Effects of Collaborative Blogging on Communicative Skills in Writing of Thai EFL University Students
Effects of Collaborative Blogging on Communicative Skills in Writing of Thai EFL University Students
Keywords: blogs, collaborative blogging, communicative skills, attitude
Purnima Iyer
This study explored the effects of collaborative blogging on communicative skills in writing of Thai EFL students. It also investigated the student’s attitudes as a result of collaborative blogging. The participants were 12 fourth-year university students from the northeastern part of Thailand, studying English as their major field of study. They had not written blogs before, and were relatively new to the concept of blogging. The participants wrote a total of eight blog assignments, completed two questionnaires, one before the study, and the other after writing all the blog assignments. An interview was also carried out at the end of the study. The results revealed that the students displayed a low degree of communicative skills in writing: (26%-32%) for creativity, critical thinking, voice and comments. They showed a positive attitude towards collaborative blogging and found the process of blogging and commenting helped in their writing skills and developing good relationships with each other. They, however, faced problems with the blogging interface and suggested that blogs could be merged with Facebook allowing for a more convenient way for the participants to write and communicate with one another.
Category: Thesis
