© 2016 Milver Stiwar Palomeque Andrade

THE IMPACT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AN EDUCATIONAL BLOG ON THE

READING PRACTICES OF ELEVENTH GRADE STUDENTS AT SAN FERNANDO HIGH

SCHOOL IN AMAGÁ, ANTIOQUIA

BY

MILVER STIWAR PALOMEQUE ANDRADE

Licenciado, Universidad Tecnológica del Chocó

Graduate Specialist, Universidad de Santander, 2013

THESIS

Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements

for the degree of MAGISTER EN PROCESOS DE APRENDIZAJE Y ENSEÑANZA DE
SEGUNDAS LENGUAS in the School of Education and Pedagogy and Advanced Education
System of Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, Sede Central Medellin, 2016

Medellin, Antioquia
Colombia

Master’s Thesis Committee

Full Name, M.A./Ph.D., Chair
Full Name, M.A./Ph.D.
Full Name, M.A./Ph.D.
 AFFIDAVIT

I, Milver Stiwar Palomeque Andrade, hereby declare that this master’s thesis has not been
previously presented as a degree requirement, either in the same style or with variations, in this
or any other university (Article 92 Advanced Education Student Code, Universidad Pontificia
Bolivariana)

MILVER STIWAR PALOMEQUE ANDRADE

 Abstract

This thesis explored the use of blogs for practicing reading of multimodal English texts with

students of the eleventh grade of San Fernando of the municipality of Amagá – Antioquia by

implementing a set of multimodal workshops and online reading comprehension activities. This

study focused on the implementation of new and digital literacies in the classroom through

critical reading and online reading comprehension. Some activities of the blog were developed in

the school computer lab and others were developed by the students independently or

collaboratively with their classmates. Data for the study was collected through a survey in order

to know the reading habits of students. In addition, observations were registered in field notes

during each online session; focus groups were conducted with students in which they discussed

the impact of new literacies in reading practices of multimodal texts during English classes;

finally students’ artifacts (students' productions in each session on the blog) were collected.

Findings revealed that participants used online reading strategies to help comprehension,

increase learning opportunities, and motivation for learning and reading in English; additionally,

there was better communication between students and the teacher. Future implications can be

reflected on the creation of a blog that fosters critical thinking in second language learning and

the creation of a Facebook closed group for English classes that allow students to interact each

other with multimodal elements about topics of common interest.

Key words: blogs, multiliteracies, multimodality, multimodal reading

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 Acknowledgments

First, I would like to thank almighty God for keeping me healthy and alive despite all the

risks I face every day. Second, I wish to thank my parents, Carmelo Palomeque and Rebecca

Andrade, for the good education they have provided me since I was a child and the motivation

they have given me to finish my elementary, high school and university studies. Third, I also

want to express my gratitude to Governor Sergio Fajardo, who in compliance with its motto

“Antioquia la Más Educada”, made it possible for many teachers such as me to attend and finish

a Masters degree through the program of scholarships for higher education for teachers of

Antioquia. Additionally, I fraternally thank the coordinator of this prestigious Program, Raúl

Alberto Mora, and his entire teacher staff for believing in my abilities and accept me in their

second cohort. I would also like to thank my advisor, José Aldemar Álvarez Valencia, for

working with me unconditionally and even more for motivating me to keep going at that time

that I became confused by multiple duties of this thesis, my work as a teacher, my family, sports

and social relations. Moreover, I would also like to thank my classmates for staying together at

all times and making the professors call us “The Seduca’s group”. Finally, I want to thank my

already graduated students from 11-1 and 11-2 (2015) for cooperating in the implementation of

the research reported in this thesis. In sum, I want to thank to all above mention for helping me

achieve another goal which, so far, is the most important of my life.

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 Table of Contents
Chapter Page

Chapter 1: Blogging in Amagá High School: An Opportunity to Improve English Level through

Multimodal Readings …………………………………………………………………………… 1

Chapter 2: Literature Review - Concerning Blogs...............................................................…... 20

Chapter 3: Methodology ...................................................................................................…......29

Chapter 4: Findings and Discussion ………………………………………………………...….43

Chapter 5: Conclusions, Pedagogical Implications and Limitations …………………………..64

References……..……………………………………...………..………………………………..74

Appendix A: Consentimiento Informado Para Investigación Sobre Utilización De Blogs En Las

Clases De Inglés En Los Grados 11° 1 – 11°2 …………………………………………………82

Appendix B: Encuesta sobre Hábitos de Lectura ……………………………………………....83

Appendix C: Entrevistas En Grupos Focales ……………………………………………. 84 – 85

Appendix D: Data Collection Schedule ………………………………………………….. 86 - 87

List of Tables

Table Page

Table 1.0 Differences between reading of print-based and multimodal texts ……………….18-19

Table 2.0 Reading Strategies Implemented In All Activities …………………..…………36

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 List of Images
Images Page

Image 1.1. Sample of blogging activity # 7 ………….………………...…….…………………35

Image 1.2. Sample of Blogging activity # 5 ………………………………….…………………36

Image 1.3. Sample of Blogging activity # 3 ……………………………………………………37

Image 1.4. Taken to Participants of 11° 2 during the explanation of activity # 5……...…...….. 44

Image 1.5. Taken to Participants of 11° 1 during the development of activity # 6……………...44

Image 1.6. Taken to Participants of 11° 1 during the development of activity # 4…...................45

Image 1.7. Taken to Participants of 11° 1 during the development of activity # 4…..............….45

Image 1.8. Screen grab taken from session number three ………………...…………………….47

Image 1.9. Screen grab taken from session number six……………………...………………… 48

Image 2.0. Participant showed a lot of affection for Nelson Mandela’s quote......................…...49

Image 2.1. Quote submitted for a student of 11°1 for opening a discussion about fidelity..........49

Image 2.2. Philosophical quote submitted by a student of 11°2……………………………...…49

Image 2.3. Taken from students Facebook’s closed group ……………………………………..51

Image 2.4 and 2.5. Teacher’s interaction with students during the development of blog activity

number five……………………………………………………………………………………... 63

List of Figures
Figures Page

Figure 1.0 Taken from the digital survey applied to student participants…………………….....50
Figure 1.1. General statistics about quantity and quality of activities developed on the blog ….54
Figure 1.2. Taken from the result of blog activity number 1…………………………………... 58

Figure 1.3. Taken from the result of blog activity number 2…………………………………... 58

Figure 1.4. Taken from the result of blog activity number 3…………………………………... 58

Figure 1.5. Taken from the result of blog activity number 4…………………………………... 59
0
Chapter One: Blogging in Amagá High School: An Opportunity to Improve English Level

through Multimodal Readings

Considering that Correa and Gonzalez (2016) report that “in the last 16 years, Colombia’s

government, through its National Ministry of Education, has launched a series of programs such

as National Program of Bilingualism 2004-2019; the Program for Strengthening the

Development of Competences in Foreign Languages; The National English Program: Colombia

Very Well 2015-2025; and most recently, Bilingual Colombia 2014-2018” (p. 2) San Fernando

high school of the municipality of Amagá – Antioquia aims to heed the aforementioned plans by

implementing an educational blog for improving reading practices of multimodal texts with the

students from eleventh grade. because the reason for this is that English teachers of the

institution have realized that many of the students are losing that passion for English classes due

to the use of notebooks, exercises on the board or in copies, role play in dialogues, interpretation

of songs and so on. Then, the intention is to make a progressive shift from traditional to modern

methodologies where the use of internet and technologies are involved in the classroom, for

students to have more access to original tools and enjoy the variety or learning opportunities

offered in online navigation. As Blake (2008) states “the Internet is an ideal tool for allowing

students to gain access to authentic L2 materials; it might be the next best alternative to actually

going abroad. L2 students can virtually travel to French-speaking Africa, Tokyo, or the Peruvian

Incan ruins of Machu Picchu with just a click of the mouse” (p. 4). In addition, today the

internet and technologies are linking almost everything we do, especially with young people who

are doing many activities through these devices, because “these teens were born into a digital

world where they expect to be able to create, consume, remix, and share material with each other

and lots of strangers” (Raine, 2005, p. 1). Therefore, teachers in this new era of technological

1
revolution must take advantage of the activities that our young people do and objectively relate

them to our curriculum, in order to avoid lack of motivation to the subject.

In addition, there are also many expert researchers on the topic of technology in the

classroom that invite us to join the change, to challenge outdated practices and get new

experiences by using new devices such as smartphones, tablets and computers because the

benefits they bring are vital for the development of Education and training processes. For

instance, Klein (2010) states that “tech-based global education has the capacity to improve

critical thinking and cultural pluralism but requires far more than just fancy technology; it

requires careful, thoughtful curriculum development, and the support of organizations whose

goal is to build authentic global communities online” (p. 86). In like manner, Venezky (2004)

asserted that “as teachers become more competent in the use of technology, they begin to adapt

the technology to their own teaching style and curriculum, rather than simply focusing on the

technology, which is beneficial for both the teachers and their students” (p. 15). In this sense,

teachers would be more innovative, creative and autonomous in their classes and the “use of

virtual environments for collaboration and learning can result in unprecedented flow of ideas,

leading to higher levels of productivity” (Chandra, Theng, Lwin, & Foo, 2009, p. 2).

This integration of technology in the classroom in high schools would result in concrete

numerous for students because sometimes they can work in Computer Labs at their schools and

other times they will have the opportunity to work from their houses at whatever time and

whatever day, with previous preparation during face to face class. This possibility helps to avoid

different problems, such as internet failures, malfunction of the operating systems, few

computers available for students, matching groups with other groups, conception that Computer

Labs are primarily for technology classes, etc. that often occur in public high schools.

2
 This study contributes to the implementation and development of meaningful learning by

having students commit to using specific software through multimodal readings on topics of their

interests and thus making them improve their English levels by using various methods to

understand the written language. As for the field of language, this study provides several ways

for practicing and acquiring vocabulary through various structured activities, which make

students develop their micro and macro skills for Reading. Also, they can interact with

multimodal elements which have an impact in their ability to relate what is written with what is

represented graphically.

On the other hand, according to some digital journals, this kind of studies have been

implemented by several researchers internationally such as Gebhard, Shin and Seger (2011),

Kenix (2009), Blackstone, Spiri and Naganuma (2007), Mullen and Wedwick (2008), Sousa and

Soares (2009), Abas (2011), among others. In the National spectrum, very few researchers, such

as Castellanos (2009), Rojas (2011), Lizarazo (2012) and Gomez (2013), have been interested in

working with blogs in the classroom. Taking into account more particular terms, I can show that

this kind of study is being conducted for the first time in any English class in the municipality of

Amagá - Antioquia, which makes it an innovative methodology that seeks to impact positively

into the academic processes developed within this context.

All in all, the reflections mentioned above have led me to think that technology is a tool with

which we can create an authentic space for the development of our own curriculum and any

special skill which we desire to strengthen. Therefore, in this study rather than using technology,

I aim at implementing an educational blog for practicing Reading through online multimodal

texts that stir up eleventh grade students’ interests for practicing English. In addition, I intend to

know the impact of the educational blog, particularly of the multimodal English texts, on

3
teaching and learning processes. For the development of this study, I formulated the following

research question:

What is the impact of the use of an educational blog on the reading practices of the English

classes of the eleventh graders from San Fernando High School of the Municipality of Amagá?

Theoretical Framework

In order to develop a deeper understanding of my research study, in this framework I

explain some concepts that have helped me to orient it. In other words, this section describes the

terms that are associated with the use of blogs in language classes. The concepts that will be

defined are: blogs, multiliteracies, multimodality and multimodal reading They are related to

each other because “students nowadays are increasingly involved in electronic environments

where they need new skills and strategies that they have not been familiar with; it means the

ability to communicate through graphics, hypertexts, and other information resources that

develop new literacy skills” (Karchmer 2001, cited in Abdallah, 2008). Likewise, Lanshear and

Knobel (2011) point out that “these new social practices entail new forms of producing and

exchanging meanings, and new ways of reading and writing a text including sounds, images,

animations, texts and video unlike conventional print literacies mostly mediated by typographic

forms of text”. (p.28).

What is a Blog?

First, it is necessary to emphasize that the origin of blogs is a matter of debate, but according

to Blood (2000), the phrase 'web log' was first used by Barger (1997) and the shortened version -

that is, blog- by Merholz in 1999 (Merholz, 2002). Particularly, blogging as a phenomenon

started to increase steadily after this time, and then there was an explosion in the number of blogs
4
when the first free, do-it-yourself blogging tools became available in the mid-1999, most notably

with Blogger.com. Nevertheless, the purists within the blogging community ('the blogosphere')

would likely claim that blogging actually started in 1992 with the first website (Berners-Lee,

1992), followed by Netscape's 'What's New!' page for users of its then new web browser, in

1993.

This information show that blogs are new tools that many people around the world, even

teachers and students, are using with personal, social, and educational objectives thanks to their

easy access. Consequently, many researchers, writers, bloggers have given a good description

and a contextual definition of this wonderful tool to encourage others to use it. For instance,

Ward (as cited in Quintero, 2008) states that: “A weblog is a website that is updated regularly

and organized chronologically according to the date, and in reverse order from most recent entry

backwards” (p. 17). Furthermore, Nardi, Schiano, and Gumbrecht (2004) assert that:

“Weblogs, or blogs, are frequently updated webpages with a series of archived

posts, typically in reverse-chronological order. Blog posts are primarily textual,

but they may contain photos or other multimedia content. Most blogs provide

hypertext links to other Internet sites, and many allow for audience comments”

(p. 222).

Likewise, Read (2006) argues that blogs are online journals, a series of archived Internet

postings, some of which contain hypertext links to websites and other blogs. Another relevant

definition on blogs is given by assistant professor Kour (2014) in his article “Role of the Blogs

in ELT Vis-À-Vis Students and Teachers” where he states that: “blogs provide a

communication space that teachers can utilize with students whenever there is a curriculum need

to develop writing, share ideas and reflect on work being undertaken in the classroom” (p. 82).

5
These words are very important since they show the relevance these tools have in educational

contexts and, more specifically, for developing students’ communicative competence.

Similarly, Luján & Espinosa (2007) reveal that blogs or weblogs in the educational field

are being used to satisfy a variety of communication needs in favor of e-learning practices. What

they reveal in here is exactly what I felt when I implemented this tool in my classes because

blogs are easy to set up and administer in contrast to other technologies. Also, they allow easy

publication of all types of resources such as texts, images and videos, as I did with some of the

activities I implemented in this study. In addition, blogs allow instant publishing with just one

click and, as a result, they can reach large audiences, without losing information and allowing

different levels of detail. This means that the access to the information posted in weblogs is

permanently available for consultation, no special software is needed to create a weblog and

other technologies can be integrated into a weblog.

Additionally, Dutceac (2010) lists that the use of blogs in the classroom is positive since they:

1. Allow web-savvy students to legitimately use their favorite source of information, the

Internet, and makes use of their skills for the purposes of the program.

2. Increase the students’ motivation to take an active part in the learning process, since

blogging is fun and interesting.

3. Develop the communication skills of students that are less internet-savvy through peer-

to-peer learning.

4. Keep students informed with the most up-to-date information about of their object of

study

5. Develop critical thinking (and the appropriate ways to put it into writing) by sharing

comments and other forms of feedback.

6
 6. Are a portal for creativity and personal initiative where good ideas are rewarded not only

with good grades but also with direct responses from colleagues and possibly from

readers on the web.

7. Increases the visibility of the programs on the web and has the effect of giving them a

more clearly defined positive image, which in turn may result in higher commitment of

the students to the program and a sense of pride in their work.

8. Make learning flat, not hierarchical, with the teacher as a control point rather than the

unique source of information and interpretation.

All in all, the benefits mentioned above regarding the use of blogs in education environments

have encouraged me to implement this strategy in my English classes for three main reasons:

first, to accomplish the purposes of this research successfully; second, to invite my students to

leave the monotony of the traditional classes to which they are accustomed; and third, to make

myself an innovative teacher who cares about his teaching practices by implementing new

proposals that solve existing problems in an educational context.

Regarding the types of blogs, Luján and Espinosa (2007) mention that literature shows

some attempts to classify weblogs in terms of different features, based on two dimensions: style

and content. As for style, there are interactive weblogs, which allow to openly share comments,

and closed weblogs that do not. In relation to the content, there are many sorts of weblogs:

personal topics, political/social/economic commentaries, information technology, etc. If styles

and contents are merged there are some new types of blogs to be considered, such as the

personal journal (diary entries), link compilations (wedding links to find information about

something), interactive commentaries (reading and posting entries), one-way commentaries

(analysis variance), and hodge-podge (blogs for everything).

7
 Moreover, Mernit (2003) proposes eight types of blogs: 1. the professional journalist, 2. the

non-traditional journalist, 3. bloggers focused on a specific theme (movement, event, topic or

interest), 4. The education community, 5. The self-expression/journaling crowd, 6. The

business/marketing/promotion community, 7. Business weblogs behind the firewall; and 8. The

experimenters and innovators.

Particularly, this study takes on two of the author’s blog proposals: “bloggers focused on

a specific theme (movement, event, topic or interest)” and “the education community”. One

reason for this is that the main users are my eleventh graders and their goal with the blog is to

interact and produce multimodal texts that improve their English learning more meaningfully.

Furthermore, this proposal is also related to the type of blog “the experimenters and

innovators” because when my eleventh graders interact with the blog and its multimodal texts ,

they are becoming experimenters and innovators as they create their own multimodal texts or

provide feedback on their classmates’ productions.

All things considered, from my experience in the managing of blogs I can argue that they are

related to multimodality and multiliteracies because this tool has more than one mode of

communication and when they are used together they can be synchronized. In other words, blogs

incorporate spoken or written language, still or moving images through videos, slides

presentation of any specific topic, or publications within the same blog template that allow the

user to make entries or comments, which can result in establishing new way of communication

practices in a global world for an engaging learning.

8
Multiliteracies

Multiliteracies pedagogy was developed by the New London Group in the mid-nineties.

They argue that the notions of design, available designs and redesign are fundamental to how we

make meaning with modern texts. It is also necessary to note that when they talk about design,

they indicate the numerous ways by which signification occurs. However, designing on screen

has not only transformed how we make meaning, but also the ways of reconstructing and

renegotiating our identities. That is to say, multiliteracies as pedagogy simultaneously accounts

for linguistic diversity and the use of multiple modes of meaning-making (New London Group,

1996).

The New London Group (2000) also consider multiliteracies pedagogy as an attempt to

comprehend and target the multiple text forms that have resulted from new technologies and new

media, through instruction that allows students to comprehend the increasing complexity and

interrelationships of different modes of meaning. Besides, they affirm that multiliteracies aim to

target literacy practices currently favored in school as well as literacy practices children acquire

at home and in other informal settings. Therefore, multiliteracies approaches are mindful and

inclusive of the diverse and complex cultural perspective of learners and their diverse learning

styles.

In addition, Iyer and Luke (2009) assert that multiliteracies pedagogy, as discussed by the

New London Group (2000), is formed by four components or knowledge processes: 1. Situated

Practice that enables the teacher to draw on the socio-cultural practices of learner, providing

crucial learning sequences that are important to learner identities; 2. Overt Instruction in which

the teacher uses explicit modelling and explanation, or theorization, provided to help students

develop deep insights and comprehensive understanding; 3. Critical Framing for analyzing and

9
helping to produce innovative work by developing the crucial and creative capabilities of

students; 4. Transformed Practice whereby it demonstrates performatives ways of the

determined tasks (feedback for both teachers and students).

Moreover, Kalantzis and Cope (2000) argue that when all four aspects are combined, they

are enhanced and transformed by the others. The authors further state that “the construct of

multiliteracies suggests two arguments: the first argument engages with the multiplicity of

communications channels and media; the second with the increasing salience of cultural and

linguistic diversity” (p. 240). Also, Cañas and Ocampo (2014) argue that those four dimensions

of the multiliteracies pedagogy encourage students to transform and make new meanings out of

the different texts, and avoid just to reproduce what others have expressed.

Perry (2012) discusses that like the perspective of literacy as social practice,

multiliteracies emphasize the real-world contexts in which people practice literacy. This theory

also places significant emphasis on the role of power relationships in shaping literacy and

literacy learning.

Lankshear and Knobel (2003) state that given the emphasis on multiple media and modes of

representation, digital technologies and their associated literacy practices are important focus of

work within multiliteracies. As a result, they are often associated with the term new literacies,

which may refer either to literacy practices that are associated with digital technologies or

practices associated with a rapidly changing social contexts, depending on who is using the term.

As for Cañas and Ocampo (2014), multiliteracies seek to transform the literacy class into a

space where students develop a deep understanding of the socio-cultural realities while

developing the tools to transform the world. In addition, multiliteracies pedagogy suggests

supplementing the traditional emphasis on alphabetical literacy (letter sounds in words, in

10
sentences, in texts, in literature) with new forms of multimodal text designs that integrate the

different modes of representation (e.g. written, spatial, oral, etc.) within language.

Iyer and Luke (as cited in Crowder, 2012), explain a concept of multiliteracies that better

enlightens my research study of blogging because they argue that: “Multiliteracies promote deep

understanding of various interrelated yet diverse concepts and designs; furthermore, it presents

knowledge as problematic by allowing students to manipulate and challenge, for example, with

stories that people share students become creative and innovative” (p. 8). In other words,

multiliteracies increase the good behavior of students because it keeps them entertained between

multiple plans or activities that they can manipulate and interfere.

Finally, Sylvester and Greenidge (2009) express that the word multiliteracies refers to the

literacies such as the Technological Literacy, which refers to the skills needed to adequately

use computers. Secondly, there is also the Visual Literacy, which is as old as men interpreting

cave drawings, and has evolved to competently decoding and comprehending elements such as

the icons on the tool bar, navigating the Web, and encoding images in multimedia projects.

Thirdly, the authors propose the Media Literacy concept, which refers to the necessary skills to

access, evaluate, and create messages in written and oral language, graphics and moving images,

and audio and music. In addition, media literacy requires the composer of multiple texts to select

graphics, moving images, narration, and music that complement the multimedia project.

Fourthly, the experts add the Information Literacy type, which is the ability to find, evaluate,

analyze, and synthesize information. The development of the World Wide Web dramatically

changed the availability, method, depth, quantity, and sometimes quality of accessible

information; consequently, the Internet has initiated critical reading skills not typically required

in traditional texts.

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Multimodality

In order to begin with a good development of this issue, it is necessary to highlight a brief

background of multimodality provided by Jewitt (2013) in chapter 17 of her book entitled

"Multimodal Methods for Researching Digital Technologies". There, she offers a clear and

concise understanding of multimodality by going through previous conceptions of the term to

present interpretations.

Multimodality was first referenced in the early 2000s (Kress & van Leeuwen, 2001;

Kress et al., 2001, 2005; van Leeuwen, 2005; Jewitt, 2009). It originated from linguistic ideas of

communication, particularly based on the work of Michael Halliday on language as a social

semiotic system. He shifted the attention from language as a static linguistic system to language

as a social system; in order words, how language is shaped by the ways that people use it and the

social functions that the resources of language are put together in particular settings.

Furthermore, Hodge and Kress (1998), in “Social Semiotics”, and later Kress and van

Leeuwen (1996, 2006), in “Reading Images”, expanded the attention from language to other

semiotic systems (or modes), laying the groundwork for extending and adapting social semiotics

across a range of modes and opening the door for multimodality” (p. 252).

Moreover, multimodality can be seen as an inter-disciplinary approach that emerges from

social semiotics and examines ‘communication and representation’ not only as the product of

verbal communication but also as the product of other forms of communication that permit

meaning making (Jewitt, 2013; Kress, 2010).

As a matter of fact, other experts in the field have clarified what they propose of what

multimodality is. For instance, for Pahl and Rowsell (2005) reported that Multimodality:

“describes the way we communicate using a number of different modes to make meaning” (p.

12
27). Also, Walsh (2011) claimed that “Multimodality is a study of the communicative process,

particularly how meaning is communicated through different semiotic or meaning-making

resources and is different social contexts” (p. 105). In addition, Rowell and Walsh (2011)

confirmed that “multimodality is the field that takes account of how individuals make meaning

with different kinds of modes. They also argue that multimodality comes first in that it informs

how we make meaning and multiliteracies, as a possible pedagogy, gives us tools for doing so.”

(pp. 55-56).

Recently, the word multimodality has been defined by Mejia and Salazar (2014) as the:

“Integration of a set of modes (e.g. sound, color, text, images, etc.) as resources for sending a

message. Also, multimodality helps to improve learning processes, as it makes messages

simpler to understand, as the result of said integration of modes. In this sense, the use of

different resources can improve comprehension an image shows what would take more time to

read, written words say those things difficult to represent through images, and color highlights

important elements. The use of multimodality in text creation allows, at the same time, for

people to internalize concepts by using and integrating different mental skills, building

knowledge by themselves. It can provide people with a deeper look at the world and help them

achieve those capabilities” (p. 4).

According to Hassett and Curwood (2009), a great advantage that brings using

multimodality in the classroom is that “students can acquire the conceptual bases needed to

interpret and produce complex text/image/design relationships if the teacher operates within a

pedagogy of multiliteracies by guiding and supporting students in their multimodal resource

navigation” (p. 281). In other words, if the teacher keeps in mind students’ contributions in each

13
of his pedagogical practices where there is interaction with multimodal work, they could become

more critical when rebuilding texts or making comments on the work of other classmates.

As a contrast, Siegel (as cited in Hassett and Curwood, 2009) observed that “children have

always been multimodal because their social and cultural resources for making meaning include

talk, gesture, drama, drawing, and ways of incorporating, integrating, and extending linguistic

signs” (p. 271).

Regarding my research, Jewitt (2009) shares an opinion which supports my proposal when

she claims that:

“Digital technologies are of particular interest to multimodality because they make a wide

range of modes available, often in new inter-semiotic relationships with one another, and

unsettle and re-make genres, in ways that reshape practices and interaction. Digital technologies

are thus a key site for multimodal investigation” (p. 251).

Furthermore, Jewitt (2009) talks about three interconnected theoretical assumptions that

underpin multimodality:

“The first assumption underlying multimodality is that while language is widely taken to be

the most significant mode of communication, speech or writing are a part of a multimodal

ensemble. It means that the most important aspect in this first assumption is the language which

is the center of interaction. The second assumption central to multimodal research is all modes

have, like language, been shaped through their cultural, historical and social uses to realize

social functions as required by different communities. This one refers that multimodality takes

all communication acts to be constituted in any social environment. The third assumption

underpinning multimodality is that people orchestrate meaning through their selection and

configuration of modes. Thus the interaction between modes is significant for meaning

making” (p. 251).

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 This third assumption was experimented by my eleventh grades students with different

activities on the blog because each text pointed to the development of different multimodal or

single-mode elements such as images, sounds, videos or written texts only.

Additionally, it is also necessary to highlight the contribution of O'Halloran and Lim (2011),

in which they discuss two dimensions of multimodal literacy based on relevant work in the field

(Kress, 2003, 2010; Jewitt & Kress, 2003; Kress et al., 2001, 2005 and Walsh, 2009). The

dimensions of multimodal literacy they talk about are Media Literacy and Multisemiotic

Experience. “The first one is with respect to the prevalence of multimodal texts, specifically

through multimedia texts afforded by the digital media, hence stressing the need for a literacy to

produce and access information and the second one concerns the recognition that the experience

of teaching and learning is intrinsically multisemiotic and multimodal” (pp. 14-21).

In conclusion, Rowsell and walsh (2011) reveal four characteristics very relevant related

with the implementation of the new literacy in the classroom which are the following: “1) new

technologies offer a way to envision new literacy practices, 2) new literacies are essential to

economic, civic and personal participation in a world community, 3) new literacies change,

remix, converge as defining technologies change, 4) new literacies are multimodal and

multifaceted” (p. 56). From these four characteristics, it can be noticed that “multiliteracies and

multimodal literacies are a comprehensible response to the mobile semiotic of contemporary

society” (Iyer & Luke, 2010, p. 21). From this arises what I will immediately name as…

15
Multimodal Reading

The main base for the development of this dissertation project is the knowledge I have

about traditional reading and multimodal reading. Consequently, in this section I bring some

relevant concepts regarding reading, from a traditional perspective of literacy. I must first

highlight that Hall (1983) identifies four legitimate types of reading, which have been very

useful for the publication of texts on the blog for my students’ reading practices. The first type is

Reading for Information (newspapers, magazines, brochures.). The second is Reading for

Ideas, which refers tore-reading the material, taking notes, spending time thinking about what

was written, defining words, researching background and context, or discussing the material with

a teacher or friend into comprehend complex ideas. The third type of reading is Reading to

Escape, which refers to reading novels or fiction genres. Finally, the fourth type of reading is

Reading to Engage, which is like to read literature in order to imagine lived experiences; here,

the readers wrestle with the emotional dilemmas that characters face.

Regarding the processes of reading from a multimodal perspective, it is necessary to note

that for Jewitt (2005) “reading as a multimodal practice is to recognize the multimodal character

of texts, whether print-based or digital, impacts on conventional understandings of reading” (p.

326). In short, the process of reading that we practice has always been multimodal because with

magazines, picture books, documentaries, TV shows, print and TV advertisements, we have

recognized the characters of traditional multimodal texts; and with digital stories, web pages,

animated digital picture books and web advertising we are recognizing the characters of new

multimodal texts. In like manner, Kenner (as cited in Jewitt, 2005) argues that “print-based

reading and writing are and always have been multimodal. They require the interpretation and

16
design of visual marks, space, colour, font or style, and, increasingly image, and other modes of

representation and communication” (p. 315).

Likewise, Jewitt and Kress (as cited in Serafini, 2010) claim that “multimodal readings

present information across a variety of modes including visual images, design elements, written

language, and other semiotic resources” (p. 87). In fact, nowadays students engage with

traditional and new multimodal texts in their school subjects, These latter ones contain elements

such as picture books, informational texts, magazines and newspapers, as well as contemporary

texts that integrate hypertexts, videos, music, and graphic designs in blogs or other websites to

communicate information. Because “Postmodern picture books invite students to navigate non-

linear structures and attend to various visual representations, design elements, and structures in

order to comprehend the complexities inherent in these texts” (Serafini, 2012, p. 29).

Another relevant point is made by Gunther Kress (2003) in his book “Literacy in the New

Media Age”. There, the author shows us that reading and writing are moving from book pages to

device screens. In other words, not only is new literacy part of language but also is multimedia

design (web design, illustration, animation, graphic design). This means that literacy practices

have already changed and people, especially young ones, are reading in a different way because

technology has flooded us with many useful devices that we can use.

At the same time, image is displacing writing and moving into the center of

communication. Consequently, Kress (YEAR) mentions that he understands that new forms of

reading have consequences for the relations between makers and re-makers of meaning (writers

and readers, image-makers and viewers). This function of the images, which are dominating the

screen, now allows readers to understand when “texts show the world rather than tell the world”.

17
 In addition, Serafini (2010) contributes to understand this perspective of image by stating

that:

“Multimodal texts, in particular contemporary picture books, are used extensively in

many elementary reading programs, conveying meanings through the use of two sign

systems; written language and visual image. However, the primary focus in elementary

reading education has been on the strategies and skills necessary for understanding

written language” (pp. 85-86).

Finally, Walsh (2007) examines the differences and similarities between reading print-

based texts and multimodal texts (see Table 1) within the context of changed literacy practices.

These reflections are taken into account in this dissertation project, which shows that my

students have developed seven multimodal activities seeking to improve their reading practices

for learning English. Some of the similarities in meaning making she presents here are related to

my blogging activities because they attempt to understand a wider sociocultural context, texts are

part of a particular ‘genre’ (e.g. literary, information, media, internet, ‘game’/digital); also,

readers adjust their expectations according to text types or purposes, various schemata are

activated –background knowledge, knowledge of topic, knowledge of genre, etc; there is an

interaction between reader and text for meaning to be made, the understanding and interpreting

depends on the students' cognitive and affective levels, and imagination can be activated and

information can be obtained.

Table 1.0 Differences between reading of print-based and multimodal texts (Walsh, 2007, p. 11).

Reading print-based texts Reading multimodal texts

Words: The words ‘tell’ including the Visual images: The images ‘show’ including
discourse, register, vocabulary, linguistic layout, size, shape, color, line, angle, position,
patterns, grammar, chapters, paragraph and perspective., screen, frames, icons, links,
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 sentence structure. hyperlinks.
Use of senses: visual, tactile, hearing,
Use of senses: visual some tactile.
kinesthetic

Interpersonal meaning: developed

Interpersonal meaning: developed
through visual ‘voice’: positioning,
through verbal ‘voice’ - through use of
angle, perspective – ‘offers’ and
dialogue, 1st, 2nd, 3rd person narrator
‘demands’

Verbal style: including tone, intonation,

humor, irony, sarcasm, word play, developed Visual style: choice of medium, graphics,
in the use of ‘words’. animation, frames, menu board, and hypertext
Typographical arrangement, formatting, links.
layout, font, punctuation.

Verbal imagery: including description,

images, symbolism, metaphor, simile, Visual imagery: use of color, motifs, icons,
alliteration [poetic devices with words, repetition.
sound patterns]

Reading pathway: use of vectors

Reading pathway: mostly linear and
nonsequential, non-linear. Reader has more
sequential. Reader mostly follows.
choice and opportunity to interact.

Regarding the differences and similarities cited above, I would like to argue that the

reading activities designed on the blog in this study were planned following a structure of three

components: micro skill, macro skill and multimodal strategies. The aim of these activities were

to make more natural the interaction of the students with the machine the contents and among

themselves. Furthermore, the intention of this study was to combine the interaction of traditional

written texts with texts that involved several modes of communication such as videos, images

and sounds.

I considered Walsh’s and Kress´s (2003) description about the potential of multimodal

tests to multiply meaning making. Pedagogically speaking, I see the potential of using of other

virtual platforms, the use of ICTs and digital tools that are available, for a better teaching and

learning process in this new age where young people are more involved with technological or
19
digital devices rather than monomodals materials used in traditional education. It is also

necessary to note that with the creation of multimodal reading activities I was encouraging my

students to develop their critical thinking, leadership, self-learning and above all to work

together.

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 Chapter 2: Literature Review - Concerning Blogs

In order to situate my study within the larger body of research in this field, I have

gathered thematic issues that fill gaps regarding the topic of blogging in the classroom from

previous studies done around the world. Those studies have been taken from different journal

databases and have been classified in two different contexts: the national and international one. I

will describe how some authors have taken advantage of this powerful tool to develop their

students’ skills during their language classes. Also, I will show how they contribute to my own

work.

International Studies

The explosion of blogs on the Internet has amplified since 1999. At that time, there were

about 50 existing blogs and they were only known by a few individuals (Johnson, Kaye, Bichard,

& Wong, 2007). However, by 2006, 29 percent (57 million) of American Internet users accessed

blogs (Lenhart & Fox, 2006) and by 2007, 8 out of 10 Americans knew what a blog was and

almost half of America had visited blogs (Synovate, 2007).

Nowadays, second language teaching is taking advantage of technological environments

and one of the best tools to guarantee the success of these processes is the implementation of

educational blogs. That is why, internationally many researchers have spoken about blogging in

different contexts but only a few have done it directly for educational purposes, especially for

learning or teaching a second language.

Some of these few people are Jones and Holland (2013), who argue that second language

(L2) teaching strategies have long evolved with changes in educational technology. In today’s

Web 2.0 environment, Jones and Holland strive to ensure students participate in computer-

mediated communication (CMC) activities so as to expand their target language and/or target

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culture knowledge. For that reason, Jones and Holland engaged students in blogging to enhance

interaction and learning within CMC cultural discussions.

Other authors like Greer & Reed, and Kim, (as cited in Sun, 2012) have found that

integrating blogs in language classrooms creates additional opportunities for language practice

and interaction in the target language outside the classroom. The researchers employed an

authentic blogging task that involve posting and replying to blog entries online because it had

already become one of the most well-received internet applications and their students in the

blogosphere tended to be motivated by the contextual demand for authentic and free expression

of meaning. In addition, it leaves accuracy to play a secondary role.

Furthermore, Sykes, Oskoz, and Thorne (as cited in Gebhard, Shin and Seger, 2013)

describe how Web 2.0 tools, such as blogs and wikis, provide L2 learners at the university level

with greater opportunities to exchange ideas for real world purposes and for expanded audiences.

In addition, they discuss how web tools support learners in reflecting on and manipulating

symbolic tools to construct knowledge and self/other roles in ways that are not readily available

in typical face-to-face interactions.

Moreover, Blackstone, Spiri, and Naganuma (2007) after their implementation of

blogging activities for pedagogical uses and student responses in a University in Japan highlight

that blogs are interactive homepages easy to set up and manage to engage students in online

exchanges, thereby expanding their language study and learning community beyond the physical

classroom. It is also necessary to note that the purpose of this research was to gauge students’

interest in blogging and associated activities. For that reason, the authors of this paper

implemented parallel cycles of blogging and associated activities within four different English-

for-Academic-Purposes-(EAP)-and-composition courses across four sequential levels; this took

22
two semesters of one academic year at an English-language medium university in Japan. Each

cycle included the following activities: (1) all the 145 students in each class set up a blog, (2)

every student’s blog address was distributed to all other students in the classes at each respective

level via the teacher’s blog site, a class wiki or a class Moodle page, (3) every student worked at

least half the semester with a “blogging buddy,” a classmate/peer reviewer who would read the

student’s blog post before it was posted, (4) every student made at least one post on a specified

theme to his or her blog every two weeks, (5) every student was also required to read and

respond to at least three posts made by classmates during each biweekly cycle.

For collecting data, at the end of each semester the researchers distributed surveys to all

participating students, in which they gave their views toward the blogging experience. The

results obtained of the survey were that students truly appreciated the need to improve their

writing and considered having an editor and being an editor valuable. While 85.5% expressed

satisfaction with peer review activities in general, 93.8% indicated that having a blogging buddy

was more effective for improving their writing than not having one. 96.6% also indicated that

being a blogging buddy editor is a good learning experience. In sum, results of the surveys

showed that nearly all the students were highly motivated by the blogging activities.

Another study conducted by Mullen and Wedwick (2008) showed that students should be

able to use modern technology in the classrooms because that is the world we are growing up

into and it is a must-skill to be developed. In this article, the authors discuss about how rural

middle school teachers use of YouTube, digital stories, and blogs in a language arts curriculum.

From them, I learnt that in the classroom, blogs are highly effective communication tools that

create a variety of authentic writing experiences for students and teachers. Blogs can be set up

and maintained for free by using blog online developers, such as Blogger, MyBlogSite,

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Edublogs, and LearnerBlog. In addition, something that caught my attention was that they argue

that to be successful in the world, students must learn how to use various forms of new media

with a high level of comfort and skill. Also, schools must become a place in which students can

acquire the necessary skills for technological success. It is time to begin taking steps to close the

digital divide. I think this last statement is very relevant because it supports my intention to

implement the use of blogs during the reading practices of my English classes.

Moreover, Sousa and Soares (2009) carried out an empirical research in a private school in

Fortaleza, Brazil. They described the production of blogs as an opportunity to teach writing skills

in Portuguese, on the grounds that although these tools are relatively recent, they have been the

object of extensive research work in the fields of Linguistics and Education. From their study, I

agree that digital literacy work can be understood not only as favorable instruments for the

exploration of the linguistic, cognitive and social abilities of the learners, but also that it can

represent an opportunity for reflection focused on (re)defining teachers’ pedagogical practices

because this is what many teachers nowadays are looking for to improve our ways of teaching. In

all instances, teachers need to acknowledge and appropriate for themselves the demands of new

literacy practices. They should be prepared to adopt the roles of a resource manager, co-

constructor of knowledge and a design consultant (Larson & Marsh as cited in Abas, 2011).

Another very important position regarding to the use of blogs in the classroom is argued

by Jerles (2012).He claims that thousands of student blogs are currently in use across the globe

as part of our growing interconnected society. Students will likely be using this process in their

future as a common method of communication. Creating and using blogs in the early grades is an

excellent way of stimulating writing and literacy, as well as incubating imaginations of young

24
students. Similarly, Albaugh (2013) declares that using a blog as a supplement to language arts

literacy instruction allows students to interact with a medium that is accessible and enjoyable.

Overall, the aforementioned studies reinforce my motivation to continue with this idea of

blogging with my eleventh grade students in their reading practices for learning English

language. Moreover, the latter study specially shows that blogs, as a means of instruction,

provide opportunities for increasing learning spaces and student participation as each student

created their own blog. Students assume responsibility for their own learning and take control

over the content and form of their blog and comments (Domalewska, 2014.)

Local Research

Regarding the use of blogs in the language classrooms, few studies are found in

Colombia. Researchers have focused on the development of language skills online in order to

encourage their students’ processes of English language learning. For instance, Castellanos

(2009) states that by using ICTs continuously, individuals should become more creative,

autonomous, capable of solving problems, and producers of ideas to generate new knowledge.

Likewise, Rojas (2011) argues that the Internet has become an excellent tool for English teachers

in Colombia. So why not take advantage of these materials in public schools? She also adds that,

she used blogs with ninth graders in order to increase effective communication, especially

improving writing skills and relationship skills among the students.

Lizarazo (2012), who investigated about the topic “Using a Blog to Guide Beginner

Students to Use Adjectives Appropriately When Writing Descriptions in English,” indicates that

blogs are some of those new educational tools that can be used nowadays by teachers and

students as a support for reflection on teaching experiences. In addition, he expresses that

25
teaching and learning resources are increasing all the time and students and teachers have the

responsibility to adapt their educational environment with the technological change. For the

development of this research, the teacher established the following two objectives: 1) To engage

students in using a blog to understand and use adjectives appropriately when they write

descriptions in English about people’s physical appearances; and 2) to observe what happens

with students’ involvement in the English learning process when they take part in the activities

suggested in the blog. The study population was his sixth-grade students of the morning shift at

Colegio Nueva Delhi - Bogotá.

The data were collected and analyzed during the whole implementation process

distributed in two stages: the first one was related to the explanation of the use of blogs and

resources from the Internet whereas the second one was dedicated to the comprehension and

production of physical descriptions in guided form. In this step, students participated in different

workshops (some of them using printed worksheets and others using a blog) in which they

identified adjectives and their position in the sentence. At the end of this stage, students

produced physical descriptions without the direct guidance of the teacher. The activities applied

during the implementation were part of a cycle in which the teacher observed the use of the

worksheets and activities in the blog for redesigning what would be necessary in further stages.

The main results of this research were that the majority of the activities seemed to have

been interesting for the students, especially when they had to go to the school resource center to

work on the computers, the proposed exercises in the blog were very useful because students had

never used Internet resources in the English class and they were very interested in solving the

activities. Furthermore, the effectiveness of the activities was reflected in the students’ writings

in terms of the correct use of adjectives. The use of the blog was a very attractive strategy for the

26
students and because of its novelty they wanted to work every class at the resource center. It is

also important to point out that at the beginning of the process, some students tended to have less

confidence because they were so shy and thought that they were not good at English. However,

at the end of the project most of these students showed a higher level of confidence. As result of

this, students also wrote good descriptions and during the final two sessions at the resource

center, they showed more interest in finishing the activities without asking for help from the

teacher. For concluding, he claims that the use of blogs was definitely the most attractive

resource with which learners could engage in writing practices.

In addition, Gómez & McDougald (2013), who have worked with students from an English

teacher education program, concluded that a blog can be a powerful communication tool because

when bloggers create and post an entry, they do so with the intention to communicate a message

that might be interesting to someone and interacting around the topic at hand. Consequently,

peer feedback through blogging can be considered a potentially useful and empowering tool for

the maintenance and enhancement of coherence levels in a text.

Another recent study about this topic argues that “through the use of blogs, learners can

read, observe, listen and comment as they are attentive to others’ comments. They can include

new postings with their teachers’ help and they can have access to other related networking sites

which provide them with opportunities for personal language improvement. Blogs seem to be a

suitable tool for teachers because they provide students with practice designed to enhance their

receptive and productive skills” (Amado, 2015, p. 40). That is why I have decided to innovate in

my work environment with this tool and not with another one, because the accessibility that have

the students and the multimodal productions that they can post, share and enjoy on this space

during English classes.

27
Reading multimodal texts

It is very important to explore the literature related to reading multimodal texts since this

study relies on activities that fosters online reading comprehension using blogs as the main tool

to develop this skill. There are many studies related to this issue, but I would like to quote some

researchers who have worked hard on the topic. For instance, Walsh (2007) declares multimodal

texts as those that have more than one ‘mode’ so that meaning is communicated through a

synchronization of modes. That is, they may incorporate spoken or written language, still or

moving images; they may also be produced on paper or electronic screen and may incorporate

sound. Different types of multimodal texts that students commonly encounter in their educational

environment in print form are picture books, information books, newspapers and magazines.

Multimodal texts in non-print form are film, video and, increasingly, those texts through the

electronic screen such as email, the internet and digital media such as CD Roms or DVDs.

Coiro and Dobler (2007) and Leu, Zawilinski et al. (2007) have found that reading

comprehension is one aspect of literacy where change is taking place. Online reading

comprehension is not isomorphic with off line reading comprehension; additional practices,

skills, and strategies appear to be required. Consequently, Leu et al. (2011) emphasize that online

reading comprehension consists of a process of problem-based inquiry across many different

online information sources, requiring several recursive reading practices such as A) Reading

online to identify important questions: this is when we read on the Internet to solve problems

and answer questions as a result of a recent work by Taboada and Guthrie (2006) within

traditional texts suggested that reading initiated by a question differs in important ways from

reading that does not. B) Reading online to locate information: A critical component of

successful Internet reading is the ability to read and locate information that meets one’s needs

28
(Eagleton, Guinee, & Langlais, 2003; Guinee, Eagleton, & Hall, 2003) because new online

reading skills and strategies may be required, for example, to generate effective keyword search

strategies (Bilal, 2000; Kuiper & Volman, 2008). C) Reading online to critically evaluate

information: A third component of successful Internet use is the ability to critically evaluate

online information (Graesser et al., 2007; Sanchez, Wiley, & Goldman, 2006). Due to critically

evaluating online information involves the ability to read and evaluate the information’s level of

accuracy, reliability, and bias. D) Reading online to synthesize information: Successful

Internet use also requires the ability to read and synthesize information from multiple online

sources (Jenkins, 2006). E) Reading online to communicate information: online reading

comprehension includes the online reading and communication skills required in discussion,

texting, blogs, wikis, video, shared writing spaces (such as Google Docs), and social networks

such as Ning (Boyd & Ellison, 2008; Forte & Bruckman, 2006; Lewis & Fabos, 2005).

Moreover, the latter highlight that “during these elements, new online and traditional off line

reading comprehension skills are both required, often in complex and interrelated ways” (p.7).

Finally, Street (as cited in Jewitt, 2014) argued that it is possible to view multimodal texts

as ideological, that is, as literacy practices are ideological and situated within power relations,

multimodal texts could be understood as themselves imbued within the social contexts from

which they were created, and subject to the same questions as literacy texts. Also, he advocated

therefore an 'ideological model' of multimodality.

29
 Chapter 3:

Methodology

In this section I will describe the methodology followed to develop this research study. Then,

in this part I will explain why this study relies on some features of case study methodology. This

section also provides information concerning the context and population, the kinds of data

collections techniques that I used, and the processes of data analysis.

Question and Paradigm

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of multimodal texts posted on an

educational blog on eleventh graders at a public. Thus, the following question was addressed:

What is the impact of the use of an educational blog on the reading practices of the English

classes of the eleventh graders from San Fernando High School of the Municipality of Amagá?

To answer that question, the selected method in this research was the case study. This

qualitative method was chosen because, according to Yin (2009)

“There are at least four different applications. The most important is to explain the

presumed causal links in real-life interventions that are too complex for the surveyor

experimental strategies. A second application is to describe an intervention and the real-

life context in which it occurred. Third, case studies can illustrate certain topics within

an evaluation, again in a descriptive mode. Fourth, the case study strategy may be used

to enlighten those situations in which the intervention being evaluated has no clear,

single set of outcomes” (p. 19-20).

As to the first application, I could explain the interaction of my students with the blog in

practicing multimodal readings. In the second and third application, I could describe in depth the

30
impact of education blog on the English classes with my eleventh graders. And, I used the fourth

application when I felt myself confused with the results of the study.

Furthermore, Creswell (2007) defines case study research as:

“a qualitative approach in which the investigator explores a bounded system (a case) or

multiple bounded systems (cases) over time, through detailed, in-depth data collection

involving multiple sources of information (e.g., observation, interviews, audiovisual

material, and documents and reports), and reports a case description and case-based

themes” (p. 97).

This description matches with this study because the bounded systems (cases) I will study

in here are: the impact of an educational blog and students reading practices of the English

classes through the collection of multiple instruments. These instruments can be categorized in

surveys, observations, focus groups and students’ artifacts since I want to provide detail account

of the impact of this tool in my language classes. In addition, from the point of view of Yin

(2003) “The case study, like other research strategies, is a way of investigating an empirical topic

by following a set of prespecified procedures that not always include direct, detailed observation

as a source of evidence.” (p. 15).

Furthermore, Baxter and Jack (2008) state that a case study is a research method that

focuses on a contemporary phenomenon inside a bounded system, and uses several data

collection tools or data resources as lenses to see different perspectives so as to understand the

phenomenon. This research attempted to approach the issue of new literacies in the classrooms

and the use of blogs in second language acquisition, especially through reading multimodal texts.

Consequently, this study is being developed on a contemporary phenomenon that takes place in

31
the use of vocabulary such as: URL, hyperlink, link, Internet address, web page, web address,

blogs and wikis, which strongly prevail in these new environments of learning.

Finally, Yin (2009) acknowledges that case studies can help researchers to extend the

knowledge and keep in mind some aspects of real life events like small group behaviors and

individual life cycles. Based on this idea, my study attempts to show the characteristics and

behaviors of small groups eleventh graders who participated voluntarily and took part as

members of analysis.

Context and Population

To begin this section, I would like to mention that I have been working as an English teacher for

six years and I have only worked in the public sector, monitored by the national government. My

role as an English researcher began two years ago in the Master program in Learning and

Teaching Processes in Second Languages at the Universidad Pontificia Bolivariana, where I

originally wanted to work on the development of the four skills for learning English by using

technologies. Nevertheless, after talking with some partners and professors I decided to focus

myself on one skill and a specific technological tool in order to impact my local context. Since

then, I have been working as a participant observer in the project on the impact of the use of an

educational blog on the reading practices of the English classes of the eleventh graders from San

Fernando High School of the Municipality of Amagá.

This research was implemented with eleventh graders (11°1 - 11°2) of the afternoon shift

at Colegio San Fernando, which is placed in the Troncal del café of Amagá Municipality from

Antioquia department, where I have been working as an English teacher for a period of five

years. Students from this population are part of the middle class and the ages in the groups of

students observed during this research ranged from 15 to 18 year of age where 46 of them were

32
girls and 11 boys. They agreed to participate in this research and their parents, who were

informed about the development of the project and of the benefits of its implementation, signed

consent forms in advance. All these work sessions on the blog were developed in the Computer

Lab of the institution. Although the students had ability to manage the computer and the blog,

sometimes laptops were turned on and programmed by the teacher 20 minutes before students

were taken to this place to gain time, and so they could succeed in completing the activity

scheduled for one hour. When issues came up to develop the activity on time due to equipment

failure or other reasons (such as slow internet connection, the Lab was reserved by other groups,

or little understanding of the activity), the teacher added from 10 to 20 minutes, or the activity

was assigned as a task to be developed at home with a deadline.

Data Collection Techniques

Taking into account that for Glesne (2006) the use of multiple data collection methods

contributes to the reliability of the information, I have implemented four data collection

techniques which are: surveys, observation, students’ artifacts and interviews in order to combine

different kinds of data and increase faithfulness in my research findings.

Surveys. A survey is a method used to collect specific information of some people involved

in some processes but individually. Nowadays, this tool can be applied in different ways. One

could be by making use of technological advances such as websites, e-mails, blogs, Google

forms, social networks or other smartphone applications. Another way could be by the traditional

style through printed questionnaires and execution in person. In this research, I have

implemented only one survey, which was completed on-line through Google technology forms

by the participants on February 25th and 26th of the year 2015. This survey contained four

questions which aimed to know about the reading habits of offline or online texts of the students

33
who were preparing for the participation in this study. The reason why I decided to make this

type of survey was because I needed to know the opinion of the participants in relation to the

texts they read often, the activities they did when they read online, digital information that they

would like to read in the future and their opinion on the practice of online reading compared with

the reading text in physical. This survey was implemented through a Google Form because it was

faster, for free, more accurate, quick to analyze, easy to use for participants, easy to style, more

selective, more striking and pleasant for its development.

Observations. I did the observations and I kept field notes which were written during the

class sessions, while my students were readings multimodal texts on the blog. These field notes

(seven in total) were made to keep a record of important data that would help me to answer my

research question. This compilation shows in detail what happened from the beginning to the end

of each session. The most important aspects that I decided to write in those field notes were my

students' feelings, their behavior or interaction with each other, interaction with the teacher,

interaction with the activities of the blog. In other words, what they were doing step by step to

develop each activity, common questions, comments regarding the issue in development.

Another very important aspect that was registered in these field notes were the difficulties and

strengths presented in the development each activity.

Focus Groups. “Focus groups are a qualitative research methodology that can be used to

obtain information about the opinions, perceptions, attitudes, beliefs, and insights of a small

group of people” (Kitzinger & Barbour, 1999 cited in Kress & Shoffner 2007, p. 190). The main

reason why I decided to apply this method of data collection was because “It allows to explore

topics and to generate hypotheses, It is comparatively easier to drive or conduct, It generates

opportunity to collect data from the group interaction, which concentrates on the topic of the

34
researcher’s interest, It allows the researcher to increase the size of the sample of the qualitative

studies” (Freitas et al, 1998, p. 4).

In this section I am going to explain how and why I implemented this data collection

technique. After finishing the blogging activities, half of each participating group were

interviewed in groups of five to listen to their opinions and feelings regarding the multimodal

readings they have developed on the blog. To gain time, these interviews were recorded on audio

and for having a more fundamental data analysis of this technique, later I made transcripts of the

discussions conducted in each group. This interviews had an organized protocol that began in

August and ended in October, 2015, which required to develop a questionnaire that guide the

process and aim at collecting the necessary information to answer the research question of this

study.

For the development of this interview, students were scheduled to come one hour before

the school day and in the library of the institution I conducted the focus group. My role in here

was as a moderator because I stimulated the discussion with comments to answer the six

questions that were prepared in advance. I must note that in some occasions, my students were

very shy to participate because they did not know the questions order and they were aware that

everything was being recorded.

Students’ Artifacts. In this section I am going to provide detail about how I created and

structured the multimodal reading lessons or activities published on my blog to be carried out for

my eleventh graders during our English classes. In the planning of the activities, I decided that

each one needed to meet at least three criteria. First, that it involved multimodal texts or that

students were asked to create a multimodal text. Second that the work on the activities involved

micro-skill strategies; and third, that students needed to draw on macro-skills strategies of

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Reading Comprehension (as proposed by Brown, 2001). One of the objectives of structuring

activities with these three elements was that students had multiple ways of meaning making, for

example, through images or illustrations that students had to analyze before reading or writing.

One activity contained a video with audio where the exercise encouraged students to engage in

interaction with a multimodal text; the others were activity of production and interaction of

micro and macro skills as I describe above.

1. Multimodal Texts: a multimodal text is one that in its structure contains: written language,

images, comics, video, colors, or posters. A multimodal text can be: digital, e-book, blogs, web

pages or film. “Multimodal texts are those texts that have more than one ‘mode’ so that meaning

is communicated through a synchronization of modes. That is, they may incorporate spoken or

written language, still or moving images, they may be produced on paper or electronic screen

and may incorporate sound” (Walsh, 2007, p.1). (See Image 1.1)

(Image 1.1- Sample of blogging activity # 7)

In blogging activity number 7 the goal was to write short stories based on a sequence of

illustrations and to associate comic strip with written descriptions. This is a multimodal text

because it combines written text, images and requires that students produce verbal language
36
through a recording on vocaroo page (online voice recorder). Finally, they should paste the link

of their recording in the blog comments space, listen to the other short stories created by their

partners and leave comments.

2. Micro-skills for Reading Comprehension: Through this strategy I intended to include skills

where students could recognize core of words, and interpret word order patterns and their

significance ( recognize grammatical word classes nouns, verbs, etc.), systems (e.g., tense,

agreement, pluralization) patterns, rules, and elliptical forms, recognize that a particular meaning

may be expressed in different grammatical forms, recognize cohesive devices in written

discourse and their role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses (Brown, 2001,

p. 307). (See Image 1.2)

(Image 1.2- Sample of Blogging activity # 5 )

In order to follow the micro-skills for Reading Comprehension, students in this

blogging activity number 5 should read the text about “Cut Music to an Hour a Day” and

according to the reading they must identify possible synonyms and antonyms, recognize

37
grammatical word classes nouns and recognize cohesive devices in written discourse and their

role in signaling the relationship between and among clauses.

3. Macro-Reading Skills for Comprehension: This skill suggests that students' lessons must

contain an aspect where they can recognize the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their

significance for interpretation, infer context that is not explicit by using background knowledge,

distinguish between literal and implied meanings, develop and use a battery of reading strategies,

such as scanning and skimming, detecting discourse markers, guessing the meaning of words

from context and activating schemata for the interpretation of texts (Brown, 2001, p. 307).

(See Image 1.3)

(Image 1.3– Sample of Blogging activity # 3)

In order to follow the macro-skills for reading comprehension students in this

blogging activity number 3 were asked to read the dialogue between Sophie and her teacher.

Then, according to the dialogue they should write if the statements below were right or are

38
wrong by writing that’s right or that’s wrong. Also, the students should match the pictures that

best describe each sentence for recognizing the rhetorical forms of written discourse and their

significance for interpretation and inferring context that is not explicit by using background

knowledge.

Some of these activities were created mainly with the technology of Google forms in

order to keep a specific database where the answers of readers were collected, then these

activities were embedded in our educational blog for the availability of each student. Other

activities were created directly on the blog because it was for interacting in the comments box.

Blogging Activities

Based on the three elements mentioned above, I created the following activities:

Activity # 1
Topic of the Class: Talking About Daily Routines.
GOAL: To understand texts given in simple present tense
to let you know about daily routine, describing people,
places and personal information. METHODOLOGY:
The methodology consisted of the following steps: Step
1. Each student must enter the blog, Step 2. They must
read the text about Tom’s life, Step 3. Then they had to
answer questions about the text, Step 4. After, they had to
create their own text about their daily routine, Step 5.
Then they had to record themselves reading their own text, Step 6. And finally, they had to send
the audio file to the teacher's E-mail.
Activity # 2
Topic of the Class: The Greatest Treasure
– Video- GOAL: Follow the sequence of a
simple story by locating the main
characters, places and moments that actions

39
happen. METHODOLOGY: The methodology consists of the following steps: Step1. Each
student must enter to the blog, Step2. They must watch a short video called “The Greatest
Treasure” Step3. According to the video, each student must develop a questionnaire about the
content of it, Step4. Post the two questions and answer two questions from other two students.

Activity # 3
Topic of the Class: Talking about Food and Health, GOAL: To
relate illustrations with simple sentences. METHODOLOGY:
The methodology consists of the following steps: Step 1. Each
student must enter to the blog, Step 2. They must read the
dialogue between Sophie and her teacher. Step 3. Then,
according to the dialogue they must write if the statements
below are right or are wrong by writing that’s right or that’s
wrong. Step 4. Finally, the students must match the Pictures
that best describe each sentence.

Activity # 4
Topic of the Class: Talking about Rules (Can/Can’t and Have To), GOAL: To associate pictures
with written descriptions. METHODOLOGY: The methodology consists of the following
steps: Step1. Each student must enter to the blog, Step2. They must read carefully all the
descriptions, Step3. Finally, they must choose the correct one for each image.

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 Activity # 5
Topic of the Class: “Cut Music to an Hour a Day” GOAL: To assess reading as an important
habit of personal enrichment and academic. METHODOLOGY: The methodology consists of
the following steps: Step1. Each student must enter to the blog, Step2. They must read the text
about “Cut Music to an Hour a Day” Step3. According to the reading, they must identify
possible synonyms and antonyms.

ACTIVITY # 6
Topic of the Class: “Famous Quotes” GOAL: To analyze different famous fragments of human
expressions METHODOLOGY: The methodology consists of the following steps: Step1. Each
student must enter to the blog, Step2. They must read all the famous quotes and develop
different exercises Step3. Look for a famous quote and write it in the comment box. Then,
comment of any of your partner quote, explain if you are or aren’t agree with the message in the
quote.

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 ACTIVITY # 7
Topic of the Class: Building Short Stories from Comics, Goals: To write short stories based on a
sequence of illustrations. To associate comic strip with written descriptions. Methodology: Step
1. Look at the following comics, choose one of them and then write a short story that explains
what you believe is happening in it. Step 2. Go to vocaroo page (online voice recorder) and record
what you have written. Step 3. Paste the link of your record in the blog; listen to the other short
stories created by your partners and leave comments.

DATA ANALYSIS

In this section, I describe the process I followed for analyzing the collected data. First, I

considered Marshall and Rossman’s (2010) steps in analyzing data. They show that the typical

analytic procedures to follow are: (1) organizing the data, (2) immersion in the data, (3)

generating categories and themes, (4) coding the data, (5) offering interpretation through analytic

memos, (6) searching for alternative understandings, and (7) writing the report or other format

for presenting the study. By following this analytic procedure, I adopted an emerging approach

to data analysis because the purpose was to allow data to talk based on common themes arising

out of my examination of the different data collection instruments.

For instance, the survey was analyzed by using the two following stages: in the first one,

I made a qualitative analysis in which I focused myself on details and descriptions. In the second

42
one, I made a quantitative analysis in which I used statistical techniques for identifying

frequencies. For the field notes, I carried out a coding process where I got immersed in reading

again and again in order to identify patterns and assign code. Then, with these codes of similar

patterns, I established categories of analysis. I did the same with the transcription of the focus

groups. I triangulated information by following a similar analytical procedure with all data

collection instruments. The next chapter presents the categories that emerged from the analysis

of the data collected.

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 Chapter 4

Findings and Discussion

The categories that I will examine in this chapter lead me to answer my research

question: What is the impact of the use of an educational blog on the reading practices of the

English classes of the eleventh graders from San Fernando High School of the Municipality of

Amagá? Also, those answer relate with the issues developed earlier in the conceptual framework.

Based on the analysis I have identified the following categories: 1. Use of online reading

strategies to help comprehension, 2. Increasing learning opportunities, and 3. Motivation

for learning and reading in English, with its subcategory Better Communication between

Students and Teacher.

1. Use of Online Reading Strategies to Help Comprehension

This category refers to the impact of the use of the blog in promoting students’

resourcefulness to develop the reading activities on the blog. In other words, my students

obtained the freedom to use other digital resources or websites as a support to complement all the

activities. According to what I saw in each session, I wrote in my field notes and listened on the

focus groups, the strategies that my students used were as follows:

A) Pay attention to teacher’s explanation and asking questions was a strategy used by my

students before, during and after each session we were working the multimodal readings on the

blog. That is, they kept very anxious for knowing when we would attend English class and how

often we would go to the system room to visit and work on the blog. During each session, they

kept very focused and paid attention when the teacher spoke, not only because he was the

authority in the classroom and had control of the class, but also because they wanted to do a

44
 good job. In addition, they wanted to practice and gain good English vocabulary through these

multimodal readings which were designed to change the routine of the classes and make students

feel more comfortable, motivated and entertained by learning this second language. Sometimes,

they were confused during the implementation of a new activity and asked questions to the

teacher or asked him a new explanation about how to develop the activity (see image 1.4) Other

times, they asked for help to the teacher when any online resources gave no response to their

concerns as meanings of some words, pronunciation and synonyms or antonyms relationship (see

image 1.5).

Image 1.4 Picture taken to Participants of Image 1.5 Picture taken to Participants of
11° 2 during the explanation of activity # 5. 11° 1 during the development of activity # 6.

As we can see in the images above, both groups that I applied this study resorted to the

aforementioned strategy, which contributed to the successful participation of students and the

full development of each multimodal reading activity submitted to the blog. This strategy,

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besides of being the first one, was also considered as the most important because from this one

depended the normal development of the session and the cognitive impact on students.

B) Exploratory reading or Re-reading of multimodal texts before starting with the

development of activities. During the sessions we had access to the blog and this strategy was the

most used by my students in order to know about the work they had to develop. However, they

used to re-read the same content because they looked for a better understanding of the topic,

others did it because in the first reading they did not understand what to do and others because

they were seeking a better development perspective, to remember a good idea, and also to

discover new ideas that had not been previously noticed. I saw this strategy in my students

during the development of all the activities. They were very quiet and only I could see in their

faces stare at the computer's screen and a fast or slow movement of their lips, as I will show in

the following images.

Image 1.6. Picture taken to Participants of 11° 1 Image 1.7. Picture taken to Participants of
during the development of activity # 4. 11° 1 during the development of activity # 4.

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 As we could see in the above images, what I am talking about is the well-known reading

strategies of skimming and scanning. Skimming through means to read superficially, identify for

example pictures and so on. Scanning is read carefully and finding specific information. These

two strategies were quite normal during this process, consequently the relationship that I can

emphasize from these reading strategies with multimodal reading is that skimming was important

because students concentrated on the multimodal aspects of the texts such as images or videos.

C) Visiting websites information to help understand or complete a multimodal reading.

It was the next strategy that they used after reading the multimodal text for more information

or going into details of the subject matter. For instance, during the development of the

activity number three which had the title "Talking about Food and Health" (see image 5) the

students must read the dialogue between Sophie and her teacher. Then, according to that

dialogue they must write if the statements submitted were right or wrong by writing that's

right or that's wrong. Finally, the students must match the pictures that best describes each

sentence. They realized that in this activity the words “Anorexia and Bulimia” were so much

mentioned and these issues were not very clear for them or they found it confusing to

differentiate from each other. Therefore, resorting to other websites to go into detail on these

subjects was better than asking among themselves or asking to the teacher for the following

reasons: the immediacy of information, amounts of content with easy access, varieties points

of views with concrete exemplification and the best of all, it was for free and they could

attend several pages at the same time to answer their questions, and they saved time to

complete all the activity.

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 Image 1.8. Screen grab taken from session number three.

Furthermore, during the development of some activities I could experience everything that

has been said and it was recorded in my field notes, but then in the focus groups I heard the

following reflections given by some student participants when we were talking about differences

of digital and non-digital readings.

Box 1.1

“Me pareció muy bueno porque las lecturas en un blog permiten que utilicemos otras

herramientas que se encuentran en internet como el traductor donde podemos copiar y

pegar una palabra y es más fácil traducir un texto y saber que dice sin necesidad de

buscar en un diccionario palabra por palabra” (Participant five, focus groups, September

30, 2015)

“Es un medio mucho más útil el del internet porque hay mejores herramientas y uno

puede aprender inglés de una forma más sencilla” (Participant three, focus groups,

October 28, 2015)

“Pues aparte de que ya tenemos un conocimiento en la lectura física ósea en un papel, la

lectura digital nos ayuda más para nuestros conocimientos fuera de eso tenemos muchas

herramientas que son el internet, el traductor y muchas otras páginas que nos resuelve

nuestras inquietudes” (Participant four, focus groups, October 28, 2015)

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 D) Using Google translator, online dictionaries and word processors to polish their

writings. According to the reflections of the focus groups mentioned in box 1.1, this strategy

was the main digital tools used for the students during the development of readings sessions in

order to look for examples of words, meanings, synonyms and antonyms about the vocabulary

contained in the seven multimodal readings submitted to the blog. During the usage of these

tools, I realized that my students were very careful when writing unfamiliar words for preventing

some poor results thrown by these dictionaries, others decided to call the teacher for confirming

some words thrown by any of the dictionaries. The most common online dictionaries my

students used to browse were: "Word reference" "Google translator" and "Reverse" to search for

the meaning of unfamiliar words from English to Spanish or vice versa. Those pages were very

visited by students in the development of the activity number 6 "Famous Quotes" (see image 6)

Image 1.9. Screen grab taken from session number six.

This activity had as a main objective to analyze different famous fragments of human

expressions. The methodology consisted that they must read all the famous quotes and develop

different comprehension exercises such as the explanation about what the quote was, what they

learnt from a quotation, how they translated those quotations to Spanish, the creation of

quotations by themselves after reading a famous one, the expression of agreement or

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disagreement of a quotation proposed by the teacher and look for a famous quote and paste it on

the blog's template for opening a discussion with the rest of the partners about agreement or

disagreement of its content.

The following screenshots were taken from the result of session number six, in which

students were asked to look for a famous quote and paste it on the blog's template for opening a

discussion with the rest of the partners about agreement or disagreement of its content.

Image 2.0. This Participant showed a lot of affection for Nelson Mandela’s quote.

Image 2.1. Quote submitted for a student of 11°1 for opening a discussion about fidelity.

Image 2.2. Philosophical quote submitted by a student of 11°2.

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 For the construction of their comments in this activity, I noticed that some students wrote

and polished their posts in blank Word document or blog notes before posting them on the blog

template. This was done to make sure that they were right and avoiding so any grammatical

errors, and have a good chain of cohesion.

E) Using images to help comprehension was other strategy that my students employed for

expanding some topics discussed in the multimodal reading, the images they used were

downloaded from pages as Google images, Openphoto, Everystockphoto and Flickr. Students

used this strategy when they could not think of an English word during chat or written exercises,

so they used gestures, emoticons, images or another word or phrase that meant the same thing. In

addition, they also read some multimodal English texts without looking up every new word

because they made the relationship with the image presented or invented new words when they

did not know the right ones in English only by seeing the image. Moreover, it is also necessary to

highlight that all activities of reading of the blog were multimodal supported with images

because the result obtained in the digital survey applied to students at the beginning of this study

(see figure 1.0).

Figure 1.0 Screen grab taken from the digital survey applied to student participants.

As we can see on this last figure about the results obtained in a virtual survey conducted

to the participants, only nine students selected that they look hyperlinks, thirteen of them selected

that look for videos related what they read, sixteen of them selected that look for the meaning of

unfamiliar words, and most of them selected the topic that is discussed here about using images

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to help comprehension or to concentrate on the images during reading. Consequently, the

deduction I took out in relation to all the work we did on the blog is that they used this strategy

because they believe that a text is best understood when it is represented by images.

F) Communication through other social networking sites. It was a strategy employed by my

students in order to keep in touch with themselves without leaving their seats and stay informed

about everything that happened during the development of any multimodal readings in some

system room of our institution. In fact, they created a Facebook and Whatsapp group for sharing

links of blog when it was updated with a new activity (see image 11). At first, I did not really

like the use of these tools because I considered them as a powerful distraction for students.

However, I decided to accept it because I started to realize that the shy students could express

themselves peacefully by this means. They kept themselves informed about everything related to

the classes. They could also share links of other web pages, images, sounds or monomodal texts

since, as it was argued by Orihuela (2008), social networks are "based services on the web that

allow users to interact, share information, coordinate actions and generally keep in touch" (p,

58.)

Image 2.3. Taken from students Facebook’s closed group.

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 This closed Facebook group was created and designed by students from level 11° 1.

Later, they gave me the administration of it to keep track of the members. As all students in the

group agreed to be members of this social network, we started to use it for reporting the updating

of any activity on the blog, share some special link page or the link of our blog, commenting on

the performance of some activity, reporting dates of our sessions and specially to keep in touch

between students and teacher.

All in all, I can deduce that probably my students did not become bilingual at all, but at least

with the implementation of this new way of working they became more resourceful than before

and with these strategies they could improve their reading practices of multimodal texts in

English through an educational blog; as it was asserted by Moore (2008) “Low-achieving

adolescent readers improve their comprehension performance when they learn to apply

strategies” (p. 1).

2. Increasing learning opportunities

According to what was shown in the previous category on reading strategies used by students

and a thorough the review of my field notes taken at each session, I intend to show that the data

coming from this second category is an indicator that students improved their reading practices

because they were being more resourceful in the way they dealt with texts, reinterpreted them

and also the ways they communicated among themselves to resolve questions or any concerns

during the development of activities. In addition, I must also highlight what participant students

of this study spoke in the focus group regarding the issue of the impact of the blog on the

practice of multimodal readings during English classes.

Below are some excerpts from students talking about the impact the readings on the blog had on

them:

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Box 1.2

“ Para mí el blog tuvo un impacto positivo porque al estar realizando

estas actividades de una forma tan constante vamos adquiriendo un vocabulario más

amplio y el inglés empieza a ser más fácil de aprender para nosotros” (Participant one,

focus groups, October 28, 2015)

“Para mí, lo que más me gusto fue la didáctica del blog porque era más fácil hacerlo en

internet y había un texto ya hecho y se podían ver imágenes donde uno podía relacionar

el texto con las imágenes” (Participant two, focus groups, October 28, 2015)

"Me parece que este blog tuvo un impacto positivo porque nos ha ayudado a desarrollar

muchas habilidades de lectura e interpretación, también nos ayudó a comunicarnos

mucho mejor con nuestras compañeras y el profesor" (Participant four, focus groups,

September 16, 2015)

The voices of these students can be related to the contribution of Amicucci (2014) as she

argues that: “Using digital technologies necessitates facilitating students’ critical engagement

with these technologies” (p. 489). Therefore, as we could notice, these students understood the

reasons why this blog was implemented and the impact of this one in their academic processes.

For instance, participant one talks about increasing vocabulary obtained with worked activities;

the second one talks about the strategy of relating the images with texts of the blog for a better

understanding; and the third one, besides stressing the great impact that this tool had in their

reading practices, also talks about the development of reading skills and interpretation. This last

student also talks about the subject to be addressed in the next category about how the blog

helped to improve communication between his classmates and the teacher.

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 Similarly, Tarasiuk (2010) speaks about a very important issue which is worth noting

here also because she holds that: “The combination of reading, writing, and technology presents

unique opportunities to improve and address the contemporary literacy needs of adolescents” (p.

543). It is important to emphasize the aforementioned contribution because I noticed several

positive attitudes in my students during our work sessions in the blog, which were recorded in

my field notes such as: 1. “My students were interacting with multimodal readings where

sometimes they were asked to write something about what they had read in the blog, which

helped them to improve their reading practices and acquisition of new vocabulary” (April 15th,

2015) 2. “They knew a lot of image editors but did not know how to relate written texts or used

for academic purposes” (July 29th, 2015.) 3. “I realized that I was not the only guide of the class,

because they also helped or collaborated with each other to do a good job or learn more about

something” (July 30th, 2015.) That is, they explained among themselves about technological

things in an easy way with few words. And 4. I could see how the performance and participation

of my students improved through the results obtained from the database of each multimodal

reading done on the blog (See figure 1.1). In sum, it was noted improvement in their English

level for their good reading comprehension skills, the use of appropriate vocabulary in each

context and especially by the good results obtained at the end of each activity.

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 This statistic table shows different aspects across the seven reading activities that students

were required to do on the blog. Overall, the number of students who participated in this study is

indicated by the blue bar, the orange bar shows the number of students who did a good job in

each activity and the gray bar shows those students who did not meet satisfactory performance in

the activities. According to the above discussion, I can conclude the following:

 The activity number 1 was developed by 38 students where 86% of them did a good job,

14% did not meet good performance.

 The activity number 2 was developed by 51 students, only 12% of them did not meet the

minimum requirements of the activity, while 88% had a good performance.

 The activity number 3 was developed by 38 students, 97% did well while the 3% did not

perform well.

 The activity number 4 was developed by 57 students, 91% succeeded in completing the

reading exercises while 9% did not.

 The activity number 5 was developed by 34 students, 88% met the demands of this

activity, but 12% did not comply.

 The activity number 6 we noticed that the number of students increase reaching 71 of

them, 91% did a good job, while 9% did not achieve good performance.

 The activity number 7 where the same number of students completed the activity, but the

number of successful and unsuccessful varies as follows, 95% are students who did good

job and 5% are students who did not perform satisfactorily the activity.

Furthermore, I will discuss in a more particular way, and with specific statistics, the

strategies I had in mind for the creation of the seven multimodal reading activities worked on the

blog and the results obtained from the student participants. The statistics show the level of

56
participation of students increased progressively and also the level of success in the development

of the reading activities. This in turn, is an indicator that their reading levels were increasing and

therefore their opportunities to further develop their skills in English.

These results match Serafini’s (2012) results, who has found that multimodal texts, such as

the ones proposed on the blog, increase students reading skills because “The reader in today’s

world needs to be positioned as a reader-viewer. This dual identity requires students to develop

as many skills and strategies for interpreting visual images and design elements as they develop

for making sense of written language” (p. 30).

There were different reading strategies that I implement throughout the multimodal reading

activities. Below, there is a table with the activities and I provide some examples of how they

were used and how students did.

Table 2.0 Reading Strategies Implemented In All Activities

Strategies Meaning

1. To use visual cues (e.g. images,

It refers to communicate something written with
colors, typography) to identify or
other representative tools for a better
deduce the meanings of the text
understanding.
overall, words, or sentences
This is an exercise that involves to understand
the most important thing of a written
2. Understand main idea of the text.
information.

It is to understand what the author wanted to

3. Understand the purpose of a text communicate through what he/she writes.

4. Distinguish underlying grammar

Recognize the linguistic variables as parts of
forms speech or category morphosyntactical.

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 Recognize the set of words that are part of the
English language by the context in which it
5. Identify the meaning of vocabulary
occurs.

This is the action to draw conclusions, infer

6. Make inferences something or lead to a new result.

This is to relate the content of any text read with

7. Connect the texts to their own lives
what actually happens around them.
and sociocultural contexts.

To take control of the introduction, middle and

8. Distinguish a succession of events or
end of a text.
processes in a text

To extract relevant contents of a text to carry

9. Identify specific information of the
succession or answer questions.
text.

To represent with different modes of

10. Express understanding of a text by
communication something new after seeing or
creating a multimodal text (image,
reading some examples.
video, voice recording)

The followings screenshots show how some of the aforementioned strategies have

worked. For instance, figure 1.3 was taken from the blog activity number 1 and its results

indicate that students developed the strategy of being able to identify specific information from

the texts they read. As for figure 1.4, it was taken from blog activity number 2 and its results

indicate that students understood the main idea of the watched video because 69% of them

matched positively. Figure 1.5 was also taken from blog activity number 3 and results indicate

that students took the control of the introduction, middle and end of a text by distinguishing a
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succession of events or processes. In addition, Figure 1.6 was taken from blog activity number 4

and results indicate that students used visual cues as images, colors and typography to identify or

deduce the meanings of the sentences.

Figure 1.2. Taken from the result of blog activity number 1

Figure 1.3. Taken from the result of blog activity number 2

Figure 1.4. Taken from the result of blog activity number 3

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 Figure 1.5. Taken from the result of blog activity number 4

In conclusion, these strategies of reading that were introduced and presented above were

involved in all the seven multimodal activities, but the strategy that had better results was the

number four, not only for the good result shown in the statistics, but also because “Using graphic

novels in the classroom can help explain how language works both for and against people and

enable students to acquire an appreciation for critical literacy” (Chun, 2009, p. 144). Moreover,

these images were very useful for those students who did not possess great vocabulary because

they could make a relationship between the content of the text and image in order to draw an

inference and to develop the proposed activity.

The two categories presented so far indicate that the multimodal readings benefitted

students in many ways. At the motivational level, students increased their participation and

across time, their strategies to tackle the reading activities improved. These positive outcomes

connect to the next category.

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3. Motivation for Learning and Reading in English

Promoting motivation for learning a second language is a challenge that every teacher

from his/her teaching practice should be proposed and although it is not an easy task, it is

something that with a lot of creativity and enthusiasm could be achieved.

According to Rehman et al. (2014): “Motivation is considered as an integral part in the

achievement of any goal. It is an important factor that has a positive influence in any educational

learning process especially in learning second language” (p. 254). For that reason, this category

will show how the multimodal readings presented on the blog enhanced students motivation in

order to achieve the goals of this study. The dynamics introduced by the use of the blog changed

students’ attitude towards language learning. This was apparently produced by changes that

included: A) partly decentering the notebook or handout to using the blog, B) leaving aside the

teaching of grammar for practicing reading of multimodal texts about topics of students´ interests

and also C) combining classroom work with a computer lab work. These aforementioned

changes began to be reflected on the researcher journal (July 30th, 2015) as it showed that:

 “they started arriving very early to the computer lab and without turning on the laptops

they began to ask for the activity to be performed”

 “Their behavior changed significantly. That is, during the development of each

multimodal reading they were peaceful and quiet”

 “Their concentration and their mutual collaboration was something very different in

relation to what was happening in the classroom with traditional exercises.”

In other words, they kept in touch and helped each other to fulfil the activities. In

addition, the discussions of the focus groups carried out about the work of the multimodal

readings submitted on the blog also showed that students felt motivated with this new

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strategy in our high school because many of them agreed that this tool was very useful and

necessary for changing or improving their attitude towards the practice and learning of

English.

The focus group also revealed the impact that the blog had in comparison to traditional

classes, as students expressed: “Yo pienso que el blog fue una buena oportunidad para tener

más acceso a los medios digitales y para aprender inglés de una manera más didáctica”

(Participant two, focus groups, October 28, 2015.). Another student added: “Pienso que esto

podría ser un método diferente para salir de la misma rutina de siempre y así aprender nuevas

cosas las cuales quizás nos puedan servir para un futuro” (Participant three, focus groups,

September 16, 2015.) Also: “El trabajo en el blog se sintió diferente ya que teníamos la

posibilidad de utilizar más las tecnologías y lo digital y era muy agradable ya que esto es lo

que más nos llama la atención en estos tiempos" (Participant four, focus groups, September

16, 2015.). Another student indicated: “Para mí, las clases de inglés eran mucho mejor con el

blog que en una hoja cualquiera porque ya no nos daba pereza buscar en el diccionario,

también porque con el blog era más fácil y contábamos con la ayuda del profesor y con la

ayuda del traductor hacíamos mucho mejor las cosas ya sabíamos pronunciar más, leíamos

más y había más interés” (Participant one, focus groups, September 23, 2015.) Finally, one

student mentioned: “Esta nueva forma de trabajar fue positiva para nosotros porque con el

blog ya se interesa uno más por el Inglés” (Participant three, focus groups, September 23,

2015).

These comments expressed by students show that their motivations worked on three

levels, as noted by Rehman et al. (2014): 1. Efforts which focuses to the drive of learners, 2.

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 Desire that refers to what learners want and 3. Affect that refers to learner’s emotional

reaction.

On the other hand, in connection to the actions described by Rehman et al. (2014), it was also

found that this pedagogical innovation led to Better Communication between Students and

Teachers. During work on the blog, communication improved not only in the classroom, but

also outside of it. That is, every time the students saw me through the halls of the institution or in

the teachers’ room, I was asked about the feedback of the previous activity or questions about

when would the next session be and what would it be. Others shared comments with me about

the activities regarding the degree of difficulty, the design of the activity or the time allotted for

these ones.

In addition, these students also became much more participatory in class with discussions or

asking questions about the topics (see images 1and 2). All these reasons encouraged me to be

more creative and keep doing what I had never done in class because “the relationship between

teachers and students affects the quality of students’ motivation to learn and classroom learning

experiences because students feel motivated, stimulated to learn and actively collaborate with the

teachers when the classroom is running in a safe and supportive environment” (Da Luz, 2015, p.

7). That is, this quote supports my argument because when the multimodal reading activities on

the blog made the classroom a safe and supportive space, communication between me and my

students changed significantly making that during each session, students were able to ask

questions and discuss their suggestions for a better coexistence that mainly benefit the students'

motivation to learn and teacher's motivation to improve his teaching practices.

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 Image 2.4 and 2.5. Teacher’s interaction with students during the development of blog activity number five.

In conclusion, the words “Motivation and Communication” only impact positively

between teacher and student when both are interacting in an innovative environment for breaking

routines and pointing to good quality results. Therefore, it is our task as leaders of our classes

and coordinators of learning activities, implement new pedagogies that build a healthy

educational relationship between teacher-student.

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 Chapter 5: Conclusions, Pedagogical Implications and Limitations

After implementing multimodal readings on the blog, I can conclude that by using some

technological tools we can motivate our students to improve their reading skills for the

development of critical thinking and even more for practicing and learning a second language.

During the implementation of this study, I realized that students were reading multimodal texts

in English more than before because of the way they participated in the sessions, the way they

were improving during the different activities and the way they used different strategies to

understand the content of each text worked. These reasons confirm that the implementation of an

educational blog on the practices of multimodal readings in English classes of the eleventh grade

had a positive impact, because this tool has increased learning opportunities, motivation for

learning and reading in English and it strengthened the student-teacher communication.

Taking into account my field notes, the statements given by students in the focus group

sessions, and the results obtained by each student in the seven multimodal activities proposed in

the blog, I can state that the goals set at the beginning of this study were achieved successfully.

In fact, I can also argue that the blog is a very useful tool to be involved in the school curriculum

and in language learning because it encourages students to improve some of their skills through

many innovative topics that fit well within today's students.

In addition, blogs offer several advantages because they are free interfaces that can be

designed according to the teachers' preferences and also because we can upload multiple

activities that help improve the learning needs of students.

As a teacher, I would also like to acknowledge that this study was a challenge for my

pedagogical practice because despite not being an expert or having a professional diploma

attesting to the management of virtual environments, I did my best to explore step by step how to
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structure a template on the blog with texts, images, audios, videos and so on. Now that I am able

to use the blog as a learning environment and that I can use the multimodal nature of reading

online, I feel that we as teachers have the opportunity to be innovative in our educational settings

and provide students with practical tools to generate better academic environments which

encourage them to be better every day at what they do.

Furthermore, during the implementation of this study I realized that using the blog was

the best tool to promote online reading practices, or multimodal reading, with eleventh grade

students. That is, through illustrative examples of ICTs that make students negotiate meaning

with other learners, I could see how students were focused and further involved during the

sessions we worked on the Computer Lab. Additionally, I could also notice the many strategies

they used to address the texts by using other websites that served as support for better

understanding of them. The impact of this on education is significant because students feel more

committed to the academic processes, it increases their levels of motivation and the best aspect is

that it helps to update the curriculum towards the use of these digital and multimodal elements in

the middle school environment.

For these reasons, I believe that today all teachers should begin to familiarize themselves

with these new literacy practices because “technology will not replace teachers in the future, but

rather teachers who use technology will probably replace teachers who do not” (Clifford, as cited

in Blake, 2013, p. 14). This means that teachers must be trained continuously to update

themselves on issues of new technologies and implement them in their schools, colleges or

universities. Also, this new form of literacy with multimodal reading texts provide students with

new learning experiences in Reading and other areas. All in all, blogs or internet tools give

66
students the opportunity to express their voices, stimulate their imagination, construct knowledge

and develop a fluency for second language acquisition.

Limitations

Although this study proved to be a success in my school with my students of eleventh

grade because it was something new, simple and fun, it is also necessary to note that it was not

an easy job and that during the implementation of each of the activities there were obstacles

difficult to solve, but not impossible to overcome. The limitations presented were the following:

adjusting reading activities on the blog, access to the computer lab, time for the development of

the activities, connectivity, and students’ limitations regarding the management of technological

resources.

Adjusting Reading Activities on the Blog (Planning blogging activities)

First, the activities of multimodal readings on the blog were the initial difficulty. In other

words, they consisted of adjusting readings with images, sounds and videos in order to focus

them much better from multimodal aspect and thus ensure a better understanding for students.

Another limitation in the setting of these activities was that on the blog I could not create any

activity and then keep it in private from those skilled students in this technological environment,

so I had to create activities in a format Google Drive and publish it a day in advance of the class

and remove it when the deadline was fulfilled. After having overcome the above difficulties, I

proceeded to publish each activity one day before the lesson, but during the implementation of

activities 2 and 3 an issue arose: some students could not see any images because the laptops

they had for working were not updated with JAVA application; so I had to show the images on

the projector in order for students to complete the activities.

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Access to Computer Lab and Time Allocated For the Development of Multimodal Reading

Activities

Despite the fact that our institution has three Computer Labs and two of them have

Internet access, it was very difficult to develop a class using this area for the following reasons:

1. Computer teachers always do their classes in these rooms.

2. The access to any different personnel than the Computer Lab teacher must be

authorized by the school director, who was rarely seen walking around the halls of our institution

or he was extremely busy in his office attending other school events.

3. When I finally managed to get the permission of the headmaster, there were internal

equipment failures and they were subjected to technical maintenance which lasted between one

and two weeks.

4. Another threat to the development of these activities was time, which was about an

hour of activity and some students made good use of this time to complete their activities, but

others due to lack of knowledge on how to use the tool were a bit tangled and they took longer

than the set time.

Internet Connection and Speed

Although the internet connection in the institution operated through cable or wireless

service, (WIFI) thanks to the program "Antioquia Digital," the connection was not as quick as

expected when all computers were connected. We had to be patient to develop the activities. The

scheduled time was also seen as an obstacle because for example students had trouble saving

68
their progress on the blog. Sometimes, due to this, activities had to be completed at home with a

deadline for submission.

Students’ Limitations Regarding the Management of Technological Resources.

Nowadays, all human beings are highly exposed to quantities of technological devices,

which are improved increasingly and have made these last years are called "Digital Era", where

almost most things are done on screen. However, with the implementation of this new

methodology about the practice of multimodal reading through a blog with my eleventh graders,

I realized that things are not as they seem about these young people who are supposed to be born

in the digital age. In other words, we see many young people today interacting in a fast and

constant way with phones, iPod, tablets, etc. and so we think they are experts in handling these

devices; but when it is used for an educational purpose, we realize that they are not as skilled as

they seem. It happened to me with some students who, despite having high end cell phones or

tablets, it was difficult for them to move between several web pages of information without

getting confused or rather they were not able to use these tools for educational purposes.

Furthermore, some students did not own these tools due to their financial situations, so they were

demotivated or confused; and sometimes I found it a bit difficult to dedicate time to them and

stop the workflow of the class, although I also noted that students who ran the tool helped those

who did not. Mostly in activity number 7 where they should leave a comment on the blog like a

feedback about what other partners had posted.

Further Directions for Research and Pedagogy

Considering that a blog is a free website that can be used for personal or academic

purposes, and that it facilitates instant publication on any topic, it makes me recommend to

future researchers/teachers the opportunity to work with blogs for improving writing or listening
69
skills in their students. If teachers involve themselves in the blogosphere for writing texts in

English, students would have the opportunity to work together, exchange ideas and instantly read

what other colleagues have posted. Additionally, through a blog teachers can encourage their

students to develop critical thinking by posting new topics for students to open a written

discussion about any topic given. In this case, students can think in a constructive way by putting

together a sequence of ideas to help them develop skills such as analysis, reasoning, observation

and judgment.

On the other hand, it would be very useful to implement the blog to improve listening in

students through the pronunciation of English words in several types of native accents, in video

or audio, that contain subtitles to help students increase their vocabulary correctly. This strategy

can also help students make proper use of connected speech, so that they learn to unite sound

changing words in a sentence and to be able to understand when they are pronounced with speed

and intonation in a discourse. Therefore, based on the aforementioned methodology, teachers

should be encouraging their students to pronounce what they hear. As a result, they would be

dealing with another methodology that can improve their English levels in order to speak

confidently this second language and learn from their own mistakes.

Moreover, based on the experience I had with this tool, I could confirm that a blog’s

template can be decorated with multiple gadgets and the best instructors for learning how to

manage it well is YouTube. Tutorials are available for watching if you are at home and you do

not want to move, or you do not have time for moving to any place else, or you do not have

enough money for paying a course.

Therefore, if any other researcher would try to implement the same study I did, I would give

him/her the following recommendations about how to better create and use the readings in class:

70
1) To post current Multimodal readings about issues of the interests of students.

2) To use application as “Google Forms” or “Hot Potatoes” to control the entry and participation

of students in activities through database.

3) To ask students to make multimodal productions from texts already read.

4) Ensure that all the images that will represent the multimodal session of the texts are in JPEG

format to avoid that some computers in the computer lab may not recognize the file or students

have difficulty for visualizing the image.

5) To ask in advance to his/her students to create a Gmail account, so they can write entries on

the blog when they are requested

6) Avoid putting a lot of activities or gadgets in a blog’s template to prevent slow work when all

students are online.

7) To create multimodal activities according to the time available for the development of the

class

8) christen the blog with a simple name so that students will not have difficulty locating it.

9) Not to publish personal stuff or unrelated information to the issues addressed in the blog to

avoid distraction of students.

10) Evaluate in the offline sessions the issues discussed in the online sessions as feedback.

Finally, I would like to suggest that the implementation of “FACEBOOK” closed groups

in any language class would be a good complement to work on the blog because this social

network site could be run parallel to the blog to create another context that expands the work

since I noticed that students meanwhile they were working on the blog, they were also

establishing communication with other partners for asking questions, clarify any due or share

links of other useful webpages for looking information about the topic of the class. Moreover, I

71
consider this social network can be the best communication channel to let students know when

the blog has been updated or when there is a change in any activity just by pasting the link of the

blog in the area of publications of Facebook. Consequently, students would have better

accessibility to the blog and their posts could become another data collection source that can

inform how their writing or English learning in general is progressing or is transferring from the

blog to the social network.

What Does It Mean To Me?

From the beginning, when I decided to study this Master program in this prestigious

university, I had in mind that I was going to devote so much time to the hard and long task of

writing a thesis to complete successfully this Master program. Although I knew how I would

focus it, taking into account my educational environment, I was worried about not only extensive

texts to be read to support my writing, but also what to read and the sources I would use to

ensure the credibility and validity of the information. Therefore, now that I am almost at the final

stretch, I think that to make a Master thesis means a lot of effort, commitment and confidence in

oneself. Nevertheless, it mostly means to have lots of tolerance, respect and courage to accept

those things that are not running as one expects. I remember so much when I stayed late, even on

weekends, reading articles and chapters that then had to be repeated or corrected due to possible

inconsistencies found by my advisor. Sometimes this made me feel helpless and angry to correct

something that I thought it was good, but then I sat down to think that possibly my advisor had to

go through what I was going on to become a good professional. As a consequence, I followed his

instructions and improved things. This action showed me that with prudence, compliance and

72
dedication we can achieve many dreams like mine: to become a Magister in Learning and

Teaching Processes in Second Languages.

For me as a teacher, doing and implementing this study meant to renew myself and start to

find out more about how to impact students through my class and how to help them get

immersed in it. I decided to use my technological abilities to face this great challenge that not

only would focus on academics but also on social aspects because it was something that required

a long time of practice, reading, refining and research to proceed to the implementation or

application of this new strategy with students.

Also, it was a bit difficult start to change traditional teaching - learning strategies that are

applied in my school. However, with so much persistence I could achieve it and nowadays it is

reflected in how the participant students present their activities and progress cognitively. Before

the project, students progressed only if the teacher was in the classroom with them as a guide.

Now, thanks to this new proposal, students can work independently from any cyber space

without necessarily requiring the presence of a teacher, and thus they can comply with all the

established requirements in the curriculum.

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 APPENDIX A

Consentimiento Informado Para Investigación Sobre Utilización De Blogs En Las Clases

De Inglés En Los Grados 11° 1 – 11°2

Amagá 18 de Febrero / 2015

Queridos Padres de Familia, Reciban un Cordial Saludo.

El área de Inglés de la Institución Educativa San Fernando desea informarle que el grado en el
que esta su hijo/a (11°1 – 11°2) ha sido escogido para participar en la investigación: “Impacto
de la utilización de un blog educativo en el proceso de lectura en las clases de inglés del
grado 11º de la Institución educativa San Fernando del municipio de Amagá – Antioquia.”
El proyecto busca estudiar los procesos de lectura mediante el uso de un blog educativo en las
clases de inglés. Para el proyecto su hijo tendrá que hacer uso del internet dentro y fuera de las
clases. Este proyecto no representa ningún tipo de riesgo para su hijo. Igualmente, el nombre de
su hijo no será mencionado en el reporte del trabajo.
Este trabajo se está realizando en el marco de mis estudios en la Universidad Pontificia
Bolivariana y la maestría en Procesos de Enseñanza Aprendizaje de Segundas Lenguas. Para
confirmar que usted autoriza que su hijo participe en este estudio, por favor complete la
información que se solicita abajo y envíela con su hijo. Si hay alguna pregunta o inquietud,
por favor no dude en contactarme en los teléfonos: 8470520 – 3218699573 o escribir al correo
milverstiwarpalomeque@gmail.com
Agradezco su colaboración, Milver Stiwar Palomeque Andrade.

Carrera 48 No. 45 -03 Troncal del Café (Amagá-Antioquia)

Tel: Secretaría 8472037, Rectoría 8470092, Coordinaciones 8470034, 8472420, 8470070Correo
electrónico: institucionsanfernandina@gmail.com

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 APPENDIX B D. Buscar un video relacionado con lo
que lees

Encuesta sobre Hábitos de Lectura E. Otra ¿Cuál?

Esta encuesta busca conocer sobre tus

hábitos de lectura de textos físicos u online. 3. ¿Qué clase de información te gustaría
leer un poco más en línea?
Responde con al mayor honestidad que
A. Misterio
puedas. No hay respuestas buenas o malas.
B. Románticos
Esta encuesta es anónima y no afectará tu
C. Deporte/Salud
proceso académico de ninguna manera.
D. Aventuras
E. Ciencia-ficción
1. ¿Cuál de los siguientes textos lees
frecuentemente? (enumera de mayor a F. Terror
menor) G. Poesía

A. Libros o revistas en físico H. Historia/Política

I. Humor
B. Periódicos en físico
J. Ciencia/Tecnología
C. Información en wikis
K. Viajes, naturaleza
D. Libros en la internet L. Música
E. Información en Blogs M. Literatura clásica

F. periódicos en línea N. Biografías

G. información en Facebook

H. Otro…
4. ¿Qué opinas de leer en línea
comparado con la lectura de textos en
2. ¿Cuáles son algunas de las cosas que físico?
haces cuando lees en línea?
A. Mirar hiperlinks

B. Concentrarte en las imágenes

C. Buscar el significado de las palabras

desconocidas

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 APPENDIX C

ENTREVISTAS EN GRUPOS FOCALES

La siguiente entrevista está diseñada para ser aplicada a los estudiantes del grado 11°1 y 11°2
de la Institución Educativa San Fernando del municipio de Amagá – Antioquia. Estos grupos
fueron participes en el desarrollo de 7 actividades de lectura en inglés en un blog educativo; el
cual busca conocer el impacto que esta herramienta virtual tiene en las prácticas de lectura en las
clases de Inglés de los estudiantes del grado 11°.
Fecha de Creación: 28 de Agosto/2015
Fecha de Aplicación: Por definir
Lugar: Biblioteca Institucional “Otilia Cuartas”
Hora de inicio: 12:00pm - Hora de Finalización: 1:00pm

OBJETIVO DE LA ENTREVISTA
Recolectar información que contribuya a responder la pregunta de investigación sobre el impacto
de los blogs en las prácticas de lectura en las clases de inglés de los estudiantes del grado 11° 1 y
11° 2 de la Institución Educativa San Fernando del municipio de Amagá – Antioquia.

METODOLOGIA
Para el desarrollo de esta entrevista se tendrán en cuenta los siguientes pasos:
1. Estructura del protocolo o cuestionario revisado y aprobado por el asesor de la tesis.

2. Escoger 15 estudiantes del grado 11°1 y 15 del grado 11°2. Luego, programar sesiones
para el desarrollo del cuestionario (Observación: los 15 estudiantes escogidos por cada
grado serán aquellos que han mostrado mayor participación en las tareas de lectura en el
blog).
3. Las preguntas serán desarrolladas en modo conversacional con grupos de 5 estudiantes
por sesión y serán grabados en audios para dejar registros que sean útiles para que el
profesor investigador pueda volver a escucharlos en el momento de redactar y discutir
sus hallazgos sobre este proceso.

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 PROTOCOLO PARA LA ENTREVISTA CONVERSACIONAL

Hola, muy buenas tardes. Nos encontramos en estos momentos con 5 estudiantes del grado 11°
(1-2) con los cuales vamos a tener una conversación sobre su participación en la implementación
de un blog educativo. La siguiente entrevista tiene como objetivo indagar sobre las experiencias
que ellos tuvieron en el uso del blog en clase.
Hora: _________ Fecha: _________________ Lugar: _____________________
Para el buen desarrollo y registro de esta entrevista, se les informa a los participantes que la
intervención de cada uno será grabada y se les protegerá su identidad siendo reconocido por un
número; el cual representara su turno de hablar o aportar sus respuestas a las siguientes
preguntas:
1. ¿Que pensaron ustedes cuando el profesor les habló sobre la implementación de un blog
educativo en las prácticas de lectura durante las clases de inglés?

2. Cuando empezaron a trabajar las lecturas en el blog ¿Qué diferencia sintieron respecto a
los tipos de lecturas y la forma en que leían antes? Es decir:
¿Qué diferencia notaste entre la forma en que se presentan las lecturas en un blog y
cómo se presentan cuando no son digitales?

3. Cuéntenme paso a paso ¿Qué hacían ustedes cada vez que leían en el blog?
Ósea, se ayudaban ustedes en otros materiales en la hora de leer, como otras páginas
web, diccionarios etc….?
4. ¿Qué fue lo que más te gusto y menos te gusto del trabajo en el blog?
5. ¿Crees que el blog tuvo un impacto positivo o negativo en el tu aprendizaje de la lengua?
Si___ no___ ¿Por qué?
6. ¿Qué recomendaciones harías para aprovechar mejor las prácticas de lectura mediante un
blog educativo en los estudiantes del grado 11° de las futuras generaciones?

“FORMANDO LÍDERES PARA EL FUTURO”

Carrera 48 No. 45 -03 Troncal del Café (Amagá-Antioquia) Tel: Secretaría 8472037, Rectoría 8470092, Coordinaciones 8470034,
8472420, 8470070 Correo electrónico: institucionsanfernandina@gmail.com

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 APPENDIX D
Data Collection Schedule

Date Data collection activities

February
18th - 20th Informed consent for parents about the research
2015

February 25th
Survey about reading Habits of the students
2015

March 6th First activity on the blog “Tom's Life”

2015 Observation - Field Note # 1

April 4th Second activity on the blog “The Greatest Treasure”

2015 Observation - Field Note # 2

Third activity on the blog “Talking About Food and

April 15th Health”
2015 Observation - Field Note # 3

April 22nd Fourth activity on the blog “Talking About Rules”

2015 Observation - Field Note # 4

June 3rd Fifth activity on the blog “Cut Music to an Hour a Day”
2015 Observation - Field Note # 5

July 27th Sixth activity on the blog “Famous Quotes”

2015 Observation - Field Note # 6

Seventh activity on the blog “Building Short Stories from

th
August 19 Comics”

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 2015 Observation - Field Note # 7

September 16th Focus Group - Session 1

2015

September 23th Focus Group - Session 2

2015

September 25th Focus Group - Session 3

2015
September 30th
Focus Group - Session 4
2015

October 28th
Focus Group - Session 5
2015

88