Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

to complete during the before, while and after reading stages. The reading and
discussion of texts serve as a starting point for the students’ writing which can be
done in response to the reading selection or in connection to it. After the discussion
in the classroom, the students make suggestions about their possible essay questions
and the points to consider in them. This is done in the course’s wiki; thus the students
can receive comments from both their peers and the teacher. It is followed by the
students publishing their essay drafts in the wiki, with the students commenting on
the first drafts of their peers’ essays and the teacher on the second one. Generally,
the students submit two essay drafts, with the second one being graded. However,
the students have a further opportunity to improve their essays, if they want them
to be included in the portfolio drafts at the end of the semester. So, generally, the
design of this course allows for a variety of interaction patterns from those initiated
by the teacher to those initiated by the student(s), as well as multiple opportunities
for assessment and evaluation of the students’ works both formally and informally.
Teaching methodology
Approach to teaching writing
To teach this course a combination of process and product approaches with some
elements of genre approach to writing are used (Badger and White, 2000; Flower
and Hayes, 1981; Kroll, 1990; Steele, 1992). In essence, the product approach as
defined by Pincas is primarily concerned with the proper use of the language, with
the students producing a piece of writing after analysing a model text first and
imitating it next (1982, cited in Badger and White, 2000). The process approach as
defined by Tribble (1996) emphasises ‘Writing activities which move learners from
the generation of ideas and the collection of data through to the “publication” of
a finished text’ (1996 p. 37), while the genre approach stresses the social nature
of writing and thus focuses on producing pieces of writing ranging from letters to
research articles and reports (Flowerdew, 1993 p. 307). Such a combination takes
into account the students’ prior experience in writing and their current and future
needs, and helps to provide them with the necessary amount of guidance, while
at the same time encouraging them to gradually become more independent and
confident in their writing.
Peer-editing
Different aspects of peer-editing pedagogy have been widely discussed in research
literature. Some of the advantages of incorporating peer revision in writing
instruction include students working in a friendly environment (Hyland, 2003: 199;
Villamil and de Guerro, 1996: 67), gaining a better sense of the audience (Hyland,
2003: 199; Nation, 2009: 143), assuming a more active role in the learning process
(Mendonca and Johnson, 1994; Hyland, 2003: 199), and developing skills of critical
reading (Hyland, 2003: 199).
All the students are new to peer-editing and revision activities, so a special training
session is held at the beginning of the year to introduce them to such activities. In
addition, later in the semester when the students get used to working this way, a
special feedback session is run to discuss their experience in peer-editing. They are
taught what they can comment on in their peers’ works and what to pay attention to.
46 | A blended English as a Foreign Language academic writing course