"Adventures in the blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers" by Lara C. Ducate and Lara L. Lomicka

Ducate, Lara C. and Lara L. Lomicka. "Adventures in the blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers." Computer Assisted Language Learning 21.1 (2008): 9-28. 16 May 2009. (link)

This article, written by Lara C. Ducate and Lara L. Lomicka “investigates more closely the use of blogs. . . and their relative importance to human interaction, virtual community and private and public space” (9).  “Adventures in the blogosphere: from blog readers to blog writers” is the product of a study that was conducted over two semesters in which students from an intermediate French and intermediate German class were first required to read a blog written in the foreign language they were studying, then write their own blog in that language.  Ducate and Lomicka give a very descriptive account of the study, what was required of the students, how they were graded, and the responses, suggestions, and criticism that were received from the students at the conclusion of the project. 

Both professors at the University of South Carolina, Lara Ducate is an assistant professor of German and Lara L. Lomicka is an associate professor of French.  Combining their mutual interests in foreign language methodology and technology in language education, Ducate and Lomick created an in depth study, that I would view as useful for anyone who is considering using blogs in a language development class.  It is extensive studies such as this one (as well as Lisa Zailinski’s “HOT Blogging: A Framework for Blogging to Promote Higher Order Thinking,” and Shelbie Witte’s “’That’s online writing, not boring school writing:’ Writing with blogs and the Talkback Project”), which took a considerable amount of time to plan and prepare that illuminate the flaws within studies like “When Blogging Goes Bad: A Cautionary Tale About Blogs, Email Lists, Discussion, and Interaction,” by Steven Krause.