Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation
Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation
Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation
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its weakness <strong>in</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g.’ Contrary to their f<strong>in</strong>d<strong>in</strong>gs regard<strong>in</strong>g speak<strong>in</strong>g, Banados’s<br />
(2006: 542 – 543) results <strong>in</strong>dicated ‘a remarkable improvement <strong>in</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g skills’<br />
<strong>in</strong> addition to ‘important improvements <strong>in</strong> all the skills, especially <strong>in</strong> listen<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
pronunciation, vocabulary <strong>and</strong> grammar’ <strong>in</strong> a study carried out with students<br />
on an <strong>English</strong> programme <strong>in</strong> a Chilean University.<br />
Little more appears to have been published on the effectiveness of blended<br />
learn<strong>in</strong>g s<strong>in</strong>ce Dewar <strong>and</strong> Whitt<strong>in</strong>gton (2004) noted the lack of literature on the<br />
subject. A number of studies have been conducted on learners’ attitudes, conclud<strong>in</strong>g<br />
that they are positive towards the <strong>in</strong>tegration of CALL or multimedia. At tertiary<br />
level evidence <strong>in</strong>dicates that blended learn<strong>in</strong>g may improve student retention<br />
rates. However, there is little evidence available to suggest that blended learn<strong>in</strong>g is<br />
pedagogically effective even though ‘improved pedagogy’ is often cited as a reason<br />
for blend<strong>in</strong>g. This leaves me question<strong>in</strong>g if this is a primary consideration for many<br />
of the educational providers for adopt<strong>in</strong>g a blended approach especially at tertiary<br />
level <strong>and</strong> maybe <strong>in</strong>creas<strong>in</strong>gly so <strong>in</strong> the EFL sector, or if flexibility <strong>and</strong> cost, to provide<br />
a competitive edge <strong>in</strong> a global market, are the real drivers for change.<br />
Clearly more studies to <strong>in</strong>vestigate the pedagogical effectiveness of blended<br />
learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> ELT are required that provide us with empirical rather than impressionistic<br />
evidence <strong>in</strong> its favour. However, Salaberry (2001: 52) cautions that ‘a healthy dose of<br />
scepticism about the pedagogical effectiveness of many current technological tools<br />
appears to be well justified if one considers the perhaps overly enthusiastic reaction<br />
to previous technological breakthroughs’ such as language labs, cassette recorders,<br />
<strong>and</strong> computer-assisted <strong>in</strong>struction.<br />
Why a good blend is important<br />
Gett<strong>in</strong>g the blend right is important as ultimately it can affect student retention,<br />
as Stracke’s (2007) study revealed. The results <strong>in</strong>dicated that students left the<br />
blended learn<strong>in</strong>g course they were attend<strong>in</strong>g for three ma<strong>in</strong> reasons:<br />
■ ■ ‘a perceived lack of support <strong>and</strong> connection/complementarity between the<br />
f2f <strong>and</strong> computer-assisted components of the “blend”<br />
■■ a perceived lack of usage of the paper medium for read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>g<br />
■■ <strong>and</strong> the rejection of the computer as a medium of language learn<strong>in</strong>g’<br />
(Stracke, 2007: 57).<br />
Two out of the three of these reasons Stracke (2007) gives are referred to <strong>in</strong> other<br />
articles on blended learn<strong>in</strong>g. The ‘complementarity’ aspect is one that Sharma <strong>and</strong><br />
Barrett (2007) emphasise as be<strong>in</strong>g important <strong>in</strong> their guidel<strong>in</strong>es <strong>and</strong> pr<strong>in</strong>ciples<br />
for blended learn<strong>in</strong>g. It certa<strong>in</strong>ly heavily <strong>in</strong>fluenced the design of my blend (see<br />
Chapter 16), result<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the content of the three modes be<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>ked to a relatively<br />
high degree either by grammar, vocabulary or topic. Also Banados (2006) found<br />
that students preferred face-to-face to onl<strong>in</strong>e learn<strong>in</strong>g, so designed her course<br />
accord<strong>in</strong>gly. This was also true <strong>in</strong> my context which meant that the face-to-face mode<br />
was the ‘lead’ mode <strong>in</strong> the blend. This would seem to <strong>in</strong>dicate that gett<strong>in</strong>g the balance<br />
right <strong>in</strong> terms of the percentage of time spent on each of the modes, <strong>and</strong> the way<br />
they are <strong>in</strong>tegrated, is significant.<br />
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