Journal of Language and Cultural Education
, 2019, 7(2)
ISSN 1339-4584
1
DOI:
10.2478/jolace-2019-0009
Teaching Reading and Writing Skills to Young Learners
in English as a Foreign Language Using Blogs:
A Case Study
Stella Spanou
1
& Makrina-Nina Zafiri
2
1
Europaiki Poreia, Foreign Language Institute, Athens, Greece
2
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
stellakingly@hotmail.com & m_nzafiri@yahoo.gr
Abstract
This study focused on the development of reading and writing skills to a group of B1
level learners of English in a private language institute in Athens, Greece with the aid of
blogs (a web tool), since Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) enhances foreign
language learning.
To this end, two groups
of young learners were formed;
the control
group which was taught through the traditional coursebook and the experimental group
which was taught through a differentiated approach to language teaching. The
differentiated approach which was applied involved eight teaching
sessions in a private
language institute. Pre-tests and post-tests were administered to both groups in order to
evaluate the use of CALL in the improvement of literacy skills.
Pre- and post- semi-
structured interviews were also conducted with the students of the experimental group to
evaluate their attitudes and feelings before and after the instruction. The aim of using blogs,
as a web tool, was to enhance collaborative learning and social interaction. This research
attempted to prove that blogs create a social interaction between students, and between the
students and the teacher. For
the purposes of this research,
students were involved in
process writing by making drafts and writing their posts and in active reading when they
read other posts and texts from other web sites.
