This paper reports on a one-year pilot field study on the use of 'weblog,' for grading papers in an advanced EFL writing class at a Japanese University.  The paper discusses both the positive and negative potentials of weblogs for EFL language teaching, after a brief introduction of a history and varying definitions of 'weblog.'  Then it introduces how a weblog assisted grading project was set up and conducted in an EFL writing class.  Demonstrating actual students' weblogs on the Internet, with the feedback from the students in the class, the paper presents an assessment of the Weblog assisted grading project that has been conducted for one year for an advanced EFL writing class.
     In the presentation, the paper introduces a class weblog provider that offers a must-have subscription feature for grading a number of students in class. The instructor's class portal weblog site shows links to a course syllabus and groupware site, and to a Wiki site where weekly lesson plans and assignments are posted, as well as conventional weblog threads. To ease grading and peer viewing, a PHP-based BBS forum site was newly set up, where students could post their own weblog site addresses for the class. Weblog assisted grading or commenting via RSS (Rich Site Summary or Real Simple Syndication) service will be demonstrated, if possible online.
     Finally, the paper discusses the merits and demerits of weblog assisted grading in an EFL writing class, compared with traditional paper-, and E-mail-based grading, and annotation word processor or special software.