Creating a Web-based Communicative Learning Environment through Interactive Blogs: English Language Acquisition

Abstract:

This study aims to assess the viability of blogging in the context of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) as a productive web-based learning environment (WBLE). The blog sections of three English as a second language (ESL) websites were evaluated and Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) which appears in the comments sections of blog posts was examined through reference to excerpts of various comments. The analysis indicates that as a supplementary means of language education, both the blog content and the debate that hosts in its comments section are useful to language learners all over the world who have access to the internet. It may not facilitate certain areas of cognition that are maximized by Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), however it does expose readers to necessary information in an educational context and provide them with an outlet for spontaneous CMC (SCMC), allowing autonomous parsing of the target language (English).