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INDONESIAN JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS
Vol. 12 No. 3, January 2023, pp. 777-788
Available online at:
https://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/IJAL/article/view/46086
https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v12i3.46086
777
* Corresponding Author
Email: jocelyn.howard@canterbury.ac.nz
Blogging with smartphones for independent writing
practice beyond the EFL classroom
Shaista Rashid1 and Jocelyn Howard2*
1College of Humanities, Prince Sultan University, P.O. Box No. 66833, Rafha Street, Riyadh 11586, Saudi Arabia
2Faculty of Education, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch 8140, New Zealand
ABSTRACT
This study investigated how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students at a university in
Pakistan experienced blogging on their smartphones as a means to gain more extensive
autonomous practice writing in English. The blogging was done as a stand-alone activity,
independent of the students’ university EFL programme. Using a mixed-methods case study
design, data were collected from 23 undergraduate students through interviews, surveys, and
reflective written accounts. This paper foregrounded the students’ voices to reveal their attitudes
to blogging, their experiences using smartphones for that purpose, and perceived changes in
their English writing skills. The findings indicated that many of the participants developed a
virtuous cycle, in which their interest and enjoyment of blogging, along with perceived
improvements in their ability to communicate in English, contributed to increase both
confidence and motivation to write more. The findings also pointed to other worthwhile social
and educational outcomes that could be fostered through this type of activity. As a result, the
study has implications for teachers and learners in a wide range of EFL contexts, i.e., offering
further insights into strategies for harnessing existing digital tools in order to extend students’
opportunities to use the target language, within and beyond formal educational settings.
Keywords: Blogging; EFL; extensive writing; MALL; out-of-class learning; smartphones
First Received:
20 May 2022
Revised:
9 September 2022
Accepted:
8 December 2022
Final Proof Received:
27 January 2023
Published:
31 January 2023
How to cite (in APA style):
Rashid, S., & Howard, J. (2023). Blogging with smartphones for independent writing practice
beyond the EFL classroom. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), 777-788.
https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v12i3.46086
INTRODUCTION
Learning beyond the confines of classroom time and
place is no longer a new concept. In relation to
English, specifically, it has gained increasing
prominence over the past two decades as a
component of successful language learning (see, for
example, Benson & Reinders, 2011; Nunan &
Richards, 2015). Diezmas et al. (2016), Housen
(2012), and Inayati (2015) are amongst scores of
other researchers from diverse countries and
contexts who have similarly drawn attention to
positive effects of beyond-the-classroom learning,
particularly in relation to the benefits of extended
periods of exposure and increased opportunities to
practice English language skills.
Out-of-class learning can include teacher-
directed activities, as well as varying degrees of
independent and self-initiated study. With reference
to English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts,
Inayati (2015) defines the latter as “any student
effort outside the classroom to improve the student’s
English skills, without specific instructions or
assignments from a teacher” (p. 47). This includes
students finding opportunities to extend their
periods of practicing English language, as well as
engaging with authentic materials and activities,
both of which can augment classroom instruction
and mitigate time and resourcing issues that are
often encountered in EFL programs.
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
778
However, in many contexts, face-to-face
exposure to English language outside the classroom
is limited, and students can find it challenging to
locate materials and activities which they enjoy, and
which align with their proficiency level. Training to
assist students to make astute decisions about their
choice of activities is also scarce, which can further
limit opportunities for them to develop habits and
attitudes that support successful independent study.
Additionally, although increased internet
accessibility globally now enables more
opportunities than ever before for students to access
target languages beyond the classroom, learners
have tended to focus on platforms that are
predominantly receptive in nature (e.g., watching
movies, reading comics, and listening to music),
more than those that have more communicative
potential (e.g., online oral and written chat sites)
(Aydin & Ekşi, 2013; Lai et al., 2018; Steel & Levy,
2013).
Findings such as these have stimulated
educators and researchers to explore how digital
tools and applications can be further harnessed for
extensive beyond-the-classroom practice of
productive language skills (writing and speaking),
and, arguably more importantly, to explore the
attitudes and perceptions of students in relation to
these potential affordances. This paper reports on a
study conducted with Pakistani university students
who used smartphones for blogging to practice
writing in English beyond (and separate to) their
university English course.
Blog Posting for Language Learning
In an early and seminal work on blogging for
language learning, Godwin-Jones (2003) drew
particular attention to the interactive nature of blogs,
and the potential impact of readership beyond just
the learners’ classmates on the learners’ ownership
and responsibility for their language development,
and thus on learner autonomy. Godwin-Jones also
highlighted the suitability of blogs as journals and
electronic portfolios that can record and demonstrate
students’ progress over given periods of time.
Subsequent studies that have explored blogging for
English language learning have reported additional
potential advantages, such as individual and
collaborative knowledge construction, sharing
information in English beyond classroom settings,
and being able to provide and receive feedback with
fewer pace, place and time constraints (e.g.,
Özdemir & Aydin, 2015; Sampath & Zalipour,
2010; Vurdien, 2013; Zarei & Al-Shboul, 2013).
In addition to the flexibility blogs can afford in
relation to time and space, Sampath and Zalipour
(2010) observed that blogs can make the revision
process easier for students, and learners can find the
feedback and review stages less face-threatening
compared to traditional pen and paper methods.
Zarei and Al-Shboul (2013) similarly reported that
Jordanian learners perceived blogs to be a useful
platform for peer feedback during an intensive post-
graduate preparation course, as well as being an
opportunity to improve their English skills through
sharing their experiences, knowledge and thoughts
beyond the confines of the classroom.
Learners in Zarei and Al-Shboul’s (2013)
study further reported that the use of blogs
motivated them to participate more in other
activities during their language classes. This aligns
with findings reported more recently in a study
conducted by Alsubaie and Madini (2018).
Although the study’s primary focus was on using
blogs as a supplementary tool to enhance university
students’ writing skills and vocabulary retention,
Alsubaie and Madini also reported an increase in the
learners’ motivation levels. Improvements in
motivation or self-efficacy have also been reported
in relation to blogging as part of EFL programs in
other contexts, including Turkey (Arslan & Şahin
Kizil, 2010), Spain (Montero-Fleta & Pérez-Sabater,
2010), and Japan (Miyazoe & Anderson, 2010).
Further studies which have focused
specifically on the impact of blogs on learners’
writing skills have also reported positive effects in
relation to the structure and content of students’
written work. Farooq et al. (2015), for example,
examined the impact of a six-month program in
which Pakistani undergraduate students used
blogging as a medium to write, and to receive
instruction and guidance. The researchers reported
significant improvements in language structure,
sequencing of ideas, and creativity in the students’
written output, and concluded that blogging appears
to “provide an opportunity for learners to shift from
surface to deeper levels of learning” (p. 113).
Although the findings of these studies point to
a range of potential positive outcomes for English
language learners using blogs, research in this area
to date has focused predominantly on the effect of
using blogs for writing within - or as a required
adjunct to - an existing English language program.
In most instances, even where the programs have
included blogging as a vehicle to foster autonomous
learning practices, the students’ blogging has been
done with teacher direction and supervision within
classrooms, or beyond the physical walls of the
classroom but with teacher-directed tasks that form
part of their in-class program or course
requirements. The study reported in this paper
differs in this regard, in that the students’ blogging
was done specifically as a means to increase their
out-of-class writing in English, and was not a part of
their university English language course.
Why Smartphones?
In the majority of reports on studies that have
explored blogging for developing English writing
skills, the mode of access to the internet (and
therefore to blog sites) is not identified. However, in
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
779
many instances, it can be deduced that the learners
have accessed blogs (their own and others’) by
means of a desktop or laptop computer. In the study
described in this article, the participants’ access to
the internet, as well as the means by which they
could do this, were important considerations, due to
issues including geographical location, sociocultural
factors, and pedagogical practices that have been
widely reported to limit access to digital
engagement in many contexts (see for example,
Cook et al., 2011; Syafryadin et al., 2022; Winthrop
& Smith, 2012).
The use of computers as a tool for education
has been further constrained by hardware
affordability in many developing countries.
Pakistan, where the current study is situated, is no
exception in this respect, although the situation there
differs markedly between public schools and private
institutions. The majority of Pakistani public schools
deliver Urdu-medium education, and cater for rural
and semi-rural areas and lower-income families. For
students attending these schools, the use of
computers for educational purposes has relied
largely on whether or not they have personal access
to them at home (Salam et al., 2017). In comparison,
the English-medium private schools, which are
predominantly attended by middle and upper class
families, are mostly well equipped with computers,
and have the associated infrastructure required to
support digitally enhanced teaching and learning
(Dogar et al., 2015; Siddiqui & Gorard, 2017),
thereby potentially reinforcing the digital divide.
In contrast to the imbalance in ownership of
and access to computers, ownership of smartphones
has increased rapidly across all socioeconomic
groups in Pakistan in recent years (Pakistan
Telecommunications Authority, 2018). Researchers
in other countries have argued that capitalizing on
the educational affordances of mobile technologies
may provide a means of ‘leapfrogging’ the digital
divide (Lee et al., 2015; Mascheroni & Olaffson,
2015; Puspitasari & Ishii, 2016). Godwin-Jones
(2017) has gone further, claiming that “smartphones
as life partners” are “a potential game-changer in
education” (pp. 3-4). Indeed, benefits of utilizing
smartphones, particularly for teaching and learning
English, have now been reported across a broad
range of countries, contexts and sectors (e.g.,
Alhadia, 2020; Chen & Denoyelles, 2013; Hossain,
2018; Leis et al., 2015; Mindog, 2016; Oz, 2015).
Although the use of mobile phones by tertiary
students in Pakistan has been explored previously,
the primary focus of most studies has been on levels
of ownership and patterns of usage (e.g., Ahmed &
Qazi, 2011; Ally et al., 2017; Iqbal et al., 2017;
Rashid et al., 2018). To date, much less research
attention has been given to the potential use of
smartphones for writing in English in Pakistan and
other EFL contexts. With the biggest group of
internet users in Pakistan being 20 to 24-year-old
tertiary level students (United Nations e-
Government Knowledge Database, 2017), the
decision to use smartphones as the device for
blogging in the current study capitalized on their
ubiquitous nature and eliminated the potential
digital divide associated with computer access.
Additionally, by blogging with smartphones, the
participants were able to take advantage of the
flexible time, place and pace affordances of the
smartphone as a mobile device, with greater
independence and a less formal setting to practice
writing in English.
METHOD
As Lai et al. (2018) have reported, digital devices of
all kinds can be used differently depending on users’
individual needs and goals. In relation to their use
for educational purposes, understanding learners’
attitudes and perceptions about the usefulness of
particular devices and applications for specific
learning-oriented purposes can help teachers and
learners in their choice of task and device, along
with realistic goal setting. Further, this information
can provide insights into students’ difficulties, and
inform efforts to guide students in their language
learning endeavours. The focus of this paper is on
learners’ experiences with, and attitudes towards
blogging with smartphones. Specifically, the study
explored the following research question: How do
tertiary EFL students perceive smartphones and
blogging as tools to practice writing in English
beyond the classroom?
Participants
The participants were all enrolled in a Molecular
Biology and Biotechnology qualification at
Bahauddin Zakariya University, a public university
in Pakistan. All students in this department were
required to study English as part of their program,
with a focus on grammar, writing, and presentation
skills. With permission from the department head,
information sheets were distributed electronically to
the students, none of whom were known to the
authors prior to the study. Informed consent was
received from 23 students who were all in their first
semester of university study.
The results of a background information
survey conducted prior to the blogging component
of the study established that all of the 23 participants
spoke Urdu or an Urdu dialect; none had English as
their first language. However, the majority (17) had
studied English for twelve or more years prior to
their university studies; three had studied English
for between five and eleven years, and three for less
than five years. Their self-reported proficiency in
English was high-beginner to intermediate level. All
of the participants had access to a smartphone and
were using them for a range of purposes, including
accessing educational content (16), entertainment
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
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(14), emailing (14), and making phone calls (12).
Overall, the participants’ smartphone use was
relatively recent, with just over half having used a
smartphone for less than one year (12). None of the
students had prior experience with using blogs prior
at the outset of the study.
Data Collection
The study utilized a mixed-methods case study
approach (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011; Yin,
2014), drawing on quantitative data gathered from
pre- and post-study surveys, in addition to
qualitative data from surveys, individual semi-
structured interviews, and written reflective
accounts. Burns (2000) confirms the strength of case
study methodology for this type of exploration, and
points to the value of multiple methods and data
sources for triangulation.
As reported above, the participants were
surveyed at the outset of the study in order to collect
background information. These surveys were
completed individually by the participants via an
online tool. After preliminary compilation, coding
and analysis of the survey data, individual semi-
structured interviews were conducted with each of
the 23 participants. This enabled opportunities for
participants to clarify and expand on their survey
responses, and for further information to be
gathered, including prior experiences (if any) with
blogging, any previous use of smartphones for
English language learning, and their perceptions
about using smartphones and blogs to practice
English language skills.
Since the background survey and interviews
revealed that none of the students had prior
experience of smartphone blogging, it was important
to provide them with training in the technical
aspects of using smartphones for this purpose. In
order to give an initial immersive experience in a
blog environment, the training itself was conducted
via a blog. The first phase included short videos in
Urdu, with supporting pictorial guides in English on
the technical aspects of setting up a personal blog
using a smartphone. Further training was provided
on how to publish posts on the participants’ own
blogs, how to access others’ posts, and how to
access other features on their smartphones to
augment and enhance their blogs. The last phase of
the training involved activities on how to choose a
topic for a blogpost, how to comment on fellow
students’ blogposts, and how to review their own
blogposts. The use of a host-blog to familiarize the
participants with these aspects provided them with
purposeful hands-on opportunities to experience
reading and following a blog before they developed
their own (see Rashid et al., 2020, for a detailed
account of the learner-training model).
At the end of the study, the participants posted
their feedback about their experiences onto the host
blog. They also completed a follow-up survey about
their perceptions of using smartphones for blogging
as a medium to practice English language writing.
The survey further explored the students’ beliefs,
preferences and enjoyment of using blogs for this
purpose, as well as their perceptions regarding the
ease of using smartphones for blogging, perceived
improvement in English writing skills, perceived
improvement in communication skills, and
perceived increases in motivation and confidence.
Further data were then gathered from eight
participants’ who agreed to undertake post-study
semi-structured interviews.
Data Analysis
The qualitative data obtained from the surveys,
interviews and written reflections were investigated
using an iterative thematic analysis process (Miles et
al., 2014) throughout the study. Reference to the
quantitative pre- and post-study survey data also
took place at regular intervals during the analysis, to
assist with possible interpretations and to gain a
fuller understanding of the emerging findings.
Extracts from the qualitative data sources are
included in the following presentation and
discussion of the findings, in order to give voice to
the students’ experiences and perceptions, and to
give deeper insights into the themes that arose.
FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION
The findings are presented and discussed here in
relation to four major themes: 1) blogging as a fun
and motivating activity; 2) using smartphones for
blogging; 3) perceived improvement in English
writing skills; and 4) community building beyond a
formal educational context.
Blogging as a Fun and Motivating Activity
The findings revealed that the novelty of the
blogging experience positively impacted the
participants’ motivation for practicing English
writing skills using this tool. Although some
students reported they experienced initial difficulties
with publishing their posts, many added that even
though “it was a new thing” for them, they found
blogging “interesting” as it allowed them to share
their opinions, ideas, and thoughts with the world.
One student described blogging as “an amazing
experience”. Another summed up the views of many
others when she stated: “This was the first time in
my life I used the internet for such a purpose. It was
a good activity. Such activities can help us learn
how to use the internet more productively.”
Other motivating aspects of blogging
commonly referred to by the participants were
“creativity” and “independence”, particularly in
relation to being able to choose what they wrote
about after their initial two practice posts. As one
student stated: “This activity gave me a free hand.
We can capture family moments, improve writing
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
781
skills and share moments with others as well.”
Furthermore, the realization they could write
independently, and could be read by a broader
audience than they had previously, provided further
motivation for many of the participants to continue
blogging. As one participant stated: “When I
received one comment on my post, I really loved
knowing that somebody had appreciated my effort. I
also learned by reading other posts. It taught me
how people differ in their thoughts and opinions
from each other. Definitely, it gives me so much
motivation.”
Regarding creating titles for their posts, some
students reported that they preferred to use their
own name for a title so they could make their
identity and personality more visible. One student,
for example, explained that she had initially called
her blog simply “My blog.” However, she then
wondered: “How would [anyone] know that it is my
blog? So, I added my name in it.” Another student
reported: “My blog was based on my name and I
thought people should get to know me. They should
know what I think and what my attitude is towards
others.” Another factor that influenced the
participants’ decisions about the title and content of
their posts related to their desire to inform others
about their individual passions – things such as
food, or their love for their city or country. The
following comment is typical in this respect: “I
wanted to make everyone familiar with my city. I
chose the titles for my blogposts, which reflected the
beauty of Multan. Through my blogposts, I wanted
to urge people to visit Multan.”
Other blogpost themes included memories, as
well as objects or events that were readily available
for the participants. For many of the female
students, who were more likely than the males to
stay at home after their university classes, this meant
that the topics and themes often related more closely
to their immediate surroundings. One of the female
students explained: “We usually don’t go out for
recreation, so I did not have much to choose from.
This is why I used to pick objects from my home.”
Another reported that she sought input from siblings
and friends for possible topics.
In addition to using their blogs to share their
observations and opinions with a larger audience,
some students referred to using their blogs for
personal relief and renewal. One student, for
example, stated: “I use my blog as catharsis.”
Another student explained: “Even during papers, I
would think about my [blog] topics before going to
bed and would write my post as a break and
relaxation from studies.” Some students also
reported that they found it helpful to be able to share
their opinions on a range of social issues. One
stated, for example: “I wanted to do something for
my society, so I used my blog [to write] about things
that could be done.”
When asked about the frequency of their posts,
many participants indicated that the ease with which
they could make their posts was a key factor. One
student reported: “Gradually [blogging] captured my
interest because the things were getting easy.” The
following comment is illustrative of many others in
this respect: “When I started writing on my blog,
gradually it became a hobby. I realized that
[blogging] was very easy and interesting.”
A sense of challenge was also reported as a
motivating factor that impacted the number and
length of some students’ blogposts. Indeed, 18 of
the 23 participants reported that even though the
blogging was not connected to their university
English course, knowing their peers were also
blogging contributed to their sense of competition
and this contributed to their motivation to write
more in English. One student explained it this way:
“When I had to do it as a competition, it was very
intriguing for me. It was fascinating for me, as I was
publishing posts on my own choice.”
Most students also reported that they found
blogging to be a fun activity. Qualitative comments
in regard to this were strongly supported by
quantitative data from the follow-up survey (see
Figure 1), with most of the students either agreeing
or strongly agreeing that they had enjoyed blogging
in their free time.
Almost all of the participants reported that they
enjoyed reading other people’s blogs, and the
majority also reported they would continue to use
their blog in the future. As a tool for writing in
English, most of the participants reported that they
preferred using blogs instead of the more traditional
pen and paper approach.
The high proportion of participants in the
present study who reported they found blogging fun
and motivating is consistent with Akdağ and
Özkan’s (2017) research, and aligns with findings
that learners’ expectations regarding whether new
technologies are easy, useful, or fun, can impact
their motivation and willingness to engage in using
those technologies. Harju et al. (2016) also found
that non-formal learning through blogging can
depend on the learners’ own interest and goals. Kim
et al. (2014) further found that although these types
of activities may be considered as independent and
personal pursuits, they are also influenced by the
context of learning and social factors. This was
indeed the case in the current study, with peer
participation reported as impacting motivation and
engagement by many of the participants, and factors
such as the participants’ gender also influencing
aspects of their engagement (e.g., topic choice).
The participants’ reports regarding motivation
as a result of being able to express their opinions
independently, and the ability to share these with a
wider audience via their blogs also aligns with
findings from other studies (e.g., Gunduz, 2016;
Montero-Fleta & Pérez-Sabater, 2010). With regard
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
782
to the students’ overall preference for receiving
feedback compared with giving feedback (shown in
Figure 1), this may be reflective of them being
relatively new to blogging, but may also be related
to their (lack of) experience and confidence, at least
initially, in making responses in this type of forum.
A range of other potentially interacting factors may
also be at play here, including the public nature of
blog comments, and the participants’ confidence in
their own English writing skills. These are areas that
would benefit from future investigation.
Figure 1
Students’ attitudes towards blogging
Using Smartphones for Blogging
Initial interviews with the participants revealed that
although they had not used their smartphones for
learning English prior to this study, they believed it
could be helpful. However, despite their interest,
many of the students expressed initial uncertainty
about how they could use their phones for this
purpose. In the follow-up survey, a majority of the
participants reported that they not only found
blogging with their smartphones enjoyable, but that
they found writing and reading blogs easier with
their smartphones than with other digital tools (see
Figure 2). A recurring reason given for this related
to the relative ease of internet access via data
packages the participants used for their smartphones
compared to the less reliable internet services they
used for computer access.
Figure 2
Students’ experiences using smartphones for blogging
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
783
The participants gave a range of additional
reasons for their preference for using smartphones
for blogging. These included increased flexibility
with regard to when and where they could write.
One student, for example, reported that if she had a
problem with internet connectivity, she could more
easily move to a better-connected location. The
following quotations from the participants’ written
feedback provide further illustrations of the relative
ease of use, efficiency, and flexibility that they
reported: “I used to publish [my] blog post on my
mobile because it was easy. I could even publish
when I was in my bed. Using [my] laptop was more
time consuming”; “I used my mobile phone to post
on my blog. It was very handy and easy”; “I could
use [my smartphone] on the go without worrying
about being at a comfortable place to use it and
publish a blog post.”
The students also described using their
smartphones to access the internet for a range of
supporting purposes when they were writing their
blogs. Goggle was frequently used to translate
words from Urdu to English, and also to check the
spelling of English words. Almost two thirds of the
participants also accessed online dictionaries via
their smartphone so they could check the spelling
and meaning of words to use in their blogs. One
student installed Microsoft Office on his phone in
order to use its auto-correct and spell-check
features, and another application for ease with word
counting. Google was also used by most of the
students to search for specific information for some
of their blogposts. One student, for example,
reported: “… to put in some authentic scientific
information, I googled to check the facts and then
posted it.”
The experiences reported by the students in
this study in relation to using their smartphones for
blog writing align with reports from a number of
other researchers. In the Indonesian context, for
example, Fauzan (2017) reported that students in a
university English language program used the
internet during blog writing to get help with English
grammar, to translate words from their home
language to English, and to search for information
and ideas. Likewise, as in the current study, other
research has confirmed that the convenience,
portability, and multitasking possibilities of
smartphones, plus the enhanced internet
connectivity they offer in some contexts, can impact
positively on students’ experiences using these
devices (Alhadiah, 2020; Anshari et al., 2017;
Godwin-Jones, 2017; Hossain, 2018; Leis et al.,
2015).
Perceived Improvement in English Writing Skills
Students’ beliefs about possible improvements in
their English writing skills were explored via the
follow-up survey and post-study interview
responses, and their written feedback. Almost all the
participants believed that the extensive writing
practice they had engaged in through blogging had a
positive effect on their overall English writing skills,
and also enabled them to perform better in
examinations and assignments. As shown in Figure
3, most participants reported that, as a result of
working on their blogs, they spent more time
planning and revising their writing, paid more
attention to sentence construction, and took more
care with word choice and mechanical aspects such
as spelling. Further, the students perceived that
practicing writing in English via their blogs
improved their grammar and increased their
vocabulary.
Figure 3
Students’ beliefs about the effect of blogging on specific writing skills and practices
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
784
Some participants reported a further motivator
for publishing blogposts; namely, when they
perceived that, through blogging, their English
writing skills were improving, some students
reported that they felt more confident, and were
stimulated to publish even more blogposts. The
following comments reflect the participants’ beliefs
about their progress, and are illustrative of some of
the affective and motivational influences that
appear to have stimulated the students to write
more: “I realized that I was developing proficient
writing skills. I was thrilled”; “It was a two in one
thing for me; I developed creative writing and
learned a lot while having fun”; “It helped me in
creativity and I found it helpful for my language
development”; “Now I feel confident that I can
publish blog posts. I am sure that after publishing
10-12 posts I will be perfect in writing and
publishing posts.”
The increased confidence the students in this
study reported in relation to their English writing
skills aligns with reports from other studies
regarding modern technologies enabling greater
opportunities for meaningful and authentic
engagement in the target language than are
available in many classrooms (Richards, 2015;
Tolosa et al., 2017), and subsequent impacts on
attitudes, confidence and use (Farley et al., 2015).
Community Building Beyond the Classroom
At the outset of this study, the participants were
already part of a learning community, by virtue of
them all being enrolled in the same university
qualification at that point. The findings of this
study revealed that despite this research being
conducted entirely independently of the students’
university programme and EFL class, further
community building occurred among the
participants, through in-class and out-of-class
interactions related to their blogging. Most of the
students reported that they shared their experiences
of using their smartphone to write in English with
their classmates, and most had helped others to
solve problems they encountered when using their
smartphones for blogging (see Figure 4).
Qualitative findings from the post-study interviews
and the students’ written feedback confirmed that
through sharing their experiences and helping each
other when challenges arose, the students’
developed an effective community of practice, as
well as added impetus to write.
Figure 4
Students’ practices that contributed to community building
In addition to providing assistance for their
classmates, almost half the participants also reported
that they had help from friends or family to
proofread their blogposts – something that had been
neither discouraged nor encouraged by the
researchers. In doing so, the students potentially also
extended their own personal learning communities
by engaging with others beyond their educational
setting in ways they had not done previously in
relation to their English language learning.
The community building that was reported in
this study also extended well beyond what may be
viewed as primarily pragmatic or operational
functions (such as helping overcome technical
challenges). The students reported valuing
opportunities to learn more about each other through
their blogs, as well as learning from each other’s
social experiences. One participant, for example,
explained that she did not have any experience of
having grandparents, but she was able to learn about
the feelings and the experience of living with a
grandparent through one of her peer’s blogposts.
Findings from this study in relation to the
knowledge construction and meaning negotiation
that occurred through the students’ blogging-related
interactions resonate with findings from other
studies (e.g., Hourigan & Murray, 2010; Yakut &
Aydin, 2017). Deng and Yuen (2011) have similarly
Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 12(3), January 2023
785
observed social as well as cognitive dimensions in
relation to blogging, where the writers engage in a
self-reflection process while writing for their blogs,
and readers also reflect on and learn from their
blogs.
CONCLUSION
The study presented here set out to contribute to our
understanding of EFL students’ experiences with,
and attitudes towards blogging with a smartphone to
provide independent practice writing in English
beyond the physical and instructional parameters of
their formal language classes. There is arguably no
one best tool or application to facilitate this type of
beyond-the-classroom writing practice. Indeed, the
choice of device and platform must inevitably
depend on numerous factors, including the students’
own perceptions, interest and access. In this study,
the high rate of smartphone ownership in Pakistan,
and the affordability of data packages to support
their use for blogging were important
considerations.
Of particular interest as we reflect on the
findings, is the potential impact that blogging with
smartphones had for the participants, beyond merely
the opportunity it provided for them to increase their
written output in English. Factors such as autonomy
in topic choice, reaching a wider audience, receiving
comments on their posts, and perceptions that their
English writing and broader communication skills in
English were improving, appeared to create a
virtuous cycle for many of the students. In addition
to providing the conditions for more extensive
meaning-focused input and output (see Nation,
2007), the students’ informal learning experiences
through blogging also motivated them to
communicate further, thereby building social and
learning communities beyond their formal learning
context.
It is only relatively recently that second
language learning research has begun to shift
attention from negative emotions (mainly anxiety)
to the potential role of positive emotions (see, e.g.,
Dewaele & MacIntyre, 2014). In a recent reference
to Fredrickson’s (2013) broaden-and-build theory,
Boudreau et al. (2018) theorized that “positive
emotions broaden the perspective of an individual
learner, facilitating engagement with the language,
play, and exploration with unfamiliar settings” (p.
152). This was certainly evident in this study. In
fact, motivation, engagement, enjoyment, interest,
and creativity were recurring refrains in the
participants’ oral and written feedback.
It is acknowledged that generalizability of the
findings of this study are constrained due to it being
conducted with just one group of learners, and in
one context. Further, the findings are based
primarily on self-report data. However, harnessing
the affordances of readily available technology, as
described in this article, has potential value in a
wide range of other EFL contexts and countries. The
use of smartphones, in particular, as a tool for
language practice has additional pertinence in light
of recent reports of strong and ongoing growth in
mobile broadband subscriptions, such that 83 per
100 inhabitants worldwide now have mobile plans,
with the greatest increases recorded in Africa and
the Asia-Pacific region (International
Telecommunication Union, 2021).
This study contributes to existing research in
this field in two important ways. Firstly, it provides
insights into how tertiary EFL students themselves
experienced blogging, and their attitudes towards
using smartphones for this type of activity.
Secondly, the discussion pays attention to potential
benefits that were reported beyond simply the
increased opportunities that blog posting afforded
for participants to use the target language. In doing
so, this study has added to the corpus of research on
mobile-assisted EFL learning, and drawn further
attention to a number of socio-affective factors that
appear to have impacted on (and been impacted by)
the participants’ attitudes towards blogging, their
experiences using smartphones to blog, and their
perceptions of changes in their English writing
skills.
As Dörnyei (2009) has pointed out, motivation
to learn a language comes from “successful
engagement with the actual language learning
process (e.g., because they discover they are good at
it)” (p. 29). Blogging on their smartphones certainly
generated that perception for students in this study,
increasing their engagement in English beyond their
formal language learning environment, and
heightening their motivation for further English
language practice using these tools.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge the support
of Prince Sultan University for paying the Article
Processing Charges (APC) of this publication.
Additionally, they wish to acknowledge the valuable
contributions made by Dr Una Cunningham and Dr
Kevin Watson during this study.
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