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2 There is no specific notification when the content of the blog is edited, it
may cause some problems in evaluating the contents. 3
Once the students come online, they may open other webpages which is not related to the target of learning.
C. Related Research
Blogs have become a new trend of learning tool in recent years. Campbell 2003, in his article about the use of blogs in classes, has mentioned
three types of blog which are commonly used in education. Those are tutor blog, student blog, and class blog. In addition, Godwin-Jones 2003 states that blogs
have come as a web of second generation which allows the writer manipulate or personalized its content and appearance. He suggested some ways of utilizing
blog for learners, such as uploading and linking files, writing for broader readers, having discussion forums, and it can be used as an electronic portfolio.
Johnson 2004 has reported his study on the Internet TESL Journal; it is about utilizing class and student blogs in a writing course. In his study, Johnson
implements the use of blog for his writing course. The focus of his study is to share the procedures of utilizing blog in the classroom. The study was conducted
in a graduate level scientific writing course taught in the spring of 2003. Johnson uses two types of blog in his course, class blog and student blog. He creates a
class blog for general application related to learning materials, while the student blogs are used to post or submit assignments privately. In his study, each students
URL address is shared only between that student and the teacher. The result of the study shows that utilizing blog in classroom can effectively maximize students’
access to class materials and exposure to teacher feedback Johnson, 2004. The use of blogs in the classroom is motivating for the learners Brooks,
Nichols and Priebe, 2004. It can enhance effective instructional approaches that emphasize writing for meaningful social purposes, mastery of relevant genres, and
development of students’ academic language proficiency Warschauer, 2010. Blogs also encourage the learners about ownership and responsibility since it is
publicly available to read Lowe and Williams, 2004; Mynard, 2007.
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Additionally, Blog is an alternative way of communicating among teacher and students and encourage the students to become autonomous learners, thus it can be
prompted as a reflecting tools of the learning process Mynard, 2007.
D. Student Blog in Improving Writing Skills
