Laura Sexton's List: Blogging in L2

• • 1
    The theoretical framework for this study embraced social constructivism of Piaget 
    (1955) and Vygotsky (1978), who were proponents of an active learning approach where 
    students learn best by doing and collaborating in their social groups. Awodele, Idowu, 
    Anjorin, Adedire, and Akpore (2009) stated that social software tools support a social 
    constructivist approach to e-learning by providing students with personal tools and 
    engaging them in social networks. 
• • 2
    The extent and consistency with 
    which world language learners used the blog for writing practice should have had a direct 
    and measurable influence on Spanish III students’ formal writing proficiency.
• • 3
    Previous research, as discussed in the literature review, 
    showed that blogs contribute to increased student motivation and engagement to learn.
• • 6
    1. Does private classroom blogging positively influence task completion in world 
    language formal writing on given prompts? 
    2. Does private classroom blogging positively influence comprehensibility in world 
    language formal writing on given prompts? 
    3. Does private classroom blogging positively influence level of discourse in world 
    language formal writing on given prompts? 
    4. Does private classroom blogging positively influence vocabulary in world language 
    formal writing on given prompts? 
    5. Does private classroom blogging positively influence language control in world 
    language formal writing on given prompts? 
• • Formal 
    writing practice happened during one 90-minute class weekly. The teacher focused on 
    task completion, comprehensibility, level of discourse, vocabulary, and language control as essential parts of a well-organized and cohesive formal prompt writing.

  • 8
    One class of 14 students was the control group, and one class of 20 students was the experimental group. 
• • 55
    Ho1 The model is not significant. The p-value of 0.434 (α = 0.05) indicates that there is no 
    statistically significant difference between the two groups based upon Task Completion 
    score. 
• • teachers used the same formal writing proficiency rubric for 
    level three developed by Fairfax County Public Schools while scoring all student
    writings. The researcher selected this particular rubric because it was designed and fieldtested by the Fairfax County Public Schools. This school system has been a national 
    leader in developing and perfecting a performance assessment program since 1995. The 
    chosen writing analytic rubric for level three is part of the program called Performance 
    Assessment for Language Students (PALS). The program PALS is aligned with 
    proficiency guidelines established by the American Council on the Teaching of World

  • All students in the control group 
    had an opportunity to see each other’s work, provide commentary, self-reflect, and revise 
    writings.
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  • • The blog was 
      password protected and visible only to the classroom students as well as the teacher of 
      record. The blog included a draft feature where students could use special characters and 
      Spanish diacritical marks. Once completed and proofread in a draft window, the blog post 
      could be copied and pasted into the final post window

    • 9
      provided weekly prompts for students to practice formal writing in a world language. 
      Students in the control group wrote using the traditional paper-pencil format. Students in 
      the experimental group posted their writings electronically on the private classroom blog
• • 57
    Ho2 However, the p-value of 0.307 (α = 0.05) indicates that there is no statistically 
    significant difference between the two groups based upon the Comprehensibility score
• • 10
    The dependent variable was student formal writing proficiency in a world 
    language with the specific focus on task completion, comprehensibility, level of
    discourse, vocabulary and language control. It was measured with the rubric developed 
    by the Fairfax County Public Schools.  
• • 59
    Ho3 Since the identified significance level was .340 
    (>.05), the null hypothesis was not rejected
• • 11
    It would also be appealing to use private classroom 
    blogs to teach all types of writing; however, only prompt writing was used in this study. 
    Finally, one must mention that the results obtained in this study will only pertain to the 
    short-term effects of the private classroom blog practice, and that the sample size is 
    relatively small. Additional studies over longer periods might add strength and generalizability to the results.  
• • 62
    Ho4 However, the p-value of 0.948 (α = 0.05) indicates that there is no statistically 
    significant difference between the two groups based upon the Vocabulary score.
• • According to 
    ACTFL Writing Proficiency Guidelines, advanced world language writers are able to 
    write routine social correspondence and join sentences in simple discourse of at least 
    several paragraphs in length on familiar topics. They can write simple social 
    correspondence, take notes, and write cohesive summaries and resumes as well as 
    narratives and descriptions of a factual nature. These writers have sufficient writing 
    vocabulary to express themselves simply with a degree of circumlocution. They may still 
    make errors in punctuation, spelling, or the formation of nonalphabetic symbols. 
    Advanced writers have good control of morphology and the most frequently used 
    syntactic structures (e.g., common word order patterns, coordination, subordination), but
    they make frequent errors in producing complex sentences. They also use a limited 
    number of cohesive devices, such as pronouns, accurately

  • 14
    Students studying world languages need more opportunities to 
    produce language actively and more chances to use it as a tool of communication inside 
    and outside of the classroom
• • 64
    Ho5 However, the p-value of 0.692 (α = 0.05) indicates that there is no statistically 
    significant difference between the two groups based upon the Language Control score.
• • 15
    Awodele et al. (2009) stated that social networks 
    support a social constructivist approach to e-learning by providing students with personal 
    tools and engaging them in social networks
• • 71
    The research from this study indicates that there is no statistically significant 
    difference between the control and experimental groups based upon the mean converted 
    score, task completion score, comprehensibility score, vocabulary score, and language 
    control score
• • The researcher 
    used EbscoHost, Academic OneFile, and Google Scholar Beta. The search descriptors 
    included blogs, foreign language writing, foreign language Web 2.0, language learning, 
    foreign language virtual writing, foreign language virtual learning, foreign language 
    writing assessment and evaluation, instructional technology, foreign language writing 
    curriculum, foreign language writing rubric, foreign language e-learning, computer-based 
    foreign language writing course, blog teaching/instruction, and instructional technology 
    in education. The researcher expanded her search to other writing technology tools such 
    as microblogging (i.e. Twitter) and electronic mail to enhance writing instruction as well 
    as other subjects or courses where blogging was used as a writing tool.

  • 16
    Blogs are 
    asynchronous computer-mediated communication (CMC). Users can work at their own 
    pace due to the blog time-delayed feature. Blog readers and writers can reflect and refine 
    their content. 
• • 16-17
    the researcher excluded the articles that confirmed the positive findings of 
    previous research in the relationship between instructional technology use and student17 
    motivation. The focus of this research study was to determine the impact of blogs upon 
    student writing proficiency in a world language and thus to determine the blogs’ impact 
    on student achievement.  
• • 76
    It is thus 
    possible that blogging is more suitable for extensive writing rather than formal writing on 77 
    given prompts.
• • Walther, Anderson, and Park (1994) pointed out that certain online 
    communication tools lose rich face-to-face communication. The researchers also contend 
    that CMC hinders the development of grammatical and lexical accuracy.

  • 19
    He stated 
    that the written performance is available for detained revision and accuracy development. 
    This makes it unique when compared to other communication media. Warschauer 
    continued that computer-mediated communication is an effective pedagogical tool as it 
    encourages collaborative learning in the language classroom. He added that online 
    communication increases the chances for interaction with other people because there are 
    no time or place constraints. Warschauer further suggested that CMC creates the 
    opportunity for a group to construct knowledge together, thus linking reflection and 
    interaction
• • Painter (2009), Blair and Godsall (2006) found that authentic, 
    technology-based assessments allow students of all abilities to show their progress 
    throughout the year no matter their beginning level of competency because these
    assessments give time for personal reflection and growth.

  • Renzulli and Reis (2007) reported their research findings stating that technology 
    provides true differentiation, matching unlimited resources to individual needs. The 
    authors also concluded that technology produces a higher level of engagement, which 
    results in greater learning
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  • • 20
      Gonzalez-Bueno and 
      Perez found that the only aspect in which subjects in the experimental group significantly 
      outperformed those in the control group was for language produced. The difference 
      between the two groups was not statistically significant in regards to grammatical and 
      vocabulary errors. From survey responses, the authors elicited students’ positive views of 
      electronic mail as a tool to improve their world language learning and attitude towards 
      Spanish. The researcher noticed that the amount of time allotted to in-class journal 
      writing was only ten minutes compared to an unlimited electronic mail time
• • Georgescu (2010) stated that problems that may prevent students from using blogs are 
    students’ access to computers and the Internet, their level of computer literacy, 

  • Pop (2009) outlined that integrated reading/writing/speaking/listening Web 2.0 
    activities provide adult students the opportunity to experience real-world communication 
    and authentic interactions, to expand language learning use and exposure, and to enhance 
    correctness and involvement while promoting student-centered autonomous learning.
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  • • The researchers reported that students used Twitter frequently and spent between one to 
      10 minutes to create short Twitter updates and between five to 30 minutes on reading 
      other students’ updates. About 70% of students stated that they found it easier to 
      communicate in a foreign language after using Twitter.

    • Borau, Ullrich, Feng, and Shen (2009) affirmed that Twitter as a form of 
      microblogging is suitable to develop communicative and cultural competence anytime, 
      anywhere, without face-to-face interaction.

    • The most frequent blogging behavior was reviewing the 
      blogs before uploading them to the web. Students also focused mostly on their spelling, 
      vocabulary, grammar, and organization respectively. Participants found blogging to be 
      valuable for their language development. Sun concluded that blogs help establish good 
      writing habits, build language awareness, develop learner autonomy, and promote 
      confidence and motivation.  

    • 21
      examination of the syntactic complexity of the entries, learners’ self-perception of progress, and rating of the blog entries.
• • Certainly, the control group’s writing skills looked stronger than the writing 
    skills in the experimental group. It is possible that the control group participants had 
    slightly higher scores in all areas because they had had an extensive practice of writing in 
    the paper-pencil format

  • 77
    Since the researcher and the teacher of record were rather enthusiastic about the 
    use of blogging as an instructional technology for writing in Spanish, they were puzzled 
    to find out that there was no statistically significant difference in writing among students 
    in both groups.
• • Shih-Hsien (2009) proposed the use of blogs as ways to monitor and assess 
    students’ work in addition to interaction between students as well as between students 
    and teachers. The researcher suggested that teachers should use blogging in order to pose 
    questions, share viewpoints, and discuss issues and concerns as well as to establish a 
    particular topic of mutual interest

  • From the pedagogical perspective, electronic 
    discussion facilitated participation of all students, motivated interpersonal 
    communication and collaboration, gave rise to more sophisticated arguments, and showed 
    that errors can be a positive source of new learning. From the literary perspective, 
    electronic discussion provided literary interpretation, literary meaning as a negotiated 
    construction, embedded text in the context, and personal appreciation impact on the 
    reader.
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  • • 22
      Based on the action research project findings, Carlino (2009) recommended the 
      use of electronic discussion because it generates less anxiety than face-to-face 
      communication, and it is an inexpensive device. The researcher added that written 
      messages allow more control over the vocabulary and structure than oral messages
• • Bouldin, Holmes, and Fortenberry (2006) viewed blogging as a 
    writing aid to increase an active involvement in learning and to foster critical thinking or 
    a “questioning attitude.” They utilized blogs for reflective journaling to determine if 
    students understood the course content as well as areas where they needed more 
    clarification and assistance. The authors pointed out the advantages of a blog reflective 
    journal over a hardcopy version: automatic time and date stamps, superior portability, and 
    the friendliness of spelling check.

  • 23
    Blogs combine several of the most recommended 
    pedagogies from learning theory: scaffolding, student-centered learning, multiple 
    perspectives, and the use of learning communities. Shih-Hsien’s research study reported 
    that blogs led to students’ critical reflection because they generated more inquiries and 
    took students’ ideas and thoughts further
• • Colombo and Colombo (2007) expressed that 
    blogs expand instructional time by providing teachers with a user-friendly online format 
    to reinforce strategies, to introduce new topics and to review. Audio files or podcasts 
    allow students to listen, and video files or vodcasts let them access the material in a 
    combination of video and audio formats

  • Frye, Trathen, and Koppenhaver (2010) . They 
    created a social studies unit focused on pirates for a fourth grade class. The authors used 
    blogs to publish, share, and manage information gathered through the unit research. Frye 
    et al. utilized blogs to further classroom dialogue and develop student ownership. The 
    researchers believed that the use of blogs helped student writing to mature and increased 
    the quality of produced work
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  • • 24
      However, the researchers noted that 19% of the class 24 
      students saw no value in blog reflective journaling and viewed it as “busy work.”
• • In addition, it is possible that there would have 
    been more social interaction among bloggers if there was a larger blog audience. The 
    research study used a private classroom blog, accessible only to that particular class

  • In other words, blogging did not increase the quantity and 
    frequency of their writing. Surprisingly, there was almost no social interaction. Only two 
    students posted blog comments on other classmates’ writings during the entire research 
    study period. Perhaps more interaction would be possible in informal writing settings 
    rather than a formal writing environment
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  • • The almost complete lack of interaction among the bloggers did not support the 
      social constructivism of Piaget (1955) and Vygotsky (1978). Students in the experimental 
      group did not make use of the computer-mediated communication advantages identified 
      earlier by Warschauer (1997)

    • 77-8
      Unlike the bloggers, the control group 
      students did not have to spend any time on choosing and inserting Spanish diacritical 78 
      marks, copying their writing from the draft window and pasting it into the final post 
      window. The control group did not have to be concerned about forgetting to save their 
      work and rewriting, if the work was lost. 
• • The author 
    recommended the use of blog partners to ensure that every student receives feedback.  
    She also suggested that student responses must include analysis and synthesis of multiple 
    sources of information along with personal reflections and experiences in order to ensure 
    the deeper understanding of the content and response to the text

  • Johnson (2010) recommended authors’ blogs as a way to enrich students’ 
    engagement with literature and develop the depth of knowledge about a particular author.
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  • • Davis and McGrail (2009) examined teacher-created podcasts as tools to improve 
      proofreading and revising of student writing.

    • They 
      combined revision and copy editing in proof-revising. They also approached blogs, 
      podcasts, and vodcasts as a multisensory approach that stimulates learning and provides 
      timely feedback.

    • 25
      Podcasting 
      and blogging rely on two senses: hearing and seeing. Audio and text are merged through 
      a reader, who is different from the student-creator. This allows the writer to see the 
      reader’s reaction to the writing. In other words, it helps the writer to understand what was 
      actually written, as opposed to what the writer intended to express.
• • Lee continued that reading blogs written by native speakers gives students a chance 
    to improve cultural understanding from a different perspective.

  • The instructor should post and 
    check blog entries regularly and constantly help students correct their mistakes as well as 
    seek ways to motivate them. 
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  • • The authors also pointed out 
      audioblogs as a way to build student e-portfolios.

    • 26
      [PROMOTING INTEREST BEYOND CLASSROOM] Furukawa, Matsuzawa, Matsuo, Uchiyama, and Takeda (2006) determined that 
      users who repeatedly read a blog with a certain topic also tend to repeatedly read other 
      blogs that are targets of action by the owner of that blog. In addition, the researcher stated 
      that users circulate around the bookmarks in a blog network. 
• • LarsenFreeman (2000) indicated that, by grappling with problems in their lives, learners are able 
    to explore the social, historical, and cultural forces that influence them and at the same 
    time improve foreign language literacy

  • The 
    findings of the research study could have been different if the peer commentary and 
    editing were obligatory and enforced throughout the research study period. Perhaps, it is 
    necessary for the teacher to scaffold with precision the interaction of the Participatory 
    Approach where students work with issues that of interest or concern to them
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  • • 79
      Nevertheless, students in the experimental group did not
      value or use that feature since only two students chose to comment on other posts. No 
      students posted non-required blog entries
• • The researchers suggested blogging because it allows students to be 
    metacognitively aware of their learning process. 

  • Castleberry and Evers (2010) recommended the usage of the Universal Design for 
    Learning (UDL) approach to ensure that all students can learn a foreign language 
    successfully. They stated that the three principles of UDL are to support learning by 
    providing multiple, flexible methods of presentation, expression and apprenticeship, and 
    options for engagement.
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  • • 27
      Lee pointed out that learning 
      about the target country and culture from native speakers is more meaningful to learners 
      than the traditional information in the textbook. The author recommended a task-based 
      approach as the solid foundation along with best teaching practices to guide the 
      successful implementation of blogging and podcasting in a foreign language classroom. 
• • 80
    It is likely that the 
    bloggers would achieve higher levels in task completion, comprehensibility, level of 
    discourse, vocabulary, and language control if the social interaction is present
• • They continued that 
    blogging offers certain advantages: immediacy, provisionality, and persistence. By 
    immediacy, the researchers meant more personalized and warm responses due to blogs’ 
    reciprocal self-disclosure. Blog users complete most editing prior to final posts as part of 
    the provisionality feature

  • Users can carefully draft and post their ideas and comments
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  • • 27
      Wheeler and Lambert-Heggs (2009) viewed blogging as a tool to produce 
      reflective learning. The authors stated that reflexivity as an essential part of blogging is 
      vital for mentoring.
      
• • 28
    Lee and Krashen also stated that writing itself could 
    make strong contributions to cognitive development when the writers are dealing with 
    problems that are challenging and of real interest to them
• • 29
    This implies that blogging in education reflects one’s interest to 
    try rather than institutionalized practice
• • When blog posts are being read, students can perfect their listening skills as 86 
    well. Daily end-of the-class reflections can serve as another prompt writing activity via 
    blogging.  

  • 85
    Blogging can be 
    used as a classroom-based formative and/or summative assessment to target new literacy 
    development. Certainly, the ability to post blogs on the Web in a world language adds to 
    global competency
• • Liang (2010) warned that synchronous online peer response groups might be 
    ineffective if instructors do not focus students’ attention on revision-related discourse

  • The design of 
    tasks that systematically develop learners’ electronic literacy skills and their online 
    intercultural communicative competence is vital. 
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  • • Hauck and Youngs (2008) found that the asynchronous context of blogs allowed 
      students to develop closer relationships with their learning partners as opposed to 
      synchronous audio-conferencing

    • The researcher did not find a positive relationship 
      between the amount of posting done and the value students gave to blogging. The author 
      confirmed that exploratory practice as data collection gave students an opportunity to 
      explore blogging and use the foreign language in meaningful learning activities

    • 30
      De Almeida Sores warned about technical
      problems. Even though students may be computer literate, it is not guaranteed that they
      will be at ease when using blogs
• • Students preferred less mediated and more authentic activities 32 
    completed individually

  • . Furthermore, the researchers proposed that 
    blogging in conjunction with a temporary, global event (The World Cup) provided a 
    chance for linguistic empowerment
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  • • 31
      Kelly and Safford (2009) stated that complex sentences are a marker of mature 
      and thoughtful writing
      
• • Churchill (2009) He stated that students
    were engaged in blogging because it was a required part of the course and served as part 
    of final assessment. However, students indicated that they would discontinue the use of 
    blogging if the instructor did not require it. His research data indicated that blogging 
    facilitated and contributed to students’ learning

  • Shiang-Kwei and Hui-Yin (2008)... blogging provided fewer restraints in discussing such sensitive 
    topics as cultural diversity.
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  • • 32
      The researchers also suggested that the traditional types of 
      computer-assisted activities such as listening, grammar, and vocabulary practice are more 
      appreciated than Web Quests and blogs. The authors continued that the most popular 
      instructional activities are viewed as the most useful by students. Students must clearly 
      see a link between an innovative technology, language class content, and overall 
      language learning. 
• • Longer research studies are needed to understand the long-term effects of blogging on 
    formal writing proficiency in Spanish. Informal writing proficiency should be explored as 87 
    well since blogging originally started as an online personalized diary

  • It is essential to consider a more prescribed treatment and how a different 
    individual teacher can influence the delivery of blogging as an instructional technology 
    and its impact on formal writing proficiency in Spanish as a world language. In addition, 
    future research should examine students’ perceptions on blogging throughout the duration 
    of the research study. This should help to assess the confidence level of writing in a
    world language as well as to offer the insights into the world of an individual writer
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  • • 86
      The teacher’s role in blogging should be prescribed in more detail. Perhaps, if a 
      teacher posts blog entries, poses additional questions, and challenges students’ ideas or 
      opinions, the students’ writing quality may improve. If a teacher finds that blogs lack 
      interaction among group participants, then he or she may model and scaffold that 
      interaction.
• • 33
    Huay and Qiyun (2009) examined how blogging affected student critical thinking 
    and pointed out the degree to which the availability of information is vital to that process. 
    Therefore, they concluded that the choice of topic may not change students’ way of
    thinking, but the availability of information may
• • The authors confirmed that even though blog possibilities are limited by 
    the teacher’s instructional design, they could be expanded through the live nature of the 
    blog discourse. 

  • n. Luehmann and Frink (2009) examined how teachers defined 
    goals and created specific activity structures for their classroom blogs. They determined 
    that there was some evidence of student-centered engagement in blogging when activities 
    created by the teachers were aligned with stated course goals and seen as relevant by 
    students
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  • • 36
      From the results of their mixed research study, Huei-Tse, Kuo-En, and Yao-Ting 
      (2009) established that, in most cases, teachers’ interactions in the blogs were sharing and 
      comparison of information. Thus, the authors recommended focusing on a problemsolving approach while training teachers on blogging. They also suggested that leaders in 
      charge of teaching staff development should focus on blog characteristics and social 
      knowledge construction
• • More research is desirable in order to identify quality blogging use in the 
    classroom and its long-term effect on formal and informal writing skills. The quantity of 
    generated blog entries needs to be researched as well as the length of each entry and 
    frequency of posts. More qualitative research could reveal insights from high school 
    students on the effectiveness of blogging

  • 87
    Research on 
    blogging as an instructional technology to improve writing skills in a world language 
    class should be explored at all levels: beginning, intermediate, and advanced, to 
    determine a possible relationship between blogging in Spanish and completed years of
    study

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• • The Blogs also let me focus on the oral skills 
    (speaking and listening) during the lessons, and the 
    rest of the week I keep connected with my students 
    through the blog, where special emphasis is put on 
    writing and reading. 

  • 8
    The most positive aspect is 
    that they gave me the chance to create a “Spanish 
    environment” where my students could express 
    themselves in Spanish.
• • Over the last few years, some tools as weblogs or 
    forums have often been relegated, perhaps due to 
    the perceived informality or maybe because some 
    teachers (I include myself in this group) suffer from 
    “technophobia” (or what already has been called 
    “fear 2.0) or they just think that those tools will 
    mean an extra work load.

  • Students know that 
    their comments and entries will be read by their 
    classmates which makes them take responsibility 
    for their writing (which is extremely positive from 
    a linguistic point of view) as well as motivating 
    them to keep on publishing in the blog where they 
    express their own ideas and their own vision of the 
    world.
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  • • They work better together 
      in class and the blog increases social interaction. The 
      learning process here is less focused on the teacher 
      and more on the students who do not expect the 
      teacher to give them all the information. They create 
      and construct their own knowledge

    • Students interact with each other through their 
      comments asking for explanation of a word they do 
      not know, for more information about their lives or 
      expressing their agreement or disagreement.

    • According to Will Richardson “blogs are made of 
      reflections and conversations updated every day (if 
      not a couple of times a day). They engage readers 
      with ideas and questions and links. They ask readers to think and to respond. They demand interaction. Blogs are a collaborative space, as readers 
      become part of the writing and learning process”.

    • 9
      Due to their work schedule or because 
      of a work trip they cannot always attend classes. 
      Sometimes, despite the fact that they want to keep 
      on practicing and studying a language, they give it 
      up as they find it hard to follow the course. The blog 
      as an asynchronous tool
      
       has contributed to changing this situation. Now students can keep on working and collaborating in the course even if they are 
      abroad or they cannot attend class on that day
• • I divide it into sections:  Nosotros  (where they 
    introduce themselves),  Lecturas:  a Reading section 
    (with news and economy articles);  Debate  (where 
    they express a comment about some issue) and 
    Música e Imagen,  Music and image (short films, 
    songs, publicity adverts etc. are included in this 
    audiovisual section where they are also required to 
    leave a comment) and an anonymous survey (about 
    different aspects of their learning process or about 
    their opinion on the easiest or most difficult parts/
    tasks of the course).  I am the administrator of the 
    blog and I subscribe the students

  • 10
    The best way is to check the blogs every few days in order to prevent an overflow of unread, 
    uncommented new blog entries.

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• unlike a test, I have more timewhenworking on my clips and I can redo the clips again and again until they looked satisfactory.' Without the time constraints, they assumed greater control over their learning
• unlike a test, I have more timewhenworking on my clips and I can redo the clips again and again until they looked satisfactory.' Without the time constraints, they assumed greater control over their learning
• in the opinion of the students, the challenges compromising the effectiveness of the vlog project involved technical difficulties, affective interferences, weak linkage to real-time communication and time issues.
• Guenter (2008) refers to Web 2.0 as a social phenomenon that uses collaborative approaches to generate and distribute web content characterised by open communication, decentralisation of authority and freedom to share and reuse information.
• Since blogs encourage feedback from anyone connected to the Internet, they represent literacy practices, ie, reading and writing activities. Ideally speaking, this type of online reading and writing promotes expression of viewpoints, fosters discussions of issues and cultivates critical thinking (GodwinJones, 2006).
• users can update their works/artefacts in a continuous fashion (Matheson, 2004). Furthermore, they providemultimedia environmentswhere users can archive their artefacts and reflections that represent their growth and competencies.
• Churchill (2009), blogs, serving as one formof portfolio, can enable students to publish their own writing, discuss group assignments, peer review each other's work, collaborate on projects and manage their digital portfolios.
• blogs also allow the artefacts to take such forms as images, sound files, video clips
• From a socio-constructivist's view, learning takes place when learners socially interact with people and internalise the knowledge obtained from the interactions.
• Godwin-Jones (2003) asserted that 'language learners could use a personal blog linked to a course as an electronic portfolio, showing development over time'
• Efimova and Fiedler (2003) stated that blogs constitute small learning communities where members are allowed to discuss issues, share viewpoints, make comments and collaboratively set goals.
• Huang and Hung (2009) put it, dispensed with time and location constraints, blogs can further simplify and vivify the feedback-giving process for teachers and peers
• enhancing the bidirectional communication between the teacher and students and among peers.
• blogging as a simple and economical way of granting students access to publishing and distributing their work on the Internet and as a means of sharing classroom issues and their lives (Bloch, 2007
• The results suggested that L2 graduate students' final written products conformed better to the academic writing style according to content professors' rating and that L2 graduate students perceivedWeb 2.0 tools and content in the electronic disciplinary portfolios as useful for academic writing practices.
• the process of developing blogs was also found to raise students' awareness of the nature of academic writing and help cultivate pertinent writing strategies.
• ome concernswere raised such as blog development process being time consuming and blog grading procedures being subjective
• audioblogs served as an effective tool for instructors to evaluate students' oral performance and for learners to access individualised oral feedback.
• learners enjoyed the ease of using audioblogs and believed that audioblogs enhanced their language learning experience.
• some students posted fewer audio clips and failed to sustain their motivation throughout the semester
• The study revealed that learners exercised a variety of strategies and developed five stages: conceptualising, brainstorming, articulation, monitoring and evaluating.The findings also pinpointed that voice blogging enhanced student learning, self-presentation, information exchange and social networking. However, the study also indicated students' decreasing motivation in voice blogging because of the lack of necessary time.
• alleviated speaking anxiety, archived learning progress and reinforced peer bonding
• presence of rehearsal opportunities masking the true oral proficiency level.
• video technology has been shown to enhance language teaching and learning.
• video technology provided opportunities for inquiry-based instruction and supported a cooperative learning environment in which students' ownership was greatly enhanced.
• digital videos could also enhance independent learning skills
• there is little research about using video clips as entries in blogs to systematically document and demonstrate language development process.
• • What are students' perceptions of using vlogs in an ESP class?
   
  • What are the benefits of using vlogs in language learning?
   
  • What are the challenges students encountered when using vlogs?
• http://www.wretch.cc/video/, http://mymedia.yam.com/,http://www.pixnet.net/and http://vlog.xuite.net/
• they were popular blog sites used by students in Taiwan, they required no cost for uploading video clips and some students had created their own blogs on these blog sites in other classes or in their leisure time.
• During the semester, each studentwas required to upload four video clips as a compulsory activity of the course.
• one self-introduction, two responses to simulated interview questions and one business presentation
• The fourth clip was the students' final business presentation on self-selected topics. In addition to these four clips, the students were encouraged to upload more clips for extra bonus points throughout the semester.
• In the first week, the students prepared the video clips and uploaded them to the vlogs. On the second week, the students visited one another's clips and gave feedback, indicating strengths and weaknesses, and proposed suggestions. Finally, on the third week, the students reflected on their clips both in writing and in class discussion, focusing on how they could improve the quality of the content in the clips. All of the four clips went through the 3-week cycle.
• the study conducted two 30-minute semi-structured interviews with 12 randomly selected students to allowthe researcher to respond to the situation at hand and to the emerging perspectives from the participants (for interview questions, see Appendix A). Second, the open-ended questionnaire and reflective journal were collected. Having no time limitation, they allowed the participants enough time to formulate their answers and respond to the questions at their disposal. All of the participants completed the open-ended questionnaires and the 300- to 500-word reflective journals where they analysed their accomplishments, difficulties and areas for improvement, and reflected on their overall vlogging experience
• Generally speaking, 12 (71%) agreed that their experience of learning through vlogs in this course had been successful. Additionally, 12 students (71%) reported that vlogs was a good tool for students to learn, and 15 (88%) pointed out that vlogs provided a multidimensional perspective about learning. To be more specific, 14 (82%) believed that the vlog project helped them organise their learning in this ESP course, 15 (88%) expressed that vlogs helped them reflect on their learning in this course and 12 (71%) endorsed that vlogs increased the interaction between the students and the instructor.
• Fourteen (82%) of the participants agreed that vlogs showed their learning process, and 11 (65%) asserted that vlogs represented their learning results in this course
• (59%) believed that vlogs helped their future independent learning, and 12 (71%) indicated that vlogs would help their learning in future courses. Therefore, 11 (65%) decided that they would use vlogs in their future learning.
• he results also showed that vlogs serve as a pedagogical device to increase interaction between teacher and students,
• benefits of using vlogs: visual representation, relief from time constrains, self-evaluation, professional development, wider audiences, peer learning and technical capability
• vlogs enabled the participants to efficiently gain access to both their peers' verbal cues and non-verbal expressions, necessary for speaking development but absent in text- and voice-based blogs.
• unlike a test, I have more timewhenworking on my clips and I can redo the clips again and again until they looked satisfactory.' Without the time constraints, they assumed greater control over their learning
• 'I see what my strengths and weaknesses in speaking are from my vlog when comparing my previous clips with the current ones.'
• vlogs also helped the participants display their learning to their future employers
• 'I have posted my vlogs on my job-hunting websites. Many companies called me to have interviews.' In the same vein, another student reported that the 'vlog increased my competitiveness in job-hunting. It showedmy achievement tomy future bosses.'
• My vlogs were visited by people from different fields and their comments were helpful. I become more serious in developing my vlogs.'
• The participants asserted that some technical functions increased their motivation in using vlogs, such as adding hyperlinks to share learning resources, customising vlogs to claim ownership and re-uploading clips until they became satisfactory.
• closer analysis revealed some challenges of using vlogs from the students' viewpoints, including technical difficulties, affective interferences, weak linkage to real-time communication and time requirement.
• Some explained that the Internet was not always stable for uploading video files. Some even had a hard time converting video files to the formats the vlog system supported.
• Without the experience of demonstrating their own language performance online, some of the participants felt uncomfortable and embarrassed presenting their clips to the larger online audiences.
• Different from text-based blogs that display only written products, vlogs, requiring users to demonstrate presentation performance in the public online environment, generated more face-threatening issues for the learners.
• Although the vlog project increased the students' opportunities to speak the target language, it seemed unable to train the students' real-time, spontaneous face-to-face communication skills as indicated in Huang and Hung (2009).
• The weak linkage to real-time communication constituted a disadvantage.
• Although I did a good job onmy video clips in my vlog, I don't think my face-to-face communication skills are improved when I am expressing my ideas in the small group discussion.'
• 'It's hard to use vlogs to train my speaking ability because vlog is prepared while face-to-face communication is spontaneous.'
• Constructing vlogs, including recording monologues, uploading clips, giving peer feedback and reflecting on previous clips took a lot of time.
• One of the limitations of the present study lies in the small number of participants (n = 17) and unequal gender distribution (16 females and one male).
• t is also suggested that through vlogs, teachers encourage students to become reflective learners, monitoring their own learning process and celebrating their learning outcomes.

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• • Podcasting is however not only limited to providing a verbatim copy of what was lectured in 
    class. In several experiments such as what was  demonstrated by Mullen & Wedwick (2008) or by 
    Kelsen (2009), video casting was used to present authentic documents to enable EFL students to 
    gain a greater exposure to the target language. These videos can generally be easily found on 
    YouTube and several other similar websites.

  • role plays as well as oral presentations in a face to face setting. Such class activities tend 
    to be time consuming and are often little more than read out version of a text which has been written 
    in advance. Consequently, CMC should be adapted to include voice messages in the form of 
    podcasts.  
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  • • 118
      In the language classroom, a first learner posts a message which is then answered by a 
      second one who continues the thread. In dynamic groups, this CMC pattern can become selfsustaining and may sometimes lead to long exchanges where the original topic evolves into a 
      completely different one. However, in other instances the online dialogue may not even commence. A 
      message might be posted, but not be followed by a reply. This is often the case when online presence 
      is not felt (Tu, 2001)
• • The first task 
    required from the learners was to make an audio recording in French using their cell phones. They 
    were given 1 week to execute it. This recording consisted of a 1 min role play where the participants 
    manipulated lexical and grammatical notions seen in class. The first step was to transfer the audio file 
    to a computer so that the audio messages could be available to everyone on the learning 
    management system (LMS)

  • Over the period of one semester, students at best attend 112 hr of class. From this total period, very 
    little time is given for each learner to express  himself. According to Arnaud (2008), two thirds of 
    French language instructors speak between 50 to 70% of the time
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  • • n, it 
      makes sense to try to include mobile devices rather than personal computers in e-learning activities 
      (Gabarre & Gabarre, 2009). It has been demonstrated that even with a rather basic cell phone, a user 
      can produce a video suitable to be displayed in a cinema

    • 119
      learners created a radio show to stimulate collaborative 
      learning. For an interesting insight on video casting, one can refer to Meurant’s article (2007) on how 
      Korean learners were required to create video guides of their campus before posting them to a social 
      network website
• • earners were required to place a short 
    comment accompanying their production. This task was less technically challenging as  YouTube
    handles fairly well all video files produced on mobile devices. Nonetheless,  learners reported their 
    frustration as posting to the video sharing website is relatively time consuming.

  • learners had the choice of either filming themselves perform a role play or of expressing 
    themselves freely on any subject. 
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  • • 120
      Each group was asked to choose an audio message on the LMS and to reply to it using the same channel, that is, with  another audio message. Once again, the learners 
      were given 1 week to complete this task. The  second task proved easier than the first one as the 
      platform was less novel and most technical inhibitions had been diminished.
• • To better gauge the relevance of the online activities over the in-class ones, the students were also 
    asked to make a 20 min long oral presentation in front of the class in both the S. & T. and the culture 
    course. They were given the same time frame to prepare their face-to-face presentations as the 
    online ones

  • French for science and technology course: present a 
    system, a machine or an organism.
    introduction to French culture:d escribe how their lives might have been different if they had lived in France 
    instead of Malaysia.
    French for tourism and hospitality:make a video in French 
    advertising a place of interest in Malaysia.  
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  • • 121
      For the three assignments, the learners were asked to create a video lasting about 
      5 min. Similarly to task 3 and 4 described above, this video was to be posted to  YouTube and 
      subsequently embedded in the forum. The nature of the video differed as they needed to be adapted 
      to the curriculum of each class. The learners were given seven weeks to carry out these tasks. The 
      groups were randomly created except in the French for tourism course were they could select their 
      partners. 
• • When comparing the in-class production with the ones posted online, it is obvious that the virtual ones 
    displayed a higher linguistic competency. This is probably due to the fact that by creating a recorded 
    presentation, learners were given the chance to start again a part with which they were not entirely satisfied

  • several students argued that the tasks were “quite time consuming” and wished 
    that they “could account for a higher percentage of their final grade”. As expected from observations 
    during the activities, some respondents expressed their frustration with the technical aspect of the 
    tasks: “It takes many steps before the video is finished”. Audio file format conversions and difficulties 
    in posting to the YouTube website ranked highest among the complaints as recorded from a learner:
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  • • The interviews revealed that the learners truly enjoyed posting messages on the e-learning platform 
      for the first phase of the experiment. Several learners related this to what they normally do on social 
      network websites, with the added advantage of publishing their own creations rather than simply 
      linking to videos found on the internet. For some learners, the feeling of having created something, 
      especially in a foreign language, made them feel “proud” of themselves

    •  The data revealed that in the virtual asynchronous conversation phase, the 
      audio messages were seen as slightly easier and more pleasing than the video messages. Although 
      the audio messages needed to be converted to a different format, this was perceived as less 
      frustrating than waiting while posting the videos on YouTube.

    • 122
      every task  consistently scores a higher mark for enjoyment 
      compared to the ease
• • although exchanges were ripe in the virtual asynchronous conversations, 
    they were completely nonexistent in the virtual oral presentations. This is not surprising and strongly 
    concurs with prior observations made in another experiment with a different group. When an activity 
    or even part of it is not graded, the learners will not feel compelled to execute it

  • It thus appears that there exists a “writing group” which is truly active and is used to 
    regularly contribute documents,  whereas a “reading group”  exhibits a more passive behaviour by 
    mostly viewing contributions made by those in the first group. This observation concurs with current 
    literature which notes that all  learners do not share the same technological competence
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  • • On a pedagogical level, having the ability to view a student’s production on demand, to temporarily 
      stop the narration, or to repeat it at will was  a tremendous advantage. Indeed, this enabled the 
      instructor to make comments on a learner’s performance or to make corrections without having to 
      interrupt him.

    • 123
      in a  presentation on the theme of a computer operating 
      system, students were able to demonstrate the whole installation process by skipping through time, 
      something which obviously would not have been possible with a traditional presentation. Furthermore, 
      learners presenting on a medical theme were able to use props such as dummies that would not have 
      been practical to bring in the classroom.
• • 124
    As the findings of both the questionnaires and the interviews 
    revealed, the in-class presentations were preferred for their ease and their lack of technological 
    dependence, but also because they enabled an instant feedback from the lecturer and the learners’ 
    peers. It is this peer exchange and the lack of it, which in part explains the different perception (see 
    table 3 and 4) of the two phases of this research. It would therefore seem appropriate to always try to 
    include an element of peer exchange in future ventures.

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• • The constant interactivity with information communication technology (ICT) has resulted 
    in an exponential growth of asynchronous repertoire incorporated into daily activities

  • The 
    creative and intellectual implications arising from manipulating these digital products 
    demand the attention of the stake holders:
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  • • 148
      New literacies may be defined as a social cultural phenomenon of exploiting digital 
      technologies, e.g. wired computer, hand-held digital gadgets, smart mobiles, iPads, 
      transcontinental audio-visual technology, etc. as learning and socializing systems.
• • 149
    In the current digital age, the commonplace of technology assisted learning produces 
    multimodal stimulations in education for socializing as well as information gathering and 
    production
• • 150
    Firstly, in  what ways are weblog 
    exploitable and exploited by tertiary learners to learn Malay language? Secondly, what 
    are the academic benefits attainable by the Malay beginners in the course of blogging as a 
    literacy practice to acquire Malay?
• • Contrasting the findings of Chan and Han (2005) with that of Norwati and Zaini (2007), 
    we notice that merely creating questions in online environment may be inadequate to 
    sustain full collaboration online

  • The steady decrease in online postings on the learners’ part suggests that extrinsic 
    motivation alone is not quite sufficient to elicit responses online from the subjects. The 
    dwindling responses is obvious with more than half of the total enrolment did not submit 
    any responses to the third question posted online. Extrinsic motivation is not an 
    independent factor in isolation. The cultural traits of the subjects play a significant role in 
    determining the impact of a motivating element. In a globalist world, the culture of 
    current young adults is dense with interactivity networked with contemporary digital 
    devices. For many teenagers in the urban setting, culture is digital
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  • • 151
      The eleven undergraduate learners from the Faculty of Science of a 
      Malaysian campus in the study have unanimously informed that their literacy learning 
      experience in an online writing course is quite interactive contrary to the general concern 
      that e-learning might promote learning in isolation. The researchers observe that 
      questioning as a learning technique permeates throughout the learning domains offering a 
      good reason for ‘questioning’ to be considered the leading technique to facilitate learning
• • The initial observation is that digital social media seems to be a popular sanctuary for 
    alienated teenagers to retreat from their awkward real world environs. The alienated users 
    from the real word seem to be faring well in the virtual world

  • Popular culture is indeed an important ingredient to hold the attention 
    of young learners. The definition of popular culture in this discussion includes the mass 
    production of music or drama serials for extensive broadcast on television and internet 
    (Chua, 2010)
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  • • Struggling in the 
      American school system, teenage Almon, whose popular website hosted a Japanese pop 
      singer, demonstrates better expressivity in English from communicating with online 
      admirers (Lam, 2009

    • The studies reviewed, thus far, illustrate that e-learning  practices are an overlap of the 
      actual and virtual. Online interaction is the preoccupation of youngsters who make good, 
      and not so good choices with digital media. Selected studies concerning online language 
      practice of Asian Americans, for example, illustrate that both male and female teenagers 
      gain an improved self-esteem from interacting with others online

    • Various participatory roles involving digital, oral and print materials for 
      improving Malay proficiency and procedural comprehension are initiated in the process 
      of acquiring Malay as a foreign language.

    • scutting online and offline activities to acquire Malay as 
      a third language (Sew, 2009a). The top-down learning mediation began with the use of 
      the weblog supported with electronic mails sent to the facilitator, which is followed by 
      the bottom-up discussions on the fly as well as self-initiated dictionary checking on the 
      learner’s part

    • 152
      it is critical for the learning stimulation built into e-learning to 
      generate interest in sync with the learners’ online experience.  
• • 153
    To 
    strengthen the foundation, the framework of Community of Inquiry (CoI) offering a 
    theoretical underpinning for explaining the interplays of learning relations in blogging 
    Malay literacy could be incorporated to gain a richer theoretical perspective because the 
    learning framework of CoI  operates with social constructivist concepts including 
    cognitive, social and teaching presences. 
• • seeking 
    and identifying materials from the blogs generate learning acts, including memorizing, 
    mimicking, and matching the exemplary digital Malay expressions broadcasted online.

  • Furthermore, 
    the learner’s blog entries are ready-made resources for fellow learners
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  • • This form of language learning shifts the focus from 
      knowledge transmission to knowledge construction in line with the constructivist 
      tradition. The transition presupposes the teacher, who coordinates and facilitates the 
      learning processes, shifting the role from a knowledge provider to a broker of knowledge 
      (Davies & Merchant, 2009). 

    • 156
      The use of weblog as an online literacy project creates a common digital practice among 
      the Malay learners at tertiary level. Blogging as a means to foreign language acquisition 
      engenders dynamic bottom-up digital interactivity anytime anywhere in accordance with 
      the learner’s pace of language acquisition. This form of e-learning complements a topdown linear transfer of the single-agent delivery, e.g., teacher-centric lessons at a preset 
      location and time (Sew, 2010c)
• • Furthermore, a solely print-based material, e.g. 
    a book, is unimodal in nature, whereas melodies and visuals may generate learning 
    synaesthesia by stimulating audio, visual, and spatial intelligences when learners, for 
    example, source, select, create and combine various formats for making digital stories

  • Ironically, however, the asynchronous interaction could actually be more personal than 
    the classroom discussion. Swan (2010) observes that e-learning actually makes time for 
    all participating learners to make their contribution
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  • • From a different angle of learning interaction, the screen activity of sourcing, selecting, 
      identifying, reading and learning from the blog posts beyond the designated contact hours 
      characterizes a unique facilitating discourse of teaching presence. T

    • 157
      Interest in Korean pop culture and media generated by 
      the Korean Wave ranks as the top factor contributing to students’ decision to learn 
      Korean
• • One obvious barrier noticeable from the digital interactivity among bloggers, however, is 
    the concern that commenting on the other learner's  blog might generate conflict. 
    Safeguarding the blogger's  face is still a much treasured cultural intelligence among 
    Southeast Asians, especially if the peer bloggers are not closely associated. T

  • 159
    complement face-to-face interaction.  

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• • Our other goals were
    to getstudentsto practice typing and using the online
    dictionaries, translators and other tools that were introduced in first-semester computer lab sessions.
    Finally, we aimed to give ourstudentsthe experience
    of writing for an authentic audience, not just for assessment.

  • Social
    Networking allows students to share their interests
    with their classmates, as well as allowing teachers
    to tap into this resource
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  • • Myspace, Facebook, Bebo and other Social Networking Sites can provide an excellent way to develop
      student-teacher and student-student relationships
      outside the classroom

    • It has been reported that Social Networking
      Sites which allow users to link blogs, photo albums,
      video uploads and so on, into a network of peers are
      ideal for beginning language learners, promote literacy and academic rigour, and invite the participation
      of learners from a variety of different backgrounds,
      as well as fostering active learning and purposeful
      practice

    • 235
      n an era where students can easily download hit TV shows
      and pop songs in the target language, students are often better versed in the popular media of the target culture than their
      teachers. SNSs allow students to share their interests with their classmates, and teachers to tap into this resource.
• • The drafting process was
    introduced, where students were able to get periodic
    assessment and feedback on their work throughout
    the project, which ensured that the reading comprehensions were ‘fair’ (ie. did not contain mistakesthat
    would penalize others)

  • composing a quiz about themselves
    based on the information they had provided in their
    profiles, and then reading their classmates’ profiles
    and taking their quizzes.
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  • • then the
      quizzes, comments, photos, whiteboard, and poll
      modules were introduced. Students learned how to
      create a quiz based on their self-introduction, called
      “How well do you know me?”, which then served
      as a reading comprehension task for their classmates.

    • In the first computer lab session, students were
      asked to create and customize a profile on Bebo, then
      link these with the profiles of other students. How
      to write a blog entry and comment on classmates’
      blogs were also covered, and a discussion of privacy
      and plagarism issues was also included in the lesson
      plan. Finally, posting an initial blog was set as
      homework.

    • 236
      All five teaching staff members of the unit created
      and maintained Bebo profiles for the length of the
      project,
• • being able to
    glimpse into the outside-uni lives of students was
    extremely helpful in preparing teaching materials.
    Based on an observation that “One Piece” was the
    most popular manga online, I developed an activity
    in which students wrote their own manga using a
    template from “Shonen Jump” magazine, in which
    they needed to use the weather terminology we
    covered that week. Another week, in teaching the
    differences between kamoshirenai (may) and dar ō
    (probably), I used the lyrics of a song by Ayumi
    Hamasaki, the most blogged about singer, to
    demonstrate the different senses of these words

  • make contact with otherstudents
    in their course because they share similar tastes in
    music or TV shows, when they otherwise would
    never have met, because they were in different
    classes
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  • • 237
      Students showcased
      their best three blogs, best three comments, their
      profile, quiz, and best three scores on classmates’
      quizzesin a PowerPoint presentation which wasthen
      submitted for marking. One of the goals of this form
      of assessment was to give students a ‘time capsule’
      of examples of their early language learning
      achievements, that they could then look back on as
      they progressed through their education.

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• Beyond the coolness factor, what makes podcasts a classroom must? The opportunity for anytime, anywhere learning. Teachers can record lectures. Students can podcast a poetry jam, says Amy Wright, acting director of communication and technology at The School at Columbia University in New York. A Spanish teacher at Wright's school, Madeleine Polinsky, regularly podcasts new vocabulary with pictures. Plus, it's easy on your wallet: Subscribing to a podcast is free.
• Get started by reading up at www.apple.come/education/solutions. And check out Señorita Polinsky's podcasts by searching her name in Apple's iTunes store. With Apple's newly released iLife 06, podcasting has become even easier
• With a blog you can post homework, extend conversations, and keep parents in the loop, says Will Richardson, tech supervisor at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Flemington, New Jersey, and the man behind www.weblogg-ed.com, a site that advocates the use of blogs in the classroom.

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• Often without leaving their language classrooms, teachers are using technologies such as Skype, wikis, and asynchronous conversation tools to foster bilingual conversations and dissolve cultural barriers.
• "One student was talking to my friend Claudio," Davison recalls, "and as he was there on the screen before her, she was moving her finger on the globe to ask where he is in Chile. He was responding 'arriba, abajo, arriba' [higher, lower, higher] as she searched to find the right spot." Such moments of human contact make geography, culture, and language real for students.
• To work around time differences, Davison also uses asynchronous communication methods. When some of her students traveled to Mexico, she set up a blog they could post to, to tell their classmates back home about what they experienced and observed in that culture. "We put the blog up on a big screen, and the 2nd graders were all eagerly asking questions about everything their friends had done and seen," she says.
• We're not "Skyping." We're communicating with our friends  in Turkey…. We want technology to enhance language  learning, as in the 5 Cs; that's the whole point. When you  are talking about [giving students experiences with]  "communities" and "collaborations," 21st century tools  like blogging and wikis are absolutely perfect.
• If one teacher can bring the world into her language classroom using a few technological tools, what might a larger, statewide effort accomplish? Since 2007, 24 schools in Oklahoma (mostly secondary, but also a few middle and elementary schools) have partnered with schools in France to make connections using new technologies.
• Culinary students in career tech schools in both countries have also connected online to share their skills. Chefs give one another lessons through videoconferencing. One group is now crafting a joint cookbook accompanied by a DVD, on which chefs from each country demonstrate prize recipes.
• Oklahoma's career tech centers are now considering integrating French into their programs.
• The standards-based curriculum that Edison developed offers thematic units, each including a project that demonstrates students' linguistic and cultural proficiency and that involves working and sharing with students in India.
• Neelam Mishra, a teacher who is a native of India, notes, "I tell them about India, but when they talk to the students from other countries, they get it. The real connection is when they see with their own eyes, interact with their own peers. It's a great learning experience."
• Our students want to be a part of the world. They want to  use the new tools to share their stories, find out how the  rest of the world lives, and much more…. How exciting  it is to connect students to new tools, concepts, ideas,  projects, and people from other nations…. As language  teachers, this is just the vision we have had our whole  careers! (Q&A with Toni Theisen, 2009)

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• • 21
    While we had expected that reading the blogs would give students an authentic window
    into the target culture, students instead learned more about the Bloggers themselves, or at
    least about the sides of themselves they chose to share. The aspects of the target culture
    they learned about did not seem to contribute as much to their understanding of the
    German/French culture as we had hoped because they were so specific and briefly
    mentioned
• • The development of multiple literacies is needed in an environment in which there are no clear
    boundaries between text and other media. . . . There is a clear social dimension to electronic
    literacy; reading and writing on-line are often collaborative activities. As educators we not
    only need to facilitate literacy skills in this new environment, we also need to be creating
    language learning media or applications which mirror the kind of online world students
    experience – student-centred with collaborative opportunities, allowing plenty of space for
    creative and reflective processes

  • COMMUNITY: The potential of interactivity is exhibited through the use of hypertext, which
    facilitates connections to related content, and the use of comments, which provide a space
    for reactions from readers. Blog entries as well as comments are archived for later access.
    Godwin-Jones (2006, p. 13) describes blogs as ‘one, large, loosely interwoven net of
    information, as blog entries are linked, referenced, and debated’. They can also be rich
    sources of collaborative activity as readers have options to reference, link, react to, or add
    information, thus shaping the content of the blog while at the same time creating a type of
    virtual community
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  • • 10
      The blog projects allowed students to serve as readers of native speaker
      blogs (first semester) and then become blog writers (second semester), where they
      maintained and published their own blogs
• • Blogs (designating one-to-many
    interaction) and wikis (many-to-many interaction) along with other social tools are
    quickly making their way into educational settings, and even into the area of foreign
    language (FL) teaching. But how and to what extent do these applications promote social
    interaction, in addition to the development of reading and writing skills?

  • 9
    Social software integrates both tools and modes that result in a richer online social
    environment. Levin (2004) maintains that the Internet provides virtual spaces that
    ‘facilitate new social patterns: multi-scale social spaces, conversation discovery and group
    forming
• • Over the course of the semester, students
    engaged in a research-based project: their goals were to get to know the Blogger, to better
    understand the target culture, and to collect a variety of information about the target
    language, the target culture and the Blogger. At the end of the semester, students compiled
    their research and information in a PowerPoint presentation and produced a short written
    report. These end-of-semester projects encouraged students to present the Blogger to their
    peers and to discuss a specific topic (related to the target culture) mentioned on the blog
    that they chose to explore further

  • During the first semester, 20 third semester
    German and 9 fourth semester French students (n ¼ 29) read native speaker blogs weekly,
    guided by a blog worksheet
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  • • The weblog provides a genuine audience, is
      authentically communicative, process driven, peer reviewed, provides a dis-inhibiting context
      and offers a completely new form with un-chartered creative potential

    • 12
      Findings suggest that there were learner-perceived benefits of using blogs:
      an increased interest and motivation towards the target language due to both interaction
      and feedback from classmates and teachers.
• • 22
    Among the negative responses were that the native speaker (NS) blogs were sometimes
    boring and some of the topics students had to write about were not interesting.
• • Participants were asked to reflect on their
    attitudes about the blog project and how it assisted their language practice in and out of

  • First, a second-semester German class at an
    American university blogged every week for six weeks noting trends in practices and
    perspectives of the target culture; students summarised the blog in English and discussed it
    in class. Students ended the project by researching and writing about the product,
    perspective, or practice of a specific German cultural topic and presenting it to the class.
    Another use for blogs that Ducate and Lomicka describe is a travel journal. Students
    made initial entries about their expectations before leaving for their trip and then
    continued to post updates to the blog while abroad. The blog was active for about a twomonth period and students from both sides, as well as teachers, friends, and family actively
    contributed by posting either with entries or comments
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  • • The literature on blogs in FL teaching and learning is just beginning to surface (Ducate &
      Lomicka, 2005; Godwin-Jones, 2003, 2006; Jones & Nuhfer-Halten, 2006; Lee, 2006;
      LeLoup & Ponterio, 2006; Murray & Hourigan, 2006; Pinkman, 2005; Ward, 2004).
      Godwin-Jones (2003, 2006) provides technical information as well as how-to’s with regard
      to blogs, wikis and online tools for foreign language educators

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      In addition to the social aspect of blogs, they also serve as a space for micropublishing,
      where sharing, collaboration, responsibility, and ownership are key features
• • They would find it especially interesting to exchange blogs with NS rather than
    with classmates.

  • So that more students would take
    advantage of the creative aspects of the blogs, such as posting pictures or changing the
    background, students suggested including creativity in the grading rubric. To encourage
    students to read the comments, the Bloggers should be required to comment on their
    classmates’ comments and the requirements on using discourse strategies should be
    loosened
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  • • They would prefer more choices
      regarding the blog topics, including more personal topics. This request makes sense since
      the purpose of the majority of blogs is to express oneself (Herring, Scheidt, Bonus, &
      Wright, 2004). In addition, when the topic was personal, we found that students’ postings
      were normally much more unique and candid.

    • websites in the TL and felt that they
      learned about the target culture from the NS blogs. While some students said the discourse
      strategies became boring, others found the list helpful. They also felt that writing the
      blogs promoted a sense of responsibility for doing homework since other students were
      counting on them.

    • Students found it
      interesting to learn about their classmates and found writing the blogs to be an effective
      way to practise vocabulary and grammar. They especially liked that the blog server was in
      the TL so they could learn new vocabulary associated with technology (APPLICABLE AT LOWER LEVELS?)

    • 23
      [STUDENTS REPORTED THEY DID NOT READ ] the comments, and when they did, they did not find the quality especially good. Also in
      regard to comments, they did not enjoy being constrained by having to use the list of
      discourse strategies. Sometimes they did not fit the context of what they wanted to write
      and had to contrive a response where they would fit. They also found it difficult to comment
      if their classmates posted late or if there were technical problems with the website
• • They enjoyed the project and felt that it aided in their learning
    of the TL both in terms of reading, writing, vocabulary, and cultural knowledge. In regard
    to self-expression, topics that were more personal were more engaging to the students
    and encouraged them to express themselves in a manner not often encountered in the
    FL classroom. Having had this opportunity to guide their own learning in the blogosphere will hopefully make students more technically and linguistically competent and
    confident.

  • The blogs promoted ownership and creativity, allowed students to
    experiment with the FL and express themselves in a relaxed environment, and provided
    students with a window into the target culture that they would never get from their
    textbook alone
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  • • By
      reading the NS blogs first, students were able to become comfortable and familiar with the
      art of blogging before writing their own.

    • While we had hoped to create a community with the blogs, we found the blogs
      functioned more as a private space for students to describe, explore, and express their own
      ideas and feelings in the TL without needing input from other students. Students did,
      however, enjoy learning about their classmates and expressing themselves in the TL in a
      personal way.

    • Finally,
      if one could find a class in the target country with which to exchange blogs, students would
      have an even more personal window into the target culture than if they were reading TL
      blogs from random NS, with whom they had no relationship or connection

    • When the topic was more personal, such as writing a letter to someone to
      whom you owed an apology, the postings were more interesting and heartfelt and students
      were more engaged in the topic. We would also encourage students to comment on their
      comments, perhaps by offering extra credit, so that the comments would be read

    • 24
      suggest conducting a tutorial on blogging/technical vocabulary before students begin
      writing their own blogs. We might reconsider how often the students should blog –
      perhaps once per week was too often. If students wrote once every two weeks about a
      more personal topic chosen from a list of possible topics, they might feel they have more to
      write about.
• • For
    each post, students were required to post a picture or a link to support their argument.
    After posting, students commented on a least two other students’ postings and were asked
    to practise discourse strategies such as agreeing or disagreeing in their comments

  • 12
    maintained their own blogs where they posted weekly
    entries to their personal blogs and commented on classmates’ blogs. The topics were related
    to their class readings and the blog postings served either as pre- or post-reading task
• • The first task given to the students was to visit all three of the blogs provided by their
    teacher to decide which blog they would like to follow for the rest of the semester. To
    guide them during this exploration, students were given specific tasks to complete. For
    example, they were asked to describe the writing style used on the blog and to share what
    they liked and disliked about the blog.

  • 13
    (1) What steps do students progress through while reading and writing blogs?
    (2) What are students’ reactions to blogging?
    (3) How is self-expression characterised in the blogosphere?
• • Topics normally consisted of personal stories and feelings, reports about daily life,
    current events, and popular culture

  • For the remainder of the semester, students were required to read their blog once per week
    and write down new vocabulary words as well as report on one or two postings left by the
    Blogger during the week. In this way students were encouraged to read the postings that
    interested them and thereby learn new vocabulary that they could integrate into their own
    new contexts.
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  • • One French
      student, for example especially liked her Blogger – Sof’s – informal and personal writing
      style and the fact that she was open about her emotions. She often used the word ‘Che´ri’ in
      her writing and included very personal information, such as the fact that she was suffering
      from anxiety attacks

    • they were also drawn to blogs that were easy to navigate where the topics were humorous
      and personal, written in a simple writing style, and augmented with pictures

    • 15
      Selecting the Blogger
      Many students based their choice of which blog to follow on the design and layout, the
      topics, and the difficulty of the discourse.
• • This assignment allowed students to focus on an
    aspect of the target culture of their choice and to explore the practices, products, and
    perspectives associated with it.

  • In addition to describing the Blogger in their written
    composition, students also chose an issue discussed on the blog to research more in depth
    in both the written composition and PowerPoint presentation. Since several students were
    reporting on the same Blogger, the presentation focused more on the cultural topic they
    chose to research so that the information would not be redundant for students who
    followed the same Blogger
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  • • In order to describe the Blogger, students focused on the Blogger’s family and personal
      life, his/her personality, hobbies, and political views

    • Finally, after discovering what they had in common with the Bloggers, students
      tried to depict the identity of the Blogger. During this phase, students were confronted with
      the important realisation that even though the Bloggers were from a different culture, they
      still shared much in common. This idea could possibly lead students to develop
      intercultural competence (make them more sympathetic to other cultures) by helping
      them understand that Germans/French have their own distinct identities and thereby help
      them to avoid stereotyping (Byram, 1997)

    • After the students got to know their Bloggers, they reported that
      they began to feel a connection to them due to their similar interests and ideas.

    • 16
      students could appreciate that they have similar interests, worries, and problems as some
      of the Bloggers and how pervasive American culture is in both Germany and France
• • Since this was not a
    formal writing assignment, students were not required to correct their errors and submit a
    revised version, however if there were recurring errors, the teacher drew the student’s
    attention to them through comments on the grading rubric. Since the focus of the blog
    task was to promote fluency in writing and freedom of expression and it has been found
    that tasks that do not focus on form nonetheless promote accuracy and brevity (Chastain,
    1990; Reichelt, 2001), the process approach to writing was not deemed appropriate for
    this task.

  • Students were assessed using the same rubric each week and their posts were graded on
    content, coherency, and accuracy, while their comments were graded on content and use of
    discourse strategies
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  • • In the German class, the topics were examples of propaganda from
      the movie Das Versprechen; parents’ responsibility for children’s behaviour; their favourite
      fairy tale; a role play with characters from a text; an apology for breaking a promise;
      leaving home to go to the university; why other people leave home (refugees); heaven and
      the afterlife; confidante for secrets; favourite music, and spring/summer break plans. In
      both classes, the topics acted as pre- or post-reading tasks and corresponded to issues that
      were being discussed and read about in class. The prescribed topics provided students with
      a wide variety of themes to discuss, including both personal and less personal issues.

    • For extra credit, students could write personal postings
      whenever they wanted. Example topics in the French blogs were crime and violence,
      friendship, discrimination, terrorism, pollution, unemployment, the homeless, headscarves, and racism.

    • COMMENT STRATEGIES During the second semester, students were required to set up their own blog using a
      blog server in the target language (TL) provided by their teacher. Once a week throughout
      the semester students posted to their blogs on teacher assigned topics that were related to
      the textbook topics (a total of 8–10 postings). After posting, students wrote two comments
      in response to their classmates using a list of prescribed discourse strategies to encourage
      them to practise agreeing, disagreeing, complimenting, etc. and using the appropriate
      discourse strategies for each act

    • As Ward (2004) found, writing a blog is communicative, reduces anxiety,
      and provides students with an audience for their texts. In addition, participants in
      Pinkman and Gakuin’s study (2005) reported that their writing skills improved as a result
      of regular blogging in the FL

    • 17
      According to Habermas (1984), an
      ideal speech situation consists of three components: equal opportunity to start discussion;
      no power differences; and the interlocutors acting truthfully. In our case, the students’
      blogs fit all of these requirements: everyone had his/her own blog; all students were seen as
      equal in the class and had the same assignments; and it was expected that everyone was
      truthful.
• • just over half of the students reported that they enjoyed reading the blog, most reported
    that it helped them to improve their reading skills and vocabulary in the target language,
    and they felt it slightly increased their knowledge of popular culture in the target culture.

  • three different comments were left to Sam’s post: one by a classmate, one
    by his teacher, and the third by a native German speaker who found his blog, thereby
    affording him three different perspectives on his predicament. By reading the comments of
    the native German speaker, Sam was even able to learn about how fraternities and
    sororities differ in Germany
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  • • 19
      Some students even received comments from native speakers who
      happened upon their blogs. Due to the personal nature of many of the blog postings,
      students were also inclined to comment in a personal way and seemed to appreciate
      learning about their classmates in a deeper way than they normally would through in-class
      discussions.

12 more annotations...

• In contrast to traditional web creation, blogs are easy to make without the need of HTML knowledge. Multimedia features including external links, digital photos, audio and video clips are used to enhance the content and the attractiveness of the appearance.
• Given that blogs are asynchronous modes of computer-mediated communication (CMC), authors write at their own pace without time pressure, which allows them to reflect critically upon the content (Oravec, 2002; Richardson, 2005)
• creating blogs promotes learners’ autonomy because they are in charge of making their own decisions as to what, how much and when to publish their work online.

  • Wouldn't some have to be dictated?
• Furthermore, archived entries that document students’ work over time enable teachers and students to assess writing in progress (Godwin-Jones, 2003). Unlike browsing through static web pages, blogs evolve into a dynamic and interactive network where authors not only create and update content but also share and exchange ideas through responses with comments (Lee, 2009a; Rodzvilla, 2002). In sum, blogs open both personal and social spaces for learners to express thoughts, develop digital identity, and make connection with others within a virtual learning community (Huffaker, 2004).
• For example, personal blogs are collections of online journals that foster self-expression and self-reflection, whereas collective blogs involve an entire class or small groups of students who collaboratively construct L2 knowledge.

  • ************************
• Ducate and Lomicka (2005) stress that students become active readers by being given the freedom to choose their own topics to read and further develop a better understanding of the target culture. By being exposed to multiple views, learners also develop their interpretative and critical thinking skills (Ward, 2004).
• , L2 research has mainly focused on using blogs as online journals for the development of learners’ writing fluency (e.g., Armstrong & Retterer, 2008; Bloch, 2007; Campbell, 2003; Fellner & Apple, 2006; Johnson, 2004).
• The results of Lee’s (2009b) intercultural exchange study showed that group blogs created a social workspace where students worked collaboratively to share knowledge and exchange ideas. Through peer feedback, both Spanish and American groups gained cross-cultural awareness and linguistic knowledge. Dippold (2009) and Lee (2009b) conclude that peer feedback through collaborative scaffolding is less intimidating than teacher-led evaluation. Interactive feedback further helps L2 learners develop new ideas and notice linguistic problems that may lead to error corrections
• the current project aimed: (1) to build learners’ writing fluency through self-expression and reflection, (2) to create an interactive community where students share and exchange ideas with each other through social networking and (3) to enhance critical thinking through peer comments and language awareness through expert scaffolding.
• Most of the students had reached the intermediate level of language proficiency based on the results of the placement test prior to the study
• logger is currently available in 41 languages including Spanish, which enables L2 learners to create the entire site in the target language. In addition to Blogger, iMovie was used to create audio recordings to be embedded in Blogger. It should be noted that the Language Resource Center at the researcher’s institution owns a Mac lab and iMovie is one of the software programs already installed in the lab. The greatest advantage of using iMovie is its capacity for recording both audio and video clips with images that display during play. Other features, including the addition of adding titles, transitions and special effects, are also available as editing tools. Recordings can be easily saved as MP4 files5 to upload to Blogger. The uploading process may be slow, as videos tend to be large files.
• According to Samuda and Bygate (2008), task-based activities aim to enhance learners’ abilities to use the target language rather than to acquire new language skills.
• Four types of tasks were created and each type aimed at the use of a particular language skill (Table 1). For instance, listening to selected podcast sites reinforces students’ aural and interpretative skills, whereas making oral recordings using iMovie enhances their pronunciation and speaking skills.
• As part of the course requirement, each student kept a personal blog throughout the semester. Each week students were responsible for posting one or two entries using various types of task
• tudents spent approximately three weeks designing their blogs and posting the first two entries. Upon completion of the initial assignments, the instructor collected the blog addresses and posted them in Blackboard.
• As these students were still developing their interlanguage and did not have sufficient linguistic knowledge to offer corrective feedback on lexical and grammar items, they were only required to provide feedback on the content.
• no restrictions were placed on when, how and how much feedback should be provided
• the instructor underlined each error and wrote the code for the correction, such as “vt” for verb tense, “voc” for wrong word and “prep” for incorrect preposition. In addition, brief explanations of major linguistic issues (e.g., the preterit vs. the imperfect) were provided to the students to guide them through the process of error corrections. The entries were then sent to the students via Digital DropBox in Blackboard. After receiving the instructor’s feedback, students made error corrections by editing the entries on their blogs.
• Overall, students reacted very positively toward the blog project (statement 1) and agreed that they benefited from creating and reading blog entries (statement 2). During the final interviews, more than 50% of the students expressed their enjoyment in using personal blogs to share ideas with their peers. The following comment drawn from the final interview exemplifies this sentiment:
• more than 80% of the students preferred blogs to writing on a piece of paper
• in comparison to the traditional formal writing, students found blogging more fun and less stressful

• After using one-semester blogs, many students (78%) believed that using blogs on a regular basis had helped them develop L2 competence, especially their writing fluency (statement 5). One student acknowledged:

  “Writing has become easier for me. I’m now more confident in expressing myself after having posted more than 20 entries. Not only did I improve my writing skills but also gained different perspectives that I had never thought about before.”
• students mostly found tasks stimulating because they promoted the meaningful use of the target language (statement 6) and they were satisfied with both assigned and free topics
• • In my view, using various types of tasks that required the use of certain language skills was the most beneficial aspect of this blog project. I enjoyed most the native-speaker podcasts because it helped me improve my listening comprehension.
  • • Tasks were engaging and created a dynamic way of using blogs for real-world communication. At the beginning it was a bit confusing because we had to go to different web sites or use different tools for the assignments. Overall, I really liked how each task was targeted to a different language skill.
• the results clearly showed that they were in favor of using free topics
• More than 50% of students not only produced longer entries (approximately 300 words for each entry) using free topics but also added a variety of embedded multimedia resources including personal pictures, slide shows and video clips to support the content.
• I felt motivated posting entries using topics of my choice because it enabled me to incorporate my personal interests and be creative. I really wanted to share my views about things that mattered to me the most with my peers.” As a result, students wrote and responded to more comments on free-topic entries than on teacher-assigned topics.
• “Most people made similar observations about the readings and some of the comments were repetitive. I did not find this assignment engaging and useful.” In contrast to what Murray and Hourigan (2008) found in their study, the readings did not appear to foster deeper thinking and further discussion. It is possible that the majority of the students were freshmen and sophomores, and they might not know how to write critically. The instructor could use questions to prompt students to reflect on reading materials.
• Comments drawn from final interviews revealed that students’ technology skills affected how they felt about recording assignments.
• The use of technology should not be a burdensome task for the students (Armstrong & Retterer, 2008). One recommendation would be to provide students with private rooms to ensure the quality of recordings. Instructors should seek alternatives, such as using two platform recording software such as Audacity to accommodate individual needs.
• Comments gathered from the interviews revealed that most of the students did not feel comfortable providing linguistic feedback to each other because the lack of confidence in their own L2 knowledge would not enable them to give meaningful advice. These findings corroborate those found in the blog research conducted by Dippold (2009) and Lee (2009b).
• a few students (n = 3) complained about the amount of time that they had to spend on readings blogs, students enjoyed writing comments on each other’s posts (statement 10) as well as receiving feedback from their peers (statement 11). Comments gathered from the interviews revealed that students were eager to read peer commentaries about their posts and their interest in responding to their peers increased as well. Peer interactive feedback indeed strengthened reflective thinking.
• Like other asynchronous CMC, blogs tend to encourage fluency rather than accuracy. Not until students receive linguistic feedback do they use L2 as a primary means of communication and self-expression (Lee, 2008; Murray & Hourigan, 2008). The finding clearly showed that students valued the instructor’s linguistic feedback (statement 12). The high rating of corrective feedback received from the instructor (4.45 out of 5) suggests that focus-on-form procedure carried utmost importance for the majority of students
• linguistic feedback helped them reflect on their own weaknesses and strengths,
• Another potential area that warrants further study is the use of blogs for telecollaboration involving learners from two institutions with different cultures. It would also be beneficial to include various levels of language proficiency (e.g., beginning and intermediate level) to determine whether they influence how the participants socially and cognitively exchange knowledge in the process of using blogs
• Firstly, the application of blog technology itself does not guarantee the success of learning outcomes. Tasks that are linguistically and cognitively suitable for the target learners are essential because they affect significantly the quality of writing and the degree of interaction among students (Lee, 2009b; Murray & Hourigan, 2008).

  • *******************************
• he integration of a four-language-skill approach to task-based activities not only motivates students to voice their opinions but also enhances the development of their language competence
• the instructor needs to guide students through the peer commenting process and offer them strategies for critical thinking to prompt in-depth and thoughtful responses.
• Not only the confident but also the shy students participated in interactive exchanges to express their points of view, query the information given by others and defend their opinions.
• While the primary focus of utilizing personal blogs was meaning creation and exchange, the integration of the teacher’s feedback afforded students the opportunity to notice and attend to linguistic problems that resulted in error corrections. Furthermore, regular blogging resulted in creating a greater sense of community and of interactive learning than would have otherwise been possible within the traditional classroom setting.

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