USES OF WEBLOGS IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
Dec 15, 2009 E-Learning/CALL 7347 Views
- A portal to online language learning resources and links appropriate for the level and the needs of the students such as English news sites, online grammar and vocabulary quizzes, ESL interactive websites, audio and video files for listening practice, etc. Vocabulary used in the class can be consolidated and posted where vocabulary words can be linked to definitions on other sites found with a search engine. Crossword puzzles and interesting EFL web-based games and activities can be embedded.
- A platform to encourage students for interactive discussions and to incorporate new acquisitions and new language patterns and phrases encountered in their engagement into making blogposts on their weblogs or on comments made on others. Classroom discussions can be sculpted to improve upon problematic areas through the textual record of the learners’ use of the language provided by the weblogs for reflection on linguistic and cultural understanding. Reading practice can be posted for students’ commentary and written posts in the target language which will be shared and can be commented upon to engage the members of the learning community.
- A convenient hub for information allied to the language course taught such as course content, homework, instructions and reminders, tasks, tips, guidelines, enrichment, etc. Assignments, upcoming discussion topics, class rules, course syllabus and soft copies of lectures can be posted for fast and easy reference and classroom correspondence.
- An e-space to stimulate pre-class and post-class discussion through the blogposts made by either the teacher or the students. Editorials, news and feature articles from local or international dailies, magazines and journals can be posted where contents of the same can be used for focused-writing tasks such as idea outlines, paraphrasing, summarizing, etc. Students may be asked to make a blogpost in short essay form of assigned task or teacher-generated question in response to the contents of any of those articles. Further, English-language movies or video documentaries for particular language learning purposes and those with thematic connection with course content can be assigned for film reviews which can be blogged for feedbacks and interactive exchanges.
- A channel for introverted students to take an active interest in developing language skills and in learning in general when given the opportunity to express themselves through weblogs.
- A free-form online bulletin for blogposts, feedbacks, commentaries, observations, questions, explanations, interpretations and information dissemination. Photographs (photoblog), texts (textblog) and videos (vidblog) relevant to classroom activities can be uploaded for comments and responses.
- An online academic community to foster a sense of belongingness between the members of a class where interactive exchanges are shared; hence, a conducive learning environment.
- A digital portfolio of students’ written work where students can go back to prior written work and monitor the progress they have made in a particular course. Also, exemplars or commendable written works of students can be scanned and published by creating an online magazine or renaming a tab for exemplars to be showcased.
- An electronic diary for students who would love to keep an online journal of their routines, interests, thoughts and feelings, personal concerns, etc. Online journal can be done weekly or bi-weekly with students generating their own topics or meaningful experiences they wanted to post for other members to participate in a largely autonomous forum where they can exchange ideas while practicing previously learned skills.
- Other activities for enhancement can be integrated such as riddles, fables, prose and poetry, quotations, surveys, idiomatic expressions and videos of short interviews, dialogues, book reviews, etc. Moreover, project-based language learning can be facilitated through weblogs where students can be offered an opportunity to develop research and writing skills by being assigned to create an online resource for other online members of the academic community.
Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/e-learning-call/3859-uses-of-weblogs-in-english-language-teaching.html
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