ARTICLE REVIEW

Weblogging as a Multimedia Literacy Event: Analyzing the Discourse Space of a Student Bloggers’ Speech Community

Malaysian Journal of ELT research. Vol. 5, 2009

Author: Azni Mohamed Zain ( Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia) and Koo Yew Lie ( Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia)

Summary of the article

The main objective of the study was to analyze the interactional patterns occurring within the speech community of a tertiary level student; the blog writer. The study looked at three particular aspects of interaction within the context of interaction and these are:

1) Turn-taking

2) Politeness strategies

3) Code switching

The Hymes’ SPEAKING mnemonics was used to identify the language patterns occurring via blog. These patterns developed the sense of camaraderie between the blog writer and his audience of readers. The basic procedure for analysis was to fit the grid into the definition of a literacy event. By connecting the framework of Hymes to the occurrence of interactions within the realm of blogosphere, this study attempted to shed light on what the meaning making procedures signify in the context of literary event. The subject of the study were the blog writer and his audience, made up of a community who were studying at tertiary level, pursuing degrees in medical studies from different universities both locally and abroad. The blog writer is from a tertiary level student group, where all members engage in blogging practices as observers who discussed various topics and happenings surrounding their lives as students. Their age was 18-25, and most of the readers were also bloggers who had their own blogs. The findings of the study were the main aspects of turn-taking, politeness strategies and code switching were identified as playing a significant role in the type of communication occurring within this multimedia literacy event.

My reaction

The research did catch my interest because the topic was fresh and up-to-date. It discussed about the current trend among youngsters which was blogging. Personally, I think the research was well conducted by the researcher. However, there are still rooms for improvements. The study only focused at a person’s blog and its’ interactional pattern so in my point of view, the scope of study was quite narrow. Besides, the subject of the study seemed to be an obvious limitation to the study. The subject or the owner of the blog was a medical student at tertiary level so the findings might differ if another subject from another background was used. As a response to that, the researcher should have various samples from some other bloggers to get a more accurate data or findings. It is simply because the more subjects used in this study, the more accurate and reliable the data will be. From the findings of the study, we can say that the use of blogs can be an effective tool in teaching and learning in Malaysian schools because apart from it is a motivating way of getting the students to write or express their feelings, students can also learn on how to socialize with people and how to communicate within this multimedia literacy event or to be specific, blogging. Blogs can also be used as personal online journal for students and this will encourage them to write at the same time, indirectly, they can improve their language proficiency level.

Source: http://www.melta.org.my/modules/tinycontent/Dos/Azni_MOhd_Zain_2009.pdf