11 Perception is not solely a definition in this review of related literature.
Perception is something essential because someone behaves based on her or his interpretation of situation, events and condition. Sometimes, people fail to behave
or act also because of wrong perception that they have. Therefore, perception is really important to know what inside people’s mind. People may see different
things when they are faced by the same things. “Perception-like beauty-is in the eye of the beholder” Sweeney and McFarlin, 2002, p. 25.
2. Blog
In discussing the theories related to blogs, the researcher divides the theories into two parts. They are definition of blogs and blogs in language learning and
teaching.
a. Definition of Blogs
There are also some theories related to the description of blogs. The term of blogs is already prevalent among people, especially in this globalization era.
Hence, related to the use of blogs which has been already popular nowadays, there are also many definitions propounded by the experts.
Prakoso 2008 notes that the blog is designed interactively and it is updated routinely. The contents of a blog can be various. It can tell various topics and also
can express various opinions p. 4. Warschauer 2010 also agrees that a blog is updated frequently especially in giving comments and adding new content. He
added that the blog is a particular medium for discussing and publishing students’ writing. pp. 3-4. Then, Pinkman 2005 also has the same opinion that blogs can
12 be updated all the time and he added that blogs also give an opportunity for people
to create and design their own blogs p. 14. Lewis 2004 also states that in this new era many people have turned to
blogs as alternative media for them to do discussion. He also defines the blog as a kind of web diary and a tool which allows the blogs users to publish the
information on a web. It is the same thing as what the users do when they use a text program. Blogs can also contain pictures, videos, audios files and links in a
blog postings or blog messages pp. 19-20. Then, Godwin 2003 defines a blog as a tool which is available on the Internet for people to write, edit and publish
their writing as cited in Zhang, 2009, p. 64. Other experts Dudeney and Hockly 2007 also add that “a blog is
essentially a web page with regular diary or journal entries. The term is short for web log” p. 86. The blog is an example of social software and also one of the
computer tools which can make people connect, communicate and collaborate online activity to each other.
b. Blogs in Language Learning and Teaching
The blog is also implemented in language teaching. There are some theories related to this.
Dudeney and Hockly 2007 state that most blogs allow the users and readers to comment on blog postings. They also add that this kind of social
software such as blogs can motivate the learners and the teachers in studying and teaching p. 87. Furthermore, using blogs in the classroom environment provides
the opportunity for students to post comments and to obtain feedback from their
13 classmates and also from anyone in the world because there is a comments feature
in a blog. Drexler, Dawson, and Ferdig, 2007, p. 140; Kirk, Manatee, and Johnson, 2009, p. 3. Drexler, Dawson and Ferdig also add that giving comments
and obtaining feedback can build students’ ability in writing indirectly p. 140. Besides, blogs are media which are easy to use, to create, and to maintain in the
online communities Pinkman, 2005, p. 14; Zhang, 2009, p. 67; Guttler, 2011, p. 156.
Then, blogs in a classroom can increase students’ motivation, students’ interest in learning technology and their critical thinking skills because in a blog
they may share their writing, videos and pictures with their friends, family and even with other people that they did not know Sawmiller, 2010, p. 44; Fageeh,
2011, p. 42 . Sawmiller also adds that blogs in a classroom also provides the opportunities for the learners to develop their skills in writing and reading. Hence,
it makes blogs interesting for the learners and also for the educators p. 47. Ward 2004 also states the similar thing as Sawmiller that using blogs is one of the
ways in increasing students’ interest in learning reading and writing as cited in Pinkman, 2005, p. 14. In addition, a blog gives an opportunity for people to
practice writing Tseng, 2008, p. 179; Nepomuceno, 2011, p. 103. The students can also express their ideas and mind using blogs Tseng, 2008, p. 179; Kim,
2008, p. 1346. Arena and Jefferson 2008 also add that “students have the choice to organize their ideas and content in their own ways, leading to divergent and
creative thinking” p. 3. Nepomuceno 2011 states that a blog provides opportunities for the
14 students to analyze their content of writing. They will be aware of their writing
mistakes such as grammar, mechanics, unity, and coherence. p. 96. Moreover, he discovers that most of the students enjoy using blogs and the students think that
a blog is challenging for them. Blogs also make them more confident in writing p. 103. Walker 2005 also agrees and states that most of the students enjoy
using blogs and they find the blog as something valuable as cited in Kavaliauskienė, Anusienė and Mažeikienė, 2006, p. 135. Besides, Zhang 2009
propounds that a blog gives opportunities for students to improve their writing skills and also to develop their ideas in writing by interact with other students p.
68. Furthermore, there is also the expert who reveals the advantages of using blogs in language teaching. Wu 2004 describes the advantages of using blogs in
an EFL class as follows: i it is very easy to design and maintain; ii teachers can access and create,
edit, assign homework, and review materials in a very organized way and in chronological order; iii blogs can promote exploration of websites in
English, once the teacher can be able to place links to their source websites and students can have the chance to read articles; iv with the automatic
date-stamping function, both teachers and students are able to know clearly when assignments are turned in; v most students will write more carefully
if they know that they are going to publish their articles online for authentic readers who may comment on their postings as cited in Guttler, 2011, pp.
62-63. However, each medium certainly has disadvantages. Similarly, a blog also
has its disadvantages. Tseng 2008 says some disadvantages of blogs such as disturbance from the outside, issues of privacy, plagiarism and difficulty in
maintaining blogs everyday pp. 170-171. Furthermore, students are usually distracted easily by browsing other websites when they write on their blogs.
Tseng, 2008, p. 177; Nepomuceno, 2011, p. 104.
15 In addition, in learning language through blogs, the educators’ role is also
important. The blog is one of the technologies used in learning and teaching. The technology should not be separated from learning itself. The teachers have roles in
selecting the lesson objective, the method of learning, the evaluation, the feedback and also the follow-up activities for learning. The relationship between teachers
and technology directly and indirectly has also important roles in determining the success of the implementation of technology used in learning Venkatsatish, 2012,
pp. 53-54. Arena and Jefferson 2008 also add that teacher as an educator should support the students by giving the questions and comments as well as by doing
discussion together. The teachers also need to know further the use of features of blogs so that they can relate the use of blogs with students’ learning p. 3.
3. Writing Proficiency
