Exploring Learners' Autonomous Abilities in Blogs Designed For

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

This thesis titled

Exploring Learners’ Autonomous Abilities in Blogs Designed for Independent Learning

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 3

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 4

DEDICATION

To Eri Yoga Sidharta

Because time has given us a way to eternity… 5

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.

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

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

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 1 Entries in Teacher Blog Section ...... 36 Figure 2 Comments in Teacher Blog Section ...... 37

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 11

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. 12

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. 13

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 14

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 15

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 16

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.

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 18 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 19

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 20

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 21

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’ 22

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. 23

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 multi- language 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). 24

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 25 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 26 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 computer-

mediated 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 self- editing 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.

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.

Figure 1. Entries in teacher blog section.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/teacher/

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.

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.

Table 1

Focus of the Language Questions Distribution

No Type of Questions Number of Questions Percent of Language Questions 1 Form 47 47% 2 Meaning-Related 17 17% 3 General Questions 12 12% 4 Idioms/Expressions 11 11% 5 Vocabulary 7 7% 6 Old English 2 2% 7 Writing 2 2% 8 Speaking 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 Questions Name Type Responses 1 Can we say that we have Tina- Form Responded internet connection in our Slovenia flat? Connection instead of connected 2 I’ll be grateful if you can Diema Form Responded explain how to aboid he/she and himself/herself in the previous sentence 3 “Tom Hanks being a Warapon- Form Responded good actor” How does Thailand the word being appear? 4 Where is the subject for Sev Form Ignored the phrase “will have a (Vietnam) great number…”? 5 Phrases like “the Diema Form Responded to by more…the more” sounds other learner complicated. Can you give more explanations? 6 Wouldn’t it be easier to Adek-Poland Form Responded to by spell politicing and other learner frolicing instead of frolicking and 44

politicking? 7 I find some picnic Yen-Pham – Form Ignored expressions like to “go China on picnic” or to have picnic, but nothing like “to go picnicking” 8 I feel so confuse about Melody- Form Ignored the double negative China sentence. Can you elaborate? 9 “Britain’s Prince Harry Romana- Form Responded to serve in Iraq”. I notice Italy the use of an infinitive form in headlines. Why and where from? 10 “She’s has two children-a Ale-Italy Form Ongoing boy and a girl”. Is it normal? The ‘s after she doesn’t mean has? 11 I have a question Naheed - Form Ignored regarding the use of get. I Pakistan often find it confusing to use it. Would “get +verb, be+verb/get/verb” be the correct formula? 12 Why some sentences in Emat- Form Ignored English finished by “to”? Kazakhstan 13 Rachel, in your blog you Mitsutoshi- Form Ignored said “adore” is one of Japan those verbs that is followed by verbing not to verb. Would you like to explain the reasons for that? 14 What is the difference Mitsutoshi- Form Ignored between had to-should- Japan do-perform-have to and should? 15 Was arrested and was Paul-China Form Ongoing being arrested. Which one is correct? 16 Dear Rachel, Thanks for Daniela Form Responded your explanations, always useful and very 45

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. 17 What is the correct Oscar Form Ignored structure in the use of Torres- hardly and subject + Columbia verb+ hardly or subject +hardly +verb? 18 Could you explain the Mandy- Form Responded structure "to which" in Huangzhou 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

19 You said in the sentence Salah- Libya Form Ignored I mention, my question about the verb-mention, should it be in the past form mentioned? 20 Please, explain whether Rles Form Ignored the word “another” is Stephens- singular, plural, or both. Ghana It really looks like having derived from the words “an other” 21 “Here she is with Santa Mauricio- Form Responded Claus”. In this sentence Brazil you used the simple 46

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? 22 May I ask you two Sunny-China Form Responded 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. 23 Why you put two verbs Hyoshil-UK Form Ignored (go and finish) together in the sentence? 24 Hi Helen! It´s me again. Ana Paula Form Responded Could you please tell if it´s possible to use 'but' and 'though' in the same sentence. I thank you in advance. Ana Paula. 25 The question is why you Hyoshil-UK Form Responded 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 26 There’s a typo in your JG-Europe Form Ignored 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 47

do you think about that? 27 I saw a little typing error Huang Jing Form Responded in the end of your blog. It Jing should be: “make the most of it”. But actually, I am not sure about it. What do you think? 28 Simon, could you please Natasha- Form Ignored tell me about the usage of Belarus perfect tenses? 29 However, one point in Daria-Russia Form Ignored your post I still can’t understand: the meaning of “ I can’t recommend *ing enough”. Could you please clarify this a bit? 30 I have a little problem Ana Paula- Form Ignored with prepositions, and I Brazil don’t know if I used the right preposition in the comment that I sent you today. Could you help me? 31 There are some missing Kristi and Jill Form Responded words in your posts? The posts seem awkward. Can you explain? 32 What is the difference Kristi Form Responded between exact same meaning and exactly same meaning? 33 Why you hyphenated Kristi Form Responded current-day. Is it compound adjective? 34 How many auxiliary Kailarai- Form Responded verbs are in English Nepal grammer ? 35 Secondly, practice makes Benka-Serbia Form Ignored perfect. I am confuse. I don’t know how to make sentence with the verb “make” 36 I have a question that Maqsood Form Ignored how many auxiliary Ali-Pakistan 48

verbs are there in English grammar? 37 Is it practise make perfect Lisa Form Responded or practice makes perfect? 38 I don’t understand the Uddhav- Form Responded difference between have India to-must- need to for something under obligation and is “have to” stronger than need to? 39 How to use some of the Kailarai Form Ongoing auxiliary verbs such as “ought to” “need to” “bear to”. I am confuse about even these words 40 In this context, you used Steve Wang- Form Responded an expression. “Ooh, Taiwan aren’t I evil, Naheel, Why do you use are instead of am? 41 I think verb follow Quynh- Form Responded subject I should be am. Vietnam So why do use “ are” here? 42 What is the difference Marin-Spain Form Responded between “but it DOES BRING me on my…” and “ it BRINGS me on my…” 43 What is the difference Uddhav- Form Responded between adjective and India adverb? 44 I have difficulty Thomas- Form Ignored understanding the China meaning of “ain’t no” 45 I am confused of the use Samiir- Form Ignored of ain’t and aren’t I Ethiopia 46 Greedy, is it adjective or Rocio Form Responded noun? 47 I am confused about the Benka- Form Responded way you used articles in Serbia these two sentences:"... it's the longest day of the 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 Responded to Total by other learners 23 19 3 2 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 Questions Name Type Responses 1 Will you give some more Naseem- Meaning-Related Responded examples about this India phrase? 2 Could you explain the Beatriz- Meaning-Related Ignored expression at the end of Uruguay your note? 3 I didn’t understand the Rosalba-Italy Meaning-Related Responded meaning of “there isn’t a room to swing a cat” 4 What did you mean about Beatriz- Meaning-Related Responded the dog “only ever turns Uruguay left”? 5 I didn’t quite catch up Jerry-China Meaning-Related Responded with the phrase “blind date”. Would you please spare little time explain for me? Thank you beforehand. 6 I wanted to know what Sanjay Meaning-Related Ignored do we mean by the term Thakur “time bending”? 7 I don’t know the meaning Danielle Meaning-Related Responded to by of the expression “the other learner best of both world”. Can you give further explanation? 8 I got different point of Stella –UK Meaning-Related Ignored ‘always’ and ‘ever’, different than your explanation. What do you think? 9 Teachers often say “you Bob Meaning-Related Ignored hardly work”. I think I Cockrun- 52

work hard but I think this Jakarta means I do almost no work! Please advise? 10 What does the title mean Dusan- Meaning-Related Responded of back up blog? Slovakia Sundowner? 11 I don’t understand the Nesrine- Meaning-Related Ignored meaning of this sentence: Algeria “but for a penny in for a pound” 12 Actually I am still not Ming-China Meaning-Related Ignored very much sure the meaning of “I do have a strong bond” 13 What is the meaning of Meliss-China Meaning-Related Responded your title “in answer to your questions”? 14 What does last thing at Ahmed- Meaning-Related Responded night mean? Does it Morocco mean before the beginning of the night (twilight) or before the night’s end (dawn) 15 What does it mean by Melissa- Meaning-Related Responded I’ve got that Friday China feeling? 16 What does it mean by “in Ruth Meaning-Related Responded terms of…” 17 By the way, may I ask Thomas- Meaning-Related Ignored you another question? I China 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. 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 Responded to Total by other learners 9 7 0 1 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 meaning-

related 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:

Table 6

General Questions about Language Learning Strategies or Tools

No Questions Name Type Responses 1 I don’t know how to Fanny- General Question Ignored improve listening. Do Hongkong you have some suggestions? 2 Is there a way where I Anand-India General Question Responded can improve my skills or have a check if my documentation is free of silly errors? 3 I just read and Paulraj-India General Question Ignored 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 Santi-NL General Question Ignored me some ideas which help me to improve my speaking and writing English language? 5 When I make Paulraj-India General Question Ignored 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 Sergio M - General Question Responded word, idioms, Milan 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 Antonio- General Question Ignored 56

improve my spoken Italy English using Skype? I can’t afford expensive English lessons 8 For the last “R”. I am Wahib- General Question Responded not sure I have Morocco 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? 9 I would like improve Anton General Questions Ongoing my spoken English via internet. Is it possible using Skype or other VOIP program? 10 When I learn a verb I Cristina- General Question Ignored always try to learnt it Buenos with the preposition/s Aires that can be used with it. Do you think it’s a good way to learn it? 11 I want to know if there Shlomi- General Question Ignored is a place here to chat Israel (speaking) in english like i was used in paltalk ? 12 Thank you for your Antonio- General Question Ignored advice!! I would like to Italy ask you if you can post a blog about using the most useful phrasal verbs, help me!! Have a nice day

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 Responded to by Total other learners 3 8 1 0 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 Questions Name Type Responses 1 Could you tell in what Ruth Idiom/Expression Ignored situation we can use (China) have been such as the beginning of your blog “I have woken up this morning”? 2 Could you explain me Diema- Idiom/Expression Ignored in which situations take Bulgaria care is acceptable? Take care! 3 Long time no see is not Thiambeng- Idiom/Expression Ignored a proper English Malaysia compared to “ I haven’t seen you for a very long time” Which one do I have to use? 4 Please, I have a Felicitas- Idiom/Expression Ignored problem with head off Germany to..you used in your blog. What does that mean? 5 Helen, I learnt all the Tiasha Idiom/Expression Ignored 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 59

early retirement. I don’t know, is the sentence fragment is right? 6 When you want to Christina- Idiom/Expression Ignored communicate someone Buenos to someone else you Aires say “ I”ll get you through to her/him” is it right? 7 To start with, could you Diema- Idiom/Expression Responded explain if the last Bulgaria phrase “yours very femininely” is a common one in English. What does it mean? 8 I’d like to raise a Oscar-Peru Idiom/Expression Ignored 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. 9 There are some Kristi- Idiom/Expression Responded expressions I don’t France understand. Could you please tell me if they are common or just style? 10 When we say sit, Vijay-India Idiom/Expression Responded to by obviously it implicitly other learner means down, then why are we saying sit down. Isn’t it look redundant? 11 Could you give me a Ewa Idiom/Expression Ignored favor and translate from English to English: “try to get the ball rolling”

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 Responded to Total by other learners 2 8 0 1 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.

Table 10

Vocabulary Questions

No Questions Name Type Responses 1 I have read that there are Diema Vocabulary Ignored twelve words for fog in English. Could you mention the more common of them? 2 What is smog Vera Vocabulary Ignored 3 What is the difference James Wu- Vocabulary Responded between picture and Taiwan photo? 4 What is jargon? Explain! Benka-Serbia Vocabulary Responded 5 I am not sure about the Dusan- Vocabulary Responded difference between Slovakia review and regurgitate 6 I also have the problem Upw, Sweden Vocabulary Ignored with lay and lie. Thank you for your explanation 7 Talking about Chinglish, ZongCheng- Vocabulary Ignored I encountered a few sign China 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?

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 Responded to Total by other learners 3 4 0 0 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 Name Type Responses 1 On reading English Anun Old English Ignored 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 Phu Old English Ongoing English used by Shakespeare?

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 Responded to Total by other learners 0 1 1 0 2

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 Name Type Responses 1 I can’t understand the Daniela-Italy Writing Responded function of the semicolon in your sentence. Please explain it to me. 2 I have one doubt about Manas-India Writing Ignored effective writing, that small sentences are effective or multiple small sentences with connecting words (like using clause) are effective?

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 Responded to Total by other learners 1 1 0 0 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 Questions Name Type Responses 1 How do you pronounce Pilar-Spain Pronunciation Responded your name, /niula/, /nala/? 2 When somebody says Dew-India Speaking Ignored how do you do, what am I supposed to reply?

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 Responded to Total by other learners 1 1 0 0 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.

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 form- related issues are the topic that would most probably lead to ongoing discussions.

Table 19 includes the five questions that initiated the ongoing discussions.

Table 19

Ongoing Discussion Questions

No Questions Name Type Type of Responses 1 “ She’s has two children- Ale-Italy Form Ongoing a boy and a girl”. Is it normal? The ‘s after she doesn’t mean has 2 Was arrested and was Paul-China Form Ongoing, also being arrested. Which responded to by one is correct? other learner 3 How to use some of the Kailarai Form Ongoing auxiliary verbs such as “ought to” “need to” “bear to”. I am confuse about even these words 4 I would like improve my Antonio General Ongoing spoken English via Questions internet. Is it possible using Skype or other VOIP program? 5 Can you explain some Phu Old English Ongoing English used by Shakespeare?

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.

Table 20

Questions that were Responded to by Other Learners No Questions Name Type Type of Responses 1 Phrases like “the Diema Form Responded to by more…the more” sounds other learner complicated. Can you give more explanations? 2 I don’t know the Danielle Meaning Related Responded to by meaning of the other learner expression “the best of both world” Can you give further explanation? 3 Wouldn’t it be easier to Adek- Form Responded to by spell politicing and Poland other learner frolicing instead of frolicking and politicking? 4 When we say sit, Vijay-India Idiom/Expression Responded to by obviously it implicitly other learner means down, then why are we saying sit down. Isn’t it look redundant? 5 Was arrested and was Paul-China Form Responded to by being arrested. Which other learner one is correct?

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 Type of Responses 1 Where is the subject for Sev (Vietnam) Form Ignored the phrase “will have a great number…”? 2 I find some picnic Yen-Pham – Form Ignored expressions like to “go China on picnic” or to have picnic, but nothing like “to go picnicking” 3 I feel so confuse about Melody- Form Ignored the double negative China sentence. Can you elaborate? 4 I have a question Naheed – Form Ignored regarding the use of get. Pakistan I often find it confusing to use it. Would “get +verb, be+verb/get/verb” be the correct formula? 5 Why some sentences in Emat- Form Ignored 74

English finished by Kazakhstan “to”? 6 Rachel, in your blog you Mitsutoshi- Form Ignored said “adore” is one of Japan those verbs that is followed by verbing not to verb. Would you like to explain the reasons for that? 7 What is the difference Mitsutoshi- Form Ignored between had to-should- Japan do-perform-have to and should? 8 What is the correct Oscar Torres- Form Ignored structure in the use of Columbia hardly and subject + verb+ hardly or subject +hardly +verb? 9 You said in the sentence Salah- Libya Form Ignored I mention, my question about the verb-mention, should it be in the past form mentioned? 10 Please, explain whether Rles Stephens- Form Ignored the word “another” is Ghana singular, plural, or both. It really looks like having derived from the words “an other” 11 There’s a typo in your JG-Europe Form Ignored 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? 12 Simon, could you please Natasha- Form Ignored tell me about the usage Belarus of perfect tenses? 13 However, one point in Daria-Russia Form Ignored your post I still can’t understand: the meaning of “ I can’t recommend 75

*ing enough”. Could you please clarify this a bit? 14 I have a little problem Ana Paula- Form Ignored with prepositions, and I Brazil don’t know if I used the right preposition in the comment that I sent you today. Could you help me? 15 Why you put two verbs Hyoshil-UK Form Ignored (go and finish) together in the sentence? 16 Secondly, practice Benka-Serbia Form Ignored makes perfect. I am confuse. I don’t know how to make sentence with the verb “make” 17 I have a question that Maqsood Ali- Form Ignored how many auxiliary Pakistan verbs are there in English grammar? 18 I have difficulty Thomas-China Form Ignored understanding the meaning of “ain’t no” 19 I am confused of the use Samiir- Form Ignored of ain’t and aren’t I Ethiopia 20 I wanted to know what Sanjay Thakur Meaning-Related Ignored do we mean by the term “time bending”? 21 I got different point of Stella –UK Meaning-Related Ignored ‘always’ and ‘ever’. What do you think? 22 Teachers often say “you Bob Cockrun- Meaning-Related Ignored hardly work”. I think I Jakarta work hard but I think this means I do almost no work! Please advise? 23 Could you explain the Beatriz- Meaning-Related Ignored expression at the end of Uruguay your note? 24 I don’t understand the Nesrine- Meaning-Related Ignored meaning of this Algeria sentence: “but for a 76

penny in for a pound” 25 Actually I am still not Ming-China Meaning Related Ignored very much sure the meaning of “I do have a strong bond” 26 By the way, may I ask Thomas-China Meaning-Related Ignored 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. 27 I don’t know how to Fanny- General Question Ignored improve listening. Do Hongkong you have some suggestions? 28 I just read and Paulraj-India General Question Ignored understand the context. I never tried to understand the grammatical part of the language. Is it anyway to help improving my language? 29 Could you please give Santi-NL General Question Ignored me some ideas which help me to improve my speaking and writing English language? 30 When I make comments Paulraj-India General Question Ignored I get confident to write in English. Still I don’t take risk to write using new words and phrases to show better English. 77

Do you have any suggestions? 31 Hi, is it possible to Anton General Question Ignored improve my spoken English using Skype? I can’t afford expensive English lessons 32 Thank you for your Antonio-Italy General Question Ignored 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 33 When I learn a verb I Cristina- General Question Ignored always try to learnt it Buenos Aires with the preposition/s that can be used with it. Do you think it’s a good way to learn it? 34 Thank you for your Antonio-Italy General Question Ignored 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 35 Could you tell in what Ruth (China) Idiom/Expression Ignored situation we can use have been such as the beginning of your blog “I have woken up this morning”? 36 Could you explain me in Diema- Idiom/Expression Ignored which situations take Bulgaria care is acceptable? Take care! 37 Long time no see is not Thiambeng- Idiom/ Expression Ignored a proper English Malaysia compared to “ I haven’t seen you for a very long time” Which one do I have to use? 38 Please, I have a problem Felicitas- Idiom/ Expression Ignored 78

with head off to..you Germany used in your blog. What does that mean? 39 Helen, I learnt all the Tiasha Idiom/Expression Ignored 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? 40 Could you give me a Ewa Idiom/Expression Ignored favor and translate from English to English: “try to get the ball rolling”? 41 When you want to Christina- Idiom/Expression Ignored communicate someone Buenos Aires to someone else you say “ I”ll get you through to her/him” is it right? 42 I’d like to raise a Oscar-Peru Idiom/Expression Ignored 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. 43 I also have the problem Upw, Sweden Vocabulary Ignored with lay and lie. Thank you for your explanation 44 Talking about ZongCheng- Vocabulary Ignored Chinglish, I encountered China 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 79

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? 45 I have read that there are Diema Vocabulary Ignored twelve words for fog in English. Could you mention the more common of them? 46 What is smog? Vera Vocabulary Ignored 47 On reading English Anun Old English Ignored 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? 48 I have one doubt about Manas-India Writing Ignored effective writing, that small sentences are effective or multiple small sentences with connecting words (like using clause) are effective. 49 When somebody says Dew-India Speaking Ignored how do you do, what am I supposed to reply?

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 Percent of Ignored Questions Form 19 47 40% Meaning-Related 7 17 41% General Questions 8 12 67% Idioms/Expressions 8 11 73% Vocabulary 4 7 57% Old English 1 2 50% Writing 1 2 50% Speaking 1 2 50% Total 49 100 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.

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-to- face 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 95

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. 96

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 97 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.

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