Adventures in the blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers

Abstract

This paper reports on a year-long project in which students participated as both readers and writers of blogs. Specifically, this study examines the steps students progress through while reading and writing blogs, students' reactions to blogging, and how self-expression is characterised in the blogosphere. Data from student blogs, reports, and focus group interviews suggest that this project fostered both ownership and creativity; allowed students to experiment with language; facilitated expression in a relaxed environment; and provided students with a window into the target culture that their textbooks did not provide. Finally, we also report on questionnaires that were designed to assess students' reactions to the project. Examples from student projects are discussed.

Exploring Instructors’ Rationale and Perspectives in Using Blogs as a Tool for Teaching English as a Second Language

“…Blogs promoted constructivist learning, provided reinforcement and increased accountability (Ducate & Lomicka, 2008). Moreover, teachers who gave their students the chance to engage in blog-based learning were readily able to track their individual students' learning progress and thus overall course performance (Wheeler & Lambert-Heggs, 2009).…”

“…Moreover, teachers who gave their students the chance to engage in blog-based learning were readily able to track their individual students' learning progress and thus overall course performance (Wheeler & Lambert-Heggs, 2009). Here, blogs worked as indicator or alternative assessment tool and some studies reported that blogs are more appropriate in predicting the learning performance than traditional coursework (Ducate & Lomicka, 2008). Therefore, it can be observed that from a pedagogical point of view, blogs enhance education by encouraging reflective practice in students: they help the students to take the leadership and engage responsibly in executing the learning activities.…”

“…Experience indicated that blogs have been useful in English learning and surpassed the traditional in-class discussions; they exposed students to authentic uses of the English language; worked as a tool for reflection for English language learners; and supplemented learners' skill development of reading, writing and comprehending (Montero-Fleta & Pérez-Sabater, 2010;Ismail & Mohd, 2012). Teacher bloggers emphasized that educational blogs influences the reading and writing skills in students -capabilities that are vital pillars in formulating literacy competency (Sparacio, 2006;Ducate & Lomicka, 2008). This means that blogs, if utilized thoughtfully, have potential impact on developing student's literacy level.…”

Using Blogs to Promote Student Interaction and Learning in EFL Classes

“…Many authors offer some useful ideas on how to use blogs in English language teaching, e.g. for practice in reading and writing (Zhang, 2009, Ducate and Lomicka, 2008, Ward, 2004, for study in literature (Morrison, 2008), to foster reflection and social interaction and cooperation (Ray & Hocutt, 2006), as a journal run by teachers and students, providing space for comments, reactions and reflections on what has been done in class to be published; an online space to exchange intercultural projects and represent an online community of teachers and students (Dieu, 2004), etc.…”

Reading Comprehension: Blog Exposure in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) Context of Iran

“…Many teachers are becoming progressively aware of the potential profits of blogs in education as tools for collaboration among students. However, the strategy of using blogs is still widely unexplored (Lamy & Hampel, 2007;Baniabdelrahman, Bataineh & Bataineh, 2007), and research into the use of blogs for increasing language skill is still limited (Ducate & Lomicka, 2008;Kuteeva, 2011).…”