Managing an EFL Classroom Blog

Brett Milliner

Game:

McDonalds

Game:

•Chocolate

•Smart-phone

•Blog

A blog is.............• A regularly updated website or a form of micro-publishing (Williams & Jacobs, 2004; Ward, 2004)

• Open platform whereby an author can write whatever they choose with options available for readers to directly comment or question whatever content has been presented (Eastment, 2005)

• Blogs serve the purpose of email, discussion forums, instant messaging, and electronic publishing (Ward, 2004)

A microblog.....

Blogs in Education (Bakar & Ismal, 2009; Campbell, 2003; Poblet, 2006)

1.The Tutor Blog, which acts as a resource and class information disseminator for teachers. For example, a tutor or teacher could provide graded reading practice with hyperlinks or extra reading support, provide class syllabus information and provide links and other information to support students in their individual study (Campbell, 2003).

2.The Learner Blog: whereby learners can freely create and manage their own blog page.

3.The Class Blog: which involves the whole class working shared online publication. The blog can be a platform for class discussion and sharing of information or insight. Poblet (2006) stated that class blogs have been used in a variety of ESL or EFL courses for a variety of language levels.

Why do I ask my students to blog?

Communication Outside of Class(Williams & Jacobs, 2004; Tayton, 2011; Spiri & Naganuma, 2007; Pinkman, 2005; Bakar & Ismail, 2009)

Communication Outside of Class

Increased Participation(Poblet, 2006; Ward, 2004; Mynard, 2008; Carney, 2007; Williams & Jacobs, 2004; Bakar & Ismail, 2009)

Increased Participation

Better Social Connections (Blackstone, 2007; Mynard, 2008; Bakar & Ismail, 2009)

Enhanced Social Connections

(Hammersley, 2003; Mynard, 2008; Bakar & Ismail, 2009; Lee, 2006; Ward, 2004)

Enhanced Writing Skills

Enhanced Writing skills

(Lee, 2006; Blackstone, 2007; Bakar & Ismail, 2009; Poblet, 2006)

Enhanced Computer & Online Communication skills

Enhanced Computer & Online Communication Skills

(Blackstone et al., 2007; Ward, 2004; Pinkman, 2005; Mynard, 2008; Campbell, 2005; Carney, 2007, Poblet, 2006)

Increased Motivation

Increased Motivation

Communication outside of class

Increased Participation

Enhanced Social Connections

Enhanced Writing Skills

Enhanced Computer & Online

communication Skills

Increased Motivation

Benefits of Blogging

Challenges

Lack of back and forth communication

(Murray, 2009; Wolff, 2011)

Class time wasted with technology training (Hourigan & Murray, 2010; Murray, 2009; Stockwell, 2008; Williams & Jacobs, 2004)

Technology Training

Takes a lot of time to read and oversee students’ posts!

Waste of teacher’s time

The Contexts (92 students)

2 Intermediate level classes in the

faculty of law (34)

2 Intermediate classes in the

faculty of letters (33)

1 intermediate class in the

Foreign Language Centre (25)

• Ease of posting: Smart-phone app, email or pc

• Flexibility in posting multimedia

• RSS or push-notifications for all posts and comments:

• Layout similar to Facebook

• Had a heart icon

posterous® SPACES® Blogging

1. How was the classroom blog perceived by students?

2. Did the blogging experience motivate students?

3. How are students using technology?

Research Questions

92% felt the class blog was useful for English study

92% believed the blog was an effective way to practice writing in English

88% believed that their blog contributions enabled them to improve their language skills by the end of the course

How was the classroom blog perceived by students?

93% believed that the blog enabled a closer relationship between class members

“The more we posted on the blog, the more our relationship developed”

“The posterous activity was a novelty for me. After reading my classmate’s posts, I learned new English expressions”

“I realised 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 my teacher, but also other students.”

How was the classroom blog perceived by students?

Did the blogging experience motivate students?

86% believed their classmate’s posts motivated them

79% believed they tried harder than pen and paper writing tasks because other class members could read their posts

76% believed the blogging tasks made them want to study English harder

Did the blogging experience motivate students?

“Any comments or “like” from my classmates encouraged me to increase my motivation for writing blog entries”

“Sometimes posterous didn’t work . But this project totally motivated me and I think I could level up English expressions”

“I came to think that this type of class is more interesting than those where students sit and only read and write”

How are students using technology?Mobile Device Ownership

7%3%

30%

60%

iOs AndroidTablet Old cellphone

iPhoneAndroid

How are students using technology?

“For me, this class was a fantastic time. We could communicate directly or on the web, and I felt happy 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 a screen are sometimes misleading. So, I cared on choosing of word when write posts. The carefulness may be the biggest thing I learned in this class”

“Through this class I could get the skill to use SNS and experience various types of homework tasks”

How are students using technology?

How did students usually contribute to the blog?

Students are prepared to use their mobile devices for composing blog entries. This differs from Fujimoto (2012) who found students prefer to use their PC’s for text composition such as writing an email

52%

Mobile Device PC

Reading the blogWriting a blog

52%

48%

Challenges:Lack of comments

“I like the blog, but I think it need more people to be more active (student comment)”

“I think the teacher and other students should give more comments and advice”

1. Enforce strict blogging deadlines

2. Set comment quotas (difficult to track)

Challenges:

• Difficult to keep track of students’ posts and comments

• Some students with older cell-phones were unable to create posterous accounts

• Difficulties with the Android application

Challenges: A “sinking ship”

Challenges: I was on a “sinking ship”“This class was very interesting for me. However, the App on the iPhone is not working, so I had some problems posting. Besides, blog updating was a bit slow”

Challenges: A “sinking ship”

My Five Criteria for Selecting a Blogging

Platform

#1

DOES IT HAVE IOS & ANDROID MOBILE APPS?

#２

CAN MEDIA BE POSTED EASILY FROM A MOBILE DEVICE?

#３DOES IT HAVE PUSH NOTIFICATIONS?

#4CAN YOU CONTROL ACCESS AND PRIVACY?

#5CAN YOU TRACK STUDENT ACCESS?

#6

IS  THERE  A                                              BUTTON

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 August 17, 2012 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 August 22, 2012 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 August 21, 2012 from http://tesl-ej.org/ej35/m1.html

Campbell, A. (2003). Weblogs for use with EFL classes.

Carney, N. (2007). Language Study Through Blog Exchanges. In the proceedings of the Wireless Ready Conference, Nagoya, Japan March 24, 2007. Retrieved on August 21, 2012 from http://wirelessready.nucba.ac.jp/Carney.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 ready to study on the move? JALT CALL Journal, 8(3): 165-195. Retrieved on February 24, 2013 from http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/8_3_Fujimoto.pdf Hammersly, B. (2003, May 15) If they won't write, get them to text. TEFL News, The Guardian. Retrieved December 18, 2003, from http://education.guardian.co.uk/tefl/story/0,5500,956003,00.html

Heil, B., & Piskorski, M. (2009). New Twitter Research: Men follow Men and Nobody Tweets. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved on August 24, 2102 from http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2009/06/new_twitter_research_men_follo.html

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 August 23, 2012 from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet26/hourigan.html

Lee, Rebecca (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.

Milliner, B. (2011). The Facebook LMS. Saitama City Educators, 1(5), 28-31. Retrieved August 15, 2012 from http://www.saitamacityeducators.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08Volume1-Issue5.pdf

Murray, Adam (2009). Student perceptions on the use of blogs in a writing course. In A. M. Stoke (Ed.), JALT2008 Conference Proceedings. Tokyo: JALT. Retrieved August 24, 2012 from 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: 79-90. Retrieved August 15, 2012 from http://www.philippine-esl-journal.com/August-2008-Vol1.pdf

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 August 17, 2012 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 Education’s Journal of Literacy Education, 1:75-80.

Stockwell, G. (2012). Working with constraints in mobile learning: A response to Balance. Language Learning and Technology, 16(3): 24-31. Retreived February 24, 2013 from http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2012/stockwell.pdf

Stockwell, G. (2010). Using mobile phones for vocabulary activities: Examining the effect of the platform. Language Learning and Technology, 14(2): 95-110. Retrieved February 24, 2013 from http://llt.msu.edu/vol14num2/stockwell.pdf Stockwell, G. (2008). Investigating learner preparedness for and usage patterns of mobile learning. ReCALL, 20(3):253-270.

Tanyton, K. (2011). Blogs for Learning English - Research Overview and Application. Retrieved on August 17, 2012 from file:///Users/bretto/Dropbox/Job%20Hunting/Blogging%20research/Blogs%20for%20Learning%20English%20–%20Research%20Overview%20and%20Application%20»%20Keith%20Taynton.webarchive

Ward, J.M. (2004). Blog Assisted Language Learning (BALL): Push button publishing for the pupils. TEFL Web Journal, 3(1), 1-16. Retrieved August 17, 2012 from http://www.esp-world.info/articles_26/push%20button%20publishing%20ward%202004.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 on August 23, 2012 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 on August 25, 2012 from http://www.jaltcall.org/journal/articles/7_2_Wolff.pdf

Managing an EFL Classroom Blog

Brett Milliner