Secret Log Exchange

Inspired by Secret Friend Journals by Green and Green

Abstract

This paper discusses the issue of students' cooperative learning through exchanging their logs, reading writings of classmates' and responding to them, without disclosing their real names. Students (freshmen, college) are asked to keep a log in English at home during the semester, and twice, bring their logs that have numbers given by the teacher on the cover instead of their names to class in order to exchange them with others. When responding to the classmates' logs, they write their opinions inside the⁴⁰ log but just sign their given number in the matrix on the cover of the log.
First, I present the outline and the underlying philosophy of the nature of such an exchange; students themselves produce the material for the study, and are not given the material from their teacher. Also, I present some related articles to this study. Secondly, I introduce some of the patterns of writing shown in this study with excerpts of students' writings. Finally, I suggest some other arrangement by using the basics of this activity, which could be used for further, future study of this kind.