Sense of community among mobile language learners: can blogs support this?

Abstract

Language learners have a need to complement their classroom learning activities with experiences outside the classroom and interact with other speakers and learners of the language to practice it. Communities play a major role in supporting language learners. A class of university students studying French is, as such, a community of language learners. A mobile community blog was used to establish and support a sense of community among the students in the classroom as well as outside, particularly when some of the students travel to France as part of their studies. The blog was intended to facilitate active participation, social interaction and collaboration among the members of the community. This paper evaluates the use of the blog and analyses the results to identify the issues that are important in supporting a community of mobile language learners.