participate more in tasks. Not only can the product be a written one (such as a
report or an assignment) but it can also be an oral one (e.g. acting out) or
something that entails action and movement (e.g. dancing).
In this way, students create a product based on their preferred learning style
(Heacox, 2012).
3.5 Differentiating through the environment The environment is the teaching and learning setting. It should be a place
where everyone feels welcomed and it can be achieved by simple, everyday things,
for example, by re-arranging seats or changing classrooms (Tomlinson, 2001). To
illustrate this, students should be able to abandon their desks and sit on the floor
or move around the classroom. In addition, teachers know that students need
safety, shelter and a nourishing environment (Tomlinson, 1999).
4 The use of blogs 4.1 Blogs as a Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) tool A blog can be defined as an online journal that users can continuously update
by writing posts. It is the first widely adopted tool of the Read/Write Web
(Richardson, 2010). Its interface is simple, requiring no special skills to
understand Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) scripting. In addition, there is a
basic word doc., to use, to write your post with and to respond. Users can also add
pictures, hyperlinks, audio files or videos (Yang, 2009). The language used is typed
and written but it looks like informal and spoken language (hybrid language
—
talking in writing).
The usefulness of a blog is that it provides a common ground to share ideas and
establish discussion between users, thus there is negotiation and communication.
Therefore, it creates a sense of community; users of a specific blog usually share
the same interests and the same objectives.
Journal of Language and Cultural Education , 2019, 7(2)
ISSN 1339-4584
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