Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

■■ the creative grammar module, where learners develop and test their own models
of grammar
■■ the text module, where learners develop their language and thinking skills through
various text-based communicative tasks.
The modules are presented to learners through simple tutorials that demonstrate
the structure of learning and the philosophy behind it (Staluns and Sokol, 2008). The
language learning methodology underlying the modules originates from the ‘Thinking
Approach’ to language teaching and learning (Sokol, 2008; Sokol et al., 2008). The
approach is aimed at helping learners develop their thinking skills and dispositions in
the process of learning a language, thus making the learning process more effective,
as learners are dealing with both language and thinking syllabi in an integrated
way. The design of the modules is underpinned by the thinking syllabus, e.g. focus
on planning and evaluation of own learning, open ended tasks to texts, learner
development of grammar rules, etc.
Learners can connect to the modules at any time. All their work is saved in the learner
portfolios, which perform both formative and summative roles. The former is achieved
as a result of the feedback obtained both from the system and the teacher, while
the latter becomes possible when the learner has selected some of his/her learning
outcomes for sharing with the wider community for assessment. Although the work
with the modules is asynchronous, teachers can monitor both the process and the
results of each learner through accessing their portfolios and leaving comments.
Due to mainly technological reasons, the creative grammar module was the one used
most widely during the period the study reports. Therefore, it is this module that will
be dealt with in this publication. Structurally it comprises seven parts, each aimed at
a specific function, as illustrated in the table below.
Part Name Function
1 Define present knowledge Help learners see how much they already know in a given
theme and help make a decision about the necessity of
further learning.
2 Clarify structures Help learners come up with a list of structures used in a
given theme.
3 Formulate learning goals Help learners analyse examples of using structures found in
Part 2 (Bank 1) and formulate the learning goal(s) connected
with further work with the system of grammar tasks.
4 Develop a draft model Help learners develop a draft model connected with goals
formulated in Part 3.
5 Test and improve the model Help learners transform their preliminary grammar model
to a working model that is sufficient to cope with the goals
formulated in Part 3.
6 Put the model into practice Provide learners with contexts for language production
practice based on their working models.
7 Evaluate and plan
further learning
190 | A thinking-based blended learning course
Help learners analyse the process and products of their work
with the system of tasks offered in Parts 1– 6 and as a result
develop plans for further learning.