Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

In general, the students remarked that they valued the blend, with 72 per cent
regarding it as ‘good’ or ‘very good’. Although they all regarded the face-to-face work
as an essential part of their learning, there were various written comments about
the online component providing greater flexibility. For example two asserted that it
was ‘useful’ having access to materials, especially if they had missed classes. Others
noted that they appreciated the discussion facility because this provided question
and communication opportunities with one remarking that it helped make the
content ‘more interesting’ and ‘easy to remember’. Moreover, there were favourable
comments in relation to independent learning; for example, one student said that he
valued the supplementary Lecture Listening material because it gave him ‘practice
and confidence’. Nevertheless, he did say that links to real academic lectures would
have matched the purpose of the course more.
With respect to participation, although learners worked collectively in the classroom
and were motivated to re-watch and discuss their presentations online, web-based
collaborative interaction was somewhat isolated rather than free-flowing. Feedback
helps explain this, with six saying they had limited time to participate and one stating
that he had expected tasks to be more teacher-led. On reflection, as Egyptians are
accustomed to teacher-directed questioning (Dahawy and Kamal, 2009: 2), more
involvement may have enhanced student activity. Moreover, two commented that
greater hands-on support, such as help with signing up and locating pages, would
have encouraged communication.
Besides this, from a teacher’s perspective, those who worked actively online were
generally motivated, vocal and confident in class. It is difficult to know whether this
was as a result of the web-based work or due to these particular learners naturally
being stronger. Nonetheless, there was a noticeable improvement in the classroom
performance of three students after they became more technologically involved.
In addition, there were two students who were particularly quiet in class but less so
online. This indicates that the web-based part of the blend may have suited their
learning styles more than the face-to-face aspect.
Despite this, based on informal comments, students regarded the online material as a
course extension rather than an integral part. This expectation may be a fundamental
reason why collective online interaction was not extensive. Although there had
been logical reasons for making participation voluntary, had online interaction been
compulsory, greater participation would have undoubtedly occurred. Although not
based on intrinsic motivation, this would have increased student exposure to this
style of collective learning and thus been a stepping stone to future self-motivated
involvement in such a blend.
Conclusions and recommendations
As a result of this project, the following recommendations can be made. Firstly,
blended learning presents many benefits such as flexibility, provision for different
learning styles, increased collaborative opportunities and greater independent study
potential. Nevertheless, with Egyptian learners, the face-to-face part of a blend is
crucial in motivating students to participate in any web-based element. Without this,
in view of their educational background, it is likely that many will feel isolated and
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