How 4th Grade Students’ Selves Emerge in Their Diaries :

A Qualitative Inquiry Into the Self in Relation to Others

Abstract

  The present study inquired into elementary school 4^th graders’ personal stories as told in diaries that they had written as a homework assignment, focusing on the children’s selves in relation to others described in the stories and the reader of the diaries.  On the basis of the children’s style of writing and answers to a questionnaire asking the children about their beliefs about diary writing, diaries of 3 fourth-grade students (1 boy, 2 girls) were selected.  Out of 537 diary entries written by these 3 students over 12 months, mainly describing their experiences in their homes and neighborhoods, 14 were chosen for analysis.  A qualitative analysis suggested how others work to clarify children’s selves in several types of expression that make the perspective of the child writing the diary more distinctive.  These expressions included the children focusing on fine details of their experiences, describing conversations or their inner reflections in direct speech style, and criticizing others.  The discussion deals with how these writings clarify the children’s positions to their teacher who will read their diaries.