The effects of the use of blogs on the writing performances and perceptions of Turkish EFL students

The aim of the study was to investigate the effects of the use of blogs on the Turkish EFL students' writing performances and their perception. 20 Turkish EFL students studying in the School of Foreign Languages, Gazi University participated in the study. The study was carried out in three aspects: (1) the effects of the use of blogs on students' writing performances, (2) the effects of the use of blogs on students' perception, and (3) the correlation of the students' perception of blog application with their writing performances. The data were collected before, during, and after fall term 2012- 2013 by using; (1) six (12 drafts) writing assignments produced by the students, (2) interviews held at the beginning and at the end of the term, and (3) a five point Likert scale questionnaire including 24 items. That is, the data were gathered qualitatively and quantitatively. In order to analyze the effect of blog on students' writing performances, the first three and the last three writing assignments were compared and contrasted. To examine the perception of the students toward blog, both interviews and questionnaires were held. Additionally, five point Likert scale was used to determine whether there was a correlation between the students' perception of blog use and their writing performances. The study lasted 14 weeks. The results indicated that blog integrated writing instruction enhanced students' writing performances. The students had a favourable perception on blog use in writing instruction. There was no significant correlation between overall perception scores and writing performances of the students. However, the overall perception of the students was in correlation with the motivation of the students toward blog use. There was a significant relationship between the writing process and writing performances. That is, while the blog writing procedure was going on, the writing performances of the students were increasing at the same time. Additionally, there was a meaningful relationship between the writing process and motivation, which indicates the increase in the motivation of the students thanks to the use of blog.