
It looks at verbalisations of reflections on language analysis, and the
reported experiences of learners acquiring a second language (L2) in
an educational setting. As we saw, learners have dispositions towards
the state of ‘becoming multilingual’ (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015) as they
demonstrate multilingual language skills. Diaries with their ethno-
graphic approach allow alternative ways of thinking about foreign
language learning, because of their individualised framing of language
630 Argyro Kanaki

teaching and learning procedures, and the way they actively encoura-
ge reflection and motivate language learning, both of which provide
useful insights into learners’ thinking. As Pennycook (2018) notes, the
ethnographical study of cognition, and therefore language learning,
opens up wider understandings of second language development as a
complex distributed process. Language learning through diaries can
offer meaningful insights of that distributed process for both educa-
tors and learners.

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