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Effective Implementation of Student Blogging

Mari Yamauchi Michael Stout

CONAPLIN 5 September 24-25, 2012

+Main goals

Goals of our 3-year research (2011-2013)*

n  To build an online learning environment where students can use English for communicative purposes

n  To propose practicable ways to integrate out-of-class activities with in-class activities, esp., where there is limited access to ICT in the classroom

*Supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (2011-2013, #23520696) from Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

+Background: Insufficient exposure to English outside school

Q: How often do you use English outside the classroom?

(May 2012, N=135)

Need to provide more opportunities to productively/communicatively use English

+Student blogging/tweeting (2011 & 2012)

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n Productive/communicative use of English is expected to: n  Enhance language learning

n  Promote motivation to learn English n  Prepare students for authentic communication

n Easy for a language teacher to set up a blogging environment where students can experience using English outside the classroom

Expected benefits

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n  Students’ shyness or fear about making mistakes or expressing themselves

n  Their relatively limited experience in using computers

n  Limited access to ICT in language classrooms

Expected challenges

+Strong preference for using mobile phones

Q: Which do you use more often to to the following, a computer or your mobile phone? (May 2012, N=135)

+Toward practical solutions (2011 & 2012)

Class blog (Blogger) Twitter

Classroom setting

Regular classroom Computer lab

Age 2nd year (19-20) 1st year (18-19)

Class size 26-27 18-19

Level Pre-intermediate (approx. CEFR A2-B1)

Course Compulsory

General English Compulsory

Writing

+Toward practical solutions (2011 & 2012)

Class blog (Blogger) Twitter

Classroom setting

Regular classroom Computer lab

Age 2nd year (19-20) 1st year (18-19)

Class size 26-27 18-19

Level Pre-intermediate (approx. CEFR A2-B1)

Course Compulsory

General English Compulsory

Writing + Inter-school

blogging

To help students get used to

productive use of English & online

activities

To facilitate authentic,

spontaneous, interactive use of

English

+Twitter trials

2011 2012

Twitter accounts created in class

Twitter list widget to facilitate S-S interaction

Teacher response to get students to start interaction

Supplementary & optional Compulsory

Neither assessed nor rewarded

Rewarded (Stamp Card)

Occasional use of Twitter in class

Periodical use of Twitter in class

Ss instructed to mention, retweet, post links & follow

previous students

+Twitter trials

2011 2012

Tweeting

May - October May - July

38 tweets/student (H: 102)

22 tweets/student

2 tweets a week/student

1 tweet a week/student

Communication tool

Twitter preferred : 60%

Twitter preferred : 83%

Communicating in English

Interested : 67% (4.73)

Interested : 44% (4.22)

Informal observation

Highly motivated to learn/use

English

Less motivated to learn/use English

Good learner relationship

Less friendly atmosphere

+Student feedback (2011 trial)

n  I was able to learn English text abbreviations through Twitter, which enabled me to post messages using short sentences. I use Twitter more regularly than other online tools.

n  I spend more time reading other people’s tweets than I tweet myself. It was interesting to be able to catch a glimpse of people’s daily lives in other countries. I like using it as I think posting comments in English is also good for improving my English.

n  I find Twitter interesting as I can learn what other people are thinking or feeling. I use Twitter because I want to let out my opinions and feelings.

+ Blogging using a shared account

2011 Spring 2011 Fall 2012 Spring

Blog 1: T & S use + Blog 2: interschool (later)

Blog 1: T use Blog 2: S use/in class Blog 3: S use/interschool

Blog 1: T use Blog 2: S use/ in class & interschool

A shared account used + A class set of iPads

Posting-by-email introduced Labels used to identify the authors

Student posts integrated with class work

Errors from the posts covered in class + Corrective feedback

given in comments Pair/group work used to help build a

community + Students randomly paired up every time

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2011 Spring 2011 Fall 2012 Spring

Overall satisfaction

Satisfied: 52% (3.6)

Satisfied: 66% (4.17)

Blogging helps improve English skills

Yes: 85% Yes: 84% (4.6) Yes: 83% (4.7)

Posting by email Easy to use: 66% (4.2)

Easy to use: 66% (3.7)

Easy to use: 74% (4.1)

Commenting on the web

Easy to use: 67% (4.2)

Easy to use: 56% (3.7)

Easy to use: 70% (3.9)

Communication tool

Blog preferred: 59%

Blog preferred: 74%

Blogging using a shared account

+ Blogging using a shared account 2011 Spring 2011 Fall 2012 Spring

*Liked the way posts were used in class: 67%

Mistakes to be corrected in red in the post: 42%

Mistakes to be corrected explicitly (in Japanese) in the comment: 61%

*Mistakes to be corrected: 41%

Corrective feedback to be included in the comment: 27%

Mistakes to be covered in class (Worksheet): 22%

Private feedback to be given (email/paper): 27%

Mistakes to be corrected implicitly (in English) in the comment: 17%

+Overall satisfaction with blogging & relevant factors

Overall satisfaction with blogging

1 2 3 4 5 6 Ave.

Perceived helpfulness of blogging in English

2 2 4.33 4.25 5.57 5.75 4.74

Satisfaction with pair work 2 2 3.5 4 5 5.75 4.3

Satisfaction with the use of iPads for hands-on

instructions 2 2 3 4.5 4.71 5.25 4.09

Perceived ease of use of the posting method

2 1 3.67 3.5 4.71 5.5 4.09

Perceived ease of use of the commenting method

2 1

3.17 2.75 4.86 5.75 3.91

+Student feedback (2011-2012 trials)

n  Expressing myself in English was challenging but helpful.

n  I feel I understand what it’s like to use English in everyday life.

n  Now I feel more confident about writing in English.

n  Blogging helped me learn English, so I want to keep blogging.

n  I felt uncomfortable blogging first but I enjoyed it later on as I got used to it.

n  It’d be great if we post whenever we like, in addition to assigned tasks.

n  I was happy that communication with my classmates increased through blogging.

n  Sometimes I wasn’t sure which blog to post a comment and didn’t post anything.

+Discussion: pedagogical benefits

n Providing opportunities for productive/communicative use of English is beneficial (motivational).

n  Students found productive use of English and sharing their output was helpful (though challenging) to improve their English.

n  Productive/communicative tasks help them realize English is a tool for communication, not just as another subject to study.

n  Students’ output should be analyzed to see if/how their English is improved through these productive activities.

+Discussion: learner community

n Developing a learner community helps increase participation in online and face-to-face communication. n  Pair/group work in class facilitate this.

n  As they get used to sharing their writing online, they will become more active and communicative in the classroom.

+Discussion: accessibility

n  Accessibility of a platform is crucial to get students to participate in the online activities. n  Mobile phone compatibility should be taken into consideration

when choosing a platform. Twitter can be a good choice if creating an account can be done in class.

n  Using posting by email helps get students started easily in a classroom with limited access to ICT.

n  Hands-on experience using ICT tools in class is desirable to help less experienced students to get started.

n  Students’ perceived usefulness of the online activities can be a stronger factor to keep students motivated than their perceived ease of use of the online tools.

+Discussion: corrective feedback

n Giving students opportunities to express what they want to express, with appropriate feedback to their output, can facilitate their learning.

n  Using language exercise worksheets converted from their posts is a less threatening form of “feedback” .

n  Students also want more straightforward corrective feedback (e.g., to have mistakes corrected in red in their posts).

n  Explicit feedback can hinder spontaneous interaction.

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n  Balancing teacher-controlled/student-centered (obligatory/optional) activities is a key to successful implementation of student blogging

n  Gradual transition form more teacher-controlled activities to more student-centered activities would be desirable

n  Posting by email using a shared account is a great way to help students get used to sharing their writing with each other on the student blog, and to using English productively.

n  Suitable for assigned work, helping prepare inexperienced/shy students for communicative activities.

n  Not very suitable for informal, spontaneous interaction: tracking and editing problem can be frustrating for those who got used to blogging and want to do more. Twitter/Facebook will be more suitable.

Discussion: balanced activities

+To be examined

n  Twitter/Facebook will be used independently/ in combination of a class blog to see if/how these tools can facilitate spontaneous, more natural communication (2012 Fall).

n  Students’ blog posts (2011-2012) is now being analyzed to see if/how their English is improved through online productive/communicative activities.

n  Survey items are going to be revised to see how motivational factors correlate each other.

n  A survey will be conducted to see if/how student attitudes towards using technology and English will change over the academic year