"Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University"
This study searched about the potential value of Weblog use on English language learning in the context of a university in Thailand. It analyzed students’ perceptions of and attitudes towards using Weblogs. A content analysis was used to analysis the data that derived from short questionnaires, interview questionnaires and student Blogs. The findings indicated that the students perceived Weblog as a tool for the development of their English such as writing, reading, vocabulary, and recording their learning experience. And Weblog can giving an opportunity and freedom for self-expression in English, writing for both a local and global audience, fostering creative, analytical and critical thinking skills, creating social interaction and good relationships between writer and reader, and supporting the learning community.
💥 The study💥
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 studies.
💥A tool 💥
There are a content analysis was used to analyse the data that
derived from short questionnaires, interview questionnaires and student Blogs.
1. Short questionnaires
👉 Short questionnaires which aimed to elicit students’ profile, experience of Internet and Weblog use, and
perceptions of advantages and disadvantages of Weblogs were administered to the students prior to the requirement
of Blogging.
2. Interview questionnaires
👉 Interview questionnaires which comprised of 15 questions eliciting students’
experience of Internet use and Weblog use, their perceptions of and attitudes towards the use of Weblogs were administered to the students.
3. Student Blogs
👉 Student Blogs and comments were read and counted. They were not graded because the main emphasis was placed on students’ fluency rather than the accuracy of their work. Thus, students’ reflections (thoughtful ideas), opinions (beliefs), and expression (showing of feeling) were observed
The student had home Internet access and can shared their profile, express their ideas, experiences and exchange ideas and opinions to Weblog. But sometime they did not use Weblogs in everyday life. Weblogs as a medium of self-expression
online and a tool to enhance English language development. Weblogs offered opportunities for writing
and reading practice and communicating with other people. Many students asserted that Weblogs fostered their creative, analytical and critical thinking skills. They
commented that Weblog use offered opportunities for them to develop creative thinking in designing and tailoring
their Blogs to look attractive, allowing decoration such as choices of fonts, colours, graphics, and video and audio
files. In addition, the students pointed out that they used Weblog space to record their reflections on their classroom
learning experiences. A student said,
“Weblogs also remind me to recall my experiences”. Finally, weblogs can help writing, grammar and spelling for them better.
💥 Discussion and Conclusion 💥
Weblogs can provide an exciting and motivating learning environment where students have a sense of ownership and readership. They can be used to enhance student analytical and critical thinking skills, create social interactions between students and the instructor, students and their peers, and students and a global audience. If used in English classes, the issues of students’ free choices of topics for Blogging, plagiarism, and neglect of teacher correction and feedback should be taken into consideration. However, in this study, the focus of Blog writing was on encouraging student self-expression in English, that is, the focus is on meaning and fluency rather than form or accuracy. Blogs are recommended to foster students’ English language development in a genuine learning environment
👻 References 👻
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1877042810001990
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