Exploring Solutions to Decrease Taiwanese University Lower Achievers' English Writing Difficulties via Blogging

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore solutions to decrease Taiwanese university lower achievers’ English writing difficulties by using blogs. A group of non-English majors with a lower level of English proficiency at a national university in eastern Taiwan was divided into the low-rated (LG) and high-rated (HG) groups. They used blogs as the writing platform, and the writing scores collected in the pre-test and post-test, as well as the interview information, contributed to the data source. The participants’ writing scores were analysed by applying Wilcoxon signed-rank test and Mann-Whitney U-test while the interview information was used to support the quantitative results. The research findings indicate the use of blogs significantly improved the students’ writing performance in the LG due to their acceptability of their peers’ writing samples, active participation in blogging, and gaining more skills from peers. In addition, how the affordance of blogs decreased their English writing difficulties is also discussed subsequently. The research concludes blogs could enhance Taiwanese university lower achievers’ English writing competence and lessen their writing difficulties because the authentic communication in blogs fostered their positive writing attitudes which further facilitated their writing performance.