USE OF BLOGS IN EDUCATION

After reading the article "Aydin - 2014 - The Use of Blogs in Learning English", we worked together in groups and we did a summary. This is what we did in our group. 

MAIN POINTS:

Blogs contribute to gain cultural knowledge, help develop interactions between students and teachers, help improve different skill levels, encourage student’s autonomy, enhance motivation 

BENEFITS FOR:

• Studies on the effects of blogging mainly focus on reading and writing skills and show that blogging enhances these skills.

• Blogging enhances literacy and critical thinking skills. 

• Blogs are good for encouraging motivation and autonomous learning.

LITTLE BENEFITS FOR: 

• Reading: “there is little evidence to support that blogs positively affect learners’ reading skills”.

• Little effect on learners´reading test results

NO BENEFITS FOR:

• listening (can use video, music or audioblogs), accuracy, fluency, pronunciation or language complexity

TWO EXAMPLES OF HOW TO USE A BLOG IN A CLASS AND OBJECTIVES:

• Recipes: create recipes in order to improve the vocabulary and action sentences and share them with other students or schools to be more real.

• Cultural projects: create a blog with students from different countries to compare as many opinions as possible and learn about differents cultures and lifestyles