Application of Blog to English Language Teaching in China

Since the day of its appearance, blog has been widely used in education as an information technological tool for life-long study and professional training. The reform of English language teaching (ELT) in China calls for the application of new information technology into the process of teaching and learning. This paper attempts to discuss the application of blog as a new information technology in ELT in terms of its function, design, teaching effect, and disadvantages through an empirical research carried out in Shandong University of Economics. It argues that, as a useful information technology applied into ELT, blog has extended and complemented classroom teaching and learning activities. Blogging builds up a new environment for ELT in terms of video-audio experience, learning psychology and communicative context, which ensures the interactive nature of ELT in the technological sense. The greatest advantage of blog in ELT is that it provides an efficient platform for the interaction between teachers and learners and among learners.