1b Promoting Esl

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Persidangan Pembangunan Pelajar Peringkat Kebangsaan 2008

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 22-23 Oktober 2008

not all, provide option for readers to comment on the

entries written, and this has made blogging a truly

social communication tool.

Blogging also provides a vehicle for sharing

feelings and insights with the world without ever

leaving the classroom. Will Richardson relates an

example of this connection (Richardson, 2006). His

students read Sue Monk Kidds The Secret Life of

Bees (Kidd, 2002) and blogged reflections on the

readings. The class contacted the author to invite her

to participate in the blogging process. She agreed and

responded by offering background into character

development and insight into her writing approaches.

Richardsons students reached out and were rewarded

with a very unique and special relationship that

would not have been possible without blogging. The

benefit extended beyond the classroom to anyone in

the world who accessed the blogging site. Fernette

and Brock Eides research (Eide Neurolearning Blog,

2005) found that blogging can:i. Promote critical and analytical thinkingii. Be a powerful promoter of creative,

intuitive, and associational thinking

iii. Promote analogical thinkingiv. Be a powerful medium for increasing access

and exposure to quality information

v. Combine the best of solitary reflection andsocial interaction

Will Richardson summarized the pedagogy of

blogging by suggesting that blogs are a constructivist

tool for learning where participants construct

knowledge, share ideas, and build upon each otherswork. He added that blogs archive the learning that

has taken place and provide a historical framework.

In such an approach, different learning styles are

represented because every person has a voice.

Finally, blogs teach students 21st century skills that

are necessary in a global economy.

Commenting and hyper-linking are components that

extend blogs beyond basic publishing. The comment

function allows others to communicate relevant

feedback thereby facilitating the "scaffolding of new

ideas" (Ferdig & Trammell, 2004). Hyperlinks

provide relational and contextual basis ofknowledge and knowledge construction (Ferdig and

Trammell, 2004). Many blogs include references,

visuals, and hyperlinks to related topics within the

blog. In addition to expanding the students frame of

reference, these links also provide opportunities to

verify content and check other views. Students can

become subject matter experts through exposure to

vast amounts of information thus increasing interest

and ownership of learning (Ferdig & Trammel,

2004). Exposure to different perspectives enables

students to form opinions based on varied content

rather than the controlled view of a textbook.

Method

Questionnaires were distributed to 60 Bachelors of

Fiqh and Fatwa students who enrolled in the UBE

1022 Reading and Writing Course. The statements in

the questionnaire require students to provide their

responses to the practice of blog writing, or blogging,

and they are given 5 point Likert Scale of Agreement

to choose from to represent their responses.

Meanwhile, the course (UBE 1022) requires the

students to write weekly journals on topics given by

the instructor in their respective class blogs. Thereare altogether 14 weeks of lessons but they are only

required to post 10 blog entries equivalent to 10

weekly journal entry. At the end of the semester, they

are given questionnaires on their views towards their

class blog. The website used for this study is

www.blogspot.com where users can freely create

their own web-blog just by signing-in using their

Google e-mail and password. The students are

required to type a 1 or 2 paragraph respond towards

topics that are assigned earlier to them. They can

write whatever responses they wish to write as long

as those responses do not incite racial or religious

riots.

The discussion of findingsAs mentioned, the objective of the study is to

investigate how blogging can facilitate and enhance

learning skills and Internet literacy levels. The

statements (in the questionnaire) allow the students to

choose the responses they have towards blogging.

The discussions of the findings are shown in the

tables below.

Table 1: Blogging improves students attitudes towards learning and ESL writing

Item Statements Partially Agree Strongly Total


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No. Agree Agree

1 Writing the class blog while doing this

course was an enjoyable experience

60 60

2 Writing the class blog helped me

understand what I was learning

60 60

3 Writing the class blog made the course

more interesting

60 60

4 Writing the class blog made me reflect

on what I was learning

25 35 60

5 Writing the class blog gave me an

opportunity to express my opinions

13 47 60

6 Writing the class blog gave me an

opportunity to share my ideas

60 60

7 Writing the class blog gave me the

opportunity to say things I would not

have said in class

60 60

8 Writing the class blog made me ask

questions I would not have asked inface to face discussions

38 22 60

25 The class blog made me more

confident in my writing.

37 23 60

26 The writing process I learnt in class has

helped me to write better in my writing

for this course.

22 48 60

27 The class blog allowed me to practice

what I learnt in my writing lesson for

this course.

7 53 60

As shown in the table above, blogging clearly

facilitates in improving students attitudes towardslearning and ESL writing. This is apparent in items

number 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 26, and 27.vIn addition to

being a new form of journal writing, it is also novel

in the sense that students are using multimedia

computers equipped with Internet connection. For

some, using these peripherals is already something

new and technology is known to increase learners

attitude and motivation to learning (Akhdiat Abd

Malek, 2007).

Blogs in the classroom are sometimes used

as online diaries where students write about their

own experiences or share their ideas related to coursetopics. However, the power of a blog comes when

bloggers interact with an individuals posts,creating

a forum for discussion and conversation. Blogs may

contain the written word, but more blog sites

nowadays allow posting of pictures, songs, videos

and attaching hyperlinks to other websites. Arguably,

one benefit of having access to direct links embeddedin weblogs is that learners are able to access the web-

blogs of individuals about whom they have gained

considerable background information and deep

insight over time. (Oravec , 2002).

Blogs also encourage students to write more

thoughtfully (Flatley, 2005), with the quality of

writing often surpassing writing in more conventional

forms (Todras-Whitehall, 2005) by requiring students

to "carefully formulate and stand by one's opinion"

(Williams & Jacobs, 2004). In addition, blogs

encourage students to make their writing more

concise (Beeson, 2005). Oravec (2002) notes thatblogging may further develop critical thinking skills

because students must carefully evaluate what they

read and write, as their words are now available to a

larger audience.


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Table 2: Blogging facilitates thinking, enhances learning, ICT skills, and communication, and develops new

knowledge.

Item

No.

Statements Agree Strongly

Agree

Total

9 Writing the class blog facilitated my

critical thinking

18 42 60

10 The class blog has helped me to

develop me thinking skills.

60 60

11 The class blog has helped me to

develop my ICT skills.

60 60

12 Writing the class blog was a good way

of connecting with other learners in the

class

60 60

13 Writing blogs is an effective way of

developing as a second language

learner

51 9 60

14 Writing the class blog motivated me to

develop new learning skills

60 60

15 Writing the class blog motivated me to

develop new knowledge

60 60

Clearly, the students agree that blogging helps them

to think better, enhances their learning and ICT skills,

facilitates their communication skills, and also

develops new knowledge. This view is supported by

items number 9 to 15, where the majority of the

students agree with the statements. In terms of

facilitating thinking blogging encourages students to

write more thoughtfully with the quality of writingoften surpassing conventional forms of writing where

students are required to carefully formulate and stand

by one's opinion and also explain the reasons of

standing by that particular opinion. In addition, blogs

encourage students to make their writing more

concise due to the fact that they have to provide

ample reasons supporting their opinions and views

regarding something. Blogging may also further

develop critical thinking skills because students must

carefully evaluate what they read and write, as their

words are now available to a larger audience; their

writing can be viewed globally.

Apart from that the ICT (Information,

Communications, and Technology) skills of

bloggers/students are also enhanced. Those who

never before use computers and the Internet are nowusing it extensively. Those who never know how to

attach multimedia files along with their blog postings

are now able to do it, and those who are not inclined

on using and browsing the Internet are now in favour

of it; all because of their renewed interest on

blogging. As Grauss (1999) mentioned, technology,

in this case using the Internet to blog, enhances

learners motivation to learn and discover new

knowledge.

Table 3: Blogging facilitates and enhances abilities in gathering ideas and obtaining information

Item

No.

Statements Agree Strongly

Agree

Total

16 Readings my peers postings was a

useful source of information

42 28 60


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17 My peers postings were a useful

source of ideas

59 1 60

18 I like reading other learners postings

in the class blog.

60 60

19 I like posting new ideas to the class

blog.

60 60

23 The class blog provided me with new

ideas from others postings.

20 40 60

24 The class blog made me more

confident in expressing my ideas to

others.

4 56 60

Generating ideas and obtaining information is

another advantage provided by blogging, as

indicated by Table 3. Using online lessons allows

learners to monitor what their peers have written, and

they are able comment on what have been written.

The problem of writers block is non-existent

because students can generate ideas from reading

other peoples posts. Apart from being able to obtain

ideas from reading their peers postings, the students

also mentioned that they enjoy posting new ideas and

as a result, they become confident in expressing their

ideas to others.

Table 4: Problems and barriers to blogging

Item

No.

Statements Disagree Partially

Agree

Agree Total

20 I did not find any difficulty finding

ideas to post to the class blog.

23 13 24 60

21 I am afraid to post new ideas to the

class blog.

41 9 10 60

22 I am afraid of making grammatical

errors in the postings.

26 13 21 60

A considerable amount of students do face problems

in blogging. Items number 20 to 22 discusses the

barriers and problems that students might face in the

blogging process. As shown in the table above, some

students do face problems in finding ideas to post to

the class blog. Although they are allowed to read

others blog posts, they are still unable to full

generate their own ideas. There are also some who

are afraid to post new ideas, and this may be because

they are not confident that their peers will accept the

ideas that they will present. They fear that their peers

might disowned them thus not accept them as

friends. Another significant barrier is the fear of

making grammatical errors in blog postings. This

might be due from the fear of being ridiculed at by

their instructors and friends. These barriers somehow

hinder the students enthusiasm towards fully

committing themselves to blogging. Nevertheless,

these barriers are expected since it is a normally

accepted view that some will resist blogging due to

fear of something. As stated by Davi et al (2006),

there will be students who are intimidated about

participating in web-blogging and will have

difficulties posting and responding to blog entries.

Table 5: General views regarding blogging

Item

No.

Statements Strongly

Agree

Total

28 All university students should know

how to write blogs.

60 60

29 I have participated actively in the class

blog.

60 60


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30 I will continue to blog after this course 60 60

The statements above represent the general views

regarding blogging in general. As shown in Table 5,

all the respondents have participated in the class blog

and all agreed that all university students shouldknow how to web-blog. In addition, they also stated

that they will continue to blog after they have

finished the course. These positive views are shared

by Forest (2005) who said that blogging will make

students see it as connecting to a broader sort of

technology or social movement in society. The public

nature of blogging will also improve students

writing because they know that their peers and other

people besides the instructor will be reading their

work.

Conclusion

Using blogs across the disciplines can enhance

learning in professional programs. The authors found

that students came to class discussions having

engaged in inquiry and analysis through online

writing exercises. Thus, blogs helped students

develop their critical-thinking skills and reasoningskills. In addition, by preparing students for class

discussions, blogs helped them develop both their

written and oral communication skills. Liberal

learning depends on students taking responsibility for

their education. Instructors in any discipline can use

blogs to begin conversations about course materials

before students arrive in the classroom and continue

them long after a class has ended, thus fostering a

sense of active learning both inside and outside the

classroom. USIMs students have definitely obtained

a certain level of improvement in terms of their

learning, thinking, communicating, ICT skills, and

also their writing skills. It is hoped that many other

higher learning institutions will also engaged in web-blogging in their classroom thus fostering a more

technology inclined society.

References:

1. Akhdiat Abd Malek, 2007. ComputerCompetency of The Islamic Science

University of Malaysias English Language

Educators. Unpublished Masters Thesis.

University Kebangsaan Malaysia

2. Drexler, W. Dawson, K. & Ferig, R. 2006.Collaborative Blogging as a Means To

Develop Elementary Expository Writing

Skills. Electronic Journal for the Integration

of Technology in Education Vol 6. 2005.

3. Kidd, S. M. 2002. The Secret Life of Bees.Penguin. New York.

4. Richardson, W. 2006. Blogs, Wikis,Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for

Classrooms. Corwin Press. California.

5. Eide Neurolearning Blog, 2005. Brain of theBlogger.

(http://eideneurolearningblog.blogspot.com/

2005/03/brain-of-blogger.html). 3rd June

2008.

6.

Ferdid, R.E & Trammel, K.D. 2004. ContentDelivery in the Blogo-sphere. T.H.E Journal

Vol 7.

7. Oravec, J. A. .2002. Bookmarking theworld: Weblog applications in education.

Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy,

45(7), 616-621.

8. Flatley, M. 2005. Blogging for enhancedteaching and learning. Business

Communication Quarterly, 68(1), 77-80.

9. Todras-Whitehill, E. 3rd August, 2005. Newtools: Blogs, podcasts and virtual

classrooms. New York Times, p. G8.

10.

Williams, J. B., & Jacobs, J. 2004.Exploring the use of blogs as learning

spaces in the higher education sector.

Australasian Journal of Educational

Technology, 20(2), 232-247.

http://www.jeremybwilliams.net/AJETpaper

.pdf. (3rd July,2008)

11. Beeson, P. August, 2005. Bringing blogsinto the classroom. Quill, 93(6).


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12. Davi, A et al. 2006. Blogging Across theDisciplines: Integrating Technology to

Enhance Liberal Learning.

http://jolt.merlot.org/vol3no3/frydernberg.ht

m. (20th August, 2008.

13. Grauss, J. 1999. An Evaluation of theUsefulness of the Internet in the EFL

Classroom. Masters Thesis.

http://home.plex.nl/~jgraus/thesis/Evaluatio

n.htm (3rd June 2001)

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1b Promoting Esl