Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

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Facilities and available technology The course took place in a classroom at the taxi association. There was a whiteboard, a projector and screen, and wireless internet access. All students had mobile phones, and internet at home. The syllabus The syllabus was based on functional and emergent language (for example, providing information about the fare, offering assistance) with only brief grammar explanations related to the context and usually as a summary at the end of a lesson or topic. The content As there was very little time for me to prepare the course, I did some research online to find ready course material like coursebooks or videos with short dialogues but there was not much there, other than a few useful phrases. Therefore, I decided to structure the course around the typical stages of a taxi ride – from when the passengers get into a taxi until they are dropped off. I wrote a few sentences which I, as a potential passenger could think of, for each stage and also used some phrases I found on the internet. I planned to have the taxi drivers add more sentences and develop the dialogues fully. I was the English language expert but they knew much better what kind of conversations take place during a ride. At certain intervals, I asked students to create new dialogues from what we had done so far in order to review the language. They recorded these on their mobile phones, sent the files to me and exchanged them among each other for feedback in class. Blended approach I took a blended learning approach for this course, which will be described in detail below. Why a blended approach? A thoughtful blend of synchronous and asynchronous communication and integration of tools can enhance learning (Garrison and Kanuka, 2004). Situative perspective In the above context, the situative perspective of learning (Mayes and de Freitas, 2007) fits very well. It states that the socio-cultural setting influences the learning and the learning outcome (ibid.). According to this socio-psychological view, ‘learning must be personally meaningful’ (ibid.: 18). The activities should be ‘authentic to the social context in which the skills or knowledge are normally embedded’ (ibid.). This is certainly the case with my taxi driver students, with strong personal ties between co-workers. They have been a learning community (ibid.: 19) for many years, helping each other learn the trade and now learning and practising English together. As stated above, they derive motivation from the fact that the course content is meaningful and immediately applicable. This is also ensured by their contributions 132 | Blended learning: podcasts for taxi drivers
to the content (see below). Additionally, the course takes place in their social context – at the taxi association during synchronous sessions and at their workplace through the mobile component. This ‘blend’ of locations is made possible through the use of various online and mobile tools. Flexibility and responsiveness The above context made it necessary to take a flexible approach and be responsive to my students’ needs throughout the course. Collis and Moonen (2002) list five dimensions of flexibility: 1. programme 2. study material 3. location 4. forms of communication 5. types of interaction. All of these were relevant for my course and I aimed to realise this flexibility through a blended approach, which I will describe in detail in the next section. The blend There are two kinds of blends in my courseware: a) of interaction and b) of tools (see Figure 1). Figure 1: A blend of interaction and tools used for the taxi English course Face-to-face a. Interaction Online Interaction Tools BLEND Mobile Blog Podcasts The face-to-face component As the learners had a traditional educational background, the face-to-face class met their expectations. It was also more personal and served to create good rapport with them. In addition, it was the learners’ work environment, which is important in the situated learning perspective (see above). In class, the learners could work in Blended learning: podcasts for taxi drivers | 133
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Blended Learning in English Languag
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ISBN 978-0-86355-706-4 © British C
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Part 3 - English for Specific Purpo
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Acknowledgements We would like to t
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To address this deficit I proposed
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Introduction This introductory chap
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an almost identical definition in h
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■■ Learners’ expectations - l
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To achieve a ‘principled approach
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its weakness in speaking.’ Contra
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References Adair-Hauck, B Willingha
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Rossett, A, Douglis, F and Frazee,
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1 A collaborative online reading an
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engaging approach to teaching, wher
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page evaluation strategies, and col
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Conclusion Students received course
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2 Blended learning in English for A
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All in the blend Reports on the app
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level of agreement or disagreement
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Hyland, K and Hyland, F (1992) Go f
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Why blend? The decision to offer th
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to complete during the before, whil
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In addition, there are a number of
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Turgut, Y (2009) ‘EFL learners’
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■■ English for Academic Purpose
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Figure 1: Stages of the incorporati
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Table 3: Schedule for Unit 1 Week U
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Internet - links and WebQuests: Som
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References Allan, M (1985) Teaching
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My advice to intending EAP course d
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5 A blended learning teacher develo
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The face-to-face element Because of
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ookmarking because social bookmarki
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and instructional design of the onl
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Encourage learner autonomy and refl
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Page 117 and 118: Comments on Part 2 Brian Tomlinson
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17 A thinking-based blended learnin
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In each of the above parts, the lea
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Figure 1: Cycle of working with gra
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Model by JP, Form 10 Structure Mode
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Recommendation 2 Ensure that the on
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Sokol, A (2008) Development of Inve
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Moreover, as a result of increased
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In general, the students remarked t
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19 Students’ CALLing: Blended lan
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The students were taken to the comp
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When considering blended learning,
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Introducing Macmillan English Campu
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In both scenarios, the ratio of con
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attending scenario 1 courses. The o
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Comments on Part 4 Brian Tomlinson
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Conclusion Claire Whittaker
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Table 1: Neumeier’s (2005) framew
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Reasons given in the literature for
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Software Author and Chapter New Lea
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Keedwell’s (Chapter 13) blend on
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Table 7: Learning theories, languag
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What will the interactional pattern
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Whittaker (Chapter 16) believed tha
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Summary This chapter draws on the l
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Appendix 1 - Questions for blended
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Contributors Peter Aborisade lectur
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Jody Gilbert taught in post-seconda
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Juanita Pardo-González (BA Hons in
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The British Council is pleased to o
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Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

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