Student Perceptions on Music Journals for Extensive Writing in an Academic Writing Class

: Extensive Journal Writing (EJW) in Academic Writing Classes (AWCs) has been shown to have a positive impact on students’ writing ability (Ho, et al, 2022). This case study reports undergraduate student perceptions on the usefulness of writing about musical genres (a ‘music journal’). Several major themes that surfaced from responses were: 1) an improved ability to express feelings;2) an increased sense of awareness and connection to others; the idea that journals were 3) fun and motivating; and lastly, 4) increased English language production and writing skill. These themes indicate that music journals (MJs) may help reduce the stress of academic writing whilst meeting practical AWC production aims, and be seen as engaging alternative to more traditional EWJ formats.