Schedule: 2009-09-11 (17:30 - 18:15)
Parallel Session 2 (Room A-34)

Title: Integration guidance: establishing best practice for exploiting l2 blogs in the development of fl writing skills within a third level context
Authors: Liam Murray, Tríona Hourigan
Abstract: This paper presents the results from ongoing research in the area of academic blog writing and language learning which began over four years ago. Initially, Phase One of the research explored the area of micropublishing, virtual writing and blogs for academic purposes (X&X 2006) and subsequently moved on during Phase Two to identify and examine specific pedagogical roles for blogs in language teaching and learning (X&X, 2007; X&X, 2008). The current phase of this research now focuses on comparing and contrasting the emerging blog micro-content from final year students enrolled on a French module over the course of a 12 week semester. While our previous studies examined blog integration in terms of fostering reflective activities on the part of the learner in their L1, this current phase now concentrates solely on the development of appropriate L2 written content and collaborative writing within this environment.

Building upon our evolving action research methodological approach (McNiff and Whitehead 2003), the blog writing task is integrated into a fourth year undergraduate module wherein students study aspects of contemporary French cinema and media as part of the programme requirements. Students participating in the study, coming from MFL and legal backgrounds, are tasked to make two weekly blog entries in the target language throughout the course of the semester as a means to practise their respective writing skills. In order to focus on the task in hand, students must ensure that the content of their blogs reflects the different themes covered in the module with the declared aim of improving their French writing skills through this distinct form of self-expression. From our previous experience with enforcing blog integration, it was decided to award 10% of the overall mark for the successful completion of this assignment. Thus, the creation of an effective assessment procedure within this particular pedagogical context emerges as a crucial question to be addressed in this paper.

Our analysis and results will consider various examples of how students exploited this medium as a means to identify how they established and developed their chosen themes of discussion with each other in the blog medium over this three month period. The examination also explores whether or not it is possible to help students’ motivation in their French language acquisition by encouraging more active participation in their subject via frequent blog entries and by commenting on fellow students' blogs. As such, this specific approach raises a number of pedagogical questions which will be explored in our discussion and conclusions, including the following: effective integration, assessing and rewarding student creative expression and collaboration, improving student participation, developing self-reflective learning practices and ultimately the role and value of academic blog writing in the development of FL writing skills and learning strategies.
Keywords: L2 blog integration, guidance, best practice, FL writing skills and student collaboration

Main topic: Assessment, testing, feedback and guidance in CALL

Biodata: Dr. L. Murray teaches at University of Limerick, Ireland, courses on computer-assisted language learning, French civilization and cyberculture, e-learning, and evaluation at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Research interests: blogs and CALL, automatic summarization and digital gaming in MFL. Dr Tríona Hourigan is the ISSP Research Fellow in the Institute for the Study of Knowledge in Society at the University of Limerick, where she teaches courses in language technologies, second language acquisition, contemporary French cinema and media. Her areas of research include multimedia CALL, blog writing and e-learning; Web2.0 and CALL.
Type of presentation Paper presentation

Paper category Research

Target educational sector Higher education

Language of delivery English

EU-funded project No

Schedule:	2009-09-11 (17:30 - 18:15) Parallel Session 2 (Room A-34)
Title:	Integration guidance: establishing best practice for exploiting l2 blogs in the development of fl writing skills within a third level context
Authors:	Liam Murray, Tríona Hourigan
Abstract:	This paper presents the results from ongoing research in the area of academic blog writing and language learning which began over four years ago. Initially, Phase One of the research explored the area of micropublishing, virtual writing and blogs for academic purposes (X&X 2006) and subsequently moved on during Phase Two to identify and examine specific pedagogical roles for blogs in language teaching and learning (X&X, 2007; X&X, 2008). The current phase of this research now focuses on comparing and contrasting the emerging blog micro-content from final year students enrolled on a French module over the course of a 12 week semester. While our previous studies examined blog integration in terms of fostering reflective activities on the part of the learner in their L1, this current phase now concentrates solely on the development of appropriate L2 written content and collaborative writing within this environment. Building upon our evolving action research methodological approach (McNiff and Whitehead 2003), the blog writing task is integrated into a fourth year undergraduate module wherein students study aspects of contemporary French cinema and media as part of the programme requirements. Students participating in the study, coming from MFL and legal backgrounds, are tasked to make two weekly blog entries in the target language throughout the course of the semester as a means to practise their respective writing skills. In order to focus on the task in hand, students must ensure that the content of their blogs reflects the different themes covered in the module with the declared aim of improving their French writing skills through this distinct form of self-expression. From our previous experience with enforcing blog integration, it was decided to award 10% of the overall mark for the successful completion of this assignment. Thus, the creation of an effective assessment procedure within this particular pedagogical context emerges as a crucial question to be addressed in this paper. Our analysis and results will consider various examples of how students exploited this medium as a means to identify how they established and developed their chosen themes of discussion with each other in the blog medium over this three month period. The examination also explores whether or not it is possible to help students’ motivation in their French language acquisition by encouraging more active participation in their subject via frequent blog entries and by commenting on fellow students' blogs. As such, this specific approach raises a number of pedagogical questions which will be explored in our discussion and conclusions, including the following: effective integration, assessing and rewarding student creative expression and collaboration, improving student participation, developing self-reflective learning practices and ultimately the role and value of academic blog writing in the development of FL writing skills and learning strategies.
Keywords:	L2 blog integration, guidance, best practice, FL writing skills and student collaboration
Main topic:	Assessment, testing, feedback and guidance in CALL
Biodata:	Dr. L. Murray teaches at University of Limerick, Ireland, courses on computer-assisted language learning, French civilization and cyberculture, e-learning, and evaluation at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Research interests: blogs and CALL, automatic summarization and digital gaming in MFL. Dr Tríona Hourigan is the ISSP Research Fellow in the Institute for the Study of Knowledge in Society at the University of Limerick, where she teaches courses in language technologies, second language acquisition, contemporary French cinema and media. Her areas of research include multimedia CALL, blog writing and e-learning; Web2.0 and CALL.
Type of presentation	Paper presentation
Paper category	Research
Target educational sector	Higher education
Language of delivery	English
EU-funded project	No