Jurnal: Effectiveness of Blogging to Practice Reading at a Freshman EFL Program

Bertha Leiva de Izquierdo
Universidad Simón Bolívar

Leticia Esteves Reyes
Universidad Simón Bolívar

ABSTRACT
The main objective of this action research is to explore the effectiveness of blogs to promote frequent extra reading practice in a freshman EFL science and technology reading program at a public university. Sociocultural theory and the revival of Vygostky’s constructivism have made us rethink how to approach the learning-teaching process in the twenty-first century. Are we really helping our students acquire skills that will be crucial in their future? Are we using learning resources that will make them connect socioculturally and learn from the interactions among themselves and others? Many of the low proficiency students in this program do not have regular access to a computer and have not worked with blogs before. There is not only a perceived socioeconomic divide but differences in skills and knowledge about computers are also quite noticeable. The materials and activities of three class blogs used during the 2007-2008 academic year will be presented, as well as the interactions that went on among students. Results show that these online social environments are very well perceived by most students and that they are quite effective when new ways of learning outside the traditional classroom are explored.

INTRODUCTION
The use of technology in language teaching and learning has been around for many years. Language labs, tape recorders, overhead projectors, TV sets and videos date from the 60‘s and 70‘s. Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) appeared on the scene in the early 80‘s with the use of computer programs while the integration of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) came to be known in the 90‘s moving ahead from static language programs to the dynamic World Wide Web and the so-called web-based tools. Nowadays with the tools of the Web 2.0 geared toward individuals and groups, educational institutions, universities specifically, have to take advantage of the easy to handle and high potential of these technologies which seem to fit perfectly in project collaboration and group learning (Swain, 2008).
Undoubtedly, the use of ICTs has become increasingly important in our classrooms as part of the English Language Teaching practice (ELT), as well as in our students‘ and our own lives. Why is that? How many of us start our daily routine by checking email accounts or reading on-line newspapers? How many people use different search engines like www.google.com, www.altavista.com, and www.yahoo.com on a daily basis? How many people use Yahoo or Hotmail Messenger and Skype to communicate live with coworkers, friends, relatives, students, and even unknown people via the web? How many of us have joined online social networks such as Facebook, Bebo, Flixter, hi5 or Ning to create communities of people who share interests and activities or to bring together groups of people who are fascinated by exploring other people‘s interests and activities?
Apart from the widespread use of the Internet and its applications, the number of hours students spend on line daily and their abilities to multi-task cannot go unnoticed. Their common practice and sometimes obsessive use of video games off and on-line is striking; and the gap between those who have access to technology and those who do not is much wider day by day. There is an increasingly marked socio-economical difference between people who use computers and those who do not— a phenomenon experts in the area refer to as ―digital divide.‖ According to Lu (2001) ―there are great disparities in opportunity to access the Internet and the information and educational/business opportunities tied to this access between developed and developing countries‖ (p. 1). In this observable fact, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, at least with regard to technology, as the gap between the two widens. The idea originally came about when comparisons were made in Internet access between rural and urban areas of the U.S. (Bouza, 2003; Bucy, 2000; Robinson & Nie, 2003)
There are manifold answers to the question of why the Internet plays an important role in our daily routines, and more importantly in this article, the reasons why ICTs have gained importance in the practice of ELT. Some of these reasons have been discussed by Dudeney and Hockly (2007). First, it is a fact that Internet access and broadband are becoming cheaper and more widely available by means of cable, satellite or wireless connections either at home, at work, at educational institutions or at cyber cafes. Second, since we live in the age of computers, many young learners are being born and are growing up with technology as a natural and integrated part of their lives. Third, as an international language, English is being used in contexts mediated by technology, especially the Internet, as it provides us teachers with new opportunities for authentic tasks as well as a wide range of ready-made ELT materials. Many textbooks and teacher resources come with additional materials that encourage the use of technology in the classroom either by incorporating interactive CD ROMS or by providing links to various websites where students can reinforce their L2 skills even outside the classroom without necessarily having to abandon the learning environment. All of these ideas have come up from the fact that ―by providing digital students with opportunities to learn in ways that satisfy their needs, they will become more engaged in the learning process and in realizing their potential‖ (Bedenbaugh, 2006).
With the presence of the Internet and computers almost everywhere and in many learning environments, it is hard to believe that there are still people and professionals from different fields, teachers included, who are afraid of using technology. These people are called ―technophobes‖ while the term ―dot com generation‖ has been coined for those who have grown up using technology and who feel at ease and very confident in front of a computer. As opposed to ―technophobes,‖ technology enthusiasts are known as ―technogeeks.‖ Now, as educators we must ask ourselves: Where do we stand? Where do we belong?
Prensky (2001a, 2001b, 2005) refers to today‘s students as ―digital natives‖ since they have no particular accent when speaking about technology: ―They are fluent in the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet‖ (Prensky, 2005, p. 8). On the other hand, he also refers to the ―digital immigrants‖ as those who have come to the world of technology a little later: ―We have adopted many aspects of the technology, but just like those who learn another language later in life, we retain an ‗accent‘ because we still have one foot in the past. We will read a manual, for example, to understand a program before we think to let the program teach itself. Our accent from the pre-digital world often makes it difficult for us to effectively communicate with our students‖ (Prensky, 2005, p. 8). In many cases, experienced teachers are categorized as digital immigrants while young learners are considered digital natives. Jukes (2007) from the InfoSavvy Group has pointed out that ―by being DSL - speaking digital as a second language - many of us are distracted and disoriented by the multiple, simultaneous, hyperlinked information sources inherent to the new technologies‖ (p. 4). He and McCain (2008) have come to the conclusion that the disconnection between ―digital natives,‖ (today‘s students) and ―digital immigrants,‖ (many adults) results from poor communication. They speculate that most misunderstandings come from the differences between how digital students learn and how non-digital teachers teach. After an extensive research that must be followed by careful reflection, they have listed some differences between digital native learners (DNL) and digital immigrant teachers (DIT). DNLs would rather get information fast from multiple multimedia sources while DITs prefer to get it slowly from limited sources. DNLs prefer parallel processing and multitasking but DITs promote singular processing and single tasking. The first favor processing pictures, sounds and video before text while the second choose text over pictures, sounds and video. DNLs are used to random access to hyperlinked multimedia information but DITs give information in a linear way, logically and sequentially. While DNLs would rather network and interact with many people simultaneously, DITs prefer students to work independently. DNLs want instant rewards but DITs give delayed gratification. Digital native learners prefer learning that is pertinent, immediately useful and enjoyable but digital immigrant teachers prefer to teach to the syllabus and standardized tests.
Similarly, researchers from the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School and the Research Center for Information Law at the University of St. Gallen in Switzerland, who have been doing research on Digital Natives (DN), claim that not all youth are necessarily DN and that being a DN has more to do with a common global culture, with certain characteristics and experiences related to how they interact with technologies, information, one another and with others. This group of researchers point out that even subjects who were not ‗born digital‘ can be connected and updated as much as the younger crowd, some of whom might not be complete digital natives.
As teachers of the 21st Century, we must visualize the continuum of ―technophobes and technogeeks‖ as well as that of the ―digital natives and the digital immigrants‖ as Dudeney and Hockly (2007) point out, and we must figure out where we stand between these two extremes or if we have stepped on the spaces around as clearly illustrated by Wesley Fryer in Figure 1.1
From the times of Paulo Freire to our days, we have wanted to empower students, give them more freedom and responsibility about their own learning, and provide them with the right environment that would foster sociocultural and collaborative interaction, promote autonomous learning and help them learn to learn. The revival of Vygostky‘s ideas and the advent of constructivism and sociocultural theory have led us to rethink how we approach the teaching-learning process in the 21st Century and what the role of technology in education is. Are we truly helping our students learn and practice key skills that will allow them to successfully carry out successfully their professional, personal and social activities in the near future? Are we really using educational resources that can provide our students with opportunities to connect among themselves socioculturally and learn from the interactions between them and other groups?