When Blogging Meets News Writing: Indonesian EFL Student Teachers’ Experiences in a Journalism Course
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62951/ijer.v3i2.504Keywords:
Blogging, Digital Writing, EFL Writing, Indonesian EFL Learners, Journalism CourseAbstract
This study explores Indonesian EFL student teachers’ experiences of learning to write news articles through blogging in a Journalism course. The study was motivated by the need to provide meaningful and genre-based writing practice for EFL student teachers, who often face difficulties in generating ideas, organizing information, meeting genre expectations, and writing for authentic aences. Employing a qualitative case study design, the study involved twenty undergraduate student teachers from a private Islamic university in Tangerang, Indonesia; all participants completed an online quetaire, and five volunteers joined follow-up semi-structured interviews. The questionnaire data were alysed descriptively, while the interview data were examined thematically. The findings indicate that blogging supported regular writing practice, helped students understand news text structure, enouraged clearer organization of headlines, leads, and supporting details, and increased engagement by allowing students to publish and share their work. Blogging also promoted peer interaction and selfevaluation because students could read, compare, and comment on one another’s posts. However, some paticpants eprienced challenges related to technical blogging skills, uncertainty about writing standards, limited peer feedback, and discomfort with public online publication. The study concludes that blogging can serve as a useful platform for EFL news writing when it is supported by explicit istrucion, relevant tasks, clear assessment criteria, structured feedback, and ethical awareness in using digital and AI-driven tools.
References
Alharbi, M. A. (2019). EFL university students' voice on challenges and solutions in learning academic writing. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 8(3), 576–587. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v8i3.15276
Antepara, R. (2003). Using news stories in the ESL classroom. The Internet TESL Journal, 9(12). http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Antepara-5Ws.html
Ariyanti, A., & Fitriana, R. (2017). EFL students' difficulties and needs in essay writing. In Proceedings of the International Conference on Teacher Training and Education 2017 (ICTTE 2017) (pp. 111–121). https://doi.org/10.2991/ictte-17.2017.4
Ariyanti. (2016). The teaching of EFL writing in Indonesia. Dinamika Ilmu, 16(2), 263–277. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v16i2.274
Aunurrahman, A., Hamied, F. A., & Emilia, E. (2017). Exploring tertiary EFL students' academic writing competencies. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(1), 72–79. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i1.6860
Awada, G. M., & Diab, N. M. (2021). Effect of online peer review versus face-to-face peer review on argumentative writing achievement of EFL learners. Computer-Assisted Language Learning, 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2021.1912104
Awada, G., Burston, J., & Ghannage, R. (2020). Effect of student team achievement division through WebQuest on EFL students' argumentative writing skills and their instructors' perceptions. Computer-Assisted Language Learning, 33(3), 275–300. https://doi.org/10.1080/09588221.2018.1558254
Berger, G. (2011). Empowering the youth as citizen journalists: A South African experience. Journalism, 12(6), 708–726. https://doi.org/10.1177/1464884911405466
Blackstone, B., & Harwood, C. (2011). Pedagogical blogging for university courses. In R. Jaidev, M. L. C. Sadorra, W. J. Onn, L. M. Cherk, & B. P. Lorente (Eds.), Global perspectives, local initiatives: Reflections and practices in ELT (pp. 67–84). National University of Singapore.
Blackstone, B., & Wilkinson, M. (2011). Blogging for pedagogical purposes: A transformational methodology for post-secondary education. In C. M. L. Ho, K. T. Anderson, & A. P. Leon (Eds.), Transforming literacies and language: Multimodality and literacy in the new media age (pp. 187–206). Bloomsbury Academic. https://doi.org/10.5040/9781474212014.ch-010
Blackstone, B., Spiri, J., & Naganuma, N. (2008). Blogs in English language teaching and learning: Pedagogical uses and student responses. Reflections on English Language Teaching, 6(2), 1–20.
Bloch, J. (2007). Abdullah's blogging: A generation 1.5 student enters the blogosphere. Language Learning & Technology, 11(2), 128–141. http://llt.msu.edu/vol11num2/bloch/ https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/44107
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Chang, W.-Y. (2020). Exploring solutions to decrease Taiwanese university lower achievers' English writing difficulties via blogging. Computer-Assisted Language Learning Electronic Journal, 21(2), 114–131.
Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Dewi, F., Lengkanawati, N., & Purnawarman, P. (2020). Technology-supported English language teaching professional development: A case study of a secondary English teacher's TPACK. In Proceedings of the 1st Bandung English Language Teaching International Conference (BELTIC 2018) (pp. 123–132). https://doi.org/10.5220/0008214701230132
Drajati, N. A., Tan, L., Haryati, S., Rochsantiningsih, D., & Zainnuri, H. (2018). Investigating English language teachers in developing TPACK and multimodal literacy. Indonesian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 7(3), 575–582. https://doi.org/10.17509/ijal.v7i3.9806
El-Nawawy, M., & Khamis, S. (2013). Political blogging: (Re)envisioning civic engagement and citizen journalism. In Egyptian revolution 2.0: Political blogging, civic engagement, and citizen journalism (pp. 27–57). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137020925_2
Gibson, W. J., & Brown, A. (2009). Working with qualitative data. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.4135/9780857029041
Glasow, P. A. (2005). Fundamentals of survey research methodology (No. W804). MITRE Corporation. https://www.mitre.org/sites/default/files/pdf/05_0638.pdf
Grabe, W. (1991). Current developments in second language reading research. TESOL Quarterly, 25(3), 375–406. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586977
Hodgson, P., & Wong, D. (2011). Developing professional skills in journalism through blogs. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(2), 197–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/02602930903229868
Khan, B. U., Wei, S., Shah, S. N. A., Gul, R., Ullah, S., Mehmood, S., & Asma. (2021). Role of blogging in perceived learning and satisfaction of students. Journal of Public Affairs, 21(1), 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1002/pa.2120
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.
Lakhal, M. (2021). Social media use and its effects on writing ability among Moroccan university EFL students. International Journal of English Literature and Social Sciences, 6(3), 132–143. https://doi.org/10.22161/ijels.63.21
Lee, L. (2010). Fostering reflective writing and interactive exchange through blogging in an advanced language course. ReCALL, 22(2), 212–227. https://doi.org/10.1017/S095834401000008X
Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. SAGE Publications. https://doi.org/10.1016/0147-1767(85)90062-8
Nagy, W. E., & Herman, P. A. (1987). Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge. In M. G. McKeown & M. E. Curtis (Eds.), The nature of vocabulary acquisition. Psychology Press.
Novak, E., & Mulvey, B. K. (2021). Enhancing design thinking in instructional technology students. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 37(1), 80–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcal.12470
Ojha, L. P., & Acharya, R. (2021). The potential of blogs as discussion forums for developing collaborative writing skills in higher education. In E. Carm et al. (Eds.), Innovative technologies and pedagogical shifts in Nepalese higher education (pp. 86–103). BRILL. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004448865_006
Patton, M. Q. (1999). Enhancing the quality and credibility of qualitative analysis. Health Services Research, 34(5 Pt. 2), 1189–1208.
Qu, W. (2017). For L2 writers, it is always the problem of the language. Journal of Second Language Writing, 38, 92–93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jslw.2017.10.007
Stephens, J. B. (2016). Blogging for community engagement learning: An experiment. National Civic Review, 52–59. https://doi.org/10.1002/ncr.21274
Suksawas, W. (2018). The study of the genre-based approach and EFL students' journalism writing. International Journal of Business and Society, 19(2), 235–248.
Sundari, H., & Febriyanti, R. H. (2021). The analysis of Indonesian EFL argumentative writing using Toulmin's model. SCOPE: Journal of English Language Teaching, 5(2), 67–78. https://doi.org/10.30998/scope.v5i2.8544
Thongchalerm, S., & Jarunthawatchai, W. (2020). The impact of genre-based instruction on EFL learners' writing development. International Journal of Instruction, 13(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.29333/iji.2020.1311a
Toba, R., Noor, W. N., & Sanu, L. O. (2019). The current issues of Indonesian EFL students' writing skills. Dinamika Ilmu, 57–73. https://doi.org/10.21093/di.v19i1.1506
Valdez, P. N., Tan, N. C. C., & Ng-Tan, L. (2017). Exploring ICT tools in English language learning. In H. P. Widodo et al. (Eds.), Asian English language classrooms: Where theory and practice meet (pp. 192–202). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315755243-13
Widodo, H. P. (2014). Methodological considerations in interview data transcription. International Journal of Innovation in English Language, 3(1), 101–107.
Widodo, H. P., & Novawan, A. (2012). Implementing wiki and blog-mediated writing tasks in an EFL context. In M. K. Kabilan et al. (Eds.), ICT and ELT: Research and practices in Southeast Asia. Universiti Sains Malaysia.
Yin, R. K. (2014). Case study research: Design and methods (5th ed.). SAGE Publications.
Yin, Z. (2015). The use of cohesive devices in news language. RELC Journal, 46(3), 309–326. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688215597578
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 International Journal of Educational Research
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
