Teaching Reading and Writing Skills to Young Learners in English as a Foreign Language Using Blogs: a case Study

3/5 
98% 
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female 
89% 
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90% 
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S3 
female 
88% 
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85% 
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S4 
male 
77% 
1/5 
76% 
2/5 
 
However, the post-test was administered some days before the final exams 
in the language institute, therefore two of the students admitted being anxious and 
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Journal of Language and Cultural Education
, 2019, 7(2) 
ISSN 1339-4584 
17
tired, thus discouraged. According to Ackerman and Kanfer (2009), cognitive 
fatigue and personal issues such as lack of motivation and anxiety may result in 
poor test results. 
To conclude, the findings were like those of the literature review. Blogs 
motivate students to write in an online community, collaborate with peers and 
develop both a linguistic and a sociocultural competence (Vlachos, 2009). Students 
learn to write having a real audience in mind (Daskalogiannaki, 2012). In addition, 
they read topics which motivate them (Yang, 2009). A similar study carried out by 
Vurdien (2012) in an EFL language school in Spain, showed that the use of blogs 
as a computer-mediated tool improved the writing skills of the students who 
participated. These findings answer positively to the research question which 
asked whether blogs motivate students to read and write in English. 
 
8 Limitations of this research 
Some difficulties occurred before and during the differentiated instruction 
stage which was conducted in the foreign language institute. To start with, 
differentiated instruction with the experimental group was initially four hours per 
week but due to administrative reasons, it ended up being conducted for two hours 
per week.
 
Another constraint was the inability to use the computer lab because 
other students used it to practice tests. Therefore, the students of the experimental 
group had to remain in the classroom using two computers only. This resulted in 
pair work most of the time. More time on blog lessons was necessary but parental 
pressure to cover most parts of the syllabus prevented more time being devoted 
to blogs. This is something which students had also wished for (in other words to 
practice on blogs) in their post- semi-structured interviews. Finally, it was a semi-
scale research, reflecting only a specific group of students. It is advisable that more 
students be included, students from other classes in the same foreign language 
institute or even from other institutes and public schools, as well.