Effects of Classroom Blogging on ESL Student Writers: An Empirical Reassessment

Language Blogging Community: Fostering the Learning Attitudes and Writing Skills of EFL Students

“…Their blogging patterns also affirmed the feasibility and efficacy of a functioning LBC. The findings echo previous claims by Arslan and Şahin-Kızıl (2010), Chen, Liu, Shih, Wu, and Yuan (2011), Lee (2015), Lin (2015), Lin et al (2014), and Sun (2010) that blogging-assisted language learning strengthens EFL students' writing skills and supports the early empirical evidence of learner attitudes improved by blogging (Arslan & Şahin-Kızıl, 2010;Lin, 2015Lin, , 2016Sun, 2010). The frequent blogging pattern reported here recalls observations by Chen and Brown (2012), who discern intensified interactivity between (blog) writers and readers, and supports the belief of Kang et al (2011) andMiceli et al (2010) that blogging reinforces the sense of communities of practice.…”

“…The vicious cycle of trepidation about being ridiculed and avoidance behavior (i.e., blogging less) may explain why Chen's (2016) EFL students, after attending a blogging project, displayed less self-efficacy in writing than those enrolled in a conventional writing class. The same explanation may also account for the empirical findings of Lin (2014), who found that compared with those who kept traditional pen-and-paper journals, EFL student bloggers not only developed by no means superior writing skills but also were significantly less motivated to write after the blogging experience. Lin et al (2014), however, reasoned that those unfavorable outcomes may also have been caused by disregarding "the very nature of blogging as a form of online diary writing" (p. 423).…”

“…First, while student improvements through blogging is unassailable, the gains may also come from the associated increase in the teachers' workload (cf. Levy, 2009), making the specific effects of blog use hard to determine (Lin, 2014(Lin, , 2016. Resolving this issue is important because maintaining an active class blog is labor-intensive and appears sufficient drawback for certain teachers to ban educational blogs in their classes (Lai & Chen, 2011).…”

“…Previously, the student bloggers had experienced anxiety (Lin et al, 2013), which was claimed to impact negatively on their practice of blogging and observed to abate when the blogging formula was improved (Lin, 2014). However, anxiety has rarely been quantitatively investigated, particularly compared to factors such as motivation.…”

“…On the one hand, most student writers taught in a blog-supported classroom have reacted favorably to the approach (Arslan & Şahin-Kızıl, 2010;Kung, 2015;Lin et al, 2014;Trajtemberg & Yiakoumetti, 2011). On the other hand, the blogging approach has been reported to trigger interaction between readers and student writers (Miceli, Murray, & Kennedy, 2010;Mompean, 2010), nurture the writer's sense of a community of practice (Kang, Bonk, & Kim, 2011;Miceli et al, 2010), enhance learner motivation to write (Arslan & Şahin-Kızıl, 2010;Lin, 2015;Sun, 2010), strengthen the self-efficacy of student writers (Lin, 2016), and ultimately successfully improve students' writing skills (Arslan & Şahin-Kızıl, 2010;Chen, 2016;Lee, 2015;Lin, 2015;Lin et al, 2014;Sun, 2010).…”