Learning through Blogging: Understanding Teacher and Student Perceptions towards English Writing Blogs

Abstract

Over the past decade, there have been a number of studies on the influence of student interaction and group work on the one hand, and the employment of Web 2.0 technologies on the other, on the language acquisition process respectively. However, the use of blog, which involves a seamless combination of both group collaboration and Web 2.0 technologies, as a device of language education in the local context has not received the proper attention it deserves. The limited relevant studies focus mainly on either the primary and junior secondary school settings or teacher education at the undergraduate level, leaving a virtually empty page regarding the field of English language education at the sub-degree level. This paper describes and investigates a blog-integrated collaborative writing activity for sub-degree students at a self-financing post-secondary institution in Hong Kong. The discussion focuses on exploring students' willingness to embrace blog as a medium to learn English as a second language and the perceptions of both students and teachers concerning blog writing. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013.