Using Student Written Weblogs in ESL Classes to Improve Composition

With an increasing amount of technology being incorporated into teachers' lessons, there is need for research to be done so teachers can include technology in a way that most benefits students. Previous research has found that, in the university setting, implementing student written weblogs into ESL writing instruction and practice has shown improvement in the quality of student composition. The present study took place over six weeks, and included five intermediate level English language learners in a middle school setting. After receiving lecture-based instruction from the classroom teacher, each participant completed a writing assignment. The experimental group completed five assignments using a weblog created on EDUblogs.org for this study while the control group completed five writing assignments using a word processor or pen and paper. Each assignment was scored using an ESL composition profile by the classroom teacher. The results showed that the participants in the control group showed the most improvement in their writing scores.