Pascale Thériault

Synthèse critique des connaissances sur l'écriture électronique à l'aide du blogue au primaire et au secondaire

This article offers a critical synthesis of the knowledge obtained in the wake of the work of the Comite d’experts sur l’apprentissage de l’ecriture (Committee of experts on learning to write), which published a report entitled, « Mieux soutenir le developpement de la competence a ecrire » (Better Support for the Development of Writing Skills) in January 2008. The synthesis focused on scientific texts that deal with the practice of electronic blog writing in elementary and high school classrooms. The period covered extends from January 2004 to May 2010. Results indicate that a blog’s contexts of use can favour students’ motivation to write, add authenticity to the writing process, and lead students to produce numerous texts. The qualitative aspect of these texts, however, has been little discussed until now. In light of the compiled texts, conceptual and methodological considerations are also proposed as potential avenues for future research.

Elementary students’ affective variables in a networked learning environment supported by a blog: a case study / Variables affectives des élèves du primaire dans un contexte d'apprentissage en réseau soutenu par un blogue: une étude de cas

This study documents to what extent writing on a blog in a networked learning environment could influence the affective variables of elementary-school students’ writing. We grounded our framework more specifically in theory of self-determination (Deci & Ryan, 1985), relationship to writing (Chartrand & Prince, 2009) and the transactional theory of Rosenblatt (1991). Our research team used both pre and post-tests to measure affective variables and we conducted the analysis on the basis of inferential and correlational statistics using SPSS 17®. We also used qualitative analysis to identify writing intents and topics of blog posts. Results indicate, in particular, an increase in motivation to write in pupils who used the blog, whereas the number of comments made per post did not seem to have any definitive impact on this subject.