Facilitating the Quest - A Case Study of Three Technologies in an EAPP Writing Classroom

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS

Explores how three specific technologies support teaching and learning in a graduate-level English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) writing classroom. The study uses pre- and postactivity surveys to examine whether students find a writing blog, a word-of-the-day forum, and a storytelling grammar/style iMovie helpful for gaining and retaining writing skills. The text frames the inquiry within the Internet’s evolution and the distinct habits of today’s Internet-generation learners, including their comfort with technology’s public and interconnected nature.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Literature Review

The Evolution of the Internet

The Internet Generation

Facilitating the Quest: A Case Study of Three Technologies in an EAPP Writing Classroom As the web continues to morph, creating a more interlinked, connected, and hybridized human experience, educators are experiencing a generational shift in terms of comfort with technology. The number of technologies becoming available to students and teachers is dizzying. Within the array of possibility, this research considers three technological applications that facilitate the teaching and learning of writing: a writing blog, a word-ofthe-day forum, and a storytelling grammar/style iMovie. In this exploratory research in a single graduate-level English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) classroom, pre-and postactivity surveys seem to suggest that students found technological tools helpful in gaining and retaining writing skills. Introduction After returning from a recent trip to the Grand Canyon, a friend complained that he had seen a child playing on a smartphone steps away from the rim. He found it unimaginable that anyone would stare at a screen when one of the world’s marvels was so nearby. Implicit in his frustration was the pervasive belief that today’s Internet generation is unable to appreciate the world like previous generations did because of the tumultuous pace of technological advancement. Missing in his observation was the number of adults that day at the Grand Canyon, adults who were most certainly posting status updates to their Facebook feeds, tweeting their GPS coordinates, or texting photographs to friends and family. Despite our ambivalence about its encroachment on “sacred ground,” technology is ubiquitous in all spheres of our lives—including the classroom. Within this context, educators are continually bombarded with new information and technological tools. Writing instructors must 106 • The CATESOL Journal 25.1 • 2013/2014 wade through a seemingly endless barrage of possibility to find tools appropriate for our unique classrooms. Among the technological questions a writing instructor might face: Should I use cloud word processing to facilitate interaction—Google Docs or Buzzword? Which blogging platform is better—Blogger, TypePad, WordPress, or SquareSpace? Should I allow students to use microblogging such as Twitter and Tumblr in class? How can I use note-taking tools such as SpringNote and EverNote? I wonder if my writing class could benefit from social networking sites such as Facebook and Edumodo… No report could fully address all of these questions (nor could any classroom integrate all of these tools) . However, this research considers technological applications through the lens of three potential tools that may facilitate the teaching and learning of writing: a blog, a wordof-the-day forum, and a grammar storytelling iMovie. This exploratory research took place in a graduate-level English for Academic and Professional Purposes (EAPP) classroom where pre-and postactivity surveys revealed that students found these tools helpful in gaining and retaining writing skills. Before this article discusses the research itself, a literature review considers the rise of the Internet and the characteristics of today’s Internet-generation students. It then considers the implications of new technologies in the classroom. The literature review concludes by defining the three tools themselves—blogs, forums, and iMovie—in terms of their classroom applicability. Literature Review The Evolution of the Internet At the fundamental level, “computer tools extend the power of the ordinary mind in the same way that the power tools of the Industrial Revolution extended the power of the ordinary body”(Collins & Halverson, 2009, p. 11) . For those born and educated before the widespread emergence of the Internet, the interconnectivity and availability of these online tools can be daunting. Within our lifetimes, we have seen the emergence of the web and its evolution into a twoway medium (Shank, 2008) .

FAQs

Which three technologies does the case study examine for EAPP writing instruction?

The research considers a writing blog, a word-of-the-day forum, and a storytelling grammar/style iMovie.

How does the study evaluate students’ writing experience with these tools?

It uses pre- and postactivity surveys to assess whether students found the technologies helpful for gaining and retaining writing skills.

What background does the literature review provide for the study?

It reviews the Internet’s evolution toward a more dynamic, two-way web and describes characteristics of today’s Internet-generation students, especially their comfort with networked and public technologies.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by SANS