The Impact of Blogging on the Production of Idioms in Academic EFL Environment

Abstract

This study investigatesthe effect of blogging on idiom production in an academic EFL setting. Blog as a motivating and user-friendly writing tool, which provides various options such asuploading pictures and commenting, was considered as a suitable tool for writingassignments aimedat enhancing idiom production. Due to its interactive nature, blogging was assumed to be a proper meansfor this purpose. Twenty one participants of the study were the newly enrolled students of the American University of Armenia with TOEFL iBT score mean of 74.5. These students were enrolled conditionally provided they take the EEP course and raise their language proficiency level during the course. Convenient sampling approach was used,i.e. the participants were divided to two groups of morning and evening shifts due to their personal schedules and priorities. Quantitative data were obtained through pre and post tests. The data were analyzed through SPSS software package, via Mann-Whitney U Testand Wilcoxon SignedRanksTest. The qualitative data were obtained through a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview which were analyzed descriptively. Results obtained from the data analysis indicated that blogging had positive effect on the production of idioms.