Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

need to become familiar with a range of reading and to apply that knowledge to
the texts and problems they are presented with. Being able to access more and
more content, but not interacting with it/using it/applying it, is unlikely to have the
desired effect. We hope to put across the idea that in the same way that teachers
cannot ‘deliver’ English to learners, (but only show them how they might go about
learning), we cannot deliver the complete knowledge participants (personally) need
for the exam. More instant online access to some of the materials means they then
need other things in place to allow them to take in and retain content from those
materials. What once might have been achieved by taking notes on something, if the
notes are provided (as is the popular demand) must now be addressed in a different
way – through features like the online quiz facilities. It is still a difficult task, though,
to persuade some that in fact it would be more productive for them to make the quiz
themselves, so much ends up duplicated (the course provider-supplied version and
the versions participants go on to make themselves, once they see the benefit).
Trainees (and tutors) have very different relationships with, and awareness of,
technology. Some cope well with exploring on their own and have a natural instinct
to try and forge their own path through the course. Others want considerably more
support and to be told what to do and in what order. Over time we have put more
and more in place to support people as they get started, to show them how they
might start. Despite this there are still those who fall by the wayside and see the
technology as the cause. Emails come in saying ‘I’ve never done an online course
before and I’m feeling very lost’. In fact the difficulties of getting started with the proactive
approach that would make them most successful are about time management,
self awareness and research skills and have always been needed (and have always
been a challenge for some). Lack of familiarity with the technology makes it an easy
scapegoat, but it may also be an additional obstacle to be overcome. The more we
add, the more time is required to work through things that are actually only in place
to ensure people are equipped with the study skills they may need to deal with the
course. ‘Perhaps the greatest of all pedagogical fallacies is the notion that a person
learns only the particular thing he is studying at the time.’ (Dewey, 1998: 49). Some
participants make the meta-leap and realise that they have also been covertly shown
how they could deliver some or all of the language learning process to their students
in a blended format.
Issues for the future
Our aim is to deliver a training course that promotes participant interaction and self
responsibility and in which tasks are optional. The premise behind the approach is
supported by sociocultural theory (Vygotsky, 1978, 1986) which sees learning (and
language) as a social process. Put simply, language use is shaped by what kind of
activity we are doing and who we are doing it with (Halliday, 1993), and for Vygotsky
and socio-constructivists, such language use with others is the essential mediating
tool in our cognitive development. However, in a blended programme, as well as
in a face-to-face format, there are participants who prefer information delivered
in a transmission mode rather than a more participant-centred ‘learning through
discussion’ style. The very flexible nature of the formats and the ability to keep
Creating a blended DELTA Module One | 107