The language journal can be an effective aid for teaching students to be aware of and sensitive to language. Students write down any observations that interest them about the language they hear or read in everyday life, together with their speculations on the causes of such language. The journal is devoted specifically to language because an effective writer must be sensitive to language. It also does not encourage skills in purely narrative and descriptive writing at the cost of expository and argumentative writing. The content of the language journal offers a bridge or transition between a student's daily life and academic life. Entries range from fundamental observations to sophisticated speculation, and topics range from the language of family, friends, teachers, and street talk to expressions in song lyrics, on public transportation, of politicians, of advertisements, and in body language. As students grow sensitive to and critical of how others express themselves, they grow sensitive to and critical of how they express themselves. The journal encourages students to teach themselves about both speaking and writing without an inner "resistance" to language learning. (Several student journal entries are included.) (HTH)