Blogs and Wiki’s: Tool’s to Improve English Writing of College Level ESL and EFL Students

Richard Bogdan

TECM 4700.001: Writing in the Sciences

October 21, 2015

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Summary

Hundreds of years of linguistic imperialism and the gradual spread of American culture

through literature, academics, music, and film has resulted in English being a dominant

worldwide language. English is often taught as a secondary language in nonnative English

speaking countries due to its appeal in business and academia. However, English is an incredibly

difficult language to learn for most nonnative speakers. Fortunately, as technology continues to

advance, new avenues of learning are becoming available.

Blogs and Wikis

Blogs and wikis allow users to write and publish material on the internet. Their ease of

use requires no knowledge of HTML or other computer writing language. The online nature of

blogs and wikis allow anyone with an internet connection to access them. Authors have to be

attentive of what they post because they do not know who their audience is. Users can add

comments (in blogs) or make changes (in wikis), and therefore have high potential for

collaborative writing. Both blogs and wikis have been used in journalistic and company/business

approaches, however, their use in an educational format (especially with teaching nonnative

speakers English) have little to no research. This white paper goes over the potentials of using

blogs and wikis as a tool to help English as a secondary language (ESL) and English as a foreign

language (EFL) students. By using scaffolding techniques along with blogs and wikis, teachers

can develop course materials that can benefit the majority of their students.

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Background

What Are Blogs and Wikis?

Blogs and Wikis were created in the mid-nineties when the World Wide Web began to

become more widely available to the general public. However, they didn’t start to become

popular until the early to mid-2000’s, and only just recently have started to be used in an

academic environment. Both blogs and wikis are writing tools used to publish writing on the

web. A blog can be defined as a web log, or quite literally a writing log for the web. “The entries

are updated in a linear, time-based way, similar to a personal journal or diary. Additionally the

contents are meant specifically for the public and are presented in reverse chronological order,

with more recent postings on the top and older information pushed to the bottom.” 1 Wikis on the

other hand are “collective websites where a large number of participants are allowed to create or

modify pages using their web browser.”2 Because both blogs and wikis do not require knowledge

of HTML to create content, they are easy to incorporate in a learning environment.

Why Use Blogs and Wiki’s Instead of Standard Academic Writing?

For ESL and EFL students, the standard process of learning to write in English is often

difficult for them. Writing processes such as prewriting, drafting, editing, and publishing may

discourage these students because they “de-emphasize the teaching of grammatical accuracy and

the time-consuming process of multiple drafting may fail to prepare second language (L2)

students for timed writing tests which demand a single drafting product.” 3 Standard academic

1 Sharla Jeannette Jones, Blogging and ESL Writing: A Case Study of How Students Responded to the Use of Weblogs as a Pedagogical Tool for the Writing Process Approach in a Community College ESL Writing Class (The University of Texas, Press, 2006), 102 Saovapa Wichadee, Using Wikis to Develop Summary Writing Abilities of Students in an EFL Class (Bangkok University, Press, 2010) 53 Yu-Chuan Joni Chao, Hao-Chang Lo, Students’ Perceptions of Wiki-Based Collaborative Writing for Learners of English as a Foreign Language (Providence University, Press, 2009) 395

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writing in a typical college level environment generally has one audience that the student is

writing for, and that is their professor and to a lesser extent, their classmates. Because blogs and

wikis are published on the internet, students have to be more mindful to who their audience is.

This encourages them to become more aware of their spelling, grammar, vocabulary choice and

syntax. Finally, both blogs and wikis can be used to encourage collaboration which can “play a

vital role in helping learners to build knowledge and acquire skills that facilitate learners’

integration into given discourse communities.” 4 Collaboration in both blogs and wikis allow

teachers to develop scaffolding techniques for students that best benefit them.

State of the Science

Problems ESL/EFL Students Face in Higher Learning Environments

Teaching English to native speakers, let alone nonnative speakers is a difficult task due to

English's grammatical rules that do not apply to most other languages. The fact that most higher

learning institutions feature a one to many environment; where there is a single teacher for many

students, also creates a problem. Often times the acquisition of a new language is confined to this

environment. Students learn spelling, grammar, and other language skills through lectures,

classroom activities and homework. As a result, “students are often unmotivated in learning a

second language due to being in a restricted environment that is separated from society.” 5 By

using blogs or wikis, the teacher can "extend the discourse to a large community outside of the

classroom, where there students can regularly confront "real" rhetorical situations in a social, and

supportive way." 6 By using this method, ESL/EFL students are learning English in a practical

real world environment instead of the formulaic approach from a textbook or a lesson plan. 4 Maria Kuteeva, Wikis and Academic Writing: Changing the Writer-Reader Relationship (Stockholm University, Press, 2011), 445 Nadzrah Abu Baker, Kemboja Ismail, Using Blogs to Encourage ESL Students to Write Constructively in English (AJTLHE: ASEAN Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, Press, 2009), 456 Jones, 80

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Application of Blogs and Wikis in a Higher Learning Environment

As technology advances, so does the applications to use it. Whereas blogs started off as

online diaries, it didn’t take long before journalists began to use them to spread and share news

and information with one another. From there, blogs and wikis have been used in both business

and personal environments. Employees in a company are able to share files, links, and other

information with one another, while social networking continues to be a thriving industry. The

use of blogs and wikis in an academic setting is continuing to grow, however, there is very little

research of it being used with ESL/EFL students. Although there is currently little research in

this particular field, research that has been found indicates that both blogs and wikis can facilitate

language learning due to their collaborative nature.

Collaborative Writing with Blogs and Wikis

Collaborative writing is writing that involves multiple authors to create a piece of written

work. For ESL/EFL students, collaborative writing proves to be a useful method for process

writing. "The process in group planning, co-creating written work, peer-reviewing, and co-

editing can engage learners to become active and responsible."7 Collaborative writing is also an

essential tool for assisting students through their own zone of proximal development (ZPD). ZPD

is a concept developed by psychologist Lev Vygotsky that is defined as "the gap between what

the learner could accomplish alone and what they could accomplish in cooperation with others

who are more skilled or experienced."8 The teacher can then create individual scaffolding

techniques for students in the hopes of having those students achieve tasks that they couldn't do

on their own, by themselves. The collaborative writing process between blogs and wikis are

different, but they both share the same objective of improving English in ESL/EFL students.

7 Chao, Lo, 3968 Ibid, 396

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Collaborative Writing Benefits of Blogs

Unlike wikis, blogs allow ESL/EFL students to post their own personal views and

opinions on a topic. Acting as an online journal, "blogs allow the learners to participate actively

in their own learning, determine their learning goals, and share their own knowledge and

understanding of the target learning activities." 9 Other students can then reply on the comment,

which promotes interactive discussion and a collective understanding of the subject between the

students. Additionally, "blogs reinforce critical thinking skills by acquainting students with the

basics of internet content development."10 Blogs can also be used as a supplemental aid for

teachers allowing them to view interactions between students. Teachers can then use these

interactions to "create, edit, or delete their teaching handouts such as notes, homework and

review materials."11 This allows teachers to modify their lesson plans so that it becomes

beneficial to a greater majority of students (if not all) in their classroom.

Collaborative Writing Benefits of Wikis

Wikis are highly collaborative making teamwork a necessity for success. Students work

together to produce content and share common objectives when it comes to completing an

assignment. Unlike blogs, collaboration writing in a wiki requires the alteration of a previous

entry, and not just a comment. "Wikis as a medium to focus on language can assist EFL learners

to raise metalinguistic awareness in writing, as the 'history' feature in the wiki lists all the edits in

which changes are highlighted."12 This helps ESL/EFL students identify changes easily due to it

being presented in a noticeable form and creates the opportunity to learn from previous edits.

9 Nadzrah Abu Barker, Hafizah Latif, and Azizah Ya'acob, "ESL Students feedback on the use of blogs for language learning" (University Kebangsaan Malaysia, Press, 2010), 12210 Mah, Boon Yih, and Liaw, Shun Chone ”Bringing Blogs Into ESL Writing Classroom" (Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM, Penang Campus, Press, 2008), 211 Wen-shuenn Wu, "Using blogs in an EFL writing class" (Chung Hua University, Press, 2005), 42712 Chao, Lo, 398

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Benefits of Online Interaction

Due to classroom time restraints, the use of blogs and wikis offer students the opportunity

to continue their classwork from the comfort of their own home. They are able to work at their

own pace, without having to worry about being rushed. I previously mentioned that blogs and

wikis are highly collaborative because they create a shared writing environment. There, students

(and teachers) can offer suggestions, corrections, and give other types of feedback. Because

blogs and wikis are online and open to the public, students learn to develop writing that is

focused on a broader audience, and not just their teacher or classmates. The thought of someone

other than the students' teacher reading their work can lead to better quality work.

Using Scaffolding Techniques

Blogs and wikis alone will not improve English learning and writing skills. Without

proper guidance, blogs and wikis are useless tools for improving English skills in ESL/EFL

students. Scaffolding techniques are often used along with blogs and wikis. Yu-Chuan Joni Chao

and Hao-Chang Lo describe scaffolding as a two-step process. The first step is to provide some

kind of support that exceeds the ESL/EFL students' abilities alone. The second step is to

gradually remove that support as students build up certain knowledge and skills to the point

where they can work independently.13 Using scaffolding techniques are limitless in the learning

environment. A teacher could split students into groups and have them write an entry on a

particular subject in a wiki. The first step would involve students interacting with one another as

they develop drafts and other pre-writing materials. Group interaction allows sharing of ideas

and can alleviate writing anxieties that an ESL/EFL student may face while writing alone. Once

a firm structure is created and the pre-writing phase is over, students' can use the ideas that were

13 Ibid, 396

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developed during the pre-writing phase to write an individual part of the assignment on their

own. This two part procedure allows information to be shared and developed between peers and

later requires students to develop their own ideas on how to apply their knowledge to the final

project.

Future ResearchThe Effects of Peer Editing

Additional research needs to be conducted to see whether or not peer editing between

ESL/EFL students is effective in blog/wiki environments. According to research by Sharla Jones,

she states that ESL/EFL students often feel that they cannot give effective feedback because of

their lack in grammar and vocabulary. 14 Similarly, many of the students lack trust in their

classmates when it comes to peer editing. This might be caused by the absence of face-to-face

interaction in an online environment. Further research needs to be conducted to see whether or

not this is the case.

Suggestion for Research in Peer Editing

Considering that blogs and wikis are open to the public, a practical approach would be to

get outside native English speakers to provide insight. Teachers from the same school can

collaborate and create assignments that benefit their students. Students in the ESL/EFL class can

still participate in their groups to create written content, and the native English students can add

feedback if they notice something that hasn't been suggested or corrected.

ConclusionBlogs and wikis can have incredible potential in helping ESL/EFL students better

understand the English language when used alongside scaffolding techniques. They ease the

14 Jones, 251

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restrictiveness of learning the standard writing process by allowing students to collaborate, and

work comfortably at their own pace. Blogs and wikis only require a computer and internet

connection, allowing students' flexibility in work environment. Despite these advantages, blogs

and wikis have very limited research of them being used to help ESL and EFL students with

English. With English growing and becoming the more prominent language in both business and

academia, I suggest that more time and effort go into investing this cause.

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Bibliography

Bakar, Nadzrah Abu, and Ismail, Kemboja. Using Blogs to Encourage ESL Students to Write Constructively in English. Asean Journal of Teaching & Learning in Higher Education: Universii of Kebangsaan Malaysia, Press, 2009.

Bakar, Nadzrah Abu; Latif, Hafizah; and Ya'acob, Azizah. ESL Students Feedback on the Use of Blogs for Language Learning. The Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies: Universiti of Kebangsaan Malaysia, Press, 2010.

Jones, Sharla Jeannette. Blogging and ESL Writing: A Case Study of How Students Responded to the Use of Weblogs as a Pedagogical Tool for the Writing Process Approach in a Community College ESL Writing Class. The University of Texas at Austin, Press, 2006.

Joni Chao, Yu-Chuan, and Lo, Hao-Chang. Students' Perceptions of Wiki-based Collaborative Writing for Learners of English as a Foreign Language. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group: Providence University. Press, 2009.

Kuteeva, Maria. Wikis and Academic Writing: Changing the Writer-Reader Relationship. Elsevier: Stockholm University. Press, 2011.

Mah, Boon Yih, and Liaw, Shun Chone. Bringing Blogs Into ESL Writing Classroom. Universiti Teknologi MARA: Penang Campus, Malaysia. Press, 2008.

Wichadee, Saovapa. Using Wikis to Develop Summary Writing Abilities of Students in an EFL Class. Journal of College Teaching and Learning: Bangkok University. Press, 2010.

Wu, Wen-shuenn. Using Blogs in an EFL Writing Class. Chung Hua University. Press, 2005.