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

Key words:
computer assisted language learning, blogs, literacy skills, differentiated 
instruction, foreign language teaching 
Introduction 
In the heyday of technology, Second Language Teaching and Learning uses 
technological advances to help students expose themselves to a real and 
purposeful context. Computer-mediated collaborative learning is a way to 
promote interaction both between students and their teachers but also amongst 
students themselves using authentic input in real tasks (Warschauer, 2000). 

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Journal of Language and Cultural Education
, 2019, 7(2) 
ISSN 1339-4584 
2
Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) requires new approaches which do 
not ignore the demands of the new technological era (Vlachos, 2014).
 
Β
logs are online journals which motivate students to read texts as well as other 
students’ posts. In addition, they can skim many texts and posts and find different 
or similar opinions with those of other authors before expressing their own views 
with a post. In other words, blogs are incentives for personal writing (Yang, 2009). 
Not only do they develop their literacy skills but also their e-literacies. Students 
learn to use the computer; they use search engines to browse the net and they use 
the word-processor to write a post (Paroussi, 2014). 
The purpose of this research was to examine whether students of a B1 level are 
able to handle blogs easily and appropriately and whether, through the use of 
blogs, they could improve their reading and writing skills. Specific research 
questions were formulated to conduct this research.
1.
Does the CEFR encourage the use of online communication with the use of 
blogs? 
2.
How can blogs enhance young learners’ writing skills?
3.
How can blogs enhance young learners’ read
ing skills? 
4.
Does the teaching context in foreign language institutes encourage the use of 
CMC in English language teaching? 
5.
Can blogs develop a positive attitude towards reading and writing? 
The teachers, who were also the researches, modified the curriculum and the 
teaching process, by integrating technology in the lessons, thus adapting and 
applying a differentiated form of instruction in the classroom. Two groups of 
students participated in this research. A control group which used a coursebook 
and an experimental group which was taught through differentiated instruction. 
The researchers applied the same tests, focusing on reading and writing skills to 
both groups. Pre- and post- semi-structured interviews were also conducted with 
the experimental 
group to find out about students’ attitudes and feelings both 
before and after the differentiated instruction.