EFL Students' Experiences with Blog-Integrated Writing Instruction (original) (raw)

The advantages and challenges of using blog in EFL writing class

With the advent of Internet, and its applications to teaching and learning, many students use it to practice their writing skills in chatting and emailing. This research addressed the application of the latest innovation of Information Communication Technology, blog, to enhance the development of EFL writing skill. A weblog, or blog, is a personal site that permits publishing online. Although blog wasn’t initially provided for pedagogical purposes, it has a potential to be used as a tool in EFL/ ESL classes, especially in writing classes. With this regard in this research I tried to specify the advantages and challenges of using blog in EFL writing classes based on the teachers and students views. The teachers who participate in this research are EFL teachers who use blog in their classes for more than 2 years. I used edublog, teacher 0.2, classroom 0.2 and EFL 0.2 for this research in order to find EFL teachers. I also through questionnaires investigated students’ attitudes and perspectives about using blog. The students use blog for one semester in order to mention their views about their classes. The result of questionnaire showed that Iranian students do not find blog as a useful tool for the development of their writing skill. On the other hand teacher who use blog in their class consider it as a useful tool if it used appropriately. Finally I provide some suggestions for further researches.

EFL Students' Perspectives on the Use of Blog towards Their Writing Performance

Pedagogy : Journal of English Language Teaching

Obtaining English Foreign Language (EFL) students’ views dealing with their preferences of blog to assist their writing skills in practice is needed in order to make them more helpful in writing practice. This research aims at finding out significant correlation between students’ perspective on the use blog in writing activity and their writing performance. It is correlational study that correlates two variables: blog use and writing performance. The result of this research shows that there is no significant correlation between the students’ perception on blog use in writing activities with their writing performances. Although the students have high and positive perception toward blog use in writing actives done by the teacher in the class, it does not give high response to the students’ writing performance. It happens because some extraneous and possible factors may influence the result of this research. Finally, this research is expected to contribute towards enriching teaching ap...

Can Blogs Facilitate Students‘ Writing? Revisiting the Use of Blogs in EFL Writing Instruction

Proceedings of the First International Conference on Advances in Education, Humanities, and Language, ICEL 2019, Malang, Indonesia, 23-24 March 2019, 2019

The integration of blog into foreign language learning and writing instruction in particular has received tremendous attention among researchers and teaching practitioners. This type of web 2.0 technology is considered suitable for pedagogical writing practices due to its multimodality features that promote multi-way interactions and collaborations. However, some issues emerge regarding its integration, one of which includes its effectivenes in improving students' writing. This paper thus aims to critically review the use of blogs as a pedagogical tool for writing in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context and some issues regarding its use. It reflects on relevant theories and previous empirical studies on the use of blogs in writing and its potentials in facilitating students' writing. Implications on how to integrate blogs into EFL writing instruction are postulated.

Blogging to Enhance Writing Skills: A Survey of Students’ Perception and Attitude

Asian Social Science, 2013

Several studies concur that the use of a blog can positively enhance learning in the second language classroom and that blogs can improve writing skills. Research has confirmed positive uses of the blog which include writing for an audience and peer review, the development of a student's analytical skills and the development of a sense of community through a collaborative learning environment via weblog. This paper presents the results of a research project which was undertaken to investigate a group of 33 students in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Data were collected via online questionnaire survey related to their perception and perspective on the implementation of blogging activities to teaching writing skills. Results suggested that the participants have positive perceptions and attitude in using blog to improve writing skills and they perceived that blogging was an effective tool to teach writing in English that helped them improve their writing and kept them motivated.

Students' Perception of the Use of Blogs on Creative Writing in EFL Context

Nurur Risky Aulia, 2020

This research was conducted with the aim to determine students' perceptions about the use of blogs in terms of the benefits and challenges faced by students of English education in creative writing courses in the previous semester. A blog is a place for writing that can be accessed online through a web browser. The blog works as online journals in which developers can update time by time experiences independently. In this study, researchers tried to determine the perceptions of students about what benefits they felt when using a blog to publish creative writing. In addition to the benefits, researchers will also try to find out the challenges faced by students when using a blog. The subjects in this study were sixteen English language education students. The study was conducted with a questionnaire filling system consisting of six questions about the benefits and challenges faced by students. From the findings, it was found that students stated that blogs are very easy to use writing media and that writing results can be useful for others. Besides that students mentioned that slow internet network was a challenge to access blogs online.

INCORPORATING BLOGGING INTO AN EFL WRITING COURSE: AN ACTION RESEARCH

The application of blogs in English teaching and learning, especially in writing, has gained considerable attention. It combines learning activities with advanced Internet technologies and virtual social interaction. Assigning students to write online (blogging) outside classroom hours would enable students to learn in authentic social contexts and allow them to get exposed to authentic learning materials. The purpose of this study was to improve students' writing skill through incorporating blogging activity into an EFL writing course. The blogging activity was carried out on a social network website that provides a blog section in addition to many features. The members of the website (which is part of an English learning activity) can post their writing and give comments on each other's blog posts. In this study, mixed methods were applied in action research that integrated qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were collected using observations and interviews, while the quantitative data were from test scores. The work was developed through two cycles. The findings showed that there was an improvement in students' writing skill and students' perceptions towards blogging were positive.

EFL learners' use of blogging for developing writing skills and enhancing attitudes towards English learning: An exploratory study

Journal of Language and Literature, 2011

Weblog -personal online, web-based publications -are being extensively used on the Internet of late, and research tapping in their significance and effectiveness is growing by leaps and bounds. This study examined the use of a blog in an intermediate level EFL college writing class and its effect upon students as well as its effect on developing positive attitudes towards writing compared with oral presentation traditions of writing instruction. The researcher employed a triangulated research approach, involving an experimental research method and a descriptive research design to examine these effects of blogging on writing proficiency and attitudes. Fourth-year students of the English Department (n = 25 for the experimental group, and 25 for the control group), College of Languages and Translation, King Khalid University in Abha, enrolled in the English 217 (Writing IV) class during the Second Semester 2010 and their instructor comprised subjects for this investigation. The findings indicated that the students perceived Weblog as a tool for the development of their English, in terms of their writing proficiency and attitudes towards writing. The students also viewed Weblog as giving an opportunity and freedom for self-expression in English, writing for both a local and global audience, creating active, interactive social exchanges in blogs, and maintaining an interactive relationship with a real time readership. Overall, students have had positive attitudes towards Weblog use. These findings suggest that Weblogs can provide learning motivation and opportunities for authorship and readership, as well as the development of writing skills in college writing syllabi.