1. Buroni, Andrea
Aplicaciones de la Informática Educativa a la Enseñanza del Inglés
INSPT – UTN 2010
ICT IN ENGLISH TEACHING - 2010
Written Assignment for Final Exam
The internet has changed the way in which people communicate and interact
with each other, basically because it offers a lot of possibilities for networking
and linking and exchanging information with a new community, the online
community. The chapter I will be discussing throughout the current essay is
called “The Use of Weblogs in Language Education” which explores the use
of weblogs and compares them with the traditional paper journal. The author
wonders how far weblogs might modify the writing and reading in a foreign
language and create brand new genres for which learners need novel forms
of literacy. As a consequence, there seem to be a couple of statements to
discuss, such as: “learners are aware of the social interaction taking place
through weblogs and this awareness of audience influences the writing
process.” (Raith, p. 274) The author carried out a research project to find out
whether what I have mentioned before is real or not. Raith’s intention is to
point out that this Web 2.0 application has created a new place in which the
learner can practise the foreign language and take advantage of the fact that
this writing is in constant change because the author and the audience will
construct it together.
In the early days of weblogs, a lot of knowledge in programming was required
in order to operate them. Since 1999, Blogs have become more accessible
and easier to handle. Nowadays, to publish a comment on a weblog turns to
be as simple as to send an email; anybody can do it. As Alby (2007)
observes, “these phenomena go hand in hand with faster internet connections
via broadband and flats rates that are affordable for the masses.”(Raith, p.
275) The blogosphere is growing continuously and this new community is
part of students’ reality and it is useless to deny this up-to-the-minute
approach which requires new teaching methods as well. “Bloggers construct
content, are part of a discourse community, and blogs serve as an important
source of information.”(Raith, p. 276)
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2. Buroni, Andrea
Aplicaciones de la Informática Educativa a la Enseñanza del Inglés
INSPT – UTN 2010
What is the difference between paper journals and weblogs? According to the
author, “the difference is that Web 2.0 is a Read/Write Web, and the reader
can easily interact with the writer or can also become an author.”(Raith, p.
276) Richardson (2006) spots some contrast between blogging and
traditional writing: “Writing stops; blogging continues. Writing is inside;
blogging is outside. Writing is monologue; blogging is conversation.” (p. 31)
And this very last sentence in the quotation shows that weblogs have created
a new form of writing called “writing as social interaction” (Raith, p. 277) which
demands new literacies, called multiliteracies, and generates new genres. All
these demands require specific ways of teaching and learning and educators
should be ready to face them.
Moreover, teachers have to guide learners to see that author and reader of
weblogs become members of a new (online) discourse community, in real
time in which the practice of the writing skill turns out to be secondary
because the objective of the activity tends to be to get ready to interact in real
life. Raith (2009) wonders up to what extent writers are aware of the potential
audience (this unknown/known online reader) of their blogs and if this
awareness affects the writers’ composition positively or negatively. Ward
(2004) mentions that this potential and genuine audience may motivate
learners in the writing process and encourage them to express themselves.
Hedge (2000) also supports this issue of the audience saying that it fosters
good writing because it promotes meaningful communication.
A study was conducted in Germany on a group of students of 9th
grade who
had English as a foreign language in order to measure the influence and
impact of the audience on their writing. The study consisted of 29 cases in
which the students involved had to accomplish the same task: create a journal
about the book If you come softly by Jaqueline Woodson. The learners could
choose to start a paper journal or a weblog where they had to write at least
one post about each chapter of the book for a period of six weeks. The
expected result of this study was to find out “how far students realize the
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3. Buroni, Andrea
Aplicaciones de la Informática Educativa a la Enseñanza del Inglés
INSPT – UTN 2010
interactive character of the Web 2.0 and whether this changes their writing in
terms of connective writing.” (Raith, p. 280)
All in all, the study showed through the reading of the posts1
, guided
interviews and questionnaires that students associated weblogs directly with a
real and immediate audience which influences their writing. Students who
wrote weblogs gave their own personal opinions and feelings in a
considerable higher degree than those learners writing paper journals. It is
said that collaboration and interaction in Web 2.0 are becoming progressively
more important in a globalized world and this networking facilitates learners of
a foreign language to communicate with others. However, it is important to
deem the aspect of content: students should have something to say. The
study has also shown that students who use Web 2.0 applications have their
potential audience. As a conclusion, Raith (2006) claims that “Web 2.0 has
transformed writing, in particular writing in weblogs. Moreover, Web 2.0 has
changed language learning because speakers of a foreign language already
use web 2.0 to communicate meaning and generate content in new genres,
by using the foreign language as a lingua franca.” (p. 289) Educators should
take advantage of these new authentic language practice applications, firstly
by getting involved in this new world and secondly by including them in their
classes.
References:
Thomas, M (2009) Hanbook of Research on Web 2.o and Second Language
Learning. Japan: Nagoya University of Commerce and Business.
1
The term post, in this case, refers to both paper jounal and weblog posts.
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4. Buroni, Andrea
Aplicaciones de la Informática Educativa a la Enseñanza del Inglés
INSPT – UTN 2010
The Future of Technology in ELT
Sharma and Barret (2007) stated that “technology has changed forever what
we do as language teachers” (p. 132) because it has provided teachers and
students with new opportunities to practise and implement the foreign
language away from the confines of the classroom. Technology is in constant
transformation and development which make very difficult to predict what is
coming because the change is inevitable and the technology that you are
using today will be obsolete in a couple of years.
Dudeney and Hockly (2007) mentioned the interactive whiteboard as one of
the newest and most successful technological devices applied to the
classroom. The authors considered that its success can be associated with
the fact that this tool is a combination of a familiar instrument in the
classroom, the board, and a computer which is placed in an invisible role so it
does not interfere in the smooth running of the lesson. Some other
applications are mentioned in this chapter, such as: Web 2.0, virtual learning,
m-learning as regards the future of online learning. (Due to the number of
words that I have to include in this brief piece of opinion, I will not define the
above-mentioned applications.)
Technology is among us and we can not deny its presence; on the contrary,
we should take advantage of the knowledge that our students have in this
field and exploit it.
References
Dudeney & Hockly (2007) How to Teach English with Technology. Malaysia:
Pearson Education Limited.
Sharma & Barrett (2007) Blended Learning: Using technology in and beyond
the language classroom. Great Britain: MacMillan Publishers Limited.
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