Review of “Weblogs and Literary response” by Kathleen West

“Weblogs and Literary Response” by Kathleen West examined three focal students (11^th grade AP students) and their blog responses to different pieces of literature.  Although West’s research question inquired the nature of literary response via blog, it seemed that towards the end, she was evaluating the productivity of these types of blogs, and how they held weight in standard English and acceptability to most teachers and parents.  This piece reminded me of a group discussion that Tygue, Becky and I had about whether we’d allow “internet language” on online chat boards for students.  With this said, I wonder what others think of the affordances that abbreviation and acronyms have for freedom of expression, and whether this “relaxed stance” disrespects standard English grammar, usage and mechanics.

Because West’s focal students were identified as white, middle-class students who are already in their junior year and elected an AP course, I’d like to believe that they know how to code-switch between their blog language and writing that occurs in more academic scenarios (typing a paper, writing in-class assessments, AP exam, etc).  Thus, I then wonder, if teachers should only allow this “relaxed stance” via internet writing venues if they are confident that their students already have a strong command of standard English grammar?

I appreciated West’s examples of the three blogs, but I don’t think her method of data collection/display and analyses was a good demonstration of how the blog form inspired students to respond to literature in a way that would have been radically different from traditional pencil and paper.  She discussed how Lucy commented frequently (one primary affordance of blogs), but she didn’t share any examples of students commenting on each other’s blogs.  Also, what might have been helpful was to compare these blog responses to “traditional” in-class, written responses.  If allowing students to have a more “relaxed stance” frees their thinking and enhances their engagement with the literature, then I’m all for the blog form.  With this said, I don’t feel that she has answered her own question: does blogging change the nature of student’s responses to literature?

I was, however, intrigued with her notion of a socially situated identity; the example that a student can be apathetic in class but transform into a social butterfly in the halls.  This brings me back again to our discussion about chat boards and whether shy students would step up to the plate.  I can see how responding to literature on a blog does lower the emotional stakes of failing in some sense, thus, I wonder if blogging would indeed encourage academic participation.  

This MUSE tech group is my first experience with a class blog.  If I tried to replicate this in a secondary class setting (to ask students to respond to literature), I’d have to think through protocols like frequency, how/when to respond to peers, etc.