WRITING STRATEGIES USED BY MALAYSIAN BLOGGERS

NUR AFZAN IZHAM

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

PSZ 19:16 (Pind. 1/97) UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MALAYSIA

CATATAN: * Potong yang tidak berkenaan.

** Jika tesis ini SULIT atau TERHAD, sila lampirkan surat daripada pihak berkuasa/organisasi berkenaan dengan menyatakan sekali sebab dan tempoh tesis ini perlu dikelaskan sebagai SULIT atau TERHAD.

Tesis dimaksudkan sebagai tesis bagi Ijazah Doktor Falsafah dan Sarjana secara penyelidikan, atau disertasi bagi pengajian secara kerja kursus dan penyelidikan, atau Laporan Projek Sarjana Muda (PSM).

BORANG PENGESAHAN STATUS TESIS

JUDUL: WRITING STRATEGIES USED BY MALAYSIAN BLOGGERS

SESI PENGAJIAN: SEMESTER II SESI 2005/2006

Saya NUR AFZAN BINTI IZHAM (HURUF BESAR) mengaku membenarkan tesis (PSM/Sarjana/Doktor Falsafah)* ini disimpan di Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dengan syarat-syarat kegunaan seperti berikut: 1. Tesis adalah hakmilik Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. 2. Perpustakaan Universiti Teknologi Malaysia dibenarkan membuat salinan untuk

tujuan pengajian sahaja. 3. Perpustakaan dibenarkan membuat salinan tesis ini sebagai pertukaran antara institusi

pengajian tinggi. 4. **Sila tandakan ( )

SULIT (Mengandungi maklumat yang berdarjah keselamatan atau

kepentingan Malaysia seperti yang termaktub di dalam (AKTA RAHSIA RASMI 1972) TERHAD (Mengandungi maklumat TERHAD yang telah ditentukan oleh

organisasi/badan di mana penyelidikan dijalankan) TIDAK TERHAD

Disahkan oleh

(TANDATANGAN PENULIS) (TANDATANGAN PENYELIA) Alamat tetap: NO. 36, JALAN 1/3B, 43650 BANDAR BARU BANGI, ENCIK GHAZALI BUNARI SELANGOR DARUL EHSAN. Nama Penyelia Tarikh: 28 APRIL 2006 Tarikh: 28 APRIL 2006

“I hereby declare that I have read this thesis and in my

opinion this thesis is sufficient in terms of scope and quality for the

award of the degree of Bachelor of Science and Education (TESL)”

Signature :

Name of Supervisor : ENCIK GHAZALI BUNARI

Date : APRIL 2006

WRITING STRATEGIES USED BY MALAYSIAN BLOGGERS

NUR AFZAN BINTI IZHAM

A thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree of

Bachelor of Science and Education (TESL)

Faculty Of Education

University Teknologi Malaysia

APRIL 2006

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I declare that this thesis entitled “WRITING STRATEGIES USED BY

MALAYSIAN BLOGGERS” is the result of my own research except as cited in the

references. The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently

submitted in candidature of any other degree.

Signature :

Name : NUR AFZAN IZHAM

Date : APRIL 2006

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♥ Dedicated to

My parents, brothers and sister,

& to all the lovely people around me.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

First and foremost, I would like to extend my gratitude to thank

Allah S.W.T for giving me the strength, time and energy to complete this

thesis smoothly. I realize that without His guidance, I will not be able to

undergo the whole process successfully.

My deep appreciation to my supervisor, Mr. Ghazali Bunari, not only

for his time and knowledge but also for the guidance, invaluable suggestions

and constant feedback that helped me a lot in the process of this study.

Thank you.

I would like to express my appreciation and thanks to my beloved

parents and siblings for their patient and support in this endeavor. Thank

you for your unconditional love and for always being there for me.

Not forgotten, deepest thanks to my lovely friends and proofreaders

for their advisement in this work and endless support. Friends, thank you for

encouraging me throughout these years. I have enjoyed the wonderful five

years we share together and it will surely be missed.

Clearly, this study would not have been possible without the

involvement of the bloggers who participated in this study. Thank you for

making this study possible.

Finally, I would like to thank everyone once again because they have

in a way made me the person who I am today.

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ABSTRACT

The aim of this study was to identify the writing strategies used by

Malaysian bloggers. It also listed down the strategies frequently and least

frequently used by bloggers with different blogging experience. A total of 100

bloggers participated in this research. They completed a 51-Likert scale item

questionnaire which was designed based on SILL (Strategy Inventory for Language

Learning) model and weblog writing process tips as suggested by Blood (2002).

The questionnaires were distributed and collected through e-mails. The results were

analysed by calculating the mean of each item and by mapping the items to Raimes

(1983) explanation of variables related to writing process. This study found that

audience played a major role in weblog writing strategies. Therefore, the interaction

with audience was the frequently used writing strategies by bloggers. Meanwhile,

searching for new words and drafting strategies were the least frequently used

writing strategies by the bloggers. Based on the findings, the researcher

recommended ways to integrate web logs into writing classrooms when a teacher

decides to focus on content instead of form or grammar. Suggestions for future

research and pedagogical implications were also made in order to improve the role

that weblogs may play in second language classroom teaching-learning process.

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ABSTRAK

Tujuan kajian ini dilaksanakan adalah untuk mengenalpasti strategi

penulisan yang kerap dan kurang digunakan oleh ‘blogger’ di Malaysia. Ia juga

bertujuan untuk mencari strategi penulisan yang kerap dan kurang digunakan oleh

‘blogger’ yang mempunyai pengalaman menulis blog yang berbeza. Seramai 100

‘blogger’ mengambil bahagian sebagai sampel dalam kajian ini. Responden

dikehendaki menjawab 51 soal selidik 5-poin skala Likert yang telah diadaptasi dari

modal SILL (Strategy Inventory Language Learning) dan berdasarkan cadangan

menulis weblog yang diberikan oleh Blood (2002). Pengedaran dan pengumpulan

instrumen telah dijalankan melalui e-mel. Dapatan kajian dianalisis dengan mengira

min bagi setiap item dan mengklasifikasikan item tersebut berdasarkan penerangan

tentang proses penulisan oleh Raimes (1983). Kajian mendapati bahawa ‘blogger’

menggunakan elemen penonton atau pembaca sebagai strategi utama dalam

penulisan dalam ‘weblog’. Maka, strategi yang kerap digunakan oleh ‘blogger’

adalah interaksi dengan pembaca. Manakala strategi yang kurang digunakan

semasa menulis ‘weblog’ adalah strategi pemilihan perkataan dan proses penulisan.

Berdasarkan dapatan, penyelidik menyertakan beberapa cadangan untuk

mengaplikasikan ‘weblog’ dalam bilik darjah. Perbincangan untuk kajian akan

datang serta implikasi pedagogi untuk meningkatkan lagi peranan ‘weblog’ dalam

proses pembelajaran dan pengajaran Bahasa Inggeris juga turut disertakan.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER CONTENT PAGE

Thesis Status Declaration

Supervisor’s Declaration

Title Page i

Declaration (Author) ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgement iv

Abstract v

Abstrak vi

Table of Content vii

List of Appendices x

List of Figures xi

List of Tables xi

List of Abbreviations xii

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction 1

1.1 Background of Study 2

1.2 Statement of Problem 4

1.3 Statements of Hypothesis 7

1.4 Purpose of the Study 8

1.5 Theoretical Framework 8

1.6 Importance 10

1.7 Scope of the Study 11

1.8 Definition of Terms 13

1.9 Conclusion 14

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.0 Introduction 15

2.1 Weblogs 16

2.2 Writing 19

2.3 Writing Strategies 24

2.4 Previous Research 29

2.5 Conclusion 33

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CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

CHAPTER 3 METHODOLOGY

3.0 Introduction 34

3.1 Research Design 34

3.2 Participants of the Research 35

3.3 Instrument 36

3.4 Research Procedure 38

3.5 Data Analysis Method 40

3.6 Pilot Study 41

3.7 Conclusion 42

CHAPTER FOUR

FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

CHAPTER 4 FINDINGS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.0 Introduction 43

4.1 The descriptive analyses of the demographic information 44

4.2 Analysis of the weblog writing strategies 56

4.3 Analysis of the difference between experienced and 75

novice bloggers in relation to their writing strategies

4.4 Conclusion 89

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CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSIONS, PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSIONS, PEDAGOGICAL IMPLICATIONS AND

RECOMMENDATIONS

5.0 Introduction 90

5.1 Conclusions 91

5.2 Overview of the Research 100

5.3 Limitations of the Study 101

5.4 Pedagogical Implication 102

5.5 Suggestion for Further Researches 105

REFERENCES 107

LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX A Questionnaire 114

APPENDIX B Response from 100 Bloggers 121

APPENDIX C Response from Experienced Bloggers 130

APPENDIX D Response from Novice Bloggers 139

APPENDIX E Gantt Chart: Research Procedure 148

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LIST OF FIGURE

FIGURE TITLE

1.0 Producing A Piece of Writing, Raimes (1983) 9

LIST OF TABLES

TABLE TITLE

4.1 Frequency and Percentage of Male and Female Bloggers 44

4.2 Age of respondents 45

4.3 Frequency of level of education 46

4.4 Frequency distribution of mother tongue 46

4.5 Weblog writing skills 47

4.6 Duration of blogging 48

4.7 Services that are mainly used for blogging 48

4.8 Post/s published per week 49

4.9 Comments received per week 50

4.10 Hours spent for blogging per week 51

4.11 Interaction 51

4.12 Features available on respondents’ weblog 52

4.13 Web behaviour of bloggers 54

4.14 High mean frequency of weblog writing strategies 57

4.15 The least frequent of weblog writing strategies 65

4.16 High mean frequency used by experienced and novice 75

bloggers

4.17 High mean frequency used by novice blogger but were 80

not used highly by experienced bloggers

4.18 Low mean frequency item used by Experienced and 83

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Novice Bloggers

4.19 Different Low Mean Frequency Items Used By 86

Experienced and Novice Bloggers

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

www - World Wide Web

e-mail - Electronic mail

CMC - Computer Mediated Communication

SILL - Strategy Inventory Language Learning

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Introduction

In this chapter, the researcher will introduce the background of the problem by

discussing writing strategies and web writing. The statement of the problem will then

be discussed, followed by the statement of hypotheses that include the research

questions and expected findings of this research. The main purposes of the study will

be stated and the theoretical framework of the study will be briefly explained. Lastly,

the importance, scope and the terms used in this study will be clarified.

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1.1 Background of Study

1.1.1 Writing Strategies

There are several varieties of approach to writing. Writers usually discover

the suitable process that is best for them in order to produce good and readable

materials. Successful writers undergo several processes before producing a good

piece of writing. There are variances among the writing strategies of different writer.

According to Clouse (1998), there are six main areas of the writing strategies.

The areas are as follows:

1. Generating ideas, establishing purpose and identifying audience.

2. Ordering ideas.

3. Writing the first draft.

4. Revising.

5. Editing.

6. Proofreading.

Writing is a combination of many activities such as experimenting, planning,

choosing, questioning, anticipating, organizing, reading, listening, reviewing, editing

and so on (Atwell, 1988; Graves, 1994 as cited in Kokroko, 2001).

Usually, the writers’ strategies vary in terms of how they attend to the six

areas and how they handle individual areas. Depending on the writer’s style, the

writers can focus on more than one area or attend to the criteria in random order.

Some writers prefer not to draft at all, feeling that it restricts them from being more

creative.

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1.1.2 Writing on the web

The increasing popularity of the Internet technology has energized the scope

of second language education especially in writing and reading. The World-Wide-

Web (www), electronic mail (e-mail), discussion groups (forums), newsgroups, chat

rooms, and weblogs are among the Internet sources. These Internet sources are

among the mediums where writing takes place.

The Web today is a new communication tool for writing. Various

technologies are available to writing such as e-mail, MOOs (Multi-user Object

Oriented) and weblogs. These Internet writings, for example e-mail, permits one to

write to others without limitations in physical space or time. E-mail writing also

stimulates others to talk about writing and allows the writers to interact among

themselves. MOO is a computer space available for people to meet in cyberspace and

perform text -based discussions. This feature helps to enable users to meet across

space and time to work on writing and computer issues. The availability of the

Internet can encourage the users to write using the technology. The Internet users can

use e-mails to write and keep in touch with friends and families, and apart from

writing e-mails, weblogs can also be used to write. Weblogs are used as online

journals, weblink filters, personal publishing spaces and news portals. Weblog is an

online diary and a blogger (author of weblog) is free to write anything that he or she

pleases. Anyone that finds a weblog can read what the blogger has put in. Weblogs

also enable users to share various publications and can represent the blogger’s

personality and his or her point of view in writing.

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1.2 Statement of Problem

The Malaysian government is encouraging the nation to read, but at the same

time the culture of writing has been neglected. There is only a limited effort by the

government to encourage citizens to write compared to campaigns that urge citizens

to read. Reading campaigns include the reading month, songs to encourage reading,

reading campaigns by local artist, and favourite books contest. These reading

campaigns are implemented mainly throughout Malaysia but unfortunately, there are

less writing campaigns in Malaysia compared to reading campaigns. Therefore, the

government should focus on developing a writing culture instead of just focusing on

reading in order to form a balance of the two skills.

Writing can be implemented by encouraging the citizen to write short stories,

reviews or simply by promoting them to express their opinions and feelings. The

process and procedures of writing could be practiced through these activities. The

potential of writing could be developed by incorporating the writing procedures and

processes learnt in the real world.

The Internet now has become a popular medium for interaction. The Internet

is a host of media that provides the users to develop practices such as speaking (online

phone conversation and video conferencing), writing (electronic mails, forums, and

blogging), reading (informational data, people’s web pages, news and online articles)

and listening (music, talk). Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) offers a

medium for people not only to read but also to write. Among the online mediums that

require writing skills are e-mails, forums, and writing to maintain websites. Of late,

there has been a new medium of writing on the Internet, which is known as weblogs.

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A weblog is a personal space to post thoughts and commentary (Vuorinen,

2005). Weblogs are now beginning to be accepted as a medium of communication by

both learners and language educators. It is a base to write and open a forum where

others can read the writing and respond to it. Weblogs are a new form of web-assisted

writing. Weblogs serve as a base where practically anyone can practise writing, and it

is also a medium of communication that contributes to language learning (Vuorinen,

2005).

Since anybody with an Internet connection can publish their own weblogs,

there is a variety in the quality and content of the writing as there are many bloggers.

Now, there are masses of blogging sites on the Internet. Recent studies on

www.blogharold.com estimated that the number of blogs could be as high as 50

million, of which 40 million are updated actively. As there are many free blogging

services to choose from, it can be said that, there is a potential that every person with

access to the Internet is also a blogger. The emerging blogging phenomenon seems to

give us hope that writing can be embraced as a hobby of the masses.

Although the number of bloggers is increasing day by day, there is still lack of

research regarding weblogs. Scholars conducted research on the benefits of blogging

but the researches conducted were rather vague without specific research to

investigate the benefits of blogging wholly or specifically in language learning. There

are limited numbers of research reports on weblogs available in Ebscohost, Pre-Quest

Dissertations, Emerald and Scholars. The total numbers of results from the four

search engines mentioned above are likely to reach 20. However, there are masses of

assumptions about the impact of blogging and articles on how weblogs have changed

the Internet communication.

Scholars have ignored the new growing phenomenon of weblogs and the

relationship between weblogs and language. Since there are only a few researches on

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the relationship between blogging and language, scholars need to study this growing

phenomenon. There seems to be a potential for weblogs to be used as a new medium

in learning. This phenomenon in the future will contribute a lot to the development of

writing culture itself.

The web environment, which involves interactivity and ease of publishing,

may have certain influences on writing strategies. Hence, there is a need to identify

the strategies used by bloggers in writing. Writing strategies used for academic

purposes can be different as compared to writing strategies used for producing a

personal product. The writing process is different in terms of approaches, intended

audience, arrangement of details, the descriptions, and reevaluation of the product.

Writers’ may be unaware of or unable to articulate their strategies. It is important to

investigate the writing strategies used by bloggers in order to prove whether bloggers

use the same writing strategies as writing on paper. By identifying the strategies used

by bloggers, this study can identify whether the strategies used by bloggers reflect the

essential writing process taught in language learning class.

Technology can bring an impact on writing strategies. Blogging as a new term

in the Internet technology is undeniably becoming a culture. Therefore, there is a

need for scholars to understand the current popular cyber-culture. By identifying the

writing strategies used, the researcher hopes that this culture can provide positive

insights to educators who intend to use weblogs in class as learning and teaching tool.

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1.3 Statement of Hypothesis

1.3.1 Research Questions

The following research questions are investigated in the study:

1. What are the frequently used writing strategies by Malaysian

bloggers?

2. What are the writing strategies used least frequently by Malaysian

bloggers?

3. What are the different writing strategies used by experienced and

novice bloggers?