Technology and Language: A Review of Students' Perceptions of Blog in some Selected English as a Second Language Writing Classes

Abstract

Emergence and integration of Web 2.0 technologies in the students' learning process brought a pedagogical paradigm shift in many of today's classrooms. Unfortunately, many educators (including the teachers of Teaching English as a Second Language [TESL]) are either unaware or skeptical about this new culture. Students taking English as a Second Language (ESL) are still having a problem in writing an error-free assignment or test. Fortunately, blog (a computer-mediated technology) brought a hope and serves as a help to both tutors and learners by being a teaching and learning tool that can promote the students' English language writing skills. Using systematic review, this paper aims to examine the students' perceptions of blog in some selected ESL writing classes. The purpose is to introduce blog and create awareness to both educators and students about its application and benefits in today's educational institutions, especially ESL writing classes. One research question was developed and two academic social network platforms were explored and about 41 relevant journal articles were found. After using inclusion and exclusion criteria, only five articles met the criteria of this review. Findings revealed that though blog was still new to many respondents but their perceptions of it (blog), was positive.

The Use of Travel Blog Writing in a Tertiary Level English for Specific Purposes Course

“…The experience of travelling and writing about the local attractions of one's city via a personalized blog was reported to increase writing motivation, boost autonomous, reflective and collaborative learning, raise cultural awareness and have positive impacts upon learners' self-expression and L2 writing improvement. These findings are in line with those of several studies regarding the advantages of blog use in ELT (Akdag and Ozkan, 2017;Aydan, 2014;Aydin, 2014;Campbell, 2003;Featro and DiGregorio, 2016;Grami, 2012;Gunduz, 2016;Kovalchuk and Krasnokutska, 2017;Kuimova and Zmekov, 2016;Johnson, 2004;Lee, 2010;Mabuan, 2018;Musa, 2016;Nepomuceno, 2011;Pinkman, 2005;Sun and Chang, 2012;Zhang, 2010). The findings of the study about the affordances of travel blog writing also support the suggestions of Pascual (2019), Pascual Oliva (2017) and Romaniukha et al (2020) in that integration of this genre into EFL settings would develop linguistic skills, enhance verbal creativity and increase learning motivation.…”

“…Several studies display students' views on the advantages and challenges of blog use in English as a foreign language (EFL) instruction. Blogs are reported to develop linguistic skills, particularly writing and reading as well as grammar and vocabulary, enhance interaction and collaboration, build confidence in writing, encourage autonomous learning, augment analytical and critical thinking skills, increase writing and reading motivation, sense for responsibility and desire for lifelong learning (Akdag and Ozkan, 2017;Aydan, 2014;Aydin, 2014;Campbell, 2003;Featro and DiGregorio, 2016;Grami, 2012;Gunduz, 2016;Kovalchuk and Krasnokutska, 2017;Kuimova and Zmekov, 2016;Johnson, 2004;Lee, 2010;Mabuan, 2018;Musa, 2016;Nepomuceno, 2011;Pinkman, 2005;Sun and Chang, 2012;Zhang, 2010). On the other hand, blog use in English lessons is said to have some challenges like complicated tasks, intense workload, and technological limitations like internet problems or unavailability of computers (Aydan, 2014;Featro and DiGregorio, 2016;Kovalchuk and Krasnokutska, 2017;Mabuan, 2018).…”

Second language writing instruction: A recent practice in Indonesia

“…Second language writing has been gaining importance in recent years (Hyland, 2003;Matsuda, 2003;Musa, 2016). Many researchers have found some facts that show second language (L2) writing is different from first language (L1) writing.…”

The effects of digital story writing instruction on narrative writing skills of junior high school students in Indonesia

“…The use of technology has become a very popular trend in teaching writing. In the literature, several studies have been conducted to find better approaches in using technology (Fortunasari, 2016;Herrera Ramírez, 2013;Hyland, 2003;Musa, 2016;Purnawarman, Susilawati, & Sundayana, 2016;Sakkir et al, 2016;Yunus, Nordin, Salehi, Sun, & Embi, 2013). It was aimed to bring a solution for both teachers and students to overcome the problems in writing skills.…”

“…Second language writing has been gaining importance in recent years (Hyland, 2003;Matsuda, 2003;Musa, 2016). Many researchers have found some facts that show second language (L2) writing is different from first language (L1) writing.…”