Article Review

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Pinkman, Kathleen (2005).The JALT CALL Journal. Using blogs in the Foreign Language Classroom: Encouraging LearnerIndependence. [Online Article] Retrieved on February 10th, 2010 fromhttp://www.jaltcall.org/journal/articles/1_1_Pinkman.pdf

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Title: Using blogs in the Foreign Language Classroom: Encouraging Learner Independence

Journal: The JALT CALL Journal, 2005

Volume:Vol. 1, No. 1, pp12-24

Author's name: Kathleen Pinkman

Designation: The author incorporated a blog project into an integrated-skills foreign language class in a Japanese university.

Background: This project was an out-of-class project aimed at motivating students to take advantage of authentic environments outside the classroom in order to practice language skills and communicate with others. To be specific, this study seeks to determine the usefulness of using blogs in the foreign language classroom, and to assist foreign language professionals interested in developing learner independence in their own learners by using this relatively new computer-based learning forum.

Review:

As stated in the article, the author, Kathleen Pinkman was interested in implementing a blog project into a pre-advanced integrated skills class in order to determine the usefulness of incorporating blogs both in and out of the foreign language classroom, as well as to assist EFL professionals to develop learner independence in their own learners via the publishing of blogs. Other than that, she was also aiming in providing the students with a forum to express themselves, reflect on what had been covered in class, question one another, recycle language, engage in critical thinking and express opinions. A small scale action research study was conducted by focusing more on the qualitative values, involving open-ended interviews with learners in order to determine their perceptions of the educational practice. The research involved 15 students of a Pre-Advanced English class in Kwansei Gakuin University. In relation to how the research was conducted, the students were administered a questionnaire pertaining their attitudes towards technology and blogs. The results from this questionnaires were then used to plan and organize a project which required the participants to utilize blog in the learning of foreign language in and out of the classroom. However, it was revealed from the responses to the questionnaire, that not a single student had ever published or write their own blogs prior to the class, and only two learners had any knowledge of blogs. Above all, all of the learners enjoyed the blog project as they enjoy knowing someone else was reading their blog and thinking about them, reading others’ opinions, communicate with classmates outside of classroom and the learners also mentioned that the comments from the classmates increased their motivation to blog. However, the result of the study show that 8 out of the 10 learners intended to continue blogging even after the semester was over, but only 2 learners were still active 2 months after the semester has ended. Therefore, the objective of this study to encourage learner independence among the students were successfully achieved. The research found that blogging can serve a variety of purposes in the foreign language classroom in authentic, interesting and communicative ways. However, more researches need to be done to determine whether the blogs had encouraged greater learner independence and interest in learning beyond the classroom.

I find this article very interesting and the word “Blog” was of high interest to me. To me, there are so many advantages of having a blog, be it for education, business or for pleasure. Besides, I think the integration of technology in education makes learning process easier and fun. Computer technologies have dramatically changed the way people gather information, conduct research and communicate with others worldwide. In my humble opinion, I think the research has been well conducted by the researcher. However, I am not sure of whether having 15 participants is enough for the researcher to get a good result or outcome. Besides, these students are specially picked from various education background based on their TOEFL score. The reason why these students are specially picked was not mentioned by the researcher herself. However, more researches on the same topic should be done by researchers as this can somehow contribute to the world of education in the later days. Apart from that, I agree with the researcher’s suggestion that another research should be done after the semester has ended in order to determine whether blogging really has the power to encourage learning independence among foreign language learners. This is in relation with the constructivism theory, whereby learning is an active process and not just a passive acceptance of knowledge in the classroom. In Malaysian context, the use of blog is still new compared to the States and all the other emerging countries. Although English is the second language in Malaysia, not all Malaysians have the courage to converse in English. Nevertheless, it is undeniably true that most Malaysians are very competent in term of writing in English. Therefore, the use of English in the learning process can contribute to English learning process in many ways if it is fully utilized. One of the advantages of blogging in educations is it makes learning independent of time and place. Other than that, students have more time to reflect on any topics, makes education demand-oriented and participant-centered as some learners are self-driven and they need freedom in learning and set their own goals. However, in Malaysia, most students have been conditioned with the “spoonfeeding” ways of education. They have to be told what to do by the teachers as supply orientation is still a part of education culture in Malaysian schools. Other than that, the use of blog in Malaysian education will make the learning process more informal. The reality is, most learning in life is informal, yet the majority of learning Ringgits are spent on formal courses which provide the students less motivation in the the learning process. Using a blog encourages people to continuously try things out. In my humble opinion, in the world that is constantly changing, it is riskier to plan, control and do little than to continuously try things out. Personally, I think the research has somehow set a new guideline for the Malaysians in the ESL context. Learning can be made more interactive and fun via the use of blogs and there should be more upcoming ways on how to develop the full potential of using blogs in the learning process.