XI Международная студенческая научная конференция Студенческий научный форум - 2019

Introduction

Twenty-first century is named as an era of new technologies. Mobile phones, computers, Internet and gadgets have become indispensable part of our life. Nowadays it is hard to believe that in the past people used to live without information technologies, we even cannot spend a day without the Internet.

With the development of new technology, teachers around the world are trying to find the most efficient and innovative ways to incorporate technology in their classes, like some schools use computers to create learning stations, where they use virtual encyclopedias, record their thoughts, and try to solve relevant problems. In the same way, language teachers are trying to capitalize on this trend by utilizing strategies for creating computer assisted teaching environments in hope of making learning easier for students, promoting learner autonomy and independence, and modernizing to make it more attractive for the Internet generation. The good example of this could be the article written by Zh.D.Nurzhanova and Zh.B.Dadekhan whose research presents the effectiveness of modern technologies especially the Internet in use of teaching English vocabulary[1, p.128]. They state that computer programs are capable to provide students with authentic materials and students can learn a pace appropriate to their own level of language skills.

It is also needed to mention about the importance of English in Kazakhstani society. In the Annual Address of the president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to the people of Kazakhstan “Kazakhstan Way - 2050: Common Goal, Common Interest and Common Future”[2] the president mentioned that “we have a great deal of work to do to improve the quality of all parts of national education. For a modern citizen of Kazakhstan, proficiency in three languages is a requirement for self well-being. High school graduates should speak Kazakh, Russian and English. Therefore, I believe by 2020 the proportion of the English speaking population should be at least 20 percent”

One of the best inventions of mankind in the development of information technologies which has the greatest effect on people is Internet. The easiest way to do it is to integrate the World Wide Web, because of its accessibility. And one of the key ways of reporting the information is blogging.

As an active user of some social networks like YouTube, VK, Instagram I am eager to share with you about effectiveness of using blogs in teaching and learning foreign languages. Blogging can open up doors to even for people do not aware of how modern technologies work, all they need is basic knowledge of using computers or mobile phones and the Internet. You can update your blog by adding a new content with a click of a button, which makes it easier than updating website or a programme.

The actuality of the research: In our Internet generation where everyone has their own computers, laptops and smartphones, it is better to meet the students halfway by using these types technology. One of the best ways is to Blog. There is a variety of methods which teachers can use while teaching English language as a second. Although it is not a novelty, it still exists and is getting more and more popular.

The purpose of the research: to analyse usage of blogs in teaching and learning English as a foreign language on instagram

The tasks of the research:

to consider using blogs as a method of teaching and learning ESL

to characterize classification of study blogs

to analyse the process of blogging while teaching and learning EFL

The object of the research: the blogs which can be used as a teaching tool in teaching and learning English as a foreign language between students

The subject of the research: the process of teaching and learning English as a foreign language by using blogs on instagram

The methods used in the research: questionnaire, examination, scientific observation, blogging, statistical analysis.

Using blogs as a method of teaching ESL in educational process

1.1. A brief history of blogs worldwide and popularity of blogs in Kazakhstan

A blog is a kind of a diary posted on a regular basis which mar refer to either one or more themes. The word blog is a contraction of two roots “web” and “log”.

According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica the blog is an “online journal where an individual, group or corporation presents a record of activities, thoughts or beliefs. Some blogs operate mainly as news filters, collecting various online sources and adding short comments and Internet links”[3].

Blogs enable users to post regular entries (or blog posts) and these can include news, comments, descriptions of events, photos or videos. In a blog, entries are commonly displayed in reverse-chronological order, with the most recent at the top[4]. There are many free blog services, and blogs are very easy to use and have a clean, professional look that makes them very attractive to use. To blog is also a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog. Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, Web pages, and other media related to its topic. Most blogs are interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments and even message each other via widgets on the blogs and it is this interactivity that distinguishes them from other static websites, and makes them particularly attractive in teaching and learning.

Early weblogs were simply manually updated components of common websites. However, the evolution of tools to facilitate the production and maintenance of web articles posted in reverse chronological order made the publishing process feasible to a much larger, less technical, population. Ultimately, this resulted in the distinct class of online publishing that produces blogs we recognize today. For instance, the use of some sort of browser-based software is now a typical aspect of “blogging”. Blogs can be hosted by dedicated blog hosting services, or they can be run using, such as WordPress, Movable type, Blogger or LiveJournal, or on regular web hosting services[5].

Rebecca Blood, blogger who has her own online platform www.rebeccablood.net, assumes that while weblogs had always included a mix of links, commentary, and personal notes, in the post-Blogger explosion increasing numbers of weblogs eschewed this focus on the web-at-large in favor of a sort of short-form journal[6]. She also adds that these blogs, often updated several times a day, were instead a record of the blogger's thoughts: something noticed on the way to work, notes about the weekend, a quick reflection on some subject or another. Links took the reader to the site of another blogger with whom the first was having a public conversation or had met the previous evening, or to the site of a band he had seen the night before. Full-blown conversations were carried on between three or five blogs, each referencing the other in their agreement or rebuttal of the other's positions. Cults of personality sprung up as new blogs appeared, certain names appearing over and over in daily entries or listed in the obligatory sidebar of other. It was, and is, fascinating to see new bloggers position themselves in this community, referencing and reacting to those blogs they read most, their sidebar an affirmation of the tribe to which they wish to belong.

The modern blog evolved from the online diary, where people would keep a running account of their personal lives. Most such writers called themselves diarists, journalists, or journalers. The Open Pages webring included members of the online-journal community. Justin Hall, who began eleven years of personal blogging in 1994 while a student at Swarthmore College, is generally recognized as one of the earliest bloggers[7].

As the number of Internet users rises, online publications are becoming more and more popular. In the age of new technologies, any kind of information is available with one click. In Kazakhstan, bloggers are becoming an additional source of news and informed opinion in a developing media sphere.

Zhazira Dyussembekova, a journalist of the newspaper The Astana Times, writes that Kazakhstan has several popular blog platforms, the most prominent of which is yvision.kz. Founded in 2008, the web portal claims to be the Kazakh Internet communications centre and the main discussion area of the country[8].

As the popularity of blogging is growing in Kazakhstan, people are becoming even keener on creating blogs. This is a very good feature, because blogging is a useful and creative process which gives us a chance to express ourselves in a format that is appropriate to us. One of the first Internet users in Kazakhstan Akina claims that the popularity of blogs in Kazakhstan started before 2007 when the Internet assembled its permanent auditory[9].

A decent and law-abiding blogger in Kazakhstan Alexander Sodiqov inhabits one of the three reserves, the three most popular domestic blogging platforms in Kazakhstan: Yvision(yvision.kz), Gonzo(gonzo.kz), or Horde(horde.me)[10].

1.2. The main peculiarities and classification of blogs in foreign language teaching

To understand why some blogs run by foreign language teachers have become very popular among students, it is important to examine briefly why and how blogs influence the motivation to learn foreign languages. Nowadays, it is widely acknowledged that teachers should support student autonomy and encourage learners to develop foreign language skills outside the classroom. Young learners, especially teenagers, are very often not motivated enough to learn foreign languages, because they do not see the possibility of using languages in the immediate future outside class. Adolescents rarely, if ever, have a chance to go abroad as part of a school exchange, so motivating them to learn languages should rather try to relate to their interests. Teachers can effectively encourage teen students to learn foreign languages using the media, because nowadays young people are growing up surrounded by new technological communication tools, such as blogs, social networks or communicators.

Blogs can possess a personal character and they form a sort of a platform where Internet users can meet at any time and exchange their ideas. In this case they have a social function, as they serve as a meeting platform for people of the same interests and/or similar attitude towards life. In terms of motivation to use a blog as an educational tool, this is an important aspect, because young people have a strong need to express themselves as individuals. That is why weblogs can be used for educational purposes as well, such as teaching and learning foreign languages. Namely, they “can provide foreign language learners a venue in which they can reflect, comment, question, review, and communicate – outside the classroom in an authentic environment”[4].

Using electronic diaries in foreign language teaching and learning creates opportunities to broaden students’ knowledge of the language and culture of selected countries, which is not always possible in traditional classes because of time limits. Knowledge of cultural traditions and ways of life in selected countries, acquisition of insights into how members of other cultural and ethnic groups talk, think and behave, can have a motivational impact on the learning process.

An important factor influencing student motivation to learn is also the change of roles of teachers and students. The teacher’s task is to advise the student how to improve his or her performance in learning languages. The teacher-blogger does not evaluate in such a strict manner as he or she would in a conventional lesson, because his or her aim is, above all, to interest students in developing their language skills and not to assess. On blogs, language learners can leave comments, mostly written, which

is also a valuable asset in terms of foreign language learning, for the following reasons: most probably language learners prefer to leave a written comment than to say something. They do not feel time pressure, because they have enough time and they can be anonymous to the teacher. Jedynak claims that “although the communication between student and lecturer is virtual, in many cases it could be more comfortable for both than a traditional one in a lecture room”. The possibility to comment increases the engagement of students and consequently their motivation.

Due to its easy creation and a minimum of IT skills required, it is a good personal interactive e-diary/journal for a language learner. Blog is a free-of-charge, open-to-public writing space.

Lina Lee, researcher from the university of New Hampshire, maintains that blogs can be divided into two categories, due to their pedagogical purposes: personal blogs and collective blogs. The first type serves as a collection of online journals that enables the author to express and reflect him- or herself. The second one contributes to learning based on collaboration and interaction[11, p.87]. These categories refer to blogs run by students. It is worth reflecting on how blogs run by teachers.

Using Blogs for Foreign Language Teaching and Learning could be divided. Existing studies on blogs have not accorded much attention to the issue of how to categorize blogs created and run by teachers. I propose at first to point out functions blogs may have in the process of foreign language learning, such as:

organizing the learning environment;

developing communicative, language and intercultural competence;

fostering autonomous learning;

motivating FL learning;

promoting language awareness;

ordering language knowledge.

Analysing blogs run by teachers, it is easy to notice that a single blog can possess multiple functions, so classifying them into specific categories is difficult, if not impossible. In order to present the didactic value of blogs, it seems more reasonable to concentrate on their functions. In this paper I will focus above all on two chosen aspects: motivating FL learning and fostering autonomous learning.

There are are many types of blogs used in language teaching. Aaron Campbell had outlined three types of blogs for use with language classes[12]:

The Tutor Blog is run by the teacher of a class. The content of this type of blog can be limited to syllabus, course information, homework, assignments, etc. Or the teacher may choose to write about his or her life, sharing reflections about the local culture, target culture and language to stimulate online and in-class discussion. In this type of blog, students are normally restricted to being able to write comments to the teacher's posts.

The Class Blog is a shared space, with teacher and students being able to write to the main area. It is best used as a collaborative discussion space, an extra-curricular extension of the classroom. Students can be encouraged to reflect in more depth, in writing, on themes touched upon in class. Students are given a greater sense of freedom and involvement than with the tutor blog.

The Learner Blog is the third type of blog and it requires more time and effort from the teacher to both set up and moderate, but is probably the most rewarding. It involves giving each student an individual blog. The benefit of this is that this becomes the student's own personal online space. Students can be encouraged to write frequently about what interests them, and can post comments on other students' blogs.

There are many reasons why you may choose to use weblogs with students. One of the best reasons is to provide a real audience for student writing. Usually, the teacher is the only person who reads student writing, and the focus of this reading is usually on form, not content. With weblogs, students can find themselves writing for a real audience that, apart from the teacher, may include their peers, students from other classes, or even other countries, their parents, and potentially anyone with access to the Internet.

According to Graham Stanley, the author of an article “Blogging for ELT”[13] for BBC TeachingEnglish website the main reasons why teachers should use blogs in their classes and out of classes are:

To provide extra reading practice for students.
This reading can be produced by the teacher, other students in the same class, or, in the case of comments posted to a blog, by people from all over the world.

As online student learner journals that can be read by their peers.
The value of using learner journals has been well documented. Usually they are private channels between teacher and student. Using a blog as a learner journal can increase the audience.

To guide students to online resources appropriate for their level.
The Internet has a bewildering array of resources that are potentially useful for your students. The problem is finding and directing your learners to them. For this reason, you can use your tutor blog as a portal for your learners.

To increase the sense of community in a class.
A class blog can help foster a feeling of community between the members of a class, especially if learners are sharing information about themselves and their interests, and are responding to what other students are writing.

To encourage shy students to participate.
There is evidence to suggest that students who are quiet in class can find their voice when given the opportunity to express themselves in a blog.

To stimulate out-of-class discussion.
A blog can be an ideal space for pre-class or post-class discussion. And what students write about in the blog can also be used to promote discussion in class.

To encourage a process-writing approach.
Because students are writing for publication, they are usually more concerned about getting things right, and usually understand the value of rewriting more than if the only audience for their written work is the teacher.

As an online portfolio of student written work.
There is much to be gained from students keeping a portfolio of their work. One example is the ease at which learners can return to previous written work and evaluate the progress they have made during a course.

To help build a closer relationship between students in large classes.
Sometimes students in large classes can spend all year studying with the same people without getting to know them well. A blog is another tool that can help bring students together.

Other than teaching, blogs can be used as a tool to promote interaction within online communities, teachers’ professional development and teachers’ interaction. Luehmann, psychology teacher at James Clemens High School in Madison, supported the potential of blogging for teachers’ professional identity development[14]. The study suggested that teachers’ blogging determine the extent of the benefits they derive from the practice. Blogs can become the digital files that record teachers’ professional growth. Blogs help teachers prepare for lessons co-operate and communicate with each other and receive long distance training.

Because of the classification function of blogs, teachers can set some useful items (e.g. teaching materials, reference, question solution, exercise, work presentation, notice etc.) in their teaching blog as knowledge management tool. Blog provides a platform for not only information interchange but also interchange of thoughts. In sum, blogs allow teachers to have a network identity, promote teachers to reflect upon daily teaching activity, and hence improve the quality of teaching.

This type of blogs is now widespread in Kazakhstan, too. Two teachers from Kazakhstan created an international school teachers’ blog “Jazzystan”. It is their 46th blog for international school educators who work in Kazakhstan. In this blog teachers share with other educators with their experiences abroad, cultural communication, teaching methodology[15].

Students of today’s world are complacent in a dynamic, digital and social world with a wide range of ever changing technologies. In fact, by applying social media in language classroom, namely using blogs on instagram, facebook, telegram, learners will be highly motivated to interact socially with their peers.

Apparently, online interaction such as facebook had inspired students’ interest towards learning English language as during the interaction they read and write to give their posts and comments[16]

2. Using blogs and blog-platforms as a tool of foreign language teaching

2.1. Using Instagram as a blog platform in foreign language teaching and learning

Since blogs have only recently been gaining popularity as an educational tool, little research using blogs in the foreign language classroom has been done. Jason M. Ward, researcher from the American University of Sharjah however, has described a blog project he implemented in his reading and writing class at the university where he works, and found many positive results. Ward concluded that a majority of his learners believed that the project assisted their language learning[17]. He also commented that using blogs was a way to help increase student interest in their reading and writing.

All the students have vast experience in online social network specifically instagram as they own their personal Instagram for personal purposes. They have experience in posting their personal matters as such the task given pave the way for smooth learning. This study attempts to provide a description and analysis, of the usage of instagram in ESL language learning classroom. Further, it also attempts to elicit students’ perceptions on the implementation of Instagram in language learning.

In order to clarify the effectiveness of using blogs in foreign language teaching was created an experiment. Due to lack of practice in secondary schools, the experiment was implemented in an Upper-Intermediate English class at Eurasian National University in Astana, Kazakhstan. The class was made up of 20 learners (see Appendix A), some of whom were required to obtain an IELTS score of 6.5. The learners were from department of theory and practice of foreign languages, and were studying in their third year (of four-year program) at ENU.

The experiment consisted of four parts and these parts were created to maximize an amount of data collected:

Survey

Pre-education test

Educational experiment

Post-education task

In the first part of the experiment, students were administered a questionnaire concerning their attitudes towards technology and blogs prior to implementing project concerning FLT(see Appendix B). The survey was conducted on the website called surveymonkey.com. The total amount of questions presented for respondents contained eight questions. Last question was asked in order to find the most popular Internet platform or social network which could be used to start a blog to figure out the effectiveness of it in foreign language teaching.

Graph 1. Number of students who are aware about the blogs.

The pie chart shows the awareness of respondents about blogs in general. 40% of them answered that they do not know what the blog is and rest of them replied that they are aware of what is the blog. The answers of lasts were:

It is a website that consists of texts, pictures, and other types of media, and regularly updated;

It is a series of posts from one person or organization;

Blog is a web page;

It is a site or page where you post about thing you are interested in;

It is a type of sharing information with viewers, by giving them an opportunity to see and listen something significant and interesting;

Sharing with thoughts in social media;

Blog is a website that is like a diary or journal;

Small videos for any theme;

Personal account on the Internet, especially in social media, for sharing individual creative ideas, etc.

Graph 2. Number of students who used the blogs in FLT classes.

Being future foreign language teachers the students from group FL-35 were questioned about using blogs in the classes and experience of teaching or learning English language by usage of blogs. The Graph 2 shows that only 15% of respondents had ever used the blogs in their classes. And the rest of them, 85%, had never used the blogs. Those 15% respondents claims that the use Instagram and YouTube for self-learning English language.

Graph 2. The popularity percentage of social networking websites

According to students’ answers it was identified that the most popular social network which they use several times a day was an Instagram which was chosen by 38,6% of all participants of the questionnaire. VK(VКонтакте) took the second place with 22,7%, YouTube with 13,6%. The popularity of such social networking sites as Facebook and Telegram was exactly alike with 11,4%. In contrast, only 2,3% of respondents chose other social networking sites.

Before providing an educational part of the research it was necessary to evaluate the knowledge of students in order to see the results after educational part of the experiment. In this regard, a test was created to determine the initial level of students’ knowledge of English idioms in order to plan the content of the educational part of experiment. Students were offered a vocabulary test consisting of 10 questions(see Appendix C). So the results of experiment will be clear.

Those ten questions were created as a closed test and each of them had 3 variants as A, B and C. The test consisted of common used English idioms such as: break a leg, when pigs fly, in hot water, etc.

The next step was the educational part where learners were instructed to read the posts on an Instagram page @eye_on_idioms and fulfil tasks below each post. They were responsible for writing comments and sending audio-messages according to the content of the posts(see Appendix D, E).

The content of Instagram blog was made up of two pictures, which were publicized in one post together, so the reader can look them up at once by swiping to the left. The first picture contains an information: the idiom, its definition and example sentences. So the reader can easily understand what is it, what is the meaning and how to use it in a sentence. The following is picturing the idiom. It helps to students to visually appeal the meaning of an idiom.

Picture №1.

The reasons why was the theme of idiom chosen are:

it is very useful and easy to teach idioms or vocabulary than grammar. Because of the format of posts on Instagram, it could be hard for teacher to explain and for student to understand the Grammar rule using pictures.

the audience of blog-users are not beginners. It is not effective to use blogs among elementary or beginner level students. And for Intermediate and Upper-Intermediate level students are more interested in new learning phrasal verbs and idioms rather than revising.

the students conducted in experiment had the disciplines like professional English and academic writing where they were to learn English idioms. And to motivate them as a preparation for the mid-term and term examinations the idioms from those two subject were taken.

While publishing the posts the comments were checked and re-commented. However, not all participants were active in commenting the blog. Which also leads to the lack of motivation. It is to be true that thanks to reading and imagining the idiom and writing own example after that is a good way of setting up the idiom for a while. Although there were explanations of idioms in written form, it is needed to include the transcription of words or an audio explanation in order to prevent pronunciation mistakes.

After short term was completed, students were asked to volunteer to meet together with each other to discuss the experiment. The post-educational task(see Appendix E) was completed, and open-ended interview questions were asked of the students to gauge their attitudes on the project. These responses were compiled by the instructor in order to determine how students viewed the assignment, how effective the assignment was in encouraging out of class learning, whether or not the students would continue reading this blog or start blogging in the future for their own students, could the assignment be improved.

2.2. Analysis of results. Evaluation of effectiveness of using instagram-blog in teaching common English idioms

Graph 3. The results of pre-education test

The Graph 2 describes the outcome of test showed that nobody could answer for all 10 questions. And only 5% of students had 8 correct answers and 15% had 7 correct answers. There also were students who could answer correctly only for one question and it got 10% of students. Others, likewise, had two, three and four correct answers.

As it was seen in the Graph 2 not many participants of experiment knows common used idioms in English. The reason of it could be taking no notice to learning idioms, or forgetting the information learned.

While educational part of the experiment

They claim that using Instagram in language learning has motivated them to participate and boosted their confidence to communicate in English language.

Graph 4. The results of post-education task

The result of post-education task is very high in contrast to pre-education test. Which means that students who were involved and were active by reading blogs and commenting the posts got good results. Whereas some of inactive participants of the research sometimes skipped this blogs. They claim that Internet did not work and they had not any opportunity to learn the idioms and write their own examples.

Graph 5. The analysis of results of educational process

The analysis of both results in comparison shows that education experiment had done a good job in learning the idioms. The progress is seen according to the results. Those 2 people who could not reach the score of 8 claimed that it was because of the lack of Internet and free-time. It also may refer to low motivation.

From these results it is possible to deduce the following points:

Blogs are really easy to use because of its accessibility. In the century of IT mostly everyone has his or her smartphone or tablet or even both. And almost everywhere they can get an access to the Internet. While sitting at home, walking in the park, waiting for their turn, searching the Internet, students no more need to find time to study, they can do it in everywhere by clicking and reading or writing.

Using blogs is very useful because of its popularity. Teachers may use either websites or social networks, it depends on the popularity of blogs and mini-blogs. The better way to figure out which one to use is taking a questionnaire about it.

Using blogs is effective because of its non-stress attitude. The teacher will be controlling students comments and posts but not directly.

Further, it fueled their interest towards learning English language as during the interaction they read and write to give their posts and comments. More importantly, they dare or brave enough to voice out their comments or responses based on the posts given by their friends. Thus, Instagram is able to instill students braveness to communicate in English language and convey their messages successfully.

Conclusion

The importance of English in Kazakhstani society is increasingly being discussed in press and at the research forums, and proficiency in English has been widely regarded as a national as well as a personal asset.

In his state of the Nation Address President of our country Nursultan Nazarbayev believes that the future of the people of Kazakhstan lies in the fluent use of Kazakh, Russian and English languages. He also defines the question of education system development plays an important role and one of the priority directions of development of education system in our country is informatization of education of all levels and introduction of new information technologies [18, p.12]. Which means that the importance of English is increasing and the importance of new information technologies is also raising. Thus one of the effective ways is going to be teaching English by using new technologies, namely the blogs.

Indeed, blogs are authentic, interesting, and communicative resources that can serve a variety of purposes in the foreign language classroom. A medium to reflect on material, inquire into issues, and interact with others, blogs provide a rich and easy-to-use environment for both learners and instructors. The recent popularity of blogs, as well as their user-friendly nature, makes them an obvious choice for instructors wanting to introduce out-of class resources to their learners.

Instagram is no doubt an effective tool for students’ interactions especially in the discussion of their task-related activity. The students are able to enhance their reading and writing skills apart from communication skills. They would use the instagram as a medium for communication as well as for a wider engagement in the process of learning namely focusing on the reading and writing skills.

Therefore, mobile learning via instagram seems to be an ideal environment for such transactional learning. The instagram correspondence provided students with the opportunity to engage in a dialogical process in which the learning benefits of reading, writing, questioning, arguing and clarifying were incorporated. To conclude, this study is desired to provide valuable insights for the future research in language learning as well as learning by using blogs which are crucial in the age of information and communication technology.

This research supports the hypothesis that blogs can also be popular in the foreign language classroom. However, to determine whether or not blogs do indeed encourage greater learner independence and interest in learning beyond the classroom, more research needs to be done. Nonetheless, it is hoped that this paper will provide instructors with insight into the advantages, and some of the disadvantages, connected to using blogs in the classroom. Furthermore, this course work hopes to inspire foreign language teachers to incorporate blogs into their own pedagogy for the purpose of inspiring learner independence or for other objectives. More research needs to be done to determine how to most effectively manipulate blogs in and out of the classroom in order to make better use of this interesting and authentic computer-based resource.

REFERENCES

Zh.D. Nurzhanova, Zh.B. Dadekhan Teaching English and Kazakh vocabulary by means of the Internet/ЕҰУхабаршысы. Филология сериясы: ғылыми журнал.- 2018.- № 2 (123)

The Annual Address of the president, Nursultan Nazarbayev, to the people of Kazakhstan “Kazakhstan Way - 2050: Common Goal, Common Interest and Common Future” http://www.akorda.kz7

Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/869092/ blog

Blood, R., 2000. Weblogs: a history and perspective http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Pinkman, K., 2005. Using Blogs in the Foreign Language Classroom: Encouraging Learner Independence. In: The JALT CALL Journal, Vol. I. No. I

http://journal.jaltcall.org/articles/1_1_Pinkman.pdf.

http://www.rebeccablood.net/essays/weblog_history.html

Harmanci, Reyhan (2005-02-20). "Time to get a life — pioneer blogger Justin Hall bows out at 31". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved 2006-06-09.

Duyssembekova, Zh. (2015, 3 November). Kazakh blogosphere presents new type of media for its audience. The Astana Times, p. 12.

https://teamoffour.wordpress.com/page/1/

https://globalvoices.org/2014/02/08/three-main-blogging-platforms-in-kazakhstan/

Lee, L., 2011. Blogging: Promoting Learner Autonomy and Intercultural Competence through Study Abroad. In: Language Learning & Technology 15(3)

Sun, Y.-Ch., 2009. Voice Blog: An Exploratory Study of Language Learning. In: Language Learning & Technology Volume 13, Number 2, http://llt.msu.edu/vol13num2/sun.pdf

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/blogging-elt

Http://rochester.academia.edu/AprilLuehmann. “Using Blogging In Support of Teacher Professional Identity Development: A Case Study.” Academia.edu – Share Research. N.p., n.d. Web. 1 Dec. 2016.

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Gaurieva, G.M. To the issue of Internet technologies use in educational process/ ЕҰУхабаршысы. Гуманитарлық ғылымдар сериясы: ғылыми журнал.- 2017.- 2-бөлім, № 3 (118).

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APPENDIX A Questionnaire

Thank you for agreeing to take part in this survey

Do you know what is the blog?

No

Yes (please, write down the definition)

Have you ever used the blog/blogging in your classes?

No

Yes (please specify)

Do you read the blogs?

No

Yes (please specify)

Do you have your own blog?

No

Yes (please specify)

Have you ever used blogging to teach or learn English?

No

Yes (please specify)

How often do you use the internet?

Everyday

Once in 3 days

Once a week

What social networking sites do you use?

Instagram

Facebook

VK

Telegram

Youtube

Others

I personally want to thank You for every second invested in my research.

APPENDIX B List of the students

№	Name
1	Abylkas Daliya
2	Abdimutalip Aruzhan
3	Akhmetova Dariga
4	Akisheva Aksulu
5	Bakyt Asel
6	Bayalinova Gulnaz
7	Daurenkyzy Ayana
8	Imankulova Gulden
9	Imantaeva Aidana
10	Kabieva Nargiza
11	Mustafa Gainazhamal
12	Oralbekova Meruert
13	Orazbayeva Tolganai
14	Rezhabova Aizhan
15	Sultangazinova Shyryn
16	Tolkymbekova Arailym
17	Ussenova Aruzhan
18	Yerzatova Moldir
19	Zhakan Akmaral
20	Zhumabek Zhanel

APPENDIX C Pre-education examination test

Guess the meaning of the idiom “Break a leg”.

See you soon

Good luck

Take care

What is the meaning of the idiom “to break the ice”?

To attempt to become friends with someone

To avoid a particular situation by pretending that it doesn’t exist

To stop a bad situation from becoming worse

Choose the idiom which means something that will never happen.

When pigs fly

When time flies

When books fly

To not feel well = ___________

To feel under the stone

To feel under the

To feel under the weather

Hit the books means . . .

To study very hard

To leave(quit) the university

To finish the university

What will you say if something is very expensive?

It costs golden nut!

It costs the Earth and the Sun!

It costs an arm and a leg!

If someone is in trouble, he is . . .

In the black rainbows

In seventh heaven

In hot water

If something frightens you it gives you the . . .

wood

bulls

willies

If you _____ you work very hard.

work your fingers to be done

work to the winds

work until you are blue and black

To share information that was previously concealed

Let the cat out of the bag

Let the mice out of the hole

Let the lion out of the forest

APPENDIX D Posts in ELT blog

Post №1

Post №2

Post №3

Post №4

Post №5

APPENDIX E Comments to the posts

APPENDIX F Post-education examination task

Complete each sentence using the appropriate form of an idiom in the box.

to cost an arm and a leg ● a piece of cake ● to feel under the weather to cut corners ● to add insult to injury ● in hot water ● walking on air once in a blue moon ● can’t see the forest for the trees ● to hit the books to hold out an olive branch

They tried __________ when installing the pipes for the house and now we have leaks only one month after purchasing it!

I can’t afford this purse! It __________. I won’t be able to pay my rent!

After years of rivalry with her cousin, she decided to __________ and go have fun together.

She has been __________ since she heard that she passed her exams.

Sorry, but I can’t watch the game with you tonight, I have to __________. I have a huge exam next week!

We used to see him all the time, but now he visits us __________.

We missed our flight to Paris because the connecting flight was late and __________ they made us pay for for a new ticket as if it was our fault.

I expected the English test to be difficult but it was __________.

I am sorry, I cannot come into work today. I am __________. I have a sore throat and runny nose.

He’s worried because the flowers haven’t all arrived, but everyone says the wedding has been perfect and beautiful. He just __________.

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