Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

Week Time
(mins)
Content Part of the
system
192 | A thinking-based blended learning course
Medium
5 60 Work with banks of mistakes 5 Online
20 Support session 5 Classroom
30 Development of the improved model 5 Online
6 60 Testing of the improved model 5 Online
30 Further work with the bank of mistakes 5 Online
40 Presentation of models and their discussion 5 Classroom
7 40 Implementation of the model 6 Online
40 Putting models to practice + discussion of
remaining questions
6 Online and
classroom
8 15 Final test 7 Online
20 Analysis of results 7 Classroom
30 Reflection and plan for further work 7 Online
20 The teacher’s reflection and advice
for further work
7 Classroom
The time indicators above should be treated with caution. Normally more time should
be allocated when students work with their first system, as in addition to new content,
they are getting used to new technology and often a new approach to learning
in which they are expected to ‘build’ their understanding instead of being given
information to remember. In the beginning, one lesson was spent on introducing
the online modules to learners and explaining the rationale for this work. Learners
generally accepted the idea that classroom time can be used more effectively if it
is allocated to those things that are impossible or very difficult to do without the
teacher. Most grammar work does not fall under this category and thus can be dealt
with online. The ease of doing was the main factor behind the rationale used for the
division between classroom and online activities. It should be noted though, that
in the beginning, more time was spent in the classroom to familiarise learners with
some task types and the way of thinking expected on their part, especially in parts
where own-grammar models had to be developed and tested.
It should also be stressed that work with grammar described in this study constituted
only a part of the General English course offered to learners (about 20 per cent if
both classroom and individual learning time are considered).
Methodology and skills developed
As seen from the description above, the approach to learning grammar is very
different from the traditional present-practise-produce (PPP) models typical of most
online resources. In the proposed approach, learners start with a hypothesis about
the use of the structures, test it through collecting a bank of mistakes and then
improve the initial hypothesis. The model is presented in Figure 1.