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| Web 2.0: The Online Citizenry (Source) |
I looked at case studies that were focused the intersection of language learning, cultural diversity, wikis, and blogs. Gharehbagh et al. (2019) investigated the effects of using collaborative wikis to improve ESL students' writing. Students of pre-intermediate to intermediate English language proficiency wrote essays, uploaded them to a wiki classroom, and anonymously commented on peers' work. Students were supported in giving feedback with a correction checklist. After a week of commenting, students revised and reposted a second draft. Each student participated in three rounds of publication and revision.
The quantitative data revealed that all students improved in their writing abilities. Publishing on a wiki allowed for publishing to a larger audience than the traditional paper peer review would. The process of giving feedback was convenient because the wiki classroom could be accessed like social media: across any platform and at any time where there was an internet connection. The condition of anonymity meant that students were more comfortable in giving and receiving critical feedback on their essays. Peers learned from peers, who are often trusted more than a teacher or expert to give sound advice. Students learned and socialized both inside and outside the traditional classroom space through the wiki classroom. Finally, teachers were freed from providing written corrective feedback to help students in different ways.
In the second case study, Santoy (2013) highlighted the importance of digital literacy--both in learning how the web works and how to "make" (create content) the web--as a way for people of color to participate and increase representation in society. Santoy pointed out that the makers of the internet have been predominantly "white, male, and middle class." (p. 364) Blogs are accessible to anyone because they are free and easy to start. Three Chicana bloggers were examples of how important racial identification can be for representation and online participation. The bloggers highlighted their cultures through blog names, descriptions, and visual site design to create an online space for participation, which hierarchical society typically denied them. They corrected misrepresentations of their culture by writing about positive cultural representations and by honoring people and subjects, who were important to them. The bloggers created an authentic virtual community with a readership through comments. The more posts and comments, the greater the participation and representation of diversity on the web.
Web 2.0 tools are great tools for amplifying student voice on the web. What teacher is not striving to create a student-centered, personalized, authentic learning experience? Although some technical scaffolding may be needed at the start, blogs and wikis offer users a chance to create customizable content and push it out to a larger audience than would be possible without the use of such online tools. Blogs or wikis can be assigned as authentic tasks with an embedded academic purpose, such as the development of writing skills as seen in the first case study. Any task that puts control into the hands of the students will immediately be more engaging. Can you imagine being in an English class and being allowed to write about what you are actually interested in? What about building a collaborative, living document with a team of classmates instead of taking notes and doing worksheets? The social nature of wikis and blogs drives users to build community in an online space outside of the classroom--even if you are physically sitting inside the classroom.
These tools also have great potential for culturally responsive teaching in the classroom. Each student, and especially those with underrepresented voices in society, could have a way to showcase their culture or have opportunities to connect what they arrive in the classroom with to what they are learning. Imagine what sort of participation and diverse representation would be created in such a virtual community?
References
GHAREHBAGH, M. J., STAPA, S. H., & DARUS, S. (2019). The Effects of Written Corrective Feedback Using Wikis among ESL Learners. 3L: Southeast Asian Journal of English Language Studies, 25(1), 55–68. https://doi.org/10.17576/3L-2019-2501-04
SANTOY, J. J. (2013). Chicana Bloggers: Creating Diversity Online Via Participation. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 56(5), 361–367. https://doi.org/10.1002/JAAL.155
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