ERIC Number: EJ1068891
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2013
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-2231-3338
EISSN: N/A
Joint Book Reading: How Do Blogs Foster Collaborative Comprehension?
Behjat, Fatemeh
Journal on English Language Teaching, v3 n2 p34-42 Apr-Jun 2013
A blog is an innovative web tool which has an immense potential to enhance language abilities. As one of the ways to enhance foreign language learning is collaboration and interaction, the present study is an attempt to find out if blogs can be used to foster language learners' comprehension through collaborative book reading. To this end, 62 Iranian EFL students studying at the university were selected as the participants. After they were indicated to be homogeneous regarding their reading comprehension, they were divided into two groups. Both groups were instructed for three months. The control group read story books as their supplementary reading activity individually, but the experimental group used the teacher's blog to read the same short stories assigned to the control group but with collaboration of their peers in a virtual environment. The participants' performances in the reading comprehension post-test revealed that joint reading through blogs can foster language learners' comprehension. Besides, it was concluded that using blogs, females had more improvement in their reading comprehension than male students.
Descriptors: Teaching Methods, Educational Technology, Web Sites, Electronic Publishing, Computer Mediated Communication, Books, Second Language Learning, English (Second Language), College Students, Foreign Countries, Reading Comprehension, Control Groups, Story Reading, Experimental Groups, Comparative Analysis, Cooperative Learning, Instructional Effectiveness, Gender Differences, Pretests Posttests, Statistical Analysis
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Iran
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A