My Reflection on Writing/Responding to 3 Blog Posts

For this week's assignment, I had to write at least 3 posts on my blog and comment on my group members’ blog posts. During the past few weeks, I published 12 posts in total, and four of them were not even for the weekly assignment; they were solely written out of pure joy. From the process of writing and responding to blog posts, I was able to learn three things. First of all, writing blog posts significantly benefits English learners, specifically in writing skills. I can take myself as the best example since I view myself as an English learner. I felt that my English composition skills have improved a lot compared to last months when I did not write anything in English. Having no hesitation when writing sentences in English, being able to come up with English words easily without using a dictionary, and not feeling stressed or anxious anymore when confronted with English were the major changes I felt. Since I expose myself to English constantly by writing my own and reading my peers’ posts, I can expand the horizons of English words and expressions. Also, I let myself in a new cognitive state every time I try to compose English writings with a new topic since I have to challenge myself using words and expressions I do not usually confront with in daily life. From my personal experience, I believe a blog can be a strong educational tool for English learners. Secondly, the interactive process of blogging boosts the utmost fun, motivating English learners. I felt a huge difference when writing a blog post solely on my own, and having an audience and getting comments from other bloggers. Of course, the process of writing a blog post itself brings a lot of fun, but when I comment on someone else’s posts and vice versa, I feel I am communicating with others and that brings sheer joy. Having fun is an important factor in teaching because it motivates learners, making them study by their own will and focus easily even if the task is quite challenging. Therefore, the communicative aspect of the blog – commenting to each other – is a key. Thirdly, the interactive aspect of a blog makes learners become more responsible to their writings. Because I acknowledge the fact that there will be readers from the outside world who randomly (or purposely) visit my blog, I tend to double-check what I wrote and proofread before publishing my post. Also, I tend to write with responsibility, checking if I used appropriate expressions or words. In fact, the reader can point out mistakes from the blog post and the author can edit it right away. Through this interaction, the English learner can correct his/her own writing. Although a blog is a powerful, entertaining educational tool for English learners, teachers should be cautious of learners’ level. In other words, teachers have to keep in mind whether the learners are capable enough to compose a sentence, a paragraph, or an essay. Even for intermediate or advanced level students, still writing in a second language is a challenging job that requires a lot of time and effort. Therefore, students can feel a burden if the instructor does not give clear instructions about what to write, and how much should they write about.

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Presentation Group (Week 13) Blog Sites Seri Park https://saripark1.wixsite.com/website Hyein Lee https://aksjrj20.wixsite.com/innibakery Gyoungmin Kim https://kkm9357.wixsite.com/peaceofmylife Jeongyeon Lee https://jyeoni117.wixsite.com/jacey Hyejeong Jo https://ksgs1019.wixsite.com/mysite

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