English abstract
This study was undertaken to examine the effect of using dialogic journal writing techniques in pairs and in groups on improving teachers' reflection. It was also designed to examine the possible benefits of keeping a dialogic journal as well as the possible obstacles that teachers may face when using this technique.
The study is a quasi-experimental design and the population is female English teachers teaching in Cycle 2 Basic Education schools in Muscat. There are 183 teachers in total. The sample of this study, consisted of eighteen teachers from three different cycle 2 schools in Muscat, they represented 10.4 % of the population. They participated in the 'Teachers' Reflective Blog with 151 scripts of reflective journals.
The instrument of the study was a checklist, which consisted of a set of criteria for analyzing the content of teachers' journals to measure the level of their reflection.
The following are the major findings of this study:
• Dialogic journals helped teachers to reach a higher level of reflection. They became more critical of their practice through their discussions. Dialogic journals helped teachers in exploring their practice more, justifying decisions made in the classroom, asking for suggestions for problematic situations faced in their practice, providing another genre for writing rather than lesson plans or feedback comments, developing a more coherent self-expression and gave them a personal "voice" to reach others. Dialogic journals helped teachers to solve their practical problems systematically, provided the opportunity to look at the syllabus more critically, and above all the study showed an indication of constructive impact on teachers' classroom performance.
Teachers faced a few barriers while using dialogic journals. It was a time consuming practice due to their overloaded timetable. The limited network coverage at schools hindered their regular access. In the light of the finding, implications and recommendations were suggested.
