Exploring Learners’ Autonomous Abilities in Blogs Designed for Independent Learning
A thesis presented to
the faculty of
the College of Arts and Sciences of Ohio University
In partial fulfillment
of the requirements for the degree
Master of Arts
Nurenzia Yannuar
June 2010
© 2010 Nurenzia Yannuar. All Rights Reserved.
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This thesis titled
Exploring Learners’ Autonomous Abilities in Blogs Designed for Independent Learning
by
NURENZIA YANNUAR
has been approved for
the Department of Linguistics
and the College of Arts and Sciences by
Greg Kessler
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
Benjamin M. Ogles
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
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ABSTRACT
YANNUAR, NURENZIA, M.A., June 2010, Linguistics
Exploring Learners’ Autonomous Abilities in Blogs Designed for Independent Learning
(105 pp.)
Director of Thesis: Greg Kessler
Teachers have always been challenged to integrate technology and teaching; and with the
emergence of Web 2.0, they are allowed to make use of collaborative technologies such
as moodles, wikis, and blogs in their language classrooms (Bloch, 2007; Ducate &
Lomicka, 2008; Kessler, 2009; Kessler & Bikowski, 2010). Most previous research on
the blogosphere discourse was conducted in either a face-to-face classroom or blended
course environment. To fill this gap, this research focuses on a blog that was established
independently and not as part of any language classroom, the British Broadcasting
Corporation (BBC) Language Learning Blog. This study uses Littlewood’s framework to
examine the interaction between teachers and learners of English in blog postings to
identify learners’ autonomous abilities. The results suggest that learner autonomy was not
a static concept, but rather exists on a continuum. Additionally, learner autonomy was
developed when learners accessed the blog voluntarily, posted questions, and replied to
teachers or other learners’ responses.
Approved: _____________________________________________________________
Greg Kessler
Assistant Professor of Linguistics
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DEDICATION
To Eri Yoga Sidharta
Because time has given us a way to eternity…
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am heartily thankful to my committee chair, Dr. Greg Kessler, for his sincere
guidance and encouragement. His extraordinary knowledge and enthusiasm motivated me
throughout the whole writing process. I could not imagine having a better advisor for my
thesis.
I am also very grateful to have Dr. Dawn Bikowski on my committee. I really
appreciate her tremendous help. Her thoughtful comments and feedback helped me
complete a thesis that I can be proud of.
I would like to thank Dr. Peter Githinji, my committee member, for his great
support. His insightful ideas have been very valuable for me.
I am also indebted to my teachers in the Linguistics Department of Ohio
University, Dr. Hiroyuki Oshita, Dr. Scott Jarvis, Dr. Richard McGinn, Dr. Harry
Aveling, Dr. Liang Tao, Dr. Ludmilla Marchenkova, Dr. Michelle O’Malley, Dr. David
Bell, Dr. Alla Zareva and also the other members of the Ohio University Department of
Linguistics for their guidance, patience, understanding, and inspiration.
I owe my deepest gratitude to my parents, Nurhadi and Sri Endah Tabiati, and my
little sister, Devi, for always being there for me. I would also like to thank all of my
friends in Ohio University and the United States, for their support, love, and friendship.
Finally, I would express my deepest appreciation for my Fulbright advisors both from IIE
and AMINEF.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Abstract ............................................................................................................................... 3 Dedication ........................................................................................................................... 4 Acknowledgments............................................................................................................... 5 List of Tables ...................................................................................................................... 8 List of Figures ..................................................................................................................... 9 Chapter 1: Introduction ..................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Literature Review ............................................................................................ 17 Web 2.0 and Blogs ........................................................................................................ 17 Web 2.0 in Language Classrooms ................................................................................ 19 Blogging Alternatives in Language Classrooms .......................................................... 24 Autonomy in Language Classrooms ............................................................................. 25 Traditional Views on Language Teaching .................................................................... 28 Teachers’ Feedback to Students’ Writing ..................................................................... 30 Chapter 3: Methodology ................................................................................................... 32 The BBC Language Learning Blog .............................................................................. 33 The Content of the BBC Language Learning Blog ...................................................... 34 Teacher Blog Section .................................................................................................... 35 BBC Learning English Teacher Blog Participants ....................................................... 37 Research Questions ....................................................................................................... 38 Procedure ...................................................................................................................... 38 Chapter 4: Findings ........................................................................................................... 41 The Language Questions Learners Asked .................................................................... 41 Form .......................................................................................................................... 42 Meaning-Related ....................................................................................................... 50 General Questions ..................................................................................................... 54 Idioms/Expressions ................................................................................................... 58 Vocabulary ................................................................................................................ 61 Old English ............................................................................................................... 63 Writing ...................................................................................................................... 65 Speaking .................................................................................................................... 66 7
Questions that Initiated Ongoing Discussions .............................................................. 67 Responded to by Other Learner Questions ................................................................... 71 Ignored Questions ......................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 5: Discussion ....................................................................................................... 81 Language Questions Learners Asked in the Blog ......................................................... 81 Most Popular Questions ............................................................................................ 81 Reasons for Asking Language Questions ................................................................. 83 Language and Technology ........................................................................................ 86 Teachers’ and Learners’ Interaction within the Blog ................................................... 87 Ongoing Discussion Questions ..................................................................................... 90 Learners’ Autonomy ..................................................................................................... 91 Creating a More Autonomous Environment ................................................................. 93 Pedagogical Implications of Research .......................................................................... 95 Suggestions for Further Research ................................................................................. 96 References ......................................................................................................................... 98 8
LIST OF TABLES
Table
1. Focus of the Language Questions Distribution ........................................................42
2. Form Questions ........................................................................................................43
3. The Distribution of Responses in Form Category ...................................................50
4. Meaning Related Questions .....................................................................................51
5. The Distribution of Responses in Meaning Related Category.................................54
6. General Questions about Language Learning Strategies or Tools...........................55
7. The Distribution of Responses in General Questions Category ..............................57
8. Idioms/Expressions Questions .................................................................................58
9. The Distribution of Responses in Idioms/ Expressions Category ...........................61
10. Vocabulary Questions ..............................................................................................62
11. The Distribution of Responses in Vocabulary Category .........................................63
12. Old English Questions .............................................................................................64
13. The Distribution of Responses in Old English Category .........................................64
14. Writing Questions ....................................................................................................65
15. The Distribution of Responses in Writing Category................................................66
16. Speaking Questions..................................................................................................66
17. The Distribution of Responses in Speaking Category .............................................67
18. The Distribution of Ongoing Discussion Questions ................................................68
19. Ongoing Discussion Questions ................................................................................69
20. Questions that were Responded to by Other Learners .............................................72
21. The Distribution of Questions that were Responded to by Other Learners .............72
22. Ignored Questions ....................................................................................................73
23. The Distribution of Ignored Questions ....................................................................80
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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1 Entries in Teacher Blog Section ........................................................................36
Figure 2 Comments in Teacher Blog Section ..................................................................37
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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Technologies are seen as important in our daily life. Almost every aspect of
modern human life is interconnected with technology. Within the last decades,
communication technology has developed very rapidly. Technology enhancement has
introduced us to the era of mobile communication, allowing people to be connected to
each other at anytime and anywhere through cellular phones. People now perceive
technology and communication as two elements that are closely related to each other and
are very enthusiastic about any new forms of communication technology. Most people
have lost their awkwardness with technology by intense use of simple forms of
communication technology in their life.
Apart from cellular phones, the Internet is considered the core of modern
technology for communication. Since its introduction in the late 1970s, it has grown to be
a tool that shapes the face of world communication. The world has become more
connected and integrated. Vossen and Hagemann (2007) mention that the flat world has
allowed people to “interact, play, do business with each other, and collaborate” no matter
where they reside (p. 7). In other words, numerous business accomplishments,
negotiations, and understandings are said to have been achieved with the help of
affordable Internet service.
The Internet is a growing technology, and within its development over the past
two decades it has been through a lot of changes. Web 2.0 is probably the most discussed
Internet form. It is a result of a series of innovations that finally resulted in a medium by
which people could not only socialize and interact, but could also participate and
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contribute. Web 2.0 technology includes different website content, and as Vossen and
Hagemann (2007) summarized, this content can be categorized into: (1) blogs and wikis
and (2) social networks.
Social networks reached top popularity within the last five years. Sites like
Friendster, Myspace, and Facebook dominate the lives of many people who use social
networking to either maintain or seek friendships with both old and new friends. On the
other hand, user-generated contents like blogs and wikis are used mostly to express ideas
and creativity. Blog and wiki users utilize the media to solicit feedback from other
Internet users. Through the process of participating in the website and receiving
feedback, people are engaged in some form of communication.
Communications that are generated in the above-mentioned medium is referred to
as computer-mediated communication (CMC). CMC is divided into synchronous and
asynchronous CMC (Godwin-Jones, 2003). Blogs are asynchronous CMC because the
communication within them is not done in real time.
Asynchronous CMC has been a focus in teachers’ attempts to integrate
technology in language classrooms. Kol and Schcolnik (2008) analyzed the use of
asynchronous forum discussions to assess students’ writing in the context of English for
Academic Purposes (EAP). The study shows that students sensed that their writing skills
improved, although, interestingly, empirical data show that their skills did not improve
significantly. Bloch (2007) investigated the potential of blogging to improve students’
writing skills as well as their awareness of plagiarism. Dickey (2004) assessed the
advantages of asynchronous CMC in web-based language classrooms.
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Such research supports the general idea that technology may have some
unexplored positive implications in the field of language teaching. Hanson-Smith and
Rilling (2006) mentioned that “technologies have been co-opted by the field of education
in general, and TESOL in particular” (p. 1). According to Hanson-Smith and Rilling
(2006), Shetzer and Warschauer (2000), and Thatcher (2005), modern technology has
changed the face of language teaching and language classrooms in general. Language and
technology skills are seen as integrated skills needed by students and teachers in order to
compete in the global job market. The global demand of the future job market is getting
more significant; that is why there is no escape from the advancement of technology. The
solution to meeting the aforementioned market is to master both language and
technology. Therefore, integrating technologies in language classrooms should be
considered as more than a mere option. Rather, it is the new modern approach in the
field.
Language teachers have shown their enthusiasm in finding the best way to teach
language by applying different forms of technology in language classrooms (see Bloch,
2007; Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Kessler, 2009). Technology should help teachers not
only to introduce something new, but it should also “be added even for things that could
be done with paper and pen, because the innovation in the process, or the appeal of the
tool itself, leads to motivation, involvement, and learning for most students” (Almeida
d’Eça, 2006, p. 172). This leads to the proposition that teachers are expected to be both
creative and innovative in finding and designing classrooms that are technology-friendly.
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Hanson-Smith and Rilling (2006) mention three basic ways teachers can
incorporate technology in their language classrooms. First is the implementation of
technology for administrative affairs, like contacting students and parents through email
and preparing lesson plans and syllabi (see Bloch, 2002; Dahlman & Tahtinen, 2006;
Stevens, 2006). Another use is called blended practice, referring to the implementation of
technology in face-to-face language classrooms. Here technology is used to facilitate the
process of language learning, but teachers’ presence is still needed to guide students (see
Almeida d’Eça, 2006; Bloch, 2007; Chang, 2005; Ducate & Lomicka, 2008; Kessler,
2009). A third use, called distance practice, is a complete online course. The learning
process is conducted through various multimedia technologies such as video conference
tools and course management systems (Dickey, 2004; Gommlich & Minick, 2006; Trites,
2006).
A blog, a category of Web 2.0 technology, receives special attention from
language teachers because of its character as a tool with which “people can easily and
freely express themselves” (Vossen & Hagemann, 2007, p. 49). Blogs can be accessed
freely as long as the user has a computer and Internet connection, meaning that the
technology is affordable and anyone can have access to it. Thus, it is affordable to be
enrolled in a blog, be a blogger, or to read a blog. The idea behind the optimism about
blogging and language improvement is that a blog can serve as a medium by which
language learners can practice their L2 in order to communicate with other participants.
Furthermore, a blog can be a source of language exposure for students of English
who live in countries where English is a foreign language. Some research has found that
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one success factor of language learning is the exposure of students to the target language
(Hale, 2006). In such countries, students cannot find situations where they can practice
English, and most of the time must practice the target language in unnatural situations
like classrooms. But when they have access to blogs, where people are really writing for
communication and expression, students are exposed to the living language of English.
Some research has tested how blogging can function in language classrooms. Xie
and Sharma (2004) discussed blogs and their relation to reflection strategy, while Ferdig
and Trammel (2004) measured the relationship of blogging and self-reflection. Both
studies incorporated blogs in real classrooms. Differing from previous research, the
current study analyzes blogs as an independent language-learning tool for the
development of language learners’ autonomy.
Egbert and Hanson-Smith (1999) listed learner autonomy as one of the main
considerations when teachers are preparing an ideal language learning situation. It was
listed along with the fact that learners: have opportunities to interact with each other and
negotiate meaning, interact in the target language with an authentic audience, are exposed
to and encouraged to produce varied and creative language, have enough time and
feedback, are guided to attend mindfully to the learning process, and work in an
atmosphere with an ideal stress or anxiety level, while learner autonomy is supported.
In an attempt to identify learner autonomy in an independent blog, this research
focuses on one language learning blog, the BBC Language Learning Blog. The researcher
came across this blog while exploring many blog options in order to investigate how
blogging may be effective in promoting autonomy in language learning. According to
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Hurlburt (2008), one key evidence of a successful blog is the fact that it is continuous and
has a lot of comments. The BBC Language Learning blog shows all these facets.
However, even if a blog is considered successful in terms of continuity, there is no
guarantee that it would be a perfect medium to also promote learner autonomy.
The first aim of the research is to examine the posting of entries and comments in
the teacher blog section of the language learning blog set up by the BBC in 2006. By
focusing on the learners’ comments in response to the teachers’ entries, the study reveals
what language questions students ask in the blog. The research focuses on the questions
that actually lead to ongoing discussions. This refers to questions to which the teacher
responds, generating further questions from the students. The idea is that ongoing
discussions are important because they show that students are motivated to know the
answers and to ask more questions or are motivated enough to just say thanks and inform
the teachers that the answers helped them improve their language skills.
The research also aims to understand whether learners communicating in the blog
demonstrate autonomy as discussed in Littlewood’s (1996) framework. The framework
describes autonomous learners as those who are able to take independent action for the
purpose of learning improvement. According to Littlewood, autonomy is shaped by the
two components of ability and willingness. Previous research has utilized the framework
to analyze students’ autonomy when using the collaborative tool, wikis, in writing classes
(Kessler, 2009; Kessler & Bikowski, 2010). This current research also wants to look at
how autonomy is demonstrated by language learners in a collaborative medium, a blog,
but in different situations. In the two previous studies, the research was conducted as part
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of a language classroom, but in this research, the blog is the only medium by which
learners interact with teachers and each other.
Further, the research is concerned with how the findings of the study can be
generalized to language learning and teaching. The implication of the study can include
ideas to make the utmost use of an asynchronous CMC element for language learning
purposes and concepts to what extent technology as an independent tool outside the
classroom can be used for language learning.
The sections that follow will include a summary of related prior research, an
explanation of the method of analysis and the corpus that will be used, a section devoted
to description and discussion of the results, and finally, the conclusions and implications
of this study.
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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
Web 2.0 and Blogs
A discussion about blogs would be appropriate only when we understand Web
2.0 technology, which has become very popular recently. Harrison and Barthel (2009)
credit Web 2.0’s popularity to its nature, which encourages people to be actively engaged
in building content. Web 2.0 users can actually expand their role as participants, since
they are allowed to construct materials within the site and collaborate with other users
(Bloch, 2007; Sykes, Oskoz, & Thorne, 2008).
O’Reilly (2007) defines Web 2.0 as different from Web 1.0, in that it is more
profound than the latter. Generally, content can be included within the Web 2.0 paradigm
when they possess the following characteristics: being updated frequently, developing
when used by many people, consisting of various data from different sources, and
embracing personal participation as well as communal collaborations (O’Reilly, 2007).
De Moor and Efimova (2004) emphasize that blogs are essential components of Web 2.0,
as they were introduced to be utilized individually, but have grown to be part of CMC.
Blood (2002) refers to a blog as “a frequently updated webpage with dated
entries, new ones placed on top” (p. ix). In other words, a blog is a website in which
people can share their opinions with others in the online world. The newest writing is
shown first, and people can scroll down the page to see previous posts (Thorne & Payne,
2005)
However, Murray and Hourigan (2008) argue that it is difficult to come up with
one single definition of blogs. They argue that “weblogs are currently multi-use in format
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and thus have evolved beyond the original perception as being mere journal entries” (p.
83). Gomez (2005) suggests that a blog is basically a scrapbook where the owner is able
to display writings and pictures, with hyperlinks connected to other websites. He further
describes blogging as the process and events that occur within the blog, while the blogger
is simply one who is involved in blogging activities.
In its role as a writing tool, a blog shows the characteristics of a journal, allowing
bloggers to record their ideas (Gomez, 2005). This is in line with Powazek’s (2002)
opinion that a blog is a forum for bloggers to write their ideas when they do not know
where else to express them. They can jot down any ideas in their own spaces, their own
blogs.
Warschauer (2009) suggests that blogs integrate the two necessary elements of a
democracy: a newspaper and a town hall. A newspaper is needed to spread ideas, while a
town hall is a place where people can all gather and listen to each other. The blog is the
medium of the future; opinions written in blogs can be easily accessed by anyone and
discussions can take place within them. However, as a new media form, a blog shows its
merits as its contents are decided by its participants, referred to by O'Reilly (2007) as
collective intelligence, whereas information in a traditional newspaper is mostly decided
by only its editors and reporters.
Blogs are seen to have features similar to those of wiki (Godwin-Jones, 2003).
Blogs and wikis are new communicative and collaborative technologies added to the list
of first-generation communicative technologies like emails, discussion forums, and chats.
However, second-generation blogs and wikis are more sophisticated because they use
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extensible markup language (XML), which allows bloggers as well as site visitors to
comment on the posted entries and links (Gomez, 2005). According to Kern, Ware, &
Warschauer (2004), blogs’ entries and comments are able to promote learners’ interaction
with teachers for language learning purposes.
Web 2.0 in Language Classrooms
As language teaching needs to present a balance between theory and practice,
Laurillard (2002) writes that teachers are expected to make sure their students are to
practice their skills beyond the limited academic setting. To achieve this goal, teachers
can introduce students to the experience of communications mediated by electronic tools
and the Internet. According to Thorne and Black (2007), the availability of and easy
access to electronic media and communication tools should be perceived as “language
learning opportunities for students who are expected to navigate increasingly mediated
social and professional worlds” (p. 133).
Further, Thorne and Black (2007) propose three different contexts in which
technologies have been employed in second language curricula: (1) an “intraclass and
interclass communication” context, in which technologies are used to facilitate either
interaction inside certain classroom or interaction between two or more separate
classroms; (2) “organized transnational partnerships and structured participation in
noninstitutional settings,” a context in which language learners interact with people from
different countries using the second language (as can be seen in Elola & Oskoz, 2008);
and (3) an independent context, in which students are engaged in “internet-mediated
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environments that are not, or are only indirectly, linked to instructed second language
(L2) contexts” (Thorne & Black, 2007, p. 134).
Language teachers and instructors have attempted to design or research more
advantageous language learning environments within these three contexts. However, for
the purpose of the current research, this section of the literature review will provide a
more focused explanation of the first and third contexts mentioned above.
In the context of intraclass communication, teachers use technologies in
collaborative classroom situations (see Kessler, 2009; Kessler & Bikowski, 2010; Sykes,
Oskoz, & Thorne, 2008). In fact, Sykes et al. (2008) underlined that wikis and blogs “are
arguably the most commonly used Web 2.0 tools in L2 education” (p. 540). Kessler
(2009) suggests the possibility of integrating a wiki as a medium for students to
collaboratively construct a writing piece in order to improve their understanding of
grammar and accuracy in form. Forty pre-service NNS teachers in a Mexican university
participated in the study and reflected in a collaborative wiki on what they learned in
class. Interestingly, the findings show that students paid more attention to meaning than
form.
Blogging is thought to accommodate better understanding of students’ writing
progress (Bloch, 2007). Bloch’s (2007) study aims to show ESL/EFL teachers how
blogging can help their students develop writing skills. For this purpose, he investigated
several blog entries by Abdullah, a Somalian immigrant student taking an academic
writing class. As the class was primarily designed to discuss plagiarism, Bloch argues
that blogging helped develop students’ awareness of that issue. Analyzing Abdullah’s
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class blogs, the author discovered that blogging had bridged the student’s vernacular
knowledge of spoken L2 and the formal written discourse he was learning. As a result,
his academic writing continuously improved. This result is in line with Ferdig and
Trammel’s (2004) study that teachers can use blogs in writing class as a medium in
which teachers and students interact, implement supplementary materials, and write their
reflections.
No matter how great the potential of using blogs in language classrooms is,
teachers should be aware of some circumstances where blogging might not lead to
successful learning. Stanley (2006) described that a teachers’ immediate response to
learners’ posted entries defines the success level of blogging in language classrooms.
Almeida d’Eça (2006) contributed the next essential element of blogging in language
classrooms, persistence. The researcher’s first attempt of providing a blog in her language
classroom was disappointing, mainly because she failed to encourage students to remain
active. She concluded her study by emphasizing, “for students to get involved in a blog,
they needed both an authentic reason to participate and some face-to-face incentive”
(Almeida d’Eça, 2006, p. 166).
However, it is also claimed that blogs are useful in distance learning
environments. Dickey’s (2004) study provided empirical data that blogs implemented in
web-based language classrooms can overcome students’ loneliness and alienation in
distance learning contexts. Focusing on the perceptions of students who were trained to
be K-12 teachers, the study discussed how blogs are able to provide a medium for them
to communicate and improve their sense of togetherness. In relation to students’
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perception of blogging, Xie and Sharma’s (2004) study was meant to assess students’
experiences and perceptions of the technology feature as they were asked to maintain
blogs during a graduate course. Findings showed that blogs are “helpful for learning,
reflecting, and building a sense of community” (p. 840).
Campbell (2003) mentioned three different approaches to integrating blogs into
language classrooms: tutor blogs, student blogs, and class blogs. The tutor blog allows
the teacher to manage lesson plans, syllabi, and assignments. Class blogs serve as a
medium for both teachers and students to interact. Students are allowed to post their
reflections on what they learned in class. And finally, the learner blog refers to an online
space for learners to write on any topic of their own interest.
Stanley (2006) added teacher blogs to Campbell’s list above, as those that focus
on the teachers. A teacher uses a “teacher blog” for “self-reflection, as learning journals,
and also for recording Web site links and information” (Stanley, 2006, p. 189).
According to Stanley, a teacher blog differs from other teaching journals because it
allows readers to comment and share ideas about teachers’ teaching reflections. This
study, however, focuses on a still different type of blog, which might be termed an
independent learning blog, unrelated to any face-to-face classroom. Rather, the blog
focuses on learners who voluntarily read and participate. This form of blog apparently
corresponds to Thorne and Black’s (2007) third context of relating technology and L2
learning. It referred to as called independent context, in which learners are exposed to a
language learning process when they use Internet to communicate outside language
classroom circumstances.
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Similar research focusing on the relation of independent communication tools in
the Internet and L2 learning was carried out under the initial proposition that the booming
quantity of media attracts more internet users (Jenkins, 2006; Thorne, 2010). Thorne and
Black (2007) emphasized that as society has been introduced to the new media literacies,
learners must be familiar with the idea that “life and learning are not composed of
isolated or strictly isolatable moments and spaces” (p. 143). Learning can take place
outside the classroom, especially in computer-mediated communication situations, even
when the participants themselves do not recognize the learning process they have
performed within the context.
A study of language use in a multiplayer online game was conducted and showed
the interesting observation that participants of the game were engaged in a multilanguage use environment without even realizing it (Thorne & Black, 2007; Thorne,
2010). The observed medium was World of Warcraft, a very popular massively
multiplayer online game (MMO). The focus of the study was the interaction between two
players who came from different countries and spoke different first languages (L1), one
from America, and the other from Ukraine. Thorne (2010) described how the American
player was trying to communicate to the Ukrainian player using Russian phrases he had
just learned from a friend. Interestingly, the Ukrainian player was responding by asking
how accurate his English was in his posts. Thorne and Black (2007) analyzed this
situation as valid support for the argument that “the conversation was naturally occurring
and unconstrained by the fabricated (if also developmentally useful) patterns
characterizing much instructed setting discourse” (p. 148).
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Blogging Alternatives in Language Classrooms
The previous sub-section of this literature review has attempted to describe how
Web 2.0 technology, especially blogs, fits for language learning. This sub-section will
further explain several ways to make blogging in language classrooms successful.
Sykes, Oskoz, and Thorne (2008) mentioned that a synchronous form of CMC
can be used to enhance the collaborative element of Web 2.0 technologies like blogs and
wikis. They explained that either Skype or Voice Direct could be embedded in any
language classroom blog or wiki in order to promote more interaction between the
participants. In one of the collaborative classroom activities conducted in their
institutions, the teacher paired up a group of students to work on the content of the
writing project through an asynchronous wiki, and also encouraged them to revise and
discuss the process through the synchronous program Voice Direct.
As blogging has evolved into something more than just putting ideas in written
form, teachers should know different ways to create more successful blogging activities
in their language classrooms (Elola & Oskoz, 2008; Sykes et al., 2008). Stanley (2006)
and Almeida d’Eça (2006) suggested several ways of expanding the benefits of such
integration, by audio blogging and videoblogging. Sykes et al. (2008) also referred to
these activities as “multimedia blogging”, which basically consists of “audioblogging,
moblogging, and vlogging” (p. 533).
Audioblogging and moblogging propose the idea that students can use their
mobile phones, cameras, cellphones or other portable communication tools to upload real
time recordings and pictures in order to help enhance their discussions within the
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asynchronous medium (Godwin-Jones, 2006; Stanley, 2006; Sykes et al., 2008). Also
presented was the idea of videoblogging or vlogging, when students are asked to record
their expressions or ideas by using video to be uploaded within the Web 2.0 medium.
These activities can be employed as separate from the traditional blogging activity
(mainly focused on written products); when they are used as part of traditional classroom
blogging, they will help learners accommodate more language learning presentations,
discussions, and collaboration. The synchronous tools will help present and clarify
certain points that are not easily discussed through the written text medium. Having
discussed blogging through various different perspectives, this literature review will
continue with the discussion on autonomy.
Autonomy in Language Classrooms
One element that is used to measure learners’ success is whether or not they have
become autonomous learners; therefore, learner autonomy should also be promoted as an
explicit goal of teaching and learning (Little, 1995). Autonomous learners are described
as those who are able to take responsibility in setting up their own learning strategies
(Dickinson, 1996; Little, 1995). As part of the important attempt to promote autonomous
performance of the target language, teachers need to enable their students to be aware of
their learning strategies (Kupetz & Zeigenmeyer, 2006).
Kessler (2009) examines language students’ autonomy as they interact through
collaborative writing in classroom wikis. Kessler’s study underlines that in order to
promote autonomy, teachers need to create an environment that de-emphasizes their own
role; rather, students should be encouraged to initiate collaboration on their own. This is
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in line with Little’s (1995) argument of what it means to be autonomous, “the
autonomous learner tends to integrate whatever he or she learns in the formal context of
the classroom with what he or she has already become as a result of developmental and
experiential learning” (p. 175).
Along the lines of the features of blogs discussed in the first sub-section of this
chapter, several researchers (Blood, 2002; Godwin-Jones, 2006; Oravec, 2002) have
proposed the idea that blogs can enhance autonomy. Blog entries encourage students to
be more observant of their environments (Blood, 2002). The subsequent comments will
accelerate students’ critical thinking (Oravec, 2002). Bloch (2007), Sykes et al. (2008),
and Thorne and Payne (2005) emphasized that the pedagogical purpose of a blog is its
ability to turn students from mere consumers into contributors to the online world.
Ducate and Lomicka (2008) investigated how blogging in the classroom can
advance “ownership and creativity” (p. 24). In the two-semester project, students’ literacy
development was assessed as they read and wrote weekly blogs. The findings showed
that writing about more personal topics provides the “opportunity to guide their own
learning,” which results in increasing students’ language competence and confidence (p.
24).
According to Littlewood (1996), students’ autonomy can be defined as their
“ability and willingness to make choices independently” (p. 427). He sees three essential
elements: “autonomy as a communicator, autonomy as a learner, and autonomy as a
person” (p. 431). This current study will focus on autonomy as a learner, accommodating
students’ competence to immerse themselves in a self-initiated learning environment and
27
to practice “appropriate learning strategies, both inside and outside the classroom” (p.
431). The most important concepts of autonomy are motivation, confidence, knowledge,
and skill; however, autonomy as a learner can be achieved when those concepts are
combined with pertinent learning strategies and independent work. Implementing such a
framework, this study will assess autonomy by classifying language-focused interactions
according to ability and willingness. The concepts of motivation and confidence are
related to students’ willingness, whereas knowledge and skills are related to their ability.
This approach will allow an examination of the autonomous use of blogs by language
learners.
Littlewood’s (1996) framework of autonomy can help researchers assess how
language autonomy is promoted in collaborative language classroom activity (Kessler,
2009; Kessler and Bikowski, 2010). Kessler’s (2009) study found that students as
participants of a wiki construction showed their ability (knowledge and skills) by taking
part in the wiki activity; however, the other component of autonomy, willingness
(motivation and confidence), was not employed when they were expected to also focus
on the accuracy of the forms. This was because students thought they did not have to pay
attention to grammar problems because of the informal nature of the medium.
Further, Kessler and Bikowski (2010) studied how autonomy is developed in
language learning mediated by technology. In order to clarify the difference between
autonomy for learners in classroom situations and autonomy for learners in computermediated situations, their study resulted in a proposed extension model of Littlewood’s
(1996) original framework of autonomy. The new framework combines Littlewood’s
28
outline and Levy and Hubbard’s (2005) outline for bridging the gap between the
electronic media and learners, in which autonomy as a collaborative learner develops
along with autonomy as a learner, a person, and as a communicator. All are connected to
the most significant factors: willingness and ability. These elements are connected to the
computer in a multidirectional way and then lead to the learning objectives. During the
whole learning process, learners interact continuously with teachers, peers, and other
materials (Kessler & Bikowski, 2010).
Traditional Views on Language Teaching
Traditional language teaching views grammar as the most important foundation of
acquiring a second language. According to Krashen (1992), “not long ago, it was thought
that formal grammar instruction was the only means of developing second language
competence” (p. 409). Krashen argues that focusing on the teaching of grammar will not
ultimately improve students’ second language proficiency because it will only function as
a monitor. Nassaji and Fotos (2004) explained that many researchers now believe that
“formal grammar lessons would develop only declarative knowledge of grammar
structures, not the procedural ability to use forms correctly” (p. 127). Currently most
scholars agree that a second language is most easily acquired when grammar is taught in
a natural learning environment, but further reconsideration in the field proposes balanced
grammar teaching, that is a combination of explicit and implicit grammar (Spada &
Lightbown, 2008).
Communicative language teaching (CLT) invites students to interact while also
focusing on meaning. As part of CLT, content-based instruction (CBI) is also designed to
29
focus on content and disregard several language features and patterns (Spada &
Lightbown, 2008). However, linguists have found that meaning-only instruction is not
successful in most language teaching situations. Spada and Lightbown (2008) concluded
in their research that the best way to teach grammar is by combining focus on forms
(isolated grammar teaching) and focus on form (integrated grammar teaching), or in other
words, communicative language teaching should not neglect a focus on grammar. Similar
research has been conducted in order to measure the best method of teaching other skills
in the area of language learning. However, most of them explore the issues either from a
technical perspective or from the teachers’ perspective.
Christison and Krahnke (1986) presented a study assessing how students
perceived academic study. In this, the focus of the study was on students’ perceptions.
The study was conducted using open-ended interview sets of questions, given to 80
nonnative-speaker students studying in the United States. The results of the study showed
that the most difficult language skill area is writing, whereas, grammar, speaking, and
listening were said to be the easiest skills to learn. On the other hand, the most interesting
skills are speaking and reading as opposed to grammar, the least interesting subject.
Beyond grammar, writing, speaking, and listening, a more specific language area
is idioms (see Guion, Flege, & Loftin, 2000; van Weijen, van den Bergh, Rijlaarsdam, &
Sanders, 2009). Laufer’s (2000) study concerns the relation between learners’ first
language (L1) and second language (L2) in determining their difficulties in learning L2
idioms. Having compared the degree of similarity and difference of both L1 and L2, she
proposed that differences between the two languages did not result in idiom avoidance.
30
Teachers’ Feedback to Students’ Writing
Teachers can give feedback to students in the form of either written or oral
feedback, but surveys have shown that most students prefer written feedback (Hyland &
Hyland, 2006). According to Riazi (1997), students agree that feedbacks given in the
form of comments benefits their L2 development.
Within blogs, comments posted on each entry can be viewed as a form of
feedback in writing assessments. As Hedgcock and Lefkowitz (1996) have indicated,
most students favor teachers’ feedback to emphasize grammar, content and ideas.
Therefore, successful comments in blogs implemented by language teachers should
include both content and language focus.
Whether or not teachers’ responses should include both content and language
focus has been a concern in the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other
Languages (TESOL). According to Ferris and Hedgcock (2005), teachers should not
necessarily comment on every mistake made by their students, but rather focus on
specific areas to avoid confusing students. However, the authors argue that distinguishing
between comments on content and language focus can be problematic, since the two
areas are related to each other. For example, students’ errors in using the correct verb
tense and inflection may affect readers’ interpretation of “the time frame or immediacy of
the action” (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005, p. 200). Therefore, teachers are challenged to
integrate explicit comments on form with “strategy training to build independent selfediting skills” (Ferris & Hedgcock, 2005, p. 200). Ashwell’s (2000) research emphasizes
evidence that combined feedback on content and form improved L2 learners’ language
31
skills as shown during the revision session. Thus, it may be wise to underline that it is
not suggested that teachers follow the traditional instruction of separating content from
form in an attempt to give valuable feedback.
The above discussion emphasizes several suggestions on how teachers may
choose to interact with students in written media. However, it is also worth describing
how students actually use written media as a medium of communication. Lee’s (2001)
study on how students interact in an online medium of writing noted their concerns of
meaning as they study Spanish as their second language. In order to achieve mutual
understanding, they “tended to use more comprehension checks, clarification checks,
requests and self-repairs to negotiate with each other” (p. 252). According to the study,
students’ use of communication strategies in the observed context was comparable to
those they would use when they interacted in person.
To summarize the literature review, I underline that blogs are a new form of
collaborative technology that can benefit learners’ language skill improvement when
implemented in language classrooms. Based on their characteristics as online journals,
blogs have been used in either face-to-face or blended writing classes. However, this
study is interested in examining how autonomy is demonstrated in a particular blog,
outside any classroom. The study will utilize Littlewoods’ (1996) framework, which
states that autonomy is constructed of “ability and willingness” (p. 428). Ability consists
of knowledge and skills; willingness is described as motivation and confidence.
32
CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY
The study investigates learner autonomy demonstrated in the entries and
comments of a particular language-learning blog, the BBC Learning English Blog. The
particular blog was chosen because it had shown the qualities of a successful blog.
According to Hurlburt (2008), the number of comments often marks the level of success
in the teachers’ attempts to implement blogs in language classrooms. Given that this blog
was not part of a language classroom, the number of comments and entries in it could be
especially perceived as a sign of success.
On average, there were around ten posted entries every month. In total, there had
been approximately 450 entries posted from June 2006 to February 2010. Each entry had
received more than five comments from learners, which created a large amount of corpus
data.
The success level of the BBC blog also refers to Almeida d’Eça’s (2006) point of
view that the key element of a successful blogging activity in classroom is persistence.
No matter how great the blog when started, the medium will not lead to a successful
learning process if it is not available for a certain amount of time. The first post started in
June 2006, and had been maintained up to now. In other words, the blog had been active
for five years, evidence of its persistence. For the purpose of this research, I include
entries and comments that were posted from June 2006 to February 2010.
33
The BBC Language Learning Blog
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website (http://www.bbc.co.uk)
included several different links: home, news, sport, radio, TV, weather, and languages.
The language section was entitled BBC Learning English, which explicitly stated the
purpose of the blog, to help readers or visitors learn English from wherever they reside.
The Learning English page consisted of several blocks that included different ways of
learning English. Some of them were quizzes and games, Youtube videos, words used in
world news, and blogs. Under the Community block, visitors were linked to the Learning
English Blog page. The blogging section attracted many visitors because it contained a
medium for teachers and learners to be able to interact in a forum. Learners who came
from countries where English is a foreign language perceived the forum to be a unique
chance for them to communicate with authentic users of the language.
The BBC Learning English Blog focused on two different sections: the student
blog and the teacher blog. The student blog invited one learner each month to post entries
and let teachers and other learners respond by posting comments. The teacher blog
worked differently by inviting a different teacher every two months to post entries.
Therefore, the teacher blogger was allowed to post his or her writings for the whole two
months before another teacher took over. For example, Alex Goch was the teacher
blogger in April and May 2007, but Jo Kent was the teacher blogger in June and July
2007. The study focuses on the interaction within the teacher blogger page.
34
The Content of the BBC Language Learning Blog
There were two important elements of a blog: posts or entries and comments.
Kuhns and Crew (2006) underlined post as the principal text of a blog page. The format
of the post was normally similar in each blog, and it included “a headline, link to the
main source or web page under discussions, a description of the material, commentary,
image or photo, permalink or quotations from the original source” (Kuhns & Crew, 2006,
p. 4). Bloggers could arrange the usage of those components to their own preferences.
They were free to experiment with anything within the blogosphere. In order not to
confuse the above element with posted comments, this recent study uses the term entries
instead of posts.
The entries in the BBC blog had different topics; most teacher bloggers were
interested in talking about their days, experiences in foreign countries, British culture,
and some tips and tricks to learn English better. Some teachers even posted quizzes and
questions related to learning English at the end of their entries. The entries were arranged
chronologically, with the most recent at the top of the page (Blood, 2002). This way, the
visitors were directly presented to the recent entries, but they would be able to access the
former entries if they scrolled down the page. The entries were categorized based on the
months and the respective teacher blogger.
The second core element was comments, which provided blog visitors a space to
write their responses to each posting. Visitors were usually asked to give brief
demographic information (name and email address). Most blogs will directly show
visitors’ comments as soon as they are posted, but some blogs hide the newly posted
35
comments until the creator of the blog approves them. Kuhns and Crew (2006) noted that
blogs’comment is “a link to a supplemental area containing a response box where readers
can leave their comments” (p. 4). Visitors to the BBC blog could post their comments
after entering their name, email address, and their current location. The demographic
information was then shown under their comments. Posted comments were stored under
each related entry.
Kuhns and Crew (2006) noted that the way entries and comments are arranged
resembles the script of a conversation. Thus, the interaction in a blog was a form of
asynchronous CMC.
Teacher Blog Section
Within the teacher blog section, each teacher entry was arranged chronologically,
with the most recent at the top of the page. While the page would show the blogger of the
current month, readers were also able to see the list of all previous bloggers. Figure 1 and
2 illustrate the entries and interactions depicted in the teacher blog.
36
Figure 1. Entries in teacher blog section.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/teacher/
37
Figure 2. Comments in teacher blog section.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/teacher/
BBC Learning English Teacher Blog Participants
In this study, bloggers who posted entries in the teacher blog section and had the
role of instructor were referred to as teachers, while those who posted comments
following teachers’ entries were called learners. Meanwhile, visitors included anyone
who read the entries but left no comments.
The teachers were assigned the role by the BBC Learning English blog. The home
page of the BBC Learning English blog specified that the role of the teachers was to
38
respond to the student blogger who posted entries in the student blog section and provide
the student blogger with specific suggestions in order to improve the bloggers’ writing
skills. However, in general, teacher entries were not always related to the student blog.
Teachers’ entries were generally independent from student blogs.
This study, thus, explores the interaction between teachers and learners of English
as they discussed language questions that were posted by learners into the comment
section of the blog. In analyzing the interaction, the study focuses on several questions
mentioned in the following section.
Research Questions
The study is guided by the following research questions:
1. What types of language questions do learners ask?
2. What types of language questions initiate ongoing discussion?
3. What are some ways in which learners demonstrate autonomous abilities in an
independent learning blog?
Procedure
The study focuses on the interaction of teachers and learners shown in the teacher blog
section. The research includes entries and comments from the first month the blog was
established, June 2006, to February 2010. There were more than 450 comments and 900 entries
within the blog. In order to answer the above research questions, entries and comments were read
carefully and the researcher collected 100 language questions that were posted as learners’
comments.
39
After finding several types of language questions initiated by the students, the
researcher classified the language questions in tables. The classification emerged from
the type of language questions. I did not set a pre-classification; therefore, the
categorization was emergent.
The next step was to observe the response of each language question. The
questions that were responded to were marked R, while the ignored ones, questions that
received no reply either from teachers or other learners, were marked I. Further, questions
that led into ongoing discussions were marked O. Another one is RL, questions that were
ignored by the teachers but responded to by other learners.
A separate table was then created to pattern the responses of each language
questions classification. In order to answer the second research question, a similar table
was also used to clarify which language questions mostly lead to ongoing discussions.
In an attempt to understand learner autonomy, this study utilized Littlewood’s
(1996) framework. It defines autonomy as a learner’s capacity to “make and carry out the
choices which govern his or her actions” (p. 428), and is constructed by ability and
willingness. Both concepts are related, because some learners may be able to determine
their own learning strategies, but they might not be willing to actually perform them. On
the other hand, some learners might be very persistent in attempting to improve their
skills and independently make learning choices despite their lack of ability (Littlewood,
1996). As mentioned in the literature review, ability consists of knowledge and skills,
while willingness is motivation and confidence. Classifying the language questions and
related ongoing discussions helped distinguish these components. Asking language-
40
related questions in a blog, which was not intended to be part of a formal classroom, can
be a sign of willingness. The resulting ongoing discussion can suggest a further stage of
learners’ ability and willingness. The framework predicts that once learners are able to
develop their knowledge and skills, they will express more confidence in performing
independent learning strategies and, consequently, the strategies will be more effective as
learners become more confident (Littlewood, 1996). The ability of learners to
demonstrate autonomy based on this framework will be discussed in detail in the
discussion section of this thesis.
41
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS
In this chapter, I will present the findings of the research that was done in order
to answer these following questions: 1) what types of language questions do students ask,
2) what types of language questions initiate ongoing discussions, and 3) what are some
ways in which learners demonstrate autonomous abilities in an independent learning
blog?
In order to answer the above research questions, 100 token questions were
collected and categorized in different sets of tables. The tables are presented in this
section, and they will be followed by descriptions of the observed situation. The
categorization also includes the types of responses given to the particular questions. That
way, readers can have a better understanding of how the computer-mediated
communication took place in the observed medium.
The Language Questions Learners Asked
The result of the study shows that the types of language questions that learners
asked within the teacher blogger section of the BBC blog include eight different
categories. The following table shows the distribution of the language question types of
the 100 collected tokens.
42
Table 1
Focus of the Language Questions Distribution
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
Type of Questions
Form
Meaning-Related
General Questions
Idioms/Expressions
Vocabulary
Old English
Writing
Speaking
Number of Questions
47
17
12
11
7
2
2
2
Percent of Language Questions
47%
17%
12%
11%
7%
2%
2%
2%
Interestingly, the table shows that almost 50 % of the language questions were
related to form, 17 % were meaning related, dealing with students’ difficulties in
understanding teachers’ posts. Twelve percent of the tokens were general questions,
focusing on how students could improve their English proficiency in general. Eleven
percent of the language questions were on idiom or expressions, followed by seven
percent vocabulary questions; that was when students had questions about certain words
and their meanings. Two percent of the language questions were about Old English. The
rest of the classifications show two percent of writing and speaking questions. The
following sessions discuss these distributions in details.
Form
The results suggest that form seemed to be the most interesting language area for
language learners. From the 100 tokens collected in this study, 47 questions dealt with
form. That means that almost 50% of the total language questions were on forms. The
term form was chosen in order to refer to the nature of the questions that were related to
43
the rules of the target language. The questions that can be classified as form questions are
illustrated in Table 2.
Table 2 and the following tables in this chapter include learners’ language
questions posted in the blog. Some of the questions might be written not in the proper
format of a question. However, they were categorized as questions because they were
seeking teachers’ explanation. It is also worth noting that the questions are repeated here
without being edited for grammatical and spelling problems.
Table 2
Form Questions
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
Questions
Can we say that we have
internet connection in our
flat? Connection instead
of connected
I’ll be grateful if you can
explain how to aboid
he/she and
himself/herself in the
previous sentence
“Tom Hanks being a
good actor” How does
the word being appear?
Where is the subject for
the phrase “will have a
great number…”?
Phrases like “the
more…the more” sounds
complicated. Can you
give more explanations?
Wouldn’t it be easier to
spell politicing and
frolicing instead of
frolicking and
Name
TinaSlovenia
Type
Form
Responses
Responded
Diema
Form
Responded
WaraponThailand
Form
Responded
Sev
(Vietnam)
Form
Ignored
Diema
Form
Responded to by
other learner
Adek-Poland
Form
Responded to by
other learner
44
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
politicking?
I find some picnic
expressions like to “go
on picnic” or to have
picnic, but nothing like
“to go picnicking”
I feel so confuse about
the double negative
sentence. Can you
elaborate?
“Britain’s Prince Harry
to serve in Iraq”. I notice
the use of an infinitive
form in headlines. Why
and where from?
“She’s has two children-a
boy and a girl”. Is it
normal? The ‘s after she
doesn’t mean has?
I have a question
regarding the use of get. I
often find it confusing to
use it. Would “get +verb,
be+verb/get/verb” be the
correct formula?
Why some sentences in
English finished by “to”?
Rachel, in your blog you
said “adore” is one of
those verbs that is
followed by verbing not
to verb. Would you like
to explain the reasons for
that?
What is the difference
between had to-shoulddo-perform-have to and
should?
Was arrested and was
being arrested. Which
one is correct?
Dear Rachel, Thanks for
your explanations,
always useful and very
Yen-Pham –
China
Form
Ignored
MelodyChina
Form
Ignored
RomanaItaly
Form
Responded
Ale-Italy
Form
Ongoing
Naheed Pakistan
Form
Ignored
EmatKazakhstan
MitsutoshiJapan
Form
Ignored
Form
Ignored
MitsutoshiJapan
Form
Ignored
Paul-China
Form
Ongoing
Daniela
Form
Responded
45
17
18
19
20
21
clear. I'd like to ask you
about your second
sentence: is "a
uncountable" correct? I
thought the indefinite
article "a" must be used
in front of words
beginning with "u" only
when they have the same
(consonant) sound as in
"university." But maybe
I'm wrong! I look
forward to your reply.
What is the correct
structure in the use of
hardly and subject +
verb+ hardly or subject
+hardly +verb?
Could you explain the
structure "to which" in
the sentence of we
celebrated York St John
becoming a university;
independent of the
University of Leeds, to
which it has been
affiliated for many years.
...Thank you for your
help
You said in the sentence
I mention, my question
about the verb-mention,
should it be in the past
form mentioned?
Please, explain whether
the word “another” is
singular, plural, or both.
It really looks like having
derived from the words
“an other”
“Here she is with Santa
Claus”. In this sentence
you used the simple
Oscar
TorresColumbia
Form
Ignored
MandyHuangzhou
Form
Responded
Salah- Libya
Form
Ignored
Rles
StephensGhana
Form
Ignored
MauricioBrazil
Form
Responded
46
22
23
24
25
26
present tense, I found it
curious because you were
referring to a past scene.
But I guess it's because
you were describing what
was happening at the
moment the picture was
taken, was it?
May I ask you two
questions, Helen? What
is the difference between
until and before? What is
the difference between
until and by? I appreciate
it if you explain these
two questions to us.
Thank you.
Why you put two verbs
(go and finish) together
in the sentence?
Hi Helen! It´s me again.
Could you please tell if
it´s possible to use 'but'
and 'though' in the same
sentence. I thank you in
advance. Ana Paula.
The question is why you
use present verb in this
sentence’ My in-laws are
over from India for a few
weeks'. I think it should
be used a past verb. I am
not intending to be rude
to you but my silly
curiosity always causes
me trouble a lot. Thank
youxx
There’s a typo in your
grammar section you
might want to correct.
You wrote “Are you use
to playing a lot of sport?
I’m not”. Should be
“used” of course. What
Sunny-China
Form
Responded
Hyoshil-UK
Form
Ignored
Ana Paula
Form
Responded
Hyoshil-UK
Form
Responded
JG-Europe
Form
Ignored
47
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
do you think about that?
I saw a little typing error
in the end of your blog. It
should be: “make the
most of it”. But actually,
I am not sure about it.
What do you think?
Simon, could you please
tell me about the usage of
perfect tenses?
However, one point in
your post I still can’t
understand: the meaning
of “ I can’t recommend
*ing enough”. Could you
please clarify this a bit?
I have a little problem
with prepositions, and I
don’t know if I used the
right preposition in the
comment that I sent you
today. Could you help
me?
There are some missing
words in your posts? The
posts seem awkward.
Can you explain?
What is the difference
between exact same
meaning and exactly
same meaning?
Why you hyphenated
current-day. Is it
compound adjective?
How many auxiliary
verbs are in English
grammer ?
Secondly, practice makes
perfect. I am confuse. I
don’t know how to make
sentence with the verb
“make”
I have a question that
how many auxiliary
Huang Jing
Jing
Form
Responded
NatashaBelarus
Form
Ignored
Daria-Russia
Form
Ignored
Ana PaulaBrazil
Form
Ignored
Kristi and Jill Form
Responded
Kristi
Form
Responded
Kristi
Form
Responded
KailaraiNepal
Form
Responded
Benka-Serbia Form
Ignored
Maqsood
Ali-Pakistan
Ignored
Form
48
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
verbs are there in English
grammar?
Is it practise make perfect
or practice makes
perfect?
I don’t understand the
difference between have
to-must- need to for
something under
obligation and is “have
to” stronger than need to?
How to use some of the
auxiliary verbs such as
“ought to” “need to”
“bear to”. I am confuse
about even these words
In this context, you used
an expression. “Ooh,
aren’t I evil, Naheel,
Why do you use are
instead of am?
I think verb follow
subject I should be am.
So why do use “ are”
here?
What is the difference
between “but it DOES
BRING me on my…”
and “ it BRINGS me on
my…”
What is the difference
between adjective and
adverb?
I have difficulty
understanding the
meaning of “ain’t no”
I am confused of the use
of ain’t and aren’t I
Greedy, is it adjective or
noun?
I am confused about the
way you used articles in
these two sentences:"...
it's the longest day of the
Lisa
Form
Responded
UddhavIndia
Form
Responded
Kailarai
Form
Ongoing
Steve WangTaiwan
Form
Responded
QuynhVietnam
Form
Responded
Marin-Spain
Form
Responded
UddhavIndia
Form
Responded
ThomasChina
Form
Ignored
SamiirEthiopia
Rocio
Form
Ignored
Form
Responded
Form
Responded
BenkaSerbia
49
year - because at this
time of year..." and "...the
Summer Solstice is the
most important day of the
year." You used the
article 'the' twice with the
word 'year' and once you
did not. Why? I am
expecting your answer.
Thank you.
Table 2 includes the 47 questions related to form. The questions being asked by
the learners in this category suggest the various skill levels of the learners. Some of the
form questions were basic questions, for example the question asked by Lisa (no 37): “Is
it practise make perfect or practice makes perfect?” But some of them were advanced
level questions, for example the question asked by Romana (no 9): “ ‘Britain’s Prince
Harry to serve in Iraq’ I notice the use of an infinitive form in headlines. Why and where
from?”
Aside from suggesting the variety of learners’ language skills, the questions also
showed specific characteristics. Some of the questions focused on class of words, for
example the question asked by Uddhav (no 43): “What is the difference between
adjective and adverb?” Some other questions were about sentence structure, as shown in
the question asked by Oscar Torres (no 17): “What is the correct structure in the use of
hardly and subject + verb + hardly or subject + hardly + verb?” The other focus of the
form questions in Table 2 was tenses, for example the question asked by Natasha (no 28):
“Simon, could you please tell me about the usage of perfect tenses?”
50
The type of teachers’ responses to the questions was divided into four categories,
as is shown in Table 3. The categorization is also used in the distribution tables of other
language question types, and they include: responded to questions, ignored questions,
ongoing questions, and questions that were responded to by other learners.
Table 3
The Distribution of Responses in the Form Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
23
19
3
Responded to
by other
learners
2
Total
47
Almost 50% of the learners’ form questions were responded to by the teacher
blogger, which shows that teacher and learner’s interaction was mostly built upon form
questions. Only 19 questions were left ignored, meaning that they did not receive any
response from the teacher. However, three questions led to ongoing discussions and two
questions were considered to be interesting and were responded to by other learners.
Meaning-Related
The findings show that there were 17 language questions related to meaning. This
conveys the assumption that these learners read the entries posted by teachers carefully
and actually responded to them. As they became more engaged with the topic of the
entries, they felt that they needed to understand the entries well. It appears that when they
were confused they perceived that the best way to fully comprehend the blog’s post was
51
by posting comments and waiting for the reply from the teachers. The questions that can
be classified as meaning-related questions are illustrated in Table 4.
Table 4
Meaning Related Questions
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
Questions
Will you give some more
examples about this
phrase?
Could you explain the
expression at the end of
your note?
I didn’t understand the
meaning of “there isn’t a
room to swing a cat”
What did you mean about
the dog “only ever turns
left”?
I didn’t quite catch up
with the phrase “blind
date”. Would you please
spare little time explain
for me? Thank you
beforehand.
I wanted to know what
do we mean by the term
“time bending”?
I don’t know the meaning
of the expression “the
best of both world”. Can
you give further
explanation?
I got different point of
‘always’ and ‘ever’,
different than your
explanation. What do you
think?
Teachers often say “you
hardly work”. I think I
Name
NaseemIndia
Type
Responses
Meaning-Related Responded
BeatrizUruguay
Meaning-Related Ignored
Rosalba-Italy Meaning-Related Responded
BeatrizUruguay
Meaning-Related Responded
Jerry-China
Meaning-Related Responded
Sanjay
Thakur
Meaning-Related Ignored
Danielle
Meaning-Related Responded to by
other learner
Stella –UK
Meaning-Related Ignored
Bob
Cockrun-
Meaning-Related Ignored
52
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
work hard but I think this
means I do almost no
work! Please advise?
What does the title mean
of back up blog?
Sundowner?
I don’t understand the
meaning of this sentence:
“but for a penny in for a
pound”
Actually I am still not
very much sure the
meaning of “I do have a
strong bond”
What is the meaning of
your title “in answer to
your questions”?
What does last thing at
night mean? Does it
mean before the
beginning of the night
(twilight) or before the
night’s end (dawn)
What does it mean by
I’ve got that Friday
feeling?
What does it mean by “in
terms of…”
By the way, may I ask
you another question? I
heard about "She's
daddy's daughter" or
"daddy's little girl" when
I listened to some radio
programme the other day.
What does that imply? Is
she a girl who is
dependent on her daddy
emotionally? Or else?
Thank you very much. I
am eagerly looking
forward to and really
appreciate your answers.
Best wishes.
Jakarta
DusanSlovakia
Meaning-Related Responded
NesrineAlgeria
Meaning-Related Ignored
Ming-China
Meaning-Related Ignored
Meliss-China Meaning-Related Responded
AhmedMorocco
Meaning-Related Responded
MelissaChina
Meaning-Related Responded
Ruth
Meaning-Related Responded
ThomasChina
Meaning-Related Ignored
53
An overall observation to the language questions included in Table 4 suggests that
learners asked the questions in order to comprehend the teachers’ post and come to an
understanding. For example are these following questions:
a) “I wanted to know what do we mean by the term ‘time bending’” by Sanjay
Thakur (no 6).
Sanjay came up with the question above because the learner did not understand
the term “time bending” that was used in the teacher’s post to express the
teacher’s concerns of not having enough time to finish all his or her work. The
term turned out to be too difficult to comprehend, and as soon as Sanjay realized
this difficulty, the learner began to look up the meaning. Sanjay specified: “All
search engines have disappointed me to get to know the meaning of term. I hope
you will be a great help thank you!” After using several search engines on the
Internet, he decided to ask the teacher in the hope of finding better explanations to
learner’s questions.
b) “What does the title mean of back up blog?” by Dusan from Slovakia (no 10).
The question above was posted under a post that was entitled “Back Up Blog”.
Dusan, the learner, was actually able to understand the post, as the learner was
interested in having a back up blog beside the existing primary blog. However,
Dusan was not sure of the term “back up blog” that was used by the teacher in the
title. Dusan was concerned by the possibility that if he or she misunderstood the
title, the learner would also misunderstand the whole post.
54
The types of teachers’ responses to the meaning related questions were divided
into four categories, as is shown in Table 5.
Table 5
The Distribution of Responses in Meaning-Related Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
9
7
0
Responded to
by other
learners
1
Total
17
There were nine meaning-related questions that were responded to by the teacher,
which shares almost the same percentage of the questions that were ignored.
Interestingly, none of the questions led to ongoing discussions, and other learners
responded to only one of them. This is to be expected, because they asked the meaningrelated questions mostly in order to receive clarification from the posts posted by the
teacher.
General Questions
There were eleven questions that can be considered as general questions. Learners
asked this type of question when they wanted to know several strategies and ways to
improve language skills. Table 6 is comprised of questions within this category:
55
Table 6
General Questions about Language Learning Strategies or Tools
No Questions
1
I don’t know how to
improve listening. Do
you have some
suggestions?
2
Is there a way where I
can improve my skills
or have a check if my
documentation is free
of silly errors?
3
I just read and
understand the context.
I never tried to
understand the
grammatical part of the
language. Is it anyway
to help improving my
language?
4
Could you please give
me some ideas which
help me to improve my
speaking and writing
English language?
5
When I make
comments I get
confident to write in
English. Still I don’t
take risk to write using
new words and phrases
to show better English.
Do you have any
suggestions?
6
I am used to write new
word, idioms,
expression in a file into
personal computer, but
I haven’t found the way
to rightly classify them.
Do you have some tips?
7
Hi, is it possible to
Name
FannyHongkong
Type
General Question
Responses
Ignored
Anand-India
General Question
Responded
Paulraj-India General Question
Ignored
Santi-NL
General Question
Ignored
Paulraj-India General Question
Ignored
Sergio M Milan
General Question
Responded
Antonio-
General Question
Ignored
56
8
9
10
11
12
improve my spoken
English using Skype? I
can’t afford expensive
English lessons
For the last “R”. I am
not sure I have
understood what you
meant! Did you mean
that we must use what
we learned with friend
on internet, to check
our fluency, didn’t you?
I would like improve
my spoken English via
internet. Is it possible
using Skype or other
VOIP program?
When I learn a verb I
always try to learnt it
with the preposition/s
that can be used with it.
Do you think it’s a
good way to learn it?
I want to know if there
is a place here to chat
(speaking) in english
like i was used in
paltalk ?
Thank you for your
advice!! I would like to
ask you if you can post
a blog about using the
most useful phrasal
verbs, help me!! Have a
nice day
Italy
WahibMorocco
General Question
Responded
Anton
General Questions
Ongoing
CristinaBuenos
Aires
General Question
Ignored
ShlomiIsrael
General Question
Ignored
AntonioItaly
General Question
Ignored
Table 6 includes 12 general questions, which were concerned with learners’
interests in improving their language skills. Those questions indicated their curiosities of
new form of technology, for example the question asked by Antonio (no 9): “I would like
57
improve my spoken English via internet. Is it possible using Skype or other VOIP
program?” Similar questions relating to technology and language learning in general
included technologies such as Skype, Internet, VOIP program, chat, paltalk, and blogs
(see questions no 7, 8, 9, 11, and 12). It is worth noting that there were two specific
questions related to the use of Skype to improve learners’ speaking skills.
Other questions in the general category indicated learners’ curiosities of different
skills in English. Table 6 includes one question on listening (no 1), three writing
questions (no 2, 4, 5, and 6), and two questions on form (no 2 and 10). The questions
have similar characteristics, in which they focused on applicable strategies to benefit
learners’ independent language learning process. Table 7 describes the distribution of
responses in general questions category.
Table 7
The Distribution of Responses in General Questions Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
3
8
1
Responded to by
other learners
0
Total
12
Table 7 shows that most general questions given by learners were ignored. Out of
12 general questions, only three questions were responded to by the teachers, while the
other eight were ignored. However, there was one question that led to ongoing
discussion.
58
Idioms/Expressions
The fourth most commonly expressed type of language questions was
idioms/expressions. The questions that can be classified as idioms/expressions are
illustrated in Table 8.
Table 8
Idioms/Expressions Questions
No
1
2
3
4
5
Questions
Could you tell in what
situation we can use
have been such as the
beginning of your blog
“I have woken up this
morning”?
Could you explain me
in which situations take
care is acceptable?
Take care!
Long time no see is not
a proper English
compared to “ I haven’t
seen you for a very
long time” Which one
do I have to use?
Please, I have a
problem with head off
to..you used in your
blog. What does that
mean?
Helen, I learnt all the
idioms in “take” but
“takeover” was new to
me, I learnt the
meaning of that. Due to
the economic crisis,
most of the companies
take over employees to
Name
Ruth
(China)
Type
Idiom/Expression
Responses
Ignored
DiemaBulgaria
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
ThiambengMalaysia
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
FelicitasGermany
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
Tiasha
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
59
6
7
8
9
10
11
early retirement. I don’t
know, is the sentence
fragment is right?
When you want to
communicate someone
to someone else you
say “ I”ll get you
through to her/him” is
it right?
To start with, could you
explain if the last
phrase “yours very
femininely” is a
common one in
English. What does it
mean?
I’d like to raise a
question about an
expression I’m not sure
whether it’s right or
wrong: “prepare an
exam”. Can we say it?
Or, it is not right
according to
collocation rules? Bye.
There are some
expressions I don’t
understand. Could you
please tell me if they
are common or just
style?
When we say sit,
obviously it implicitly
means down, then why
are we saying sit down.
Isn’t it look redundant?
Could you give me a
favor and translate
from English to
English: “try to get the
ball rolling”
ChristinaBuenos
Aires
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
DiemaBulgaria
Idiom/Expression
Responded
Oscar-Peru
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
KristiFrance
Idiom/Expression
Responded
Vijay-India
Idiom/Expression
Responded to by
other learner
Ewa
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
60
An overall observation to the language questions included in Table 8 suggests that
learners asked the questions when they had difficulties in understanding
idioms/expressions used by teachers. For example are these following questions:
a) “Please, I have a problem with head off to…you used in your blog. What does
that mean?” by Felicitas (no 4).
In her comment, Felicitas mentioned that the learner really liked the topic of the
teacher blog, which was on the teacher’s holiday at a beach. In that post, the
teacher used “head off to…” several times. Felicitas noticed this and thought he or
she needed to understand the expression. Felicitas later explained, “My Oxfort
dictionary couldn't help me. Maybe you can explain why you used it?” After
looking up a reliable dictionary and still finding no answer, the learner decided to
post the question under the teacher’s post.
b) “To start with, could you explain if the last phrase ‘yours very femininely’ is a
common one in English. What does it mean?” by Diema (no 7).
Diema came up with the question because he or she did not understand the phrase
used by the teacher, Jo Kent, in the end of her entries. Diema was confused, as the
learner had never heard of the phrase before. The teacher responded in her next
post, explaining that the phrase was related to the previous discussions about the
advantages of being female and not male. The teacher thought the phrase would
sum the discussion up nicely.
There were three other questions that were raised by idioms/expressions used in
the previous teachers’ posts (see no 1, 5, and 9). However, the rest of the questions in
61
Table 8 were not related to teachers’ posts. For example is the question asked by
Christina (no 8), “When you want to communicate someone to someone else you say ‘I”ll
get you through to her/him’ is it right?” The teacher did not mention the expression in the
previous blog entry.
Table 9 describes the distribution of responses for idioms/expressions questions:
Table 9
The Distribution of Responses in Idioms/ Expressions Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
2
8
0
Responded to
by other
learners
1
Total
11
Similar to the responses received by the language questions in the general
questions category, most questions in the idioms/expressions category were ignored by
teachers. Eight questions were ignored and two questions received responses; however,
one question was responded to by other learner.
Vocabulary
This research also categorizes language questions as vocabulary questions. The
questions in this category are those that were produced by learners when they had
problems at the word level. The questions are presented in Table 10.
62
Table 10
Vocabulary Questions
No Questions
1
I have read that there are
twelve words for fog in
English. Could you
mention the more
common of them?
2
What is smog
3
What is the difference
between picture and
photo?
4
What is jargon? Explain!
5
I am not sure about the
difference between
review and regurgitate
6
I also have the problem
with lay and lie. Thank
you for your explanation
7
Talking about Chinglish,
I encountered a few sign
boards at a out-patiant
department of a
Provincial hospital in my
City. While three rooms
are meant for
observation, dressing
AND rescue of the
patients respectively, the
English translations are
"OBSERVE THE
ROOM", "HANDLE
THE ROOM" and
"RESCUE THE ROOM".
Another very big
restaurant has an English
sign board writen as "...
HOTEL", although it has
not even a single
bedroom. What do you
think?
Name
Diema
Type
Vocabulary
Responses
Ignored
Vera
James WuTaiwan
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Ignored
Responded
Benka-Serbia
DusanSlovakia
Vocabulary
Vocabulary
Responded
Responded
Upw, Sweden
Vocabulary
Ignored
ZongChengChina
Vocabulary
Ignored
63
The above table presented six questions where learners were having problems
with several words in English. Most of the questions show learners’ problems in
differentiating two similar words, as can be seen in questions three, five, and six. The last
question on Table 10 shows the learner’s interest on the use of some words in China,
which were different than the learner’s understanding of the words.
Table 11 describes the distribution of responses for vocabulary questions:
Table 11
The Distribution of Responses in Vocabulary Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
3
4
0
Responded to
by other
learners
0
Total
7
Only seven questions in the findings can be categorized as vocabulary questions,
and four of them were ignored by the teacher bloggers. None of the questions led to
ongoing discussions and none of them were responded to by other learners.
Old English
It is appealing that some of the language questions can be categorized as Old
English Questions. This means that students were interested in knowing the history of the
language that they were learning. Thus, it may be safe for us to assume that the learners
who posted this question had high level of English, and they had come to a level where
they needed to know more about the language. The questions are presented in Table 12.
64
Table 12
Old English Questions
No Questions
1
On reading English
prose from the 18th
Century I was surprised
to find the phrase “do
not seemed” written
several times, which to
me sounded like wrong
English. Teacher, do
you think it is really
wrong?
2
Can you explain some
English used by
Shakespeare?
Name
Anun
Type
Old English
Responses
Ignored
Phu
Old English
Ongoing
The first question in this category dealt with a phrase from a prose that was
written three centuries ago. He was curious about why the phrase was considered to be
correct, because it was considered to be wrong currently. And the second question was an
explicit question asked by a learner who was curious about the English spoken during the
era of Shakespeare. Table 13 describes the distribution of responses for Old English
questions.
Table 13
The Distribution of Responses in Old English Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
0
1
1
Responded to
by other
learners
0
Total
2
65
Based on Table 13, learners asked two questions in Old English category. One
question was ignored by the teacher, and one question led to ongoing discussions.
Writing
From 100 tokens that were collected during the study, only two language
questions were concerned with writing skills, and they are presented in Table 14.
Table 14
Writing Questions
No Questions
1
I can’t understand the
function of the
semicolon in your
sentence. Please
explain it to me.
2
I have one doubt about
effective writing, that
small sentences are
effective or multiple
small sentences with
connecting words (like
using clause) are
effective?
Name
Type
Daniela-Italy Writing
Responses
Responded
Manas-India
Ignored
Writing
The writing questions included in the above table were related to punctuation and
sentence length. The first question was related to the teacher’s previous post; Daniela
realized her problems with semicolons when the learner read the teacher’s entry and
could not comprehend why it was used. However, the second question seemed to not
have been related to what the teacher had mentioned in the blog’s post. Table 15
describes the distribution of responses for writing questions:
66
Table 15
The Distribution of Responses in Writing Questions Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
1
1
0
Responded to
by other
learners
0
Total
2
One writing question received a response from the teacher, whereas the other did
not receive any response.
Speaking
It is interesting that despite the fact that the nature of a blog is writing, still some
learners were interested in posting questions related to speaking. The questions
categorized as speaking questions are presented in Table 16.
Table 16
Speaking Questions
No
1
2
Questions
How do you pronounce
your name, /niula/,
/nala/?
When somebody says
how do you do, what
am I supposed to reply?
Name
Pilar-Spain
Type
Pronunciation
Responses
Responded
Dew-India
Speaking
Ignored
The first question on Table 16 was related to pronunciation, which specifically
addressed the proper way of pronouncing the name of the teacher blogger. Meanwhile,
67
the second one was related to the proper way of replying to common utterances like how
do you do? This learner likely wanted to be able to communicate naturally, and which
was why the learner asked the teacher the acceptable way of responding to such a
question.
Table 17 presents the distribution of responses to speaking questions:
Table 17
The Distribution of Responses in Speaking Questions Category
Responded
Ignored
Ongoing
1
1
0
Responded to
by other
learners
0
Total
2
One of the speaking questions was responded to, while the other one was left
ignored by the teacher. None of the questions led to ongoing discussions or were
responded to by other learners.
Questions that Initiated Ongoing Discussions
The second research question in this study is to understand which type of
language questions led to ongoing discussions. The ongoing discussion question refers to
the situation where someone responded to a learner’s question, and a learner came back
to respond to their answer.
68
Table 18
Distributions of Ongoing Discussion Questions
Form Questions
Old English
General Questions
3
1
1
The majority of the ongoing discussion questions fall under the category of form
language questions. Form has long been the focus of Second Language teaching (Spada
& Lightbown, 2008; Nassaji & Fotos, 2004).
There were 48 questions about form, and the teachers responded to 24 of them.
This means that half of the questions were responded to by the teachers, although only
three of them led to ongoing discussions. However, considering that there were only five
ongoing questions, and three of them were form questions, it could be inferred that formrelated issues are the topic that would most probably lead to ongoing discussions.
Table 19 includes the five questions that initiated the ongoing discussions.
69
Table 19
Ongoing Discussion Questions
No Questions
1
“ She’s has two childrena boy and a girl”. Is it
normal? The ‘s after she
doesn’t mean has
2
Was arrested and was
being arrested. Which
one is correct?
3
How to use some of the
auxiliary verbs such as
“ought to” “need to”
“bear to”. I am confuse
about even these words
4
I would like improve my
spoken English via
internet. Is it possible
using Skype or other
VOIP program?
5
Can you explain some
English used by
Shakespeare?
Name
Ale-Italy
Type
Form
Type of Responses
Ongoing
Paul-China
Form
Kailarai
Form
Ongoing, also
responded to by
other learner
Ongoing
Antonio
General
Questions
Ongoing
Phu
Old English
Ongoing
Table 19 only includes the initial questions of the learners; however, the flow of
the ongoing discussions will be briefly shown in the following discussion.
The first ongoing discussion on form was asked by Ale. Ale’s initial question was
posted to a short quiz on grammar given by the teacher blogger in the blog’s entry. Ale
thought that the teacher’s sentence was peculiar. He specified, “I found a strange thing, in
an example they wrote ‘She's has two children – a boy and a girl’. Ale then asked if the
apostrophe ‘s meant has. Following Ale’s initial question was a response by the
managing staff of the BBC blog, “You're absolutely right, Ale. We'll correct the mistake”
70
This positive response of the BBC motivated Ale to post another comment, “Thank you
for all your work, this website is precious. It's hard to believe that we can use it without
paying! Is it okay if I post another correction?”
Paul from China asked the second ongoing question on Table 19 because the
learner was not able to comprehend the grammar used by the teacher. Paul mentioned
two different sentences, “A suspect armed person was arrested by the police officers last
night” and “A suspect armed man was being arrested by the police officers last night”.
Paul wanted to know which one of the two sentences was considered most correct. The
question was then responded to by another learner, Naef Alsulaimane. Naef replied, “I
think the first sentence is more suitable if the action was completed but if there are details
of a scene of how the suspected was being arrested” In the next entry, the teacher also
responded to the two related comments by asking more question, “What do you think,
Paul?” However, the learner did not respond to the question.
The third ongoing question was asked by Kailarai, and it was related to the use of
several auxiliary verbs, as reflected on Table 19. The teacher replied, “Kailarai, auxiliary
verbs are ‘helping’ verbs – they help us form a tense or an expression, e.g. I am going.
She has finished. I didn’t see you” Kailarai came back to the blog and asked the teacher
to elaborate on the answer. After that, the teacher posted another reply, “I promised
Kailarai that I would write something about auxiliary verbs, so this is what I’m going to
focus on in this blog”. The teacher dedicated a new entry to discuss Kailarai’s question.
Antonio’s question on the potential of a tool to improve learner’s speaking skill
led to ongoing discussion. Simon, the teacher blogger, responded: “Antonio, I think using
71
skype is also a useful way to improve your spoken English, you can look for people who
say “Skype Me” and call them up for instance. I did that once and it was great fun talking
to complete strangers!” The teacher also mentioned that he had used the same strategy
before. It motivated the learner to post another reply and promised to practice the
strategy.
The last question in the category of ongoing discussion was related to Old
English, especially Shakespearean English. The teacher, Jo, then explained that
Shakespearean words are actually still used to this day. Jo replied, “Some of these words
and phrases have the exact same meaning they had when he wrote them hundreds of
years ago, and some have changed in meaning slightly”.
Responded to by Other Learner Questions
Other interesting questions are those which were not responded to by teachers but
they were responded to by other learners. Teachers might ignore some questions, but this
does not mean that the questions were not interesting. In fact, other learners reading the
comment might be challenged to answer the questions.
72
Table 20
Questions that were Responded to by Other Learners
No Questions
Name
Type
1
Phrases like “the
Diema
Form
more…the more” sounds
complicated. Can you
give more explanations?
2
I don’t know the
Danielle
Meaning Related
meaning of the
expression “the best of
both world” Can you
give further explanation?
3
Wouldn’t it be easier to
AdekForm
spell politicing and
Poland
frolicing instead of
frolicking and
politicking?
4
When we say sit,
Vijay-India Idiom/Expression
obviously it implicitly
means down, then why
are we saying sit down.
Isn’t it look redundant?
Paul-China Form
5
Was arrested and was
being arrested. Which
one is correct?
Type of Responses
Responded to by
other learner
Responded to by
other learner
Responded to by
other learner
Responded to by
other learner
Responded to by
other learner
Table 20 demonstrates that there were five language questions which other
learners were responding to. Table 21 helps explain the distribution of questions that
were responded to by other learners.
Table 21
Distributions of Questions that were Responded to by Other Learners
Form
Meaning-Related
Idioms/Expressions
3
1
1
73
It is worth noting that out of five questions in this category, three of them were
form questions, and the others included one meaning-related question and one
idioms/expressions question. The discussion section in the following chapter will explain
the reasons why these questions were ignored.
Ignored Questions
This section further describes the ignored questions category. It will focus on the
situation within the blog and the following chapter will consider reasons for why these
questions were left ignored by the teachers. Table 22 presents the ignored questions:
Table 22
Ignored Questions
No Questions
Name
Type
1
Sev (Vietnam)
Form
Type of
Responses
Ignored
Yen-Pham –
China
Form
Ignored
MelodyChina
Form
Ignored
Naheed –
Pakistan
Form
Ignored
Emat-
Form
Ignored
2
3
4
5
Where is the subject for
the phrase “will have a
great number…”?
I find some picnic
expressions like to “go
on picnic” or to have
picnic, but nothing like
“to go picnicking”
I feel so confuse about
the double negative
sentence. Can you
elaborate?
I have a question
regarding the use of get.
I often find it confusing
to use it. Would “get
+verb,
be+verb/get/verb” be the
correct formula?
Why some sentences in
74
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
English finished by
“to”?
Rachel, in your blog you
said “adore” is one of
those verbs that is
followed by verbing not
to verb. Would you like
to explain the reasons
for that?
What is the difference
between had to-shoulddo-perform-have to and
should?
What is the correct
structure in the use of
hardly and subject +
verb+ hardly or subject
+hardly +verb?
You said in the sentence
I mention, my question
about the verb-mention,
should it be in the past
form mentioned?
Please, explain whether
the word “another” is
singular, plural, or both.
It really looks like
having derived from the
words “an other”
There’s a typo in your
grammar section you
might want to correct.
You wrote “Are you use
to playing a lot of sport?
I’m not”. Should be
“used” of course. What
do you think about that?
Simon, could you please
tell me about the usage
of perfect tenses?
However, one point in
your post I still can’t
understand: the meaning
of “ I can’t recommend
Kazakhstan
MitsutoshiJapan
Form
Ignored
MitsutoshiJapan
Form
Ignored
Oscar TorresColumbia
Form
Ignored
Salah- Libya
Form
Ignored
Rles Stephens- Form
Ghana
Ignored
JG-Europe
Form
Ignored
NatashaBelarus
Form
Ignored
Daria-Russia
Form
Ignored
75
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
*ing enough”. Could
you please clarify this a
bit?
I have a little problem
with prepositions, and I
don’t know if I used the
right preposition in the
comment that I sent you
today. Could you help
me?
Why you put two verbs
(go and finish) together
in the sentence?
Secondly, practice
makes perfect. I am
confuse. I don’t know
how to make sentence
with the verb “make”
I have a question that
how many auxiliary
verbs are there in
English grammar?
I have difficulty
understanding the
meaning of “ain’t no”
I am confused of the use
of ain’t and aren’t I
I wanted to know what
do we mean by the term
“time bending”?
I got different point of
‘always’ and ‘ever’.
What do you think?
Teachers often say “you
hardly work”. I think I
work hard but I think
this means I do almost
no work! Please advise?
Could you explain the
expression at the end of
your note?
I don’t understand the
meaning of this
sentence: “but for a
Ana PaulaBrazil
Form
Ignored
Hyoshil-UK
Form
Ignored
Benka-Serbia
Form
Ignored
Maqsood AliPakistan
Form
Ignored
Thomas-China Form
Ignored
SamiirEthiopia
Sanjay Thakur
Form
Ignored
Meaning-Related
Ignored
Stella –UK
Meaning-Related
Ignored
Bob CockrunJakarta
Meaning-Related
Ignored
BeatrizUruguay
Meaning-Related
Ignored
NesrineAlgeria
Meaning-Related
Ignored
76
25
26
27
28
29
30
penny in for a pound”
Actually I am still not
very much sure the
meaning of “I do have a
strong bond”
By the way, may I ask
you another question? I
heard about "She's
daddy's daughter" or
"daddy's little girl"
when I listened to some
radio programme the
other day. What does
that imply? Is she a girl
who is dependent on her
daddy emotionally? Or
else? Thank you very
much. I am eagerly
looking forward to and
really appreciate your
answers. Best wishes.
I don’t know how to
improve listening. Do
you have some
suggestions?
I just read and
understand the context. I
never tried to
understand the
grammatical part of the
language. Is it anyway
to help improving my
language?
Could you please give
me some ideas which
help me to improve my
speaking and writing
English language?
When I make comments
I get confident to write
in English. Still I don’t
take risk to write using
new words and phrases
to show better English.
Ming-China
Meaning Related
Ignored
Thomas-China Meaning-Related
Ignored
FannyHongkong
General Question
Ignored
Paulraj-India
General Question
Ignored
Santi-NL
General Question
Ignored
Paulraj-India
General Question
Ignored
77
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
Do you have any
suggestions?
Hi, is it possible to
improve my spoken
English using Skype? I
can’t afford expensive
English lessons
Thank you for your
advice!! I would like to
ask you if you can post a
blog about using the
most useful phrasal
verbs, help me!! Have a
nice day
When I learn a verb I
always try to learnt it
with the preposition/s
that can be used with it.
Do you think it’s a good
way to learn it?
Thank you for your
advice!! I would like to
ask you if you can post a
blog about using the
most useful phrasal
verbs, help me!! Have a
nice day
Could you tell in what
situation we can use
have been such as the
beginning of your blog
“I have woken up this
morning”?
Could you explain me in
which situations take
care is acceptable? Take
care!
Long time no see is not
a proper English
compared to “ I haven’t
seen you for a very long
time” Which one do I
have to use?
Please, I have a problem
Anton
General Question
Ignored
Antonio-Italy
General Question
Ignored
CristinaBuenos Aires
General Question
Ignored
Antonio-Italy
General Question
Ignored
Ruth (China)
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
DiemaBulgaria
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
ThiambengMalaysia
Idiom/ Expression
Ignored
Felicitas-
Idiom/ Expression
Ignored
78
39
40
41
42
43
44
with head off to..you
used in your blog. What
does that mean?
Helen, I learnt all the
idioms in “take” but
“takeover” was new to
me, I learnt the meaning
of that. Due to the
economic crisis, most of
the companies take over
employees to early
retirement. I don’t
know, is the sentence
fragment is right?
Could you give me a
favor and translate from
English to English: “try
to get the ball rolling”?
When you want to
communicate someone
to someone else you say
“ I”ll get you through to
her/him” is it right?
I’d like to raise a
question about an
expression I’m not sure
whether it’s right or
wrong: “prepare an
exam”. Can we say it?
Or, it is not right
according to collocation
rules? Bye.
I also have the problem
with lay and lie. Thank
you for your explanation
Talking about
Chinglish, I encountered
a few sign boards at a
out-patiant department
of a Provincial hospital
in my City. While three
rooms are meant for
observation, dressing
AND rescue of the
Germany
Tiasha
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
Ewa
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
ChristinaBuenos Aires
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
Oscar-Peru
Idiom/Expression
Ignored
Upw, Sweden
Vocabulary
Ignored
ZongChengChina
Vocabulary
Ignored
79
45
46
47
48
49
patients respectively, the
English translations are
"OBSERVE THE
ROOM", "HANDLE
THE ROOM" and
"RESCUE THE
ROOM". Another very
big restaurant has an
English sign board
writen as "... HOTEL",
although it has not even
a single bedroom. What
do you think?
I have read that there are
twelve words for fog in
English. Could you
mention the more
common of them?
What is smog?
On reading English
prose from the 18th
Century I was surprised
to find the phrase “do
not seemed” written
several times, which to
me sounded like wrong
English. Teacher, do
you think it is really
wrong?
I have one doubt about
effective writing, that
small sentences are
effective or multiple
small sentences with
connecting words (like
using clause) are
effective.
When somebody says
how do you do, what am
I supposed to reply?
Diema
Vocabulary
Ignored
Vera
Anun
Vocabulary
Old English
Ignored
Ignored
Manas-India
Writing
Ignored
Dew-India
Speaking
Ignored
80
Based on the table above, there were 49 language questions ignored by the
teachers. There were always ignored questions in each of the category. Table 23 helps
understand the distribution of the ignored question category.
Table 23
Distributions of Ignored Questions
Type of Questions
Ignored
Total Number
Form
Meaning-Related
General Questions
Idioms/Expressions
Vocabulary
Old English
Writing
Speaking
Total
19
7
8
8
4
1
1
1
49
47
17
12
11
7
2
2
2
100
Percent of
Ignored
Questions
40%
41%
67%
73%
57%
50%
50%
50%
49%
Out of 100 tokens collected in this study, 49% of them were ignored, meaning
that they did not receive any response, either from the teacher blogger or from other
learners. The percentage of ignored questions showed that within the blog, teachers
mostly ignored idioms/expressions questions (73%), general questions (67%), and
vocabulary questions (57%). The discussion sessions in the following chapter will
explore potential reasons why these questions were ignored.
81
CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION
Language Questions Learners Asked in the Blog
Most Popular Questions
The first research question of this study is concerned with the types of questions
learners asked within the medium of blogging in the context of learning language in a
computer-mediated communication context. As was mentioned in Chapter 4, there were
eight classifications of language questions: form, meaning-related, general,
idiom/expression, vocabulary, Old English, writing, and speaking questions.
Table 1 indicates that the most popular language questions posted by learners
were form questions (47%). Form and grammar have been the focus of a debate in the
field of Second Language teaching (Spada & Lightbown, 2008). Some scholars have
argued that grammar should be the sole focus when teaching a language (focus on forms),
and the other group has maintained that grammar should be taught together with content
(focus on form) (Nassaji & Fotos, 2004). Teachers have been caught up in the dilemma
of whether to include form and grammar in their language lesson plans or not. However,
the results of the study suggest that learners’ interest in understanding the rules of the
language was still high. More than just being fluent in the language, learners were
concerned with accurate usage of it.
The other type of language questions was related to idioms and expressions. Table
8 indicates that learners asked 11 idiom/expression questions. The number corresponds to
Laufer’s (2000) study which emphasized that idioms were not among the particular issues
avoided by L2 learners, even though L2 idioms and expressions were very different than
82
those of their L1. While 11 questions might seem small compared to the total 100 tokens,
they can still be perceived as a reflection of learners’ motivation to solve their problems
with English idioms and expressions.
In terms of students’ most preferred language area, this study shows results
different from a similar, previous study conducted in a face-to-face classroom setting. In
this study, the category on form was the top language question being asked, and also of
the questions that initiate ongoing discussions (three out of five ongoing discussion
questions were related to form). Form questions were also popular among the category of
questions responded to by other learners. This is contradictory to Christison and Krahnke
(1986), because their research found that grammar was the least interesting language skill
area as perceived by L2 learners. In their study, writing, along with speaking and reading,
was considered to be one of the most interesting skills to learn. However, according to
the data in this study, only two questions were related to writing, and similarly, only two
were related to speaking.
It is understandable that few questions were addressed regarding learners
speaking skills, because of the nature of the blog per se. Learners did not interact face-toface with teachers, as contact was done through posting entries and comments. Therefore,
it may be suggested that learners’ focus was not on improving their speaking skills. On
the other hand, it was surprising that learners did not ask many writing questions,
considering that blogging requires a certain type of interest in writing, as both activities
were concerned with putting down and sharing ideas in words and sentences.
83
Learners only asked two questions about writing. The number does not
correspond to other scholars’ view related to blogging and writing skills (Bloch, 2007;
Powazek, 2002; Gomez, 2005; Murray & Hourigan, 2008). They referred to blogging as
one of the most technology-related activities with great potential to encourage students’
writing in language classrooms. The contradiction between findings in this study and
previous studies suggests that learners did not realize the value of blogging as a media to
help improve their writing skills.
Reasons for Asking Language Questions
Learners asked language questions based on several different reasons. Careful
observation of the tables of questions presented in the previous section shows that several
basic rationales motivated learners to post comments to and ask questions of the teacher
bloggers. The learners’ questions were based on the following reasons: (1) to check their
answers to questions posted by the teacher, (2) to satisfy their curiosity about certain
problems, (3) to clarify some propositions stated by teachers in their posts, and (4) to
correct teachers.
First, learners asked language questions because they wanted to check their
answers to questions explicitly posted by teachers. The questions were usually posted at
the end of the entries as a medium for teachers to assess students’ comprehension of the
posted materials. When teachers talked about many different aspects of English, they
naturally asked the learners to respond to the presented materials, depending on the
topics. As was mentioned in the method section of this research, the topics of teachers’
entries were not limited. Teachers had the freedom to express themselves and explore
84
many different topics they think will be interesting to read and discuss. Some of the
topics they were interested in exploring were their personal experiences, English and
British culture, and many different aspects of English. Sometimes they even included
what they call mini exercises in the end of their posts. Learners responded to this kind of
post in the form of language questions, and asked whether or not their answers were
correct. Teachers were more likely to respond to this type of question, likely because it
was on the same track as their posts and might be relatively easier to answer.
Second, learners seemed to ask language questions out of pure curiosity, different
kinds of questions that they had in the back of their minds. The questions seemed to be
asked randomly, because usually there was no sign that they related to anything the
teachers had mentioned. When reading some questions in this category, I felt that the
learners already had these questions in mind and wondered what the answers might be,
but hadn’t had the chance and medium to actually ask native speakers. The blog, then,
served as a medium through which they could bring up several questions they had
pondered before. This is in line with the Xie and Sharma’s (2004) study, in which blogs
could function as a medium for reflection.
Third, the language questions appeared to be used as a medium to clarify some
statements made by teacher bloggers in their posts. Most questions were raised when
learners wanted to confirm the correctness of some statements posted by the teacher. In
this medium, the teachers communicated to learners through their posted entries in the
blog, meaning that they delivered their messages through the writing in the entries
85
section. Whenever learners had problems or trouble understanding the messages, they
could easily question the teacher by posting comments and waiting for a response.
The result is similar to a study by Lee (2001), in which students were said to
utilize –WH questions whenever they were facing difficulties in comprehending the
input. Questions such as “What is this” and “What do you mean” were used by the
students and had proven to be effective in helping them achieve mutual understanding.
Likewise, in this research, learners were also using –WH questions in the attempt to
comprehend the meaning of teachers’ posts. As was shown in Table 4, learners asked: (1)
“What do we mean by the term ‘time bending’?”, and (2) “What does the title mean of
back up blog?” Both questions showed the same grammatical structure: -WH questions.
Fourth, learners were motivated to ask language questions to correct either some
misleading information or typos posted in the teacher blog. For example, “I saw a little
typing error in the end of your blog. It should be: ‘make the most of it’. What do you
think?” When learners noticed mistakes (mostly grammatical) in the teachers’ entries,
they quickly reported the mistake by posting comments in the respective entries. The
teacher usually responded to this kind of correction right away. In some cases when the
teacher did not respond to the learners’ correction, the BBC management staff
responded in the comment section. Thus, the blog managing staff made an extra effort
when the questions were related to typos or misinformation to make sure no criticisms
were left unanswered.
86
Language and Technology
A blog is part of web 2.0; and its main feature is blogs’ entries, which consist of
texts (Kuhns & Crew, 2006). This reflects the fact that language and technology are
closely related to one another within the realm of the blogosphere. Here, a specific form
of technology is used as a medium of expression in written language (Blood, 2002).
It seems that active learners of the BBC Language Learning Blog were
technology users who were aware of the use of collaborative technology to support their
language learning improvement. To support this argument, I will refer to some of the
questions in the general questions category. As was shown in Table 6, Antonio, a student
from Italy, was asking if there was a possible way to improve his speaking ability by
using Skype. He asked, “Hi, is it possible to improve my spoken English using Skype? I
can’t afford expensive English lessons”. This question was added to by other questions:
(1) “I would like improve my spoken English via internet. Is it possible using Skype or
other VOIP program?” and (2) “I want to know if there is a place here to chat (speaking)
in English like I was used in paltalk?”. These queries explicitly reflected learners’ interest
in using technology and experimenting with other forms of technology in learning
English. The questions also depicted learners’ familiarity with different forms of new
technologies and their assumption that teachers are also familiar with them. This might
encourage language teachers to know several different approaches to utilizing technology
for language learning purposes, thereby fulfilling students’ expectations that their
instructors are aware of the language and technology interrelationship.
87
Teachers’ and Learners’ Interaction within the Blog
The second research question referred to the responses received to the language
questions. In this medium of language learning, with a blog as part of asynchronous
CMC, the received responses were essential and served as key evidence that learners and
teachers were interacting with one another. Kern, Ware, and Warschauer (2004)
emphasized that asynchronous CMC is a place where learners can improve their language
learning by focusing on both form and content integrated in the action of posting entries
and comments. Related to Kern et al.’s point of view, the form of teachers’ and learners’
communication allowed in the BBC blog as observed was by posting entries, posting
comments to the entries, and responding to each other in the comment section. The
success of the interaction is largely determined by how often teachers and learners
respond to each other’s posts (Almeida d’Eça, 2006; Hurlburt, 2008).
As mentioned in the previous section, this research classifies the response to
learners’ language comments into the following categories: responded to questions,
ignored questions, questions that were responded to by other learners, and questions that
led to ongoing discussions. This ongoing interaction is the focus of the second research
question of this study.
Before describing the ongoing discussion question in detail, the following
paragraph will attempt to describe why certain types of responses to the language
questions were received. It appears that some questions were responded to and led to
ongoing discussions because: (1) they were explicitly stated and easily noticed by
88
teachers, (2) they were answerable, (3) they were interesting, and (4) they were related to
the posted entries.
To begin with, I would like to emphasize that the responded to questions were
largely explicitly stated and easily noticed by teacher bloggers. When learners asked
language questions in the beginning of their posts, they received feedback and comments
from the teachers. The teachers likely noticed the questions as soon as they opened the
comment section, and there is little chance that they missed the language questions.
Second, the responded to questions were answerable. This means when they were
simple and answerable, teachers could reply and explain the answers in several sentences.
Examples are these questions (as presented in Table 2): (1) “What is the difference
between adverb and adjective?” and (2) “Why you hyphenated current-day. Is it
compound adjective?” As observed, both questions were concise and did not require long
explanations. Each question was responded to well, and teacher bloggers were able to
cover the questions in two short paragraphs of explanation.
Thirdly, responded to questions were able to attract a lot of attention both from
teacher and from other learners. When questions are on interesting topics or discussions,
it was hard to leave them unanswered. Even though it might be hard to actually justify
whether a question is interesting or not, I found that most questions responded to were
intriguing.
Fourth, the responded to questions were related to the topics posted in teachers’
entries. When the language questions asked were connected to the topic presented in the
89
teachers’ entries, teachers likely found it easier to respond because they could refer the
students to the information already mentioned.
On the other hand, attention should also be directed towards the ignored
questions, which amounted to 49% of the total collected tokens. Based on the analysis
and observation during the study, the ignored questions were a result of: (1) the fact that
blogs are asynchronous CMC, (2) unclear wording of the questions, and (3) the
accountability of the teachers.
As mentioned in the above paragraph, a blog is asynchronous CMC. In contrast
to synchronous CMC, the interaction in asynchronous CMC is not simultaneous. There is
a small chance that comments might be posted at exactly the same time (real time), but
most probably, there will be a time gap between one comment and one another. If the
time gap was quite long, there was a chance that teachers did not come back and checked
the comment section again. The blog system did not record the time the comments were
posted, so, it is difficult to justify the time gap as the major reason resulting in ignored
questions.
Second, questions appeared to be ignored because of the unclear wording of the
questions. For example is one question asked by Benka: “Secondly, practice makes
perfect. I am confuse. I don’t know how to make sentence with the verb ‘make’”. The
question was posted in the middle of the learner’s long comments. That might prevent the
teacher from noticing the question immediately. Likewise, the question seemed to be
confusing and the teacher might have a hard time in understanding what it was really
90
about. This ignoring questions was sometimes related to the fact that the questions were
not explicitly stated and were difficult to notice.
Finally, teacher accountability might also be one of the factors to cause ignored
questions. It is also important to note who the teachers in the blog were. The research was
not able to contact either the BBC blog management or one of the teacher bloggers. But
generally, it seems that all the teachers were British and were native speakers of English.
However, it is still possible that teachers ignored the questions because they merely did
not know the answers to the questions or did not have time to answer all of the questions
posted.
Ongoing Discussion Questions
Most of the ongoing discussion questions are related to forms, which supports the
idea that form is the language area which most learners are interested in or find easiest to
discuss in this environment. The fact that more than 50% of the ongoing discussions
language questions are on forms can also mean this category was the most difficult for
learners. However, interestingly, Christison and Krahnke (1986) proposed that grammar
was the easiest and least interesting language skill area for L2 learners as they learned
English in academic language classrooms.
The result shows that out of 100 tokens collected in this research, only five
questions could be classified as ongoing discussion questions. This means that only 0.5%
of the questions actually led into ongoing discussions, a very small number. However, the
ongoing discussions category remains essential and important in this research, because
these questions represent cases where learners demonstrated autonomy to the fullest.
91
According to Little (1995), successful learners are those who show great responsibility
for their own learning. Therefore, autonomous language learners would show more
eagerness and effort in putting their language skills to use through more in-depth
discussion, and so-called ongoing discussions. In addition to using their language skills,
autonomous language learners were motivated to discuss language questions further
because they were curious and they wanted to know more. Learners’ efforts to use their
language can be perceived as evidence of their willingness, while their language
questions and their engagement in language discussions can be perceived as evidence of
their abilities. The issues of willingness and ability as the main components of autonomy
in Littlewood’s (1996) framework will be discussed in the following section.
Learners’ Autonomy
According to the framework of autonomy introduced by Littlewood (1996),
learners demonstrate autonomy when they show ability and willingness. Ability is
possession of knowledge and skills, while willingness is shown by motivation and
confidence. During their participation with the BBC blog, learners showed some aspects
of both.
The fact that learners accessed the language learning blog outside the classroom
indicates their willingness. It appears that learners voluntarily participated in the blog
because they felt the need to study and improve their English. This means that they were
willing to spend the time and energy to interact with the teachers as well as other
learners.
92
Another aspect of willingness is learners’ confidence to post language questions.
It is worth noting that it did not take long to collect 100 tokens of questions needed for
the purpose of this study, which suggests the enormous amount of language questions.
This does not correspond to the fact that as part of synchronous CMC, a blog does not
require its visitors or readers to post comments every time they access the medium.
There is a great possibility that more learners participated in the BBC blog by reading the
post but without asking questions or writing comments. Their reluctance in taking action
is comparable to Kessler and Bikowski’s (2010) findings about silent interaction in wikis.
It was hard to identify the numbers of blog visitors, because I did not have access
to the BBC blog’s logs nor the chance to interview the BBC blog management. One
possibility is that such vicarious participation was caused by their lack of motivation and
confidence. In this case, the possibility of having lurking participants supports the
argument that learners’ action in posting language questions is evidence of their
willingness. Or it could be that some learners read the blog posts and learned all they
need to and did not need to or feel compelled to write a question. This demonstrates
autonomy would benefit from further research.
Meanwhile, the idea that learners demonstrated their language learning ability is
supported by the fact that learners read entries posted by teachers. The evidence of such
activity is the language questions related to what the teachers mention in their postings.
Learners were able to read and comprehend the messages written by the teachers.
Additionally, learners also read and commented on other learners’ questions.
93
Teachers did not respond to some language questions; instead, other learners responded
and tried to offer simple answers and solutions. This suggests that learners also read other
learners’ comments and showed their language abilities by understanding other learners’
questions. They also had sufficient language skills and knowledge to answer the
questions.
The findings of the research suggest that learners participated in blogging in many
different actions, including accessing the BBC Learning English Blog outside the
classroom, reading entries without posting questions (vicarious participation), reading
and commenting on other learners’ questions, and participating in an ongoing discussions
with teachers and other learners. Learners’ different ways in utilizing the blog for
language learning purposes suggests that they had demonstrated a certain degree of
willingness and ability. Therefore, learner autonomy is not a static concept, but rather can
be demonstrated in a variety of ways, with some suggesting more autonomy than others.
Accessing the blog without being asked to do so by classroom teachers and
participating vicariously are signs of autonomy; however, more autonomy can be
identified when learners decided to do more actions by posting language questions under
teachers’ entries. This level of autonomy was developed when learners responded to
teachers’ replies and became involved in ongoing discussions.
Creating a More Autonomous Environment
A blog is a computer-mediated communication medium that is considered helpful
for language learning. Several research projects and studies conducted in the field of
English language learning have shown some attempts by teachers to integrate blogs into
94
their language classrooms and to relate the use of technology to the development of
students’ skills in reading and writing.
This study shows that when a blog wass established outside a language classroom
environment, it had the potential to also promote learners’ autonomy. However, the
potential had not been explored as a whole yet. Some of the limitations preventing the
questions from developing to ongoing discussion questions related to the lack of
responses from teachers.
In order to promote better learner autonomy, teachers should attempt to reply to
all language questions. Stanley (2006) observed that teachers’ immediate response to
students’ posts is essential in any language learning blogging activity. Even if it is
difficult, given the nature of the blog as an asynchronous CMC, an immediate or at least
timely reply from teachers can improve the possibility of having more ongoing
discussions.
A blog is a form of Web 2.0 technology; this means that the medium allows its
users to include and make use of other technologies to support language learning activity
as well as teachers’ and learners’ interaction. The following tools can be used to help
teachers answer learners’ questions: videos, wikis, wiziq, and skype.
According to Almeida d’Eça (2006), there are several other features of technology
that can be added to “text, comments and links” within a blog (p. 164). She specified that
“blogs can also include audio files (audioblog), photos (photoblog) and slide shows with
text, videoclips (videoblog), and mobile communications (moblog)” (p. 164). If the
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environment allows learners and teachers to utilize all the possible ways to communicate
and interact with learners, better autonomous environments will likely be created.
Pedagogical Implications of Research
This study provides insight into the language area in which learners tend to have
more problems or to have more interest. Form seemed to be the area that received the
most attention (47%), and most of the responded to questions were related to form (23
questions). Of the ongoing discussion questions more than 50% of them were on form,
which might lead to the estimation that learners had both the ability and willingness to
discuss form. Therefore, such findings may suggest the reconsideration of general
conception that grammar teaching is not effective. The findings may also support the use
of blogging in grammar class to improve students’ attention to language rules.
It might be too ambitious to mention that the results of this research can also be
applied to understanding English teaching in a classroom context. However, there are
possibilities that the top language areas mentioned as the results of this research are also
the ones that language learners in classrooms would use to promote their autonomy
(form, meaning-related, general questions related to tools and strategy of language
learning, idioms and expressions).
Tables in Chapter 4 presented the language questions produced by learners.
Having read the questions carefully, I noticed that some of the questions were not
delivered in proper forms. This may imply the needs of teachers to teach learners how to
write better questions, in order for them to receive better responses.
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One of the key elements in having a successful language learning activity through
blogs is persistence. The lack of efforts by both learners and teachers resulted in the lack
of ongoing discussions within the BBC Learning English Blog. This finding suggests that
teachers should emphasize the importance of being persistent learners. It might be a very
challenging task, but such an attitude may be important in supporting learners’
development of autonomy. Learners may either re-post their ignored language questions
in the same blog. Likewise, they should also be more persistent in their participation on
the ongoing discussions.
Suggestions for Further Research
This study aims at understanding the potential of an individual blog in promoting
language learner autonomy. The blog that was observed for this study was one blog
maintained by a big corporation, the BBC, however, it might be interesting to conduct
research that involves language-learning blogs that are set up and run by individual
teachers, outside their language classrooms.
The focus of the study is learner autonomy. However, the BBC blog is a large
corpus data of teachers’ posted entries and students’ comments. More corpus-based
studies can be conducted, focusing on the topic choices of student bloggers to analyze
what the favored topics are and how they affect students’ writing development.
Researchers of more blogosphere prospects for language learning can also explore the
ability of blogs to promote learners’ reading and writing skills.
One of the possible ways for learners to participate in blogs is vicarious
participation, in which learners do not post comments but enjoy reading the entries. This
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research was not able to elaborate more on this type of participation. However, future
research may attempt to look at website logs of a blog to identify those participants.
Considering the various types of blogs for language learning, such as Campbells’
(2003) tutor blogs, class blogs, learner blogs, and Stanley’s (2006) teacher blog, future
researchers might want to analyze the effective and efficient implementation of each
blog. This study only focuses on autonomy demonstrated in one independent language
learning blog; thus, further exploration on other types of blogs may yield different results.
98
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