17 Oct 7 reasons why students should blog

Blogs are powerful language learning tools and not just for teachers but also for students. The way I see it, student blogs can serve different purposes:

1. They can help students integrate knowledge. They can work as one big mind map, connecting topics, expressions, theory and practice, etc.
2. They give students’ production a real purpose. Students write about something meaningful to them because they want to share it with others. They are a great source of motivation in this sense. This “others” is an authentic or real audience and, most importantly, a global audience.
3. They contribute to networking. Students can make new contacts and connections with people across the world.
4. They are a powerful source of collaborative and rhizomatic learning/knowledge.
5. They are a source of creativity. They motivate students to create and produce both oral and written texts
6. They cater for different learning styles. Students can make use of audio recordings, images, text, widgets, etc.
7. They build students’ confidence.

I’ve searched for some student blogs samples and I came across Eman’s blog, which is an excellent example of both making learning meaningful and building intercultural communication. This is a great idea that can be applied to most ESOL courses.
Jaden’s Awesome Blog s hows how students can find blogging motivational by choosing what topics to write about, e.g. their hobbies, and this makes all the difference both for young and adult learners.
Karoline’s blog  is an example of how blogging can be like keeping a journal, where one writes about one’s impressions and reactions to different things, one’s experiences, etc.
Haaron’s  and Luis’  blogs show how blogs can be used to keep track of our class work and class assignments.

So, have I convinced you? Let’s start blogging!