The Use of Reflective Journal as a Tool for Monitoring of Metacognition Growth in Writing

A reflective journal is used as a technique of self-reflection in the learning process. By integrating the process of metacognition, a reflective journal guideline was developed to knowing students' metacognition growth in writing. The reflective journal guidelines are designed in the form of self-questioning to make it easier for students to express their metacognition processes during their writing assignments. The metacognition process consists of three, namely awareness, evaluation, and regulation. The reflective journal guidelines that were compiled was given to 50 students. Before writing a reflective journal, students are asked to work on the task of writing explanatory texts. Students monitor the metacognition growth of while writing the explanatory text using reflective journal guidelines. Research findings show that reflective journal guidelines can be used to monitor the growth of students' metacognition in writing. Both students who are used to writing and who are not accustomed to writing can express their writing experience by answering questions in the reflective journal guidelines. This finding also shows that teachers must always encourage students to always write reflective journals in order to monitor metacognition growth in writing, ranging from raising awareness about knowledge and task completion efforts, monitoring the quality of the results obtained, and fostering the habit of planning, setting goals, and apply certain strategies in completing tasks. Students who are used to writing reflective journals in the learning process will be able to develop their writing skills and will become independent learners. Keywords—Reflective journal, monitoring, metacognition, writing


Introduction
The main feature of reflection in the learning process is that learning is based on previous experience [1]. The reflection is focused on students, aspects of context, skills and learning strategies. Reflection also facilitates and integrates knowledge, experience, and ongoing actions [2]. All of that is recorded by students in the most powerful self-evaluation tool called the reflective journal [3]. Writing a journal is seen as a way to record personal thoughts, daily experiences, and insights that continue to develop. students' metacognition. They have not been able to present reflections that show the growth of their metacognition during the writing activities. The application of the journal will experience problems if given to students who are not accustomed to writing. In addition, students who are not critical will have difficulty expressing their ideas in journal writing because they are inexperienced and not accustomed to writing. If writing reflective journals becomes a habit, then the journal will have great potential as a practical approach to enhance learners' experiences and provide opportunities to connect theory and practice in learning [20].
One of the challenges of education is to provide strategies and processes that equip students and teachers to examine, criticize, and evaluate their own understanding and beliefs [21]. A reflective journal guideline designed by integrating metacognition processes is the right solution that is assumed to be able to answer these challenges. The process of metacognition generally takes place as long as someone does metacognition activities, namely awareness, evaluation, and regulation [22]. Awareness is an awareness of cognition, tasks, and self; evaluation is the assessment and monitoring of cognition; regulation is an effort to control and control the learning process to achieve meaningful results [23], [24], [25], [26], [27]. The three metacognitive processes are translated into reflective journal guides in the form of questions. These questions will be answered by students according to their experience while working on writing assignments. Students are required to do self-questioning which is all recorded in reflective journals. Self-questioning is students ask themselves to guide their performance before, during, and after the performance of the task. By doing self-questioning, students can increase self-awareness and control their thinking, increase retention of knowledge and long-term skills, increase the ability to apply and transfer knowledge and skills learned, and improve attitudes and motivation as a result of improved performance [28].
By integrating the metacognition process into the reflective journal guidelines, it is assumed that students can record and report all of their metacognition activities during writing. This reflective journal is assumed to be a powerful tool for monitoring metacognition growth in writing. Therefore, this article aims to explain the design of reflective journal guidelines oriented to the process of metacognition to monitor the growth of students' metacognition in writing.

Participants
Participants in this study were students studying in the Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, Indonesia, class of 2016. Participants numbered 50 male and female students who were randomly selected. Participants are asked to fill in a reflective journal to monitor the writing process. They fill reflective journals while doing their writing assignments. The text written by students is explanatory text.

Research instruments
The instruments used in this study, namely the explanatory text writing assignment sheet and reflective journal guidelines. First, the explanatory text writing assignment sheet that has been developed tested for validity in the writing process [29]. The explanatory text writing assignment sheet was developed based on the cognitive process theory [30] and explanatory text theory [31]. Second, reflective journal guidelines. The reflective journal guidelines were developed based on the theory of the process of metacognition, which consists of awareness, evaluation, and regulation. The reflective journal consists of 40 questions completed with four sub-questions to find out students' metacognition growth in writing explanatory texts (Appendix 1). Before being given to participants, reflective journals are examined by experts in the fields of language and linguistics teaching. Validation is done to check the validity of the instructions construction, the content construction, and the language suitability. In terms of instructions construction, the level of validity is very good (100%). In terms of content construction, the validity level is very good (100%). In terms of language suitability, the level of validity is very good (87.50%). Therefore, based on the expert evaluation, the reflective journal guidelines developed is valid and can be used to monitor of students' metacognition growth in writing explanatory texts.

Procedure
Students work on writing assignments by following the work procedures listed on the writing assignment sheet. Students are given a reflective journal guide and fill in the journal while working on writing explanatory texts. Students write explanatory texts ranging from planning writing, developing writing frameworks, and evaluating writing. The process is visualized in the form of reflective journals. Through reflective journals, students reflect all activities carried out while completing writing assignments.

Result
Students record and report their metacognition growth in writing explanatory texts using reflective journal guidelines. Reflective journal guidelines are designed using metacognitive process theories, namely awareness, evaluation, and regulation.

Awareness
The awareness process occurs when students are dealing with assignments. Students will begin to think about the knowledge they have and the efforts that can be made to complete the task. During this process, students are required to be aware of their cognition, be aware of the task, and be aware of themselves. Awareness about cognition is distinguished by declarative knowledge, procedural knowledge, and conditional knowledge. If students have an awareness of cognition, tasks, and themselves during completing the task and are able to explain the process of awareness, it is assumed that he has been able to grow his metacognition awareness in writing. The question for the awareness process that was designed in the reflective journal guidelines is visualized in Table 1. I'm aware of the topic that I will write in the form of explanatory text, because 3. Be aware of the audience needs 3. I realize the needs of the audience in writing this topic in the form of explanatory text. Therefore 4. Be aware of the scope of writing 4. I'm aware of the scope that I will write, because 5. Be aware of the genre of the text to be written 5. I'm aware of the genre of the text I will write, especially the explanatory text genre, i.e. 6. Be aware of the linguistic structure that will be used 6. I'm aware of the linguistic structure that I need to pay attention to in writing explanatory texts, for example 7. Be aware of the writing process will be carried out 7. I realize the process of writing explanatory texts, that is by way of Procedural Knowledge 1. Be aware of how to plan writing 8. I realized the way I had done while planning the explanatory text writing, that is by way of 2. Be aware of how to produce writing 9. I realized the way that I did while producing the text, especially in choosing the vocabulary that I used, that is by way of 10. I realize the way that I do while producing text, especially in arranging sentences according to their structure and function so that the sentences and sentence patterns that I present are more varied. The way I do that is 11. I'm aware of the way I have done while producing text, especially in the selection of lexical and grammatical cohesion in connecting each part of the sentence to a coherent paragraph, that is by way of 3. Be aware of how to connect ideas 12. I realized the way that I had done while developing ideas in the form of explanatory texts, that is by way of 13. I realize the way that I do to connect ideas in writing explanatory texts, that is by way of 4. Be aware of how to add detailed writing 14

Evaluation
The evaluation process occurs when students begin to think critically about the knowledge they have and the quality of the results obtained. By realizing and understanding this evaluation, students are assumed to be able to grow awareness to assess their own performance in writing. By understanding the evaluation process, students will also understand the efforts that must be made when their performance has not shown maximum results. The question for the evaluation process designed in the reflective journal guidelines is visualized in Table 2.

Regulation
The regulation process occurs when students rethink plans, goals, and strategies that can be used. Students will reach the regulatory process if they already have an awareness of cognition, tasks, and themselves and have been able to evaluate their performance. In this regulation process, certain habits will arise in students to always plan, set goals, and set certain strategies in writing. If the process of regulation has been reached by students, by itself he will be able to monitor his performance in writing, not only in writing explanatory texts but also in writing various other types of texts. The question for the regulation process designed in the reflective journal guidelines is visualized in Table 3.

Discussion
The use of reflective journals can help the achievement of purpose and learning outcome in Higher Education, namely: helping students to use appropriate learning strategies, helping students to monitor their learning process so they can identify the most appropriate strategy in certain situations, and help students to learn new strategies to replace old strategies that are less effective [9]. This is the reason that makes reflective journals used as a learning technique in higher education [12]. Another reason is that reflective journals can be used as a means to facilitate or assess learning [3] and as a means to promote and program students' learning [32]. Writing reflective journals in universities is considered useful in lifelong learning and must be practiced widely and sustainably [33]. Journals can be useful for identifying strengths and weaknesses, enhancing and evaluating actions correctly, examining students' experiences and assessing themselves [5], personal growth and development, intuition and self-expression, problem-solving, stress reduction and health benefits, reflection and critical thinking [4].
Reflective journals that are used excessively will make students feel bored and frustrated. So that student is not frustrated with the application of reflective journals, teachers must wisely encourage students to make reflective journals as often as possible and promote the effectiveness of reflective journals as a tool to reflect on the teaching practices of developing students as well. [34]. In other words, besides reflect personal, social, and ethical issues in journals, students need to focus on specific problems in class and systematically document their practical experiences [35]. Students will feel the importance of reflective journals in advancing their learning if teachers and students are consistently using reflective journals to reflect on learning. If used consistently, this reflective journal will greatly help students to develop their metacognitive awareness [9], the metacognitive strategy [36]. Metacognitive awareness of students will increase if writing a reflective journal becomes a weekly routine to achieve learning goals [10]. Journals that are collected as a routine every week can be given by teachers through online media, such as blogs [37]. Providing journals online is more effective than traditional methods [38]. Online journals via blogs and emails can facilitate the expression of their thoughts, learn and share knowledge with each other, and increase their understanding of the concepts they learn [38].
The students of metacognition growth will be seen and recorded in reflective journals. They will gradually form an awareness of cognition, tasks, and themselves. They also monitor the cognitive process through the process of evaluating the progress of learning outcomes. If this process is carried out consistently it will form habits in learning, which is to control and control the learning process itself. This is what is meant by the metacognition process, starting from awareness, evaluation, and regulation.
Metacognitive awareness shows the process of using reflective thinking to develop awareness about himself, his tasks, and his own knowledge strategies in a particular context. This metacognitive awareness has a great influence on self-control and the achievement of goals, this is what is called metacognitive beliefs [39]. Metacognitive beliefs will guide students to have self-efficacy on their own learning goals so that they can develop positive expectations on their performance and reward hard work as the key to their success [40]. Students who have metacognitive beliefs will be able to control their own learning and will become independent learners.
Assessment and monitoring of metacognition is a reflection of actions in the form of task assessment activities, assessment of understanding, and assessment of the development of the learning process. Reflection on actions also means awareness and willingness to reflect on the learning process [24]. Assessment and monitoring of metacognition can be divided into four types, namely: monitoring task difficulties and ease of learning assessment, monitoring understanding and assessment of learning, monitoring feeling of knowing¸ and monitoring the progress of learning outcomes [23]. Assessment of the progress of learning outcomes, for example in writing, can be done by students by assessing according to established criteria or comparing their own writing with the writings of others through the focus group discussion. During this process, the teacher can encourage students to reflect on how to carry out language assignments by finding alternatives for less effective strategies as a form of evaluation of the strategies used, the teacher not only provides comments on the accuracy of writing but also on the strategies used by students. The things that are done by the teacher can help students have the confidence to learn languages [41] [42]. When students reflect on their learning strategies, they become better prepared to make conscious decisions about what they can do to improve their learning [43].
Self-regulation and control is a reflection in action in the form of efforts to control and control the learning process to achieve meaningful learning outcomes. Self-regulation and control are divided into four types, namely: planning activities; setting goals for learning; use time; and performance, strategy selection and decision making efforts about the strategy used for a task or when to change the strategy when performing a task, allocation of control of resources and regulation of the use of time; effort; learning steps and efforts, and control and regulation of motivation; emotion; and the environment [23]. Self-regulation and control are also closely related to the provision of control in the form of certain metacognitive strategies to students. Self-regulation and control are carried out through collaborative processes by conditioning internal and external factors and are assessed continuously. Learners can engage in learning by asking for help from others reciprocally to improve the learning experience and realize the desired results [24].
All metacognition activities ranging from awareness, evaluation, and regulation will be recorded in the student's reflective journal. So that the use of reflective journals in the writing process can be carried out effectively, the teacher's role is very necessary. The teacher's role is to provide feedback on journals written by students so that they find their own weaknesses and strengths and challenge their writing techniques [6]. The teacher must also be able to convince students that journal writing is a useful tool for learning about teaching and for demonstrating its effectiveness as a way to structure future actions and assess their own learning [21]. Teachers who are accustomed to giving feedback on the results of students 'reflections will have an influence on improving students' motivation, process, and performance [44].
In order for students to be able to convey everything that was thought during the reflection process, the teacher must be able to distinguish between formal assessments and reflection evaluations, both of which are two different things [1]. To get grades, students will give and display their best work. They will tend to demonstrate what they know and disguise what they don't know. In contrast to reflection, students are required to express their doubts, express their lack of understanding, and focus on things they do not know. Assessment sometimes inhibits students to convey what they think because he will continue to think who will read the journal [45]. To address this, the teacher must be able to judge the journal without being judgmental. He must respect the writing, maintain the confidentiality of the writing, and try to understand, involve, and express honest and innovative responses [46]. Teachers need to respect students' writing because the reality of writing in perfect language is the greatest fear of beginner writers and proficient writers from time to time [47].
In an effort to analyze the reflection process, there are three main components that need to be the attention of teachers and students, namely goals driven by the ego, restructuring abilities, and transformation perspectives [48]. In this effort, as the party who will respond to the students 'journals, the teacher must build responsive relationships with students by emphasizing and motivating journal writing, helping students see more in writing what they have missed or ignored, and entering into students' conversations by investigating, expanding, and connecting [46]. Thus, reflective journals will be able to function as a means of communication between teachers and students and promote a narrative approach to research and teaching. Reflection journals in this context, not only document learning but also enhance and stimulate learning [49].

Conclusion
Writing reflective journals becomes a reflection technique in the learning process that provides a variety of benefits for students. Through reflective journals, students can enhance their learning experience. Students can reflect on everything done during the process. Reflective journals can play a role in growing student metacognition in writing. By integrating the metacognition process into the reflective journal guide, it indirectly helps students to grow and awakens their metacognition during the completion of the task. The metacognition process consisting of awareness, evaluation, and regulation will be seen during the writing process because all three aspects are presented in the form of self-questioning. The awareness process will occur when students are dealing with assignments. He began to think about knowledge and task completion efforts. The evaluation process will be seen when students begin to critically consider the knowledge they have and the quality of the results obtained. The regulation process is seen when students rethink planning, goals, and strategies that can be used. The regulation process is the highest process that forms the habits in learners to always plan, set goals, and implement certain strategies in completing tasks. Students who are able to go through these three processes in the process of completing the task can be said that they have been able to realize and utilize their metacognition well. They will grow into independent learners. The intended independent learners are students who are able to complete their own tasks with or without help from others, are able to realize the benefits of the strategies used, are able to assess their own understanding when receiving or using various information received in an effort to complete a task, and have the habit to plan, set goals, and implement certain strategies in completing tasks.

Acknowledgement
This article is part of the results of research being carried out entitled "The Construction of Students' Metacognition in Writing". This research was funded by PNBP Universitas Negeri Malang (UM) in 2020. Acknowledgments The authors convey to Prof. Dr. Anang Santoso, M.Pd. from Fakultas Sastra, Universitas Negeri Malang, who has been willing to validate the reflective journal guidelines and provide suggestions for improvement for the perfection of the reflective journal guidelines so that it can be used to monitor the students' of metacognition growth in doing writing assignments. Students of the Program Studi Pendidikan Bahasa dan Sastra Indonesia, STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, Indonesia as subjects of small group trials and field trials. The Head of STKIP PGRI Sumatera Barat, Indonesia who has given permission to carry out research. The editorial team of the International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning (iJET) has agreed to review and publish this article.  14. I realized the way that I did to add detail to my writing, that is by way of: a) I associate one information with another using a causal marker or using an analogy or parable. * (*Mention one example from the text section of your explanatory text and why you are using it!) b) I compare some information that fits the topic and classify ideas that fit the topic, then add it to the text. * (*Mention one example from the text section of your explanatory text and why you are using it!) c) I add factual information to clarify the topic I wrote using a place marker, time, or expert opinion. * (*Mention one example from the text section of your explanatory text and why you are using it!) d) I sort every item of information I get and present it coherently in my writing. * (*Mention one example from the text section of your explanatory text and why you are using it!) 15. I realized the way I did while revising the text, that is by way of: a) I identify every concept that I present in the text and examine the relationship of each part, whether it has been coherent or not. If mistakes are still found, then I correct it. * (*Mention the example of the text portion of your explanatory text that you corrected and why that part was repaired!) b) I checked the completeness and accuracy of the structure of the text and the ruleslanguage of the text. If I find an error, I correct it. * (*Mention the example of the text section of your explanatory text that you corrected and why that part was repaired!) c) I examine each paragraph, whether it has several explanatory ideas to support the main idea. If an error is found, I will correct it right away. * (*Mention the example of the text section of your explanatory text that you corrected and why that part was repaired!) d) I check the proper use of conjunctions, for example, markers of cause-effect relationships to link any information; use of technical languages in accordance with certain fields of science; or markers of comparative or conflicting relationships if I explain the similarities or differences of things.* (*Mention an example of the text portion of your explanatory text that you corrected and why that part you repaired!) 16. I considered critically about the task of writing explanatory texts, because: a) The topic I wrote is very interesting and useful to me. * (*Mention the benefits of the topic you choose for you!) b) I like writing and I don't want to make mistakes in writing. 26. I understand every aspect of the judgment that must be considered while writing explanatory texts. Therefore: a) I must be able to produce an explanatory text with the correct structure and rules of language. b) I'm constantly aware of every effort I make in writing. * (*Mention the efforts you made!) c) I must be able to present an introductory part that can attract the attention of the reader, a series of information using a causal relationship marker, and a concluding section that shows conclusions from the information that I present. d) I need to write correctly and monitor the progress of my writing using the assessment rubrics provided so that my writing matches the explanatory text criteria. * (*Explain how your writing has progressed after being assessed using that rubric!) 27. I always monitor my understanding while writing explanatory texts, that is by way of: