Alexandra Duarte
Escola Secundária / 3 Martinho Árias – Soure, Portugal Mark Daubney
Escola Superior de Educação e Ciências Sociais. Instituto Politécnico de Leiria, Portugal
AbstrAct We discuss an ongoing research project which is part of the requirements for the Master’s in Peda- gogical Use of Information and Communication Technologies at ESECS-IPL. It aims to explore and examine the perceptions that English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers working in state schools in Portugal have regarding the benefits and constraints of working with blogs in EFL class- es, and how pupils and teachers may benefit from using blogs in the classroom. Benefits of blogs and vlogs (video blogs) identified in the literature include diversifying activities in EFL classes, encouraging collaboration, creativity and autonomy, and providing affordances to engage with different linguistic and cultural realities. However, constraints of blogging have also been identified, with the fact that the much-desired benefits do not always materialize. Firstly, we discuss the rise of blogs, then their benefits and constraints, followed by our research de- sign and objectives and an overview of data collected through exploratory questionnaires applied to EFL teachers in seminars and a pilot questionnaire applied to English teachers in a school in the Leiria region. These phases allowed us to refine the main questionnaire used in the study. Finally, the findings and emerging patterns from this completed stage of the project are discussed, focusing on the benefits and constraints of blogs identified in the first two questionnaires. Keywords: Blogging, blogs, EFL teaching, digital literacies resumo Apresentamos um projeto de investigação em curso que faz parte dos requisitos do Mestrado em Utilização Pedagógica das TIC na ESECS-IPL. Este visa explorar e analisar as perceções que os professores de Inglês como Língua Estrangeira (LE) a lecionar em escolas públicas em Portugal têm quanto aos benefícios e constrangimentos de trabalhar com blogs em aulas de Inglês LE, e como os alunos e professores podem beneficiar com o seu uso. Os benefícios dos blogs e vlogs (blogs de vídeo) identificados na literatura incluem a diversificação de atividades, o incentivo à colaboração, criatividade e autonomia e o proporcionar recursos para que os alunos se envolvam em diferentes realidades linguísticas e culturais. Todavia, os constrang- imentos dos blogs também foram identificados dado que os muito desejados benefícios nem sempre se materializam. Começaremos por abordar a ascensão dos blogs, seguida dos seus benefícios e constrangimentos, acompanhados pelo nosso projeto de investigação e objetivos, e uma visão geral dos dados recolhi- dos através de questionários exploratórios aplicados aos professores de Inglês LE em seminários e questionário piloto aplicado a professores de Inglês de uma escola da região de Leiria. Estas fases permitiram-nos refinar o questionário principal utilizado no estudo. Finalmente, apresentaremos os resultados e padrões emergentes desta fase completa do projeto, com enfoque nos benefícios e constrangimentos dos blogs identificados nos dois primeiros ques- tionários.
Palavras-chave: Blogging, blogs, ensino Inglês LE, literacias digitais ___________
introduction
This article is about an ongoing research project focusing on blogging in English as a Foreign Lan-
guage (EFL) classrooms in Portugal1. Blogs are “Weblogs…organised in a reverse chronological se-
quence; that is, the latest published Blog is in the first top entry and each published Blog has a date that indicates when the Blog is published” (Noytim, 2010, p.1127). Readers can leave comments on the blog, and the written style of blogs is characteristically informal, akin to spoken language. For personal and professional reasons, the first author has long been a blogging enthusiast, and this has been a central influence on this project. In 2008, the first author enrolled on an online profes- sional development (PD) course and one of the outcomes was her first blog, a tutor blog (Campbell, 2003), which further increased her motivation to continue exploring her own interests – technology, namely using free tools, and reading and writing in the classroom. Later, for another PD event, she created a reflective learner blog that had to be updated on a weekly basis and was explored as a tool to develop an educational digital portfolio. Her third creation was a class blog in which she was the administrator and pupils were co-authors, free to publish what and whenever they wished. Given these rewarding experiences and having a firm conviction in the pedagogical potential of blogging, the first author has consistently questioned why so few class (room)2 blogs have been used in EFL
classrooms. Hence, the interest in exploring Portuguese teachers’ perceptions of using blogs in EFL classes.
the rise of bLogs
Blogs and blogging have been growing in popularity since the turn of the 21st century. In 2004, the
prestigious Merriam Webster Dictionaryannounced “Blog” as the word of the year3. The growing
popularity of blogging has led to a diverse range of genres addressing issues across society, from fashion to sports, from health to education, with the latter often being referred to as educational blogs or edublogs.
It did not take long for educators and teachers worldwide to apply the promising potential of this new tool to their own school practices (Bartlett-Bragg, 2003; Campbell, 2004; Downes, 2004; Godwin- Jones, 2003; Luján-Mora, 2006; Ward, 2004)hosted weblog tool with a 1.9 million-member-strong community of active users and built-in social networking features. It also highlights the potential that social software, like LiveJournal, has for encouraging greater autonomy and self-direction in foreign language learning.”, “author” : [ { “dropping-particle” : “”, “family” : “Campbell”, “given” : “Aaron P.”, “non-dropping-particle” : “”, “parse-names” : false, “suffix” : “” } ], “container-title” : “The
Internet TESL Journal”, “id” : “ITEM-1”, “issue” : “9”, “issued” : { “date-parts” : [ [ “2004” ] ] }, “title” : “Using LiveJournal for Authentic Communication in EFL Classes (TESL/TEFL. However, over time and challenged by social networks like Facebook, blogging lost some of its novelty status and in 2011 some even predicted its death4. However, blogging was – and is – far from moribund. That same
year, Portugal, under the tutelage of the Ministry of Education, namely Equipa de Recursos e Tec- nologias Educativas (ERTE) made “Catálogo BloguesEDU” available, which reflected the significant relevance attributed to blogs and the ever-growing literature that was being published. Indeed, blog- ging is thriving (Hungerford-Kresser, Wiggins, & Amaro-Jimenez, 2012; Ward, 2004) and nowadays an increasing number of academics, aware of its potential for visibility and reach, are embracing blogging (Dunleavy, 2015).
The rise of blogs and blogging, worldwide and in Portugal, mirrors developments in ICT. Unsur- prisingly, the shift from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0 – that is, from a more passive consumption of online information to active participation in creating content - has seen blogs and other web-based tools become increasingly influential, because they are easy to use and rapidly deployed, and have signifi- cant educational potential.
the benefits of bLogging in educAtionAL contexts
In educational contexts, blogs are valuable platforms for constructivist learning: pupils co-construct their knowledge through interaction with others, with benefits being evident at an academic and 1 Further information on this research project can be found at: http://eflbloggingportugal. blogspot.pt/?view=snapshot
2 Class blogs, not necessarily to be used in the classroom.
3 http://www.merriam-webster.com/press-release/2004-word-of-the-year
4 http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2011/12/27/end-of-an-era-the-golden-age-of-tech- blogging-is-over/
271 270 Investigação, Práticas e Contextos em Educação 2017 Investigação, Práticas e Contextos em Educação 2017 social level (Albaugh, 2013; Noel, 2015). Here, pupils are authors as well as audience, users and
creators, not simply consumers of technology. Blogs can also be used as an organisational tool and an environmental option as “there’s a good chance the class can go paperless as students simply post their work online for peer and teacher response.” (Richardson, 2006, p. 23).
In EFL teaching contexts, many studies (Campbell, 2003, 2004; Huang, 2015; Noel, 2015; Noytim, 2010) have been undertaken worldwide on the potential of blogs for the development of different skills. Chen (2015)some studies have found contrasting blogging experiences among individual learners. Consequently, this study investigated the factors underlying such discrepancies by explor- ing 33 EFL learners’ experiences of participating in a blog project at a Taiwanese university. The stu- dents wrote personal blogs and responded to each other over a ten-week period. Data was collected through a questionnaire and individual interviews with 10 of the students. Drawing on a sociological approach, specialization codes of legitimation (Maton, 2007, 2014 places these skills in three catego- ries: language, metacognition and intercultural competences.
Language skills
Language skills is an umbrella term for the four traditional language skills – reading, writing, speak- ing and listening.
Foreign language teachers usually try to create opportunities for all learners to develop these skills in classes. With blogging, however, it is typically the writing and reading skills that are practised to a greater extent. Switek (2016) calls blogs writing laboratories and Vurdien (2013) claims a perfor- mance improvement in vocabulary and grammar. Hildebrand’s (2014) findings suggest that blog- ging enhances pupils’ interest in reading and writing and increases engagement. This is consistent with Ducate & Lomicka’s (2008) study, which involved students first as readers and then as blog writers. Their findings suggest that this progression allowed students to become more comfortable with blogging, promoted ownership and creativity because the opportunities for interaction outside the classroom also increased, and they became more linguistically competent and confident as they improved their reading, writing, vocabulary and cultural knowledge. Huang (2016) highlights the impact of motivation on students, stating that “…the asynchronous nature of blogs benefited them in reading, writing, editing, and making comments on their own postings as well as their peers” (p. 43). Warschauer, Zheng, & Park (2013) conclude that reading and writing are more connected than ever in the digital era, a result of increased web-based reading, augmented by the advent of smartphones, tablets and e-readers.
While reading and writing and listening and speaking go hand in hand, Oliver & Philp (2014) opine that while speaking is “important for…academic success, socialization, and for future success more generally” (p. 82), the same authors state that reading and writing are “often considered even more important” (ibid.). Though time for speaking practice may be limited, the demands to improve oral proficiency are considerable, given the status of English as the world’s lingua franca.
The first author, working in a state school in a rural area of Portugal, and faced with large classes, limited class time (Sun, 2009), demanding curricula and mixed ability groups, has experienced these tensions in her own context, and the difficulty of providing all pupils with the chance to participate. From this perspective, Huang’s (2015) exploration of the use of video blogs – better known as vlogs or vlogging – can be seen as providing insights on how to balance the EFL curriculum, in which, tra- ditionally, the reading and writing skills are dominant, with vlogs contributing to an improvement in pronunciation, fluency and self-confidence.
Metacognition
In today’s complex world, it is urgent to change classroom pedagogies and methodologies to bet- ter support 21st Century skills acquisition (Scott, 2015) by capitalising on the web 2.0 technologies
(Morgan, 2015). New technologies require new skills and “mastery of fundamental subjects and 21st
century themes are essential for students in the 21st century”5, with communication, creativity, col-
laboration and critical thinking being seen as critical skills “Thinking about thinking” plays a critical role in our pupils’ learning to learn, in other words, their awareness of how they think and learn as well as to their levels of autonomy. Being able to objectively assess information in terms of integrity and credibility – critical thinking – is not only important for short-term goals, but also crucial in dealing with the challenges of adapting to the fast and constant changes in the world of work.
5 http://www.p21.org/our-work/p21-framework
table 1. Top 10 Skills6.
Metacognition, then, can and should be taught and nourished by teachers using new class (room) approaches and dynamics. Blogs, as an asynchronous discussion tool, allow participants to voice their ideas, interests and thoughts (Gomes, 2008), the time to reflect, to learn and share at their own pace, and to search for further information, if necessary. Meinecke, Smith, & Lehmann-Willenbrock (2013) also point this out by claiming that built into the blog experience is the element of reflection, involving questioning, exploratory learning, analysis and learning at a meta-level.
Intercultural competences
Collaboration is of paramount importance for 21st Century learners and their future careers. In a con-
nected and globalised world, our learners will likely experience collaborative tasks at many points in their lives, including contact with international co-workers with different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. From an early age, our pupils should therefore be encouraged and led to communi- cate with people from different backgrounds (Meinecke et al., 2013; Richardson, 2006). Blogging in English, facilitated by the teacher, may provide a fruitful way of doing this. Providing opportunities for learners to interact with other learners / peers is a unique affordance of blogging: the ability to extend learning beyond the classroom walls.
For Domalewska (2014), learning is effective as a social activity, thus making learning personalised and meaningful. Additionally, blogs have the potential to shift learning from a space- and time- bound class(room) and make learning ubiquitous, irrespective of time and place, embedded in real world issues and events (Downes, 2004; Hong, 2008; Huffaker, 2005), and allowing people worlds apart to communicate. Besides bringing authenticity to learning, such interaction can also encour- age positive attitudes of respect, tolerance and acceptance towards the other.
Further benefits
Teachers also need to consider that blogging can facilitate the teaching of new literacies that pupils will need to master in the information society (Richardson, 2006). As pupils spend more and more time online, for Richardson (2006), it is crucial that we teach our learners the skills to analyse and manage information, how to assess trustworthy sources, how to be a critical reader and viewer, and how to organise and summarise information.
Blogs also allow multimodal communication through the integration of videos, podcasts, images and hyperlinks, making it easier to engage and reach many more pupils and a greater diversity of learning styles or the differences in individuals’ learning. Class(room) blogging can also be differentiated to meet pupils’ needs (Sawmiller, 2010).
For pupils unable to attend classes or, for example, more introverted learners, who are shy and vulnerable to the social pressures of adolescence (Sawmiller, 2010) and feel more uncomfortable engaging in face-to-face discussions in classroom settings (Albaugh, 2013; Richardson, 2006; Sidek & Yunus, 2012), blogging is a tool with great potential. For such leaners, blogging and commenting on blogs support them by allowing their voices to be heard, socially co-constructing meaning in a non-threatening and responsive environment (Albaugh, 2013; Sidek & Yunus, 2012).
Others still lack the confidence to interact orally or in written form with their peers, especially in large classes (Özdemir & Aydın, 2015; Pop & Gomez Martinez, 2003), and avoid becoming embar- rassed and frustrated in front of more proficient peers. Given time and the possibility of practising and looking for additional material (Meinecke et al., 2013), sometimes supported by more proficient 6 Cited in Soffel, J. (2016, March 10). What are the 21st-century skills every student needs?
World Economic Forum. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/03/21st-century- skills-future-jobs-students
273 272 Investigação, Práticas e Contextos em Educação 2017 Investigação, Práticas e Contextos em Educação 2017 language learners, an appropriate asynchronous tool such a blog can allow these learners to work in
a safer environment, at their own pace and make relevant progress, as Pop & Gomez Martinez (2003) indicate. The teacher may even use blog entries as a springboard for classroom discussions which, in turn, can also improve the overall quality of the blog entries (Albaugh, 2013). Further, Pinkman (2005) calls our attention to the fact that blogs give learners the feeling of control and ownership, not easily attained in a face-to-face setting.
constrAints on bLogging in educAtionAL contexts
Some authors who praise the potential of blogging also remind us that as versatile as blogs are, there are also constraints, since the multiple and much-desired benefits do not always materialize
.
Sub- stantiated in research, Hungerford-Kresser et al. (2012), admit to having made a wrong assumption regarding the extent to which today’s generation of tech-savvy pupils – the so-called digital natives (Prensky, 2001) - would enjoy blogging.One of the factors holding back pupils’ successful blogging and commenting is the difficulty in pro- viding constructive feedback due to their own low L2 proficiency (Huang, 2016). This is reinforced by Lin et al. (2013) who add that, in these cases, pupil activity was limited by the time-consuming nature of activities, their feelings of anxiety about making their comments public and being ridiculed by more able peers.
As for Arena (2008), an experienced Brazilian teacher and blogger, she believes it is important to guide pupils in their use of blogs for educational purposes as blogging doesn’t “simply happen”. In- deed, blogging is a challenge for teachers “due to schedule constraints, overflow of information, re- sistance from students, and constraints on educators and their institutions” (Arena, 2008, p.6) and blogging happens “only if learners and educators apply themselves to developing semantic webs tak- ing all into another level of understanding of the language being studied and of the vast, fascinating world surrounding them.” (ibid.)
Ray (2006), also an advocate of blogging, discusses two more downsides: firstly, accessibility, name- ly inequitable access from home; secondly, safety issues, a set of rules that should be followed as they are designed to protect children from online predators, harassment or bullying.
While vlogs are more visible than the original blogs and have real potential to engage students in multiple ways, other concerns emerge for schools in relation to the privacy of youngsters, a powerful reason to be reflected on and negotiated with stakeholders before investing time and effort and then not being allowed to share and publicise pupils’ work, regardless of their potential for developing language speaking skills (see Comissão Nacional de Protecção de Dados, 2016).
Research Design
Given our objective to ascertain the perceptions about blogging from as many EFL teachers working in Portugal as possible, our research is essentially of a quantitative nature and aims to answer the following research questions:
1. What are the perceptions of Portuguese EFL teachers of the benefits and poten- tial benefits – for teachers and pupils – of using blogs?
2. To what extent are blogs being used by Portuguese EFL teachers in their English classes?
3. What are some of the constraints on EFL teachers using blogs for learning? 4. How can teachers and pupils be encouraged to use blogs more as part of their
EFL teaching and learning respectively?
As indicated in Tables 2 and 3 below, the study has been developed in three distinct phases:
table 2. Overview of Data Collection & Research Objectives: Phase 1 & 2
Though both phases and questionnaires have Portuguese EFL teachers as the target population, the first sample of 77 responses - from the exploratory questionnaires - was constituted by teachers participating in Portuguese Association of English Teachers (APPI) regional seminars, whilst the second - from the Pilot Questionnaire - was made up of 9 responses from 2nd and 3rd CEB EFL teach-
ers from a school in the Leiria region. Phase 1, then, allowed us to collate perceptions and opinions of a relatively large number of EFL teachers from different regions in Portugal to be taken into account