Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

The course covers listening, speaking and language discretely, but each session of
the course is presented as a coherent progression from receptive input to productive
output. Typically, each session is based around a core non-routine listening scenario.
It begins with a context-setting activity that prepares the learner for the situation,
pre-teaching of key vocabulary, pronunciation exercises and grammar activities,
all of which focus on the target language featured in the listening text.
The speaking activities are the culmination of each session’s language focus and are
a form of role play designed to extend the contexts covered in the earlier listening
activities. The learner is assigned a role, e.g. first officer, and interacts with the
computer, which fills the other role. The learner listens to the transmissions and must
make appropriate replies based on prompt cards provided onscreen. The responses
are recorded and the learner can listen to each recorded response before moving on.
There are typically four or five stimulus-response exchanges in each conversation.
In this way, the target language is embedded in all the activities, but is presented
in different ways and recycled in the final speaking activity. The learner is guided
from an initial receptive focus through to quite demanding language production in a
realistic context, with the aim of ultimately spontaneously and accurately producing
language forms appropriate to the situation.
Considerations that influenced the design process
The motivation of learners doing this course is high, as it serves as preparation
to take an ICAO-endorsed language proficiency test, success in which leads to
expanded work opportunities, for example, flying on international rather than
domestic routes. Without the structure imposed by scheduled classes, motivation
is an essential element of successful online study. The learner needs to study
independently so, as noted by Macdonald, success in the blended learning
environment requires the learner to be self-directed and reflective (2008: 121).
However, the nature of the learners’ work in the aviation industry means that
consistency in study patterns is difficult to maintain. For this reason, it is important
that the course comprises digestible modules of reasonable duration, is portable
and also clearly engages learners in highly plausible simulated work contexts.
The aviation industry is very much dependent on melding visual cues with other
communications; therefore, the design of the course emphasises its visual impact
to inspire and maintain engagement.
Another consideration was that, in general, the learners would be working in isolation,
rather than as part of a dedicated cohort. This makes the contact with the language
instructor extremely important in order to ensure that each learner progresses
appropriately, to provide tailored feedback and also to give direction to the learner’s
broader language acquisition or maintenance needs. Macdonald argues convincingly
that face-to-face support is important in a blended learning context to reduce
feelings of isolation and to maintain motivation when a course is fully online
(2008: 50).
However, the course developers can only recommend the amount and level of
contact between the learner and the instructor, and this ultimately depends on
how much importance the client organisation places on training, and on the
144 | A blended learning course for the aviation industry