Wednesday, July 25, 2018

(Week 2) Weblogs enhancing EFL students

From reading “Weblogs enhancing EFL students’ English language learning” I can summarize the knowledge as follow:

πŸ‘‰ Abstract ❤️
The study investigated the potential value of Weblog use on English language learning. It examined students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards using Weblogs. The content derived from short questionnaires, interview questionnaires and student Blogs.
πŸ’™ Introduction πŸ‘ˆ
Weblog is gaining popularity in the educational realm and is extensively used in English language learning contexts. The attractiveness of a Weblog is enhanced by its ‘multimodality’. There are three types of Weblog used in the language classroom are the tutor Blog, the learner Blog and the class Blog.
Moreover, there are potential values in English language education for several reasons for example, Weblogs provide opportunities for real communication in an authentic learning environment. Weblogs also raise an awareness of having an authorship and a readership. Other reason is Blogs enhance reading comprehension, improve students’ writing skills and abilities, provide an exciting and motivating learning environment in reading and writing for learners and promote learner autonomy. In addition, Weblogs enhance student analytical and thinking skill.
πŸ‘‰ The setting and the participants πŸ’š
The participants of this research were twenty undergraduate English major female students in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University. Their ages ranged from 22 to 24 years and they were in the fifth-year of their studied.
πŸ’› Method πŸ‘ˆ
When the students were enrolled in the Reading and Writing for Academic Purposes II course. Short questionnaires were administered to the students prior to the requirement of Blogging. During the semester, they were required to create individual Blogs to publish ten Blogs at their leisure. At the end of the semester, their perceptions of and attitudes towards the use of Weblogs were administered to the students from interview questionnaires.
πŸ‘‰ Extent of Knowledge and Experiences with Weblogs πŸ’œ
Some students had home Internet access. Most students had had no prior experience of Weblog use before undertaking the course. More than half of the students did not use Weblog in everyday life. Not many students repeated that they sometimes used Weblogs as a means for communication and contact with other people.
❤️ Potential values of Weblogs πŸ‘ˆ
All students claimed that Weblogs enhanced their writing and reading skills, and vocabulary development. They also mentioned how they developed analytical and critical thinking skills when expressing ideas; sharing knowledge, information, experiences and perspective; and adding comments to other people’s Blogs, built good relationships and the learning community.
πŸ‘‰ Potential values of Weblogs πŸ’™
Many students noted that writing their own Blogs and reading and adding comments to their classmates' Blogs created social interaction, built good relationships and learning community. Some students viewed that Weblogs provided another means of communication and a channel to meet other classmates.
πŸ’š Student reactions to Weblog use πŸ‘ˆ
Many students liked their free choice of topics in writing Weblogs. They commended that they could write more freely, without pressures and anxieties in the comparison with their classmates’. They noted that writing under the topics set by the teacher might be uninteresting, less motivation and difficult.
πŸ‘‰ The Blogs πŸ’›
By considering comments to students’ Blog entries, the student not only expressed their opinions, ideas but also gave some suggestions and advice. Other one is the typical mistakes and errors made by students were grammar and spelling but mistakes and errors did not hinder the meaning, ideas and opinions that the students intended to convey.
πŸ’œ Conclusion πŸ‘ˆ
In conclusion, Weblog can provide an exciting and motivating learning environment. They can be used to enhance student analytical and critical thinking skills, create social interactions. However, in the study, the focus of Blog writing was on encouraging student self-expression in English, the focus is on meaning and fluency rather than from or accuracy.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Powered by Blogger. Blogger Template by Intikali.org. Supported by Iskael and BlogSpot Design.