Can Blogs Facilitate Students‘ Writing? Revisiting the Use of Blogs in EFL Writing Instruction D Inayati Universitas Brawijaya {dianina@ub.ac.id} Abstract. The integration of blog into foreign language learning and writing instruction in particular has received tremendous attention among researchers and teaching practitioners. This type of web 2.0 technology is considered suitable for pedagogical writing practices due to its multimodality features that promote multi-way interactions and collaborations. However, some issues emerge regarding its integration, one of which includes its effectivenes in improving students‘ writing. This paper thus aims to critically review the use of blogs as a pedagogical tool for writing in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context and some issues regarding its use. It reflects on relevant theories and previous empirical studies on the use of blogs in writing and its potentials in facilitating students’ writing. Implications on how to integrate blogs into EFL writing instruction are postulated. Keywords: Blog, Writing, EFL, Technology Integration 1 INTRODUCTION The emergence of web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs and social networking sites, has been of interests among EFL researchers due to their multimodality features supporting human interactions and collaborations. These two unique characteristics of Web 2.0 are essential elements in the sociocognitive perspective of language learning [1], which Kern [2] has predicted its potential in creating a revolution in foreign language instruction. Although not initially designed for pedagogical purposes, blogs have been one of the most commonly used web 2.0 technologies in language learning, particularly for reading and writing activities. Since its first launch at the end of 1990s, language researchers (e.g. in [3]; [4]; [5]; [6]; [7]) have introduced blogs in EFL learning and recommended its integration because of their unique features and benefits in facilitating learning. It is argued that blogs provide easy-to-use interface ([8]; [3]; [5]) and a space for reading and writing activities ([9]; [4]; [10]; [11]; [5]), encourage collaboration and interaction with teacher, students, and audience beyond the classroom ([9]; [5]; [12]; [13]), foster students’ creativity ([4]; [14]), critical thinking ([15]; [10]), cultural competence ([9]; [16]), motivation and autonomous learning ([17]; [18]), and introduce EFL learners to a new genre of writing and different forms of literacy ([19]; [20]). In EFL writing instruction, ample studies exploring the beneficial use of blogs in facilitating students’ writing development are found. However, different findings on its effectiveness call for an in-depth analysis regarding its integration, in which this paper attempts to explore. It is aimed at critically reviewing some previous empirical studies that incorporate blogs to facilitate EFL writing instruction and particularly exploring some ICEL 2019, March 23-24, Malang, Indonesia Copyright © 2019 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.23-3-2019.2284922