PART 1: SUMMARY
· TITLE: “Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL Writing Classroom:
A Phenomenological Analysis”
· AUTHORS: Ming Huei Lin, Nicholas Groom and
Chin-Ying Lin
· JOURNAL: Lin,
M. H., Groom, N., & Lin, C.-Y. (2013). Blog-Assisted Learning in the ESL
Writing Classroom: A Phenomenological Analysis. Educational Technology &
Society, 16 (3), 130–139.
- URL: http://media.proquest.com/media/pq/classic/doc/3139761791/fmt/pi/rep/NONE?hl=blog%2Cassisted%2Cblog%2Cassisted%2Clearning%2Clearning%2Cin%2Cin%2Cthe%2Cthe%2Cesl%2Cesl%2Cwritings%2Cwriting%2Cwritings%2Cwriting%2Cclassrooms%2Cclassroom%2Cclassrooms%2Cclassroom%2Ca%2Ca%2Cphenomenological%2Cphenomenological%2Canalyses%2Canalysis%2Canalyses%2Canalysis&cit%3Aauth=Lin%2C+Ming+Huei%3BGroom%2C+Nicholas%3BChin-Ying%2C+Lin&cit%3Atitle=Blog-Assisted+Learning+in+the+ESL+Writing+Classroom%3A+A+Phenomenological+Analysis&cit%3Apub=Journal+of+Educational+Technology+%26+Society&cit%3Avol=16&cit%3Aiss=3&cit%3Apg=130&cit%3Adate=2013&ic=true&cit%3Aprod=ProQuest&_a=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%3D&_s=F8oSO6a%2FmLnC0on57Vw%2FK6IV7Yg%3D
· PURPOSE OF STUDY: To
explore the experiences of a group of Taiwanese ESL student writers on a course
of study that used a blog-assisted language learning (BALL) methodology.
· STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: Second
language writing students are enthusiastic about BALL in principle, but are not
motivated to engage voluntarily in second language blogging activities in
practice.
· RESEARCH QUESTIONS:
1) What do the participants think about learning by using blogs?
2) How do the participants describe their learning attitude and
motivation when learning
writing through using blogs?
3) How do the participants evaluate the effectiveness of the blogging
activities used in these
writing lessons?
4) Are the participants willing to attend more lessons supported with
BALL like this?
Why?/Why not?
· PARTICIPANT:
25 Taiwanese students of ESL majoring.
· METHODOLOGY:
1)
Research setting and participants
Ø Conducted
in the Department of Applied Foreign Languages at a university in central
Taiwan.
Ø Twenty-five
first-year English majors
2) Course design
Ø Conducted
in a computer laboratory where each individual student was provided with a
computer connected to the Internet to facilitate in-class blogging activities.
3)
Data collects
Ø The
data collected for this study were comprised of in-depth interviews with eight
student volunteers.
4)
Data analysis
Ø The
particular qualitative approach used in the research reported in this paper is
phenomenological analysis.
· FINDINGS
AND DISCUSSIONS:
Ø Participants
described BALL in very positive terms:- novel, convenient, fresh, informal alternative
learning method to the traditional ESL writing classroom.
Ø The
BALL experience helps students to improve their writing skills, learn new English
words as well as find articles and ideas for writing their journals.
Ø Students’
awareness of a large critical audience for their work as well as their anxiety
about grammatical mistakes did not hinder them from writing.
Ø Students
realized their lack of language proficiency, but due to time constrain they do
not have time to check their entries for grammatical errors.
Ø BALL
serve as an informal way of teaching, but it is an ineffective physical setting
for learning where students got distracted by the computers when doing BALL
activities.
Ø They
also said that the blogging format did not motivate them to do more than when
teachers ask them to write. They approved this method, but do not like BALL
activities in practice.
Ø Enthusiasm
for blogging in practice is due to three interconnected factors. First, students’
experience of learning to write using BALL is no different than learning to
write in an ESL traditional classroom.
Ø Second,
the feeling of worry and embarrassment to post their writings to the public is
not because their work will be viewed and evaluated by teachers or the people,
but it is due to unsympathetic classmates who will mock any grammatical errors
that they find.
Ø Third,
the students took a long time to complete the BALL task because they were not
so good in English. Thus, they were unwilling or unable to give any time to
non-compulsory blogging activities such as journaling or posting comments on
peer work.
Ø Students
do not find blogging activities as motivating. As 18 and 19 years old teenage,
they prefer surfing the Internet and social media rather than blogging.
Ø It
is predicted that the learning motivation levels of these students may be
enhanced by the use of Web 2.0 technologies, is incorrect.
Ø Students’
anxiousness towards peer criticism can be improved by the addition of an
explicit learner training lesson to the BALL program. Students can learn the
value and importance of receiving and responding to criticism on their work.
Ø It is argued that these findings help to explain the observation
made in many previous studies that second language writing students are
enthusiastic about BALL in principle, but are not motivated to engage
voluntarily in L2 blogging activities in practice.
·
COMMENTS:
Ø The
purpose of the study was too general because it only studies the students’
behavior towards BALL and it only wanted to prove previous research studies.
Ø Lots
of improvement should be done for this research, especially by specifying more
on the research objectives and questions.
Ø One
limitation of this research is that it only focuses on one teaching approach where
students work on their writings alone with time constraints, leading to their
negative attitudes towards blogging. Hence, researchers should include other
teaching approaches like working in groups, giving them relevant time to finish
their work, for more quality ones and spending some hours for teacher-student
consultation.
Ø To
some degree, the classroom setting may have affected the results of the study
where many students said that they often got distracted. Hence, before the
research is conducted, the researchers should block all access to irrelevant
sites especially the social media and YouTube. The arrangement of computers
should also follow the traditional classroom setting so that students see some
similarities between both settings.
Ø Future
researchers can help to improve this research for more accurate results.
You can simply view our presentation slides at:
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