Bridging the Language and Cultural Gaps: The Use of Blogs

This article aims to demonstrate how the use of an online journal, a bilingual blog, can contribute to filling in the language and cultural gaps of foreign language learners. This case study focuses on the participation, interaction, motivation, language acquisition, feedback and cultural input improved by students of Spanish as a Foreign Language at the University of Queensland in Australia and students of English as a Foreign Language at the Universidad de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in Spain. It demonstrates how this learner-directed instructional context allows intercultural and "language" exchanges, firstly between participants, as a peer revision exercise and secondly, as collaborative work and a discussion platform in the blog "GranCanBrisbaneEspanolEnglish". (Contains 2 tables and 2 figures.)