Class Blogging in the EFL Classroom

Frontiers of Language and Teaching …...………………………. Volume 6 (2015)

1

Class Blogging in the EFL Classroom

Brett Milliner

Tamagawa University

Corresponding Author’s Email: [email protected]

Abstract

The Internet and computer assisted learning technologies have created new opportunities for

English as a foreign language (EFL) students to gain valuable experience interacting in

English. In order to prepare students from five, university-level EFL classes in Japan for

accessing English speaking contexts online, a teacher incorporated a class blogging

component into the class’ syllabus. Students were asked to write a 300 to 500-word blog post

every week during the 15-week semester. This paper presents an action research study into

this experience. Student perceptions of the blogging component; an analysis of how students

utilized technology; and, whether class blogging influenced learner motivation were

evaluated. Important findings were that in spite of major technical problems, students had a

very positive perception of the blogging component and participation in the blogging

component had a positive influence on students’ motivation. The author hopes that this paper

will illustrate the value in incorporating a class blog and provide some useful insights into

how a class blogs can be effectively implemented in an EFL class.

Keywords: EFL-blogging, Class-blogging, Mobile-blogging, MALL, CALL

Introduction

When students are exposed to authentic language being used in other communicative

contexts, there is the potential for students to be stimulated to learn in ways that cannot occur

in the regular classroom (Smith, 2009). However, if students are studying English as a

Foreign Language (EFL) in a homogenous setting like Japan, students have very few

opportunities to practice communicating in English and gaining exposure to authentic

language outside of the classroom (Campbell, 2005). Fortunately, the Internet and computer

assisted learning technologies present new opportunities to bridge this gap and tailor language

study to match a learner’s needs and interests. In addition, Internet communication enables

classroom discussions to extend outside classroom walls. One approach taken by EFL

teachers has been the establishment of a class blog; see Campbell (2003 & 2005), Mynard,

(2008), Bakar and Ismail (2009) and Murray (2009). However, until now most studies have

focused on students engaging with the blog while sitting at a personal computer. The marked

increase in Japanese students’ smartphone ownership (Cote, Milliner, Flowers & Ferreira,

2014; White & Mills, 2014) has meant that students are now able to engage with the class

blog on their personal mobile device anytime and anywhere. Furthermore, the computing

capabilities of smartphones, for example, video, voice recording and GPS capabilities mean

that students are able to create a much wider variety of blog content (Pegrum, 2014). This

shift in mobile device ownership, Internet access, and production capabilities represents a

potential change in the learning experience for EFL learners when they engage with a class

blog. Therefore, this study is attempting to report on student perceptions and engagement

when they have a choice to use either their personal smartphones or personal computer. An

action research approach was used to investigate the implementation of the class blog

component using the software, Posterous® Spaces (<www.posterous.com>) in five

university-level EFL classes taught by the author. In particular, this study sought to answer

the following research questions.


2

1. How was the class blogging component perceived by students?

2. Did participation in the blog influence students’ level of motivation?

3. How were students using technology to participate in the blog?

Literature Review

What is a blog?

A blog can be defined as a regularly updated website or a form of micro-publishing (Ward,

2004; Williams & Jacobs, 2004). A blog’s author can write whatever they choose with

options available for readers to comment or question the published content (Eastment, 2005).

Campbell (2003) and Bakar and Ismail (2009) noted that there are three types of blogs usually

found in the language classroom context. These include:

1. The tutor blog, that acts as a resource or class information disseminator for teachers or

tutors. For example, one could: provide graded reading practice with hyperlinks or extra

reading support; post syllabus information; and, list links to websites that assist personal

study.

2. The learner blog, whereby learners can freely create and manage their personal blog page.

3. The class blog, which involves the whole class working on a shared online publication.

It needs to be noted here that this study concerns the implementation of a class blog. Class

blogs have been used in a variety of EFL programs for some time (Poblet, 2006), and there

are a number of strong arguments for their incorporation into an EFL class’ syllabus. The

following section will investigate some of these benefits for learners and teachers alike.

Communicative Arguments

The establishment of a classroom blogging community creates an opportunity for class

members to connect in ways that could never be achieved inside the classroom. Moreover, a

class blog creates a context whereby students can learn from one another as well as the

teacher (Williams & Jacobs, 2004). Tayton (2011) along with Blackstone, Spiri and

Naganuma (2007) observed a large increase in opportunities for interaction and opportunities

for learning after a blogging component was incorporated into their tertiary-level Japanese

EFL language classrooms. Pinkman (2005) found that the class blog created a context for her

tertiary-level Japanese EFL students to recycle language learned in class as well as an

alternative way for students to interact with their teacher and peers. A blog can also support

collaboration between students (Bakar & Ismail, 2009). A study by Bakar and Ismail (2009)

into their EFL students’ blogging experience revealed that when students used their existing

knowledge to communicate during blog discussions, they could also learn from other

students’ perspectives presented in the class’ blog. The authors believed that this reflected a

constructivist learning perspective because students were reconstructing their knowledge

about learning, and learning from their new knowledge. Blackstone et al. (2007) incorporated

blogging as part of a writing skills course at a Japanese university. Their study argued that by

including a blogging component: it improved accessibility outside of class; it facilitated

student-centered interactions; and, it encouraged students to work more autonomously and

cooperatively.

People tend to have fewer inhibitions when interacting online in comparison to face-to-face

(Ward, 2004). Smith (2009) was able to observe this issue while studying high-school level

ESL students in the United States. He noted that many of the quietest students had the most

detailed or contentious blog entries. A classroom blog also can enable students to participate

in the classroom discourse in ways that maybe more comfortable for them, for example,

students can use voice recordings, pictures, video or interactive links to convey their opinions

(Poblet, 2006). Williams and Jacobs (2004), Ward (2004), Carney (2007) and Mynard (2008)


3

all posited that critical thinking skills are also fostered with blog writing tasks, because the

public platform encourages students to create and share their opinions more carefully.

Moreover, students have to carefully consider their audience when they create a blog post

because the whole class, the teacher and the wider Internet may be reading their posts. One

could argue that students may be hesitant to contribute to a public forum like a blog, whereby

their errors or mistakes would be presented publically. However, Bakar and Ismail’s (2009)

study of tertiary-level EFL students revealed that even though respondents expressed

increased feelings of caution when writing blog entries, students felt they were able to write

much more than pen and paper writing activities. It appears the application of blogging tasks

in other EFL contexts has promoted a higher quality of communicative output along with a

deeper engagement with the foreign language subject.

Enhancement of Social Environment inside the Classroom

Blackstone et al. (2007) cited a study by Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht, & Swartz (2004) to note

how blogs serve to strengthen ties between students and enhance a feeling of community.

Studies into EFL students’ reflective blogging tasks by Mynard (2008) and Bakar and Ismail

(2009) concluded that this task served to create a more collaborative environment in the

classroom. In addition, Bakar and Ismail’s study revealed that students felt more comfortable

participating in classroom discussions if they had previously discussed the issues on the class’

blog. This point is very poignant for language students because the lack of schematic

information or fear of losing face in front of one’s classmates can prevent students from

actively participating in class. Almost all students (91%) in Bakar and Ismail’s study also felt

that they were able to participate in the online discussions more effectively than in-class

discussions. Extra time and resources available were sighted as reasons for the easier

participation. Another issue that needs to be raised is that compared to a classroom discussion,

a class blog provides a platform for all class members to voice their opinions and ideas, and as

a result, it has been argued that a class blog is an indirect tool for democratizing a classroom

(Poblet, 2006). The finding from these studies suggest that the class blogging component has

been a catalyst for encouraging students to use their second language (English) more actively

in the classroom as well as fostering a better relationship between class members.

Writing practice

Hammersly (2003) noted that writing skills have become even more relevant in today’s world

because people need to be able to write for and distinguish between formal, serious or

informal contexts. Blogs can serve as a platform for writing practice, in particular creative

writing and reflective journaling (Bakar & Ismail, 2009). Moreover, when students compose

blog entries, they are able to present visual and audio components along with the basic written

text (Lee, 2006). The interactive nature of a blog also means that a blog’s audience will bring

opinions, advice and criticism, which according to Ward (2004), serves to improve students’

reflective skills. The aforementioned studies into EFL blogging by Mynard (2008) and Bakar

and Ismail (2009) both highlighted that the implementation of an EFL class blog has the

potential to create a wide array of opportunities for EFL learners to practice writing regularly,

and as a tool to practice writing in different ways.

Psychological / Motivational Impacts of Blogging

A number of other investigations into EFL or ESL class blogging have observed how blog

writing and blog ownership has a positive influence on language learning student’s motivation

(Ward, 2004; Pinkman, 2005; Campbell, 2005; Blackstone et al., 2007; Mynard, 2008). When

students write a blog entry they are writing for a real audience who is also able to comment or

offer feedback. This is a radical shift from a typical writing task where students are writing for


4

the teacher’s eyes only. Blackstone et al. (2007) concluded that their Japanese EFL students

displayed a heightened sense of responsibility because of their close attention to making their

blog posts right. It could be assumed that the public nature of the classroom blog is

demotivating for students with weaker writing or computer skills because their deficiencies

would be published in front of a large audience. However, Blackstone’s et al. (2007) study

into English class blogging in the Japanese context, failed to observe instances of

demotivation even though, culturally, Japanese students fear losing face in front of their

classmates. In addition, Bakar and Ismail’s (2009) study found that students felt they could

write more in comparison to regular pen and paper type writing activities. When writing a

blog, a student is writing for a much larger audience, who is allowed to comment and

question, and this construct appears to motivate students to produce a higher quality of work.

A second motivating influence is that a class blog can be a catalyst for increasing learner

autonomy in the language classroom. Students own their blog entries. They make decisions

about what goes into them and how they appear, which creates higher degrees of autonomy

for the student (Mynard, 2008; Poblet, 2006; Ward, 2004). Blog writing also allows students

to host a variety of communicative media such as audio, images and video, which creates

more freedom for individual expression (Carney, 2007). A study by Ward (2004), concluded

that students’ most poignant reasons for enjoying the blogging exercise was the freedom they

enjoyed in choosing the blog topic to discuss and the freedom to share their thoughts in a way

that was most comfortable for them.

Enhancement of computer skills

A number of studies have noted the value in using a class blog in the EFL classroom to boost

students’ technological skills and to train them for communicating in English online. After the

inclusion of a class blogging component in his high-school level English classes, Smith

(2009) observed a digital divide between his native English speaking and English as a second

language speaking high-school students. This finding led Smith (2009, p.79) to strongly

recommend that all English language teachers consider incorporating blogging or some online

component into their language classes because “understanding and use of digital technology is

not a luxury—it is essential for young adults moving into higher education or careers in our

global economy”. Lee (2006) stressed the importance for English language learners to think,

create, and visually demonstrate their work because the development of these skills serve

student’s acquisition of their second language skills, their academic literacy skills, and their

technological skills. Blackstone et al. (2007) noted that students’ future academic success can

be nurtured when a class’ blogging program aims to develop both students’ language and

computer skills. When Bakar and Ismail (2009) reflected on their class’ English blog writing,

they believed the blogging experience gave students an opportunity to develop technological

skills because blogging tasks forced students to learn new skills in order to participate. What

is more, they believed the experience set the stage for students learn new technological skills

and receive technological advice from their classmates.

Another significant technical benefit for establishing a class blog in an EFL context is the fact

that a class blog can serve as a training ground for students to interact in English speaking

web 2.0 communities (Ward, 2004; Poblet, 2006). As a result, the experience may provide

EFL students with the skills and confidence to seek out their own learning opportunities. For

an EFL learner, an online foreign language setting can be much more forgiving than face to

face communication because students do not have to travel overseas and students can do it

from the safety of their own home (Campbell, 2003). These examples illustrate how a class

blog could be a useful tool for EFL educators to: leverage students’ technical skills; improve

online communication skills; and, encourage students to engage in other language learning

opportunities online.


5

Potential challenges for class blogging

After surveying the reports on other EFL class blogging experiences, there were two

challenges deserving special attention when planning for this project: how the teacher could

foster online interactions between students; and, how the teacher could effectively train

students to use the software if they have very little lecture time available.

Challenges in encouraging online interactions and discussions

Although a blog or forum type activity is very attractive for EFL teachers to provide students

with an opportunity to interact in their foreign language outside of class, many teachers have

struggled to foster meaningful back and forth interactions between students in the class blogs.

A study into EFL student blogging by Murray (2009) revealed students did not feel their

blogging experience created opportunities for meaningful communication to take place.

Wolff’s (2011) investigation into the use of the web publishing device Content 2.0 in his

tertiary-level Japanese EFL classes revealed that while students were able to generate content

each week, the teacher found that he was only one commenting on each student’s blog entries.

Wolff concluded that this situation prevented the establishment of a forum or web

community. Carney’s (2007) study of interactive blogging between Japanese and American

students found that comments rarely produced discussion type exchanges. Rather student

comments consisted of very short, one to five word exchanges. Even though there has been a

lack of student interaction on the class blogs, students appear to be motivated by comments

from classmates (Campbell, 2005; Blackstone et al. 2007). Comments can facilitate deeper

reflections about learning (Mynard, 2008), and most importantly, the comment function

allows for authentic two-way interaction to take place. In recognition of the potential blog

comments have on students’ learning and motivation, this teacher wanted to take special steps

to increase student interaction on the class’ blog.

Providing adequate training for the software/mobile applications

Even though university students today can be considered digital natives and most are very

familiar with social media, they are not necessarily very good digital learners (Murray, 2009;

Hourigan & Murray, 2010). Teachers cannot be too quick to assume higher degrees of

technological skills. Moreover, foreign language teachers need to exercise empathy when

asking their students to navigate a computer program which is not in written in their native

language. Stockwell’s (2008) investigated Japanese university students’ preferences for using

personal computers or mobile phones to participate in a vocabulary-training program. The

study revealed that only a third of respondents used the mobile phone applications despite two

thirds of students expressing interest in using their mobile phones to study English.

Furthermore, a little over half of respondents who experimented with using the mobile

platform quit using that platform during the semester. In response to this result, Stockwell

recommended teachers carefully train students in using the mobile technology even when

students appear to be sophisticated mobile phone users. After Murray’s (2009) students had

concluded that the class’ blogging component failed to enable meaningful communication,

Murray (2009) recommended that the teacher provide adequate class time and support for

students in terms of technological assistance. Williams and Jacob’s study (2004) of MBA

students’ experiences using a class blog revealed that student performance in the blog and

student’s perception of the blogging experience would have been considerably enhanced had

the teachers offered training on how to write a blog and explained about what the benefits of

participation were. Although it may seem somewhat counterproductive for a language teacher

to dedicate lesson time to technology training, this review of literature suggests that in order

to foster the success of the class blogging component, teachers need to be very thorough when

training students on how to use the software.


6

Methods

This study was undertaken between September 2012 and January 2013 for five English as a

foreign language (EFL) classes taught by the author at three private universities in Tokyo,

Japan. All students were streamed into these classes as either intermediate or upper

intermediate level based on TOEFL IBT test scores with the average test score for the 92-

student sample being 58 (range: 50-75). In addition to Japanese students, this sample

consisted of two Koreans, two Saudi Arabians and one Chinese exchange student.

As stated earlier, the teacher decided to implement a class blog. When choosing the

appropriate blogging program for the five courses, the following criteria were prioritized:

1. The blogging platform would be easy for EFL learners to use. This would reduce the need

for technical instruction, and it would foster student interest from the earliest stages.

2. All students could access and contribute to the blog using their mobile phones. Even with

high rates of smartphone ownership (91%), it was necessary for the teacher to consider a

system where students without a smartphone could still contribute using their regular

cellphones. This echoes concern raised by Stockwell (2012, p. 27) who stressed that

teachers aim to satisfy “the lowest common denominator” when working with technology

owned by students.

3. The teacher should be able to control access to the class’ blog. Japanese universities have

very strict regulations concerning students’ personal information and given this would be

the first time for many students to publicly interact in their second language, the teacher

wanted to create an online space with access restricted to the class group only.

4. The blogging platform would allow students to upload video or audio content to the blog

easily from their mobile devices. This capability would serve the communicative focus of

the classes and diversify the types of blog content students could create.

5. The blogging platform would enable students to use a variety of technological skills in

order to create blog content.

In order to obtain feedback from students a number of approaches were used in this action

research approach, namely:

1. Pre-Course Survey. During the first class, the author administered an online survey using

Survey Monkey (<www.surveymonkey.com>) to identify what mobile devices students

owned as well as learn about students’ experiences using social media and blogging.

2. Lesson comment sheets. The author asked students to complete an individual comment

sheet after every class. Students were asked to comment on the lesson content, reflect on

their performance in that class, or ask a question concerning the class. After some lessons

during the semester, the author also asked students to comment specifically about their

experiences using the class blog.

3. Ongoing observations of class participation in the blog. As part of their required weekly

blog entries, students were asked to write a reflection on the class content and their

individual contributions. The teacher read all blog contributions and made comments or

asked questions whenever extra information was sought.

4. Final blog report. During the final class of the semester students were asked to write a

blog entry where they reflected on their experiences using the class blog. In addition,

students had to introduce the blog post that they felt most proud of and their favorite blog

entry posted by a classmate.

5. Final questionnaire. During the final class of the semester students were asked to complete

another online questionnaire. A total of 92 students from the five classes responded. In

order to avoid respondent fatigue and soften the cognitive load on the language students,

the survey instrument consisted of seventeen yes/no items and one open ended question,

which asked students to comment on how the blogging experience could be improved. A


7

total of 6 items focused on the use of technology, 8 focused on the blogging experience

and three questions investigated how the classroom blog influenced students’ motivation

for studying English.

Findings

How did students perceive the class blogging experience?

At the end of the semester, feedback from students concerning the blogging component was

extremely positive. To summarize some of the results, 89% of respondents felt that a class

blog was useful for English study and 92% believed that a class’ blog was a good way to

practice writing in English. These two points were cited by students when they wrote

comments in the survey and in their final class reflections. For example, a student wrote “the

Posterous activity was a novelty for me. After reading my classmate's posts, I learned new

English expressions”, and another, "Most homework was done through the blog. I think the

style of blog helped me to write, because a blog is somewhat casual.” Students (88%) also

appeared to believe that their participation in the blog enabled them to improve their English

language skills by the end of the course. Some students referenced this issue in their final

reflections. For example, “The Posterous activity was a novelty for me. After reading my

classmate's posts, I learned new English expressions”, another wrote, “I realized that it’s

good to hand in homework using the blog. It’s convenient, and more importantly, I can see

another student’s blog, so I learned lots of things not only from teacher, but also another

student”. The most outstanding result, however, was that 93% of respondents believed that

the class blog fostered a happier relationship between class members. A student reflected, “It

is certainly very interesting and fun that every classmate posts their ideas and comments to

others on one simple site. In the class we can just communicate with 1 or 2 classmates but on

blogs it definitely provides us the opportunity to interact with all the other classmates as we

look through others’ posts and add comments. Now I am eagerly looking forward to the future

blog we post for.” The author concluded from this feedback that students believed the

blogging experience had a powerful effect on their language learning, and it played a

significant role in enhancing relationships between class members.

Did participation in the blog influence student’s motivation?

Results from the final questionnaire suggested that blogging experience also had a very

powerful effect on the motivational levels of students. At the end of the semester, 86% of

respondents noted that reading their classmates’ posts motivated them. The majority of

respondents (79%) believed they tried harder in comparison to a pen and paper writing task

because the entire class could view their work. Finally, 76% of respondents believed the

blogging experience made them want to study harder in English class. Some students cited an

increase in motivation during their final blogging task, for example: “Sometimes Posterous

didn't work. But this project totally motivated me and I think I could level up English

expressions”; “Any comments or '' like'' from my classmates encouraged me to increase my

motivation for writing blogs”; “When I first heard that this class would be writing a blog, I

was really surprised. However, I came to think this type of class is more interesting than those

where students sit and only read and write.” These results suggested to the author that

students felt the blogging component had a motivating effect on them as language learners.

How are students using technology in the language classroom?

A concern for all teachers trying to use smartphones or tablet devices in their classrooms is

the differences between iOS, Windows 8 and Android platforms. Evidenced by Table 1,

almost a third (30%) of the sample owned an Android and a little under two-thirds (60%) used

an iPhone. In the case of the Posterous blogging software, the iPhone application was


8

different from the Android’s phone’s Posterous application. Furthermore, during the course

complications with Posterous’ Android application forced the teacher to ask Android users to

use a privately operated Posterous application named, “Superious”. For the teacher, an iPhone

user, it was difficult to provide technological support to Android users when using this

application. As this study progressed, it became apparent that more attention must be given to

how users of different platforms are able to interact with the blogging software and the

importance for a teacher to be an experienced user of both devices if they are going to be able

to support students effectively.

Table 1: Summary of mobile device ownership

Device Number of Students Percentage

iPhone 55 60%

Android 28 30%

Tablet 3 3%

Regular cellphone 6 7%

Totals 92 100%

Although students reacted very positively to the blogging experience, they were very critical

of the Posterous software. Just prior to the commencement of these classes, Posterous was

acquired by the Twitter Company. Throughout the semester there were many moments when

students were unable to: post blog entries; use the Posterous mobile applications effectively;

and, post video content. Throughout the semester, sadly, all support questions sent to

Posterous’ staff remained unanswered and it became apparent that Posterous was being

allowed to degenerate as a viable blogging platform. The Posterous platform and company

officially closed on April 30, 2013. Many students were very critical of the software in their

final reflections with some examples including: “The class was very interesting for me.

However, the App on the iPhone is not working. I had some problems with posting. Besides,

blog updating was a bit slow.”; “Fantastic class! I've been motivated by my classmates! But,

Posterous itself irritated me many times.”; and, “Sometimes, I had some trouble to post the

blog from my cellphone or computer. It made me annoyed :( Except this problem, the class

blog is very good idea to improve our English skills!!!)”. Although the closure of Posterous

was unforeseeable at the start of this pilot study, this experience notes that teachers need to

carefully research and test the blogging platform on both the iPhone and Android devices

before they make implementation decisions. Nevertheless, it is important to stress that even

though students were often frustrated using the software, overall, students displayed a very

positive perception to the class blogging component.

The blogging experience appeared to help some students understand how to interact on social

networks. A student noted that this experience taught them to be more careful with the

information they posted online. “For me, this English class was a fantastic time. We could

communicate directly or on the web, I felt happy when connecting with friends. Before this

class I tended to look on social networks’ dangerous points; leak the personal information.

But through this class I knew some fun on social networks. Of course we always must be care

about our own words. Letters on screen are sometimes misleading. So I cared on choosing of

word when I write posts. The carefulness may be the biggest thing that I learned in this

class.” Another student welcomed being able to get experience interacting in an English

social networking site (SNS).“Through this class I could get the skill to use SNS and

experience various types of homework tasks”. These responses suggest that this class

blogging experience may have provided some students with the tools and confidence to seek

out and interact with other English speaking social networks.


9

Use of mobile devices

One of the biggest influences on deciding to use the Posterous platform was its capability to

generate content using mobile devices. Table 2 illustrates that there was almost an even split

between students who generally used their mobile device and those who used their personal

computer when interacting with the class’ blog. This finding conflicted with Fujimoto (2012)

who found that Australian university students preferred to use their personal computers to

write longer texts such as emails. One also has to wonder whether the amount of students who

used their phones to compose blog entries might have been higher, had there not been any

technological problems with the mobile application and blogging platform. It appeared in this

study that students are prepared to use their mobile devices for learning tasks. Moreover, a

teacher planning to stage a class blog in the future should consider selecting a platform that

enables users to participate on their personal computer or mobile device.

Table 2: How students used technology to read and write blog entries

Activity Personal Computer % Mobile Device %

Reading Blog Entries 52% (48) 48% (44)

Writing Blog Entries 52% (48) 48% (44)

Final Reflections Apart from the failures with the blogging software, the teacher experienced a number of other

challenges while implementing this blogging component. Firstly, each class ‘ blog struggled

to attract a lot of student participation in the form of blog comments. Some students also

made this observation at the end of the semester, such as: “I like the blog but I think it need

more people to be more active (student comment)”; “Maybe by encouraging students to be

more interactive to write posts and answer to others posts”; and another “I think the teacher

and other students should give more comments and advice”. According to Carney (2007),

EFL learners need meaningful, authentic tasks in order to provide authentic output, so perhaps

the teacher needs to consider choosing blog tasks that foster more authentic student output

and interest. A second issue could be related to the fact that most students were submitting

their blog entries “last-minute”, immediately before the deadline. This situation prevented any

opportunity for discussions to occur because the deadlines initially coincided with the next

class, and as a result, content was quickly passed over for the next class’ content. To address

this issue stricter deadlines need to be enforced for blog postings to allow time for students to

read each other’s posts and make comments. Another solution could be the setting of

comment limits and tying comment quotas to class grades.

From a teaching and managerial perspective, there were a number of concerns raised during

the course of the study. The teacher struggled to establish an effective system for evaluating

student’s contributions to the blog. Compared to using a blog specifically designed for

educational purposes, it was difficult for the teacher to keep a track of student’s blog postings.

This problem was further compounded by difficulties tracking blog comments and

conversations staged in the “comments” tab. Although the author received RSS updates every

time a student posted to the blog, the teacher felt a need to find ways to file or categorize blog

posts more effectively. For example, using specific tags for blog posts or enforcing stricter

formatting guidelines.

Conclusion

This study revealed that the implementation of a class blog writing component for five

Japanese university EFL classes was well received by students. The class blog was a catalyst

for strengthening bonds between class members and developing students’ confidence to

interact in online environments. What is more, students appeared to learn from and were


10

motivated by the work of their peers and the role of writing for a much wider readership.

Although the software problems were regrettable, the teacher will attempt to find a blogging

platform that is more appropriate for their teaching needs. Further research needs to consider:

1) how to more effectively measure changes in student motivation and 2) whether students are

actually going out and engaging in other online English speaking contexts after the class

blogging experience.

References

Bakar, N.A., & Ismail, K. (2009). Using blogs to encourage ESL students to write

constructively in English. AJTLHE: ASEAN Journal of Teaching and Learning in

Higher Education, 1(1), 45-57. Retrieved from

http://journalarticle.ukm.my/1481/1/kemboja.pdf

Blackstone, B., Spiri, J., & Naganuma, N. (2007). Blogs in English language teaching and

learning: Pedagogical uses and student responses. Reflections on English Language

Learning 6(2), 1-20. Retrieved from

http://www.nus.edu.sg/celc/publications/RETL62/01to20blackstone.pdf

Campbell, A. (2005). Weblog Applications for EFL/ESL Classroom Blogging: A

Comparative Review. TESL-EJ, 9(3). Retrieved from http://tesl-ej.org/ej35/m1.html

Campbell, A. (2003). Weblogs for use with EFL classes. The Internet TESL Journal, ix(2).

Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html

Carney, N. (2007). Language study through blog exchanges. In the proceedings of the

Wireless Ready Conference, Nagoya, Japan March 24, 2007. Retrieved from

http://wirelessready.nucba.ac.jp/Carney.pdf

Cote, T., Milliner, B., Flowers, S., & Ferreira, D. (2014). What’s going on at the MALL?

PeerSpectives, 12, 37-40. Retrieved from

http://peerspectives.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/travis-cote-brett-milliner-simeon-

flowers-dan-ferreira.pdf

Eastment, D. (2005). Blogging. ELT Journal, 59(4), 358-361.

Fujimoto, C. (2012). Perceptions of mobile language learning in Australia: How ready are

learners to study on the move? JALT CALL Journal, 8(3), 165-195. Retrieved from

http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/8_3_Fujimoto.pdf

Hourigan, T., & Murray, L. (2010). Using blogs to help language students to develop

reflective learning strategies: Towards a pedagogical framework. Australasian Journal

of Educational Technology, 26(2), 209-225. Retrieved from

http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/hourigan.html

Lee, R. (2006). The effective learning outcomes of ESL elementary and secondary school

students utilizing educational technology infused with constructivist pedagogy.

International Journal of Instructional Media, 33(1), 87-93.

Murray, A. (2009). Student perceptions on the use of blogs in a writing course. In A. M.

Stoke (Ed.), JALT2008 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT. Retrieved http://jalt-

publications.org/recentpdf/proceedings/2008/E118.pdf

Mynard, J. (2008). A blog as a tool for reflection for English language learners. Philippine

ESL Journal, 1, 77-90. Retrieved from http://www.philippine-esl-journal.com/August-

2008-Vol1.pdf

Pegrum, M. (2014). Mobile learning, Hampshire: Palgrave MacMillan.

Poblet, I.C. (2006). Blogging in the ESL/EFL classroom. In H. Nguyen (Ed.) Computer and

video technology in language teaching: A practical guide. TESL Programs, Hawaii

Pacific University. Retrieved from http://de.hpu.edu/hnguyen/Poblet.pdf

Smith, G. (2009). Voices from the field: Obtaining, Processing, and Constructing English:

Blogging in the ESL classroom. The National Association for Media Literacy


11

Education’s Journal of Literacy Education, 1, 75-80. Retrieved from

http://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1007&context=jmle

Stockwell, G. (2012). Working with constraints in mobile learning: A response to Balance.

Language Learning and Technology, 16(3), 24-31. Retrieved from

http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2012/stockwell.pdf

Stockwell, G. (2008). Investigating learner preparedness for and usage patterns of mobile

learning. ReCALL, 20(3), 253-270. Retrieved from

http://www.f.waseda.jp/gstock/Stockwell_ReCALL_2008.pdf

Ward, J.M. (2004). Blog assisted language learning (BALL): Push button publishing for the

pupils. TEFL Web Journal, 3(1), 1-16. Retrieved from http://www.esp-

world.info/articles_26/push%20button%20publishing%20ward%202004.pdf

White, J., & Mills, D. (2014). Examining attitudes towards and usage of smartphone

technology among Japanese university students studying EFL. CALL-EJ, 15(2), 1-15.

Retrieved from http://callej.org/journal/15-2/White_Mills_2014.pdf

Williams, J., & Jacobs, J. (2004). Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher

education sector. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 232-247.

Retrieved from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/13066/1/13066.pdf

Wolff, G. (2011). Japanese university students use Content 2.0 online forum to share their

views of the world. JALT CALL Journal, 7(2), 195-205. Retrieved from

http://www.jaltcall.org/journal/articles/7_2_Wolff.pdf

Class Blogging in the EFL Classroom

Documents

Transcript of Class Blogging in the EFL Classroom