Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

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REWARD (Greenall, 2002) is not explicit regarding the nature of its learning theory, simply stating that it ‘sets a new standard for computer-assisted language learning methods’, with no indication as to what these may be. However, we can deduce from the type of offline activities that REWARD (Greenall, 2002) employs, such as drag and drop, gap fill, and matching activities, which provide immediate feedback and are linear by design, that the approach is essentially behaviourist. (Behaviourism is a theory of learning based upon the idea that all behaviours are acquired through conditioning, for example Pavlov’s work with animals that resulted in what became known as ‘classical conditioning’ or Skinner’s ‘operant conditioning’ which acknowledged that the learner could ‘operate’ on the environment, for example by pressing a lever to receive food [a reward]). This could be perceived as a weakness in the blend as according to reviews of pedagogic literature constructivism is currently the favoured model of learning. (In this theoretical approach it is believed that learners construct their own knowledge or understanding based on their prior experience rather than simply receiving it). If the centres had an internet connection this could be addressed by incorporating online activities using email, chat, wikis and podcasts for example, that encourage a more constructivist and collaborative approach to language learning. However, even by allowing the learners to work in pairs at the computer rather than individually whilst using REWARD (Greenall, 2002) a degree of co-operation may take place resulting in a more constructivist approach. Lessons learned The blend that I have described evolved over a three-year period so the first lesson that I learned is that effective blending can be a time-consuming process. Although I believe that this was largely contextual, given the number of centres and their widespread geographical distribution, the number of users (officer instructors/ teachers) involved in the redesign process, and my inexperience as a blended learning course designer. Moreover, it was influenced by the fact that I employed an iterative approach to the redesign process in that small changes were made, implemented, and then evaluated before moving on to the next one. Most of these changes were accompanied by meetings with the users (officer instructors/teachers) as I believed it was vital to have their input in the decision making process, and/ or training for them, for example coursebook familiarisation. Beetham and Sharpe (2007: 8) recognise this iterative approach and claim that ‘effective designs will evolve only through cycles of practice, evaluation and reflection’. Advice for blended learning course designers Before embarking on a design or redesign process, identify your drivers for change, that is ask yourself why change is necessary, what the driving factors behind it are and what the limiting factors will be. In other words thoroughly acquaint yourself with your context. There were four situational drivers for change in my context: 1. Goal direction – what the learners ultimately needed their English for. 2. Sustainability in terms of content stability (i.e. how long the course content would be valid for), instructor fit (i.e. that the courses would be relatively straightforward for unqualified officer instructors to teach) and cost effectiveness (i.e. that the centres/courses would be inexpensive to run/maintain). A military blend | 181
3. User experience – feedback on the shortcomings of the original blend. 4. My belief on how to design a blended learning course in our context to provide an optimal learning experience, which was supported by my somewhat limited knowledge and previous experience. These drivers influenced all the decisions that we took and helped ensure that the final blend was suitable for, and therefore worked in, our context. This supports Shaw and Igneri’s (2006: 3) belief that there is ‘…no single optimal mix. What configuration is best can only be determined relative to whatever goals and constraints are presented in a given situation’. Conclusion Numerous factors need to be taken into consideration when designing a blended learning course and as Hofmann (2001: 3) rightly says ‘determining the right blend isn’t easy or to be taken lightly’. Moreover the blend has to reflect the teaching and learning environment and recognise its contextual limitations. The key contextual factor we had to consider when designing our blend was post-project sustainability. To that end the blend I believe can be deemed a success as it is still operational, and equally if not more importantly it produced good results too, although unfortunately I no longer have these to hand. With hindsight there are a couple of areas of the blend that could be enhanced. Firstly, the learners should be allowed more options in the self-study mode to develop their autonomy. Secondly, internet access should be provided to ensure more constructivist and collaborative learning. Lastly, the learners should be allowed to work in pairs at the computer as ‘when two or more learners sit at a computer and discuss process and content in the target language, they often engage in scaffold learning, helping each other improve their learning’ (Beatty, 2003: 99). Apart from these areas I believe our model was highly effective, is easily replicable and inexpensive to maintain once established. References Acklam, R and Crace, A (2003) Going for Gold Intermediate Coursebook. Harlow: Pearson Longman. Beatty, K (2003) Teaching and Researching Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Harlow: Pearson Education. Beetham, H and Sharpe, R (2007) ‘An introduction to rethinking pedagogy for a digital age’, in Beetham, H and Sharpe, R (eds) Rethinking Pedagogy for a Digital Age. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 1–10. Benson, P (2006) Autonomy in language teaching and learning. Language Teaching 40: 21– 40. Boyle, C and Mellor-Clark, S (2006) Campaign 3 Teacher’s Book. Oxford: Macmillan. Dudeney, G and Hockly, N (2007) How to… Teach English with Technology. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. 182 | A military blend
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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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packages, setting up online account
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Clearly there are advantages to hav
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Lessons learned When deciding what
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References Osguthorpe, RT and Graha
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The learner and the context Althoug
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typically involve writing or applyi
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where possible, to bring them toget
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8 Blended learning: The IDLTM exper
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learning and characteristics, and k
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There is a fourth activity type in
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their own style of learning. At the
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Garrison, D and Vaughan, ND (2007)
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variety of teaching contexts (e.g.
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Figure 3: The homepage in a Module
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Figure 5: The projects page carries
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adding things in response to feedba
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Appendix 1 Extract showing first th
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■■ Cambridge ESOL was reporting
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■■ Including later units on, fo
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The rationale behind the blend The
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Figure 2: An example screen from a
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environment and to meet the student
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■■ Fine-tuning of online course
Page 117 and 118: Comments on Part 2 Brian Tomlinson
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Page 203 and 204: Conclusion Claire Whittaker
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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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