WEEK 2 Weblogs enhancing EFL students' English language learning

         This study investigated the potential value of Weblog use on English language learning in the context of a university in Thailand. It examined students' perceptions of and attitudes towards using Weblogs.

         Three types of Weblog used in the language classroom are the tutor Blog, the learner Blog, and the class Blog.

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.

The majority of students (14) had home Internet access. Most (13) students had had no prior experience of Weblog use before undertaking the course Reading and Writing for Academic Purposes II. More than half (12) of the students did not use Weblogs in everyday life. Not many (8) students repeated that they sometimes used Weblogs as a means for communication and contact with other people.

WEEK 1 Weblogs for Use with ESL Classes

What is a Weblog?

         A weblog (or 'blog') can be thought of as an online journal that an individual can continuously update with his or her own words, ideas, and thoughts through software that enables one to easily do so. Unlike a standard website, weblog entries are made by typing directly into the browser and with the click of a button are instantly published on the internet. All basic document formatting, like spacing, bold, italics, underline, and creating links, requires no knowledge of HTML or FTP (File Transfer Protocol), so that anyone who can type, copy, and paste can create and maintain a weblog. However, with a very basic knowledge of HTML, users can extend their ability to customize the layout of their blog and even add pictures to enhance its attractiveness. Similar to an open journal, the accumulation of writings and other content creates both a record of learning and a resource for others. Furthermore, a weblog is interactive, in the sense that readers can respond to any given entry with a comment and even threaded discussions can take place depending on the software chosen.

         Even though weblogs have been in existence since the very beginning of the world wide web itself (Winer, 2002), free, commercially available 'blogging software of the type discussed in this article, seems to have made its first appearance in July of 1999 (Blood, 2000). Because of the relative quickness and ease of publishing this type of software affords, the number of users has grown tremendously since then, and we can now observe blogs being used for personal, educational, journalistic, and commercial purposes. In the following section, I will introduce three possible ways that weblogs could be put to immediate use with ESL classroom learning.

About myself

Hello Everyone

My name is Natthawut Niamjan

5981114021
English Major