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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Later <strong>in</strong> the course of the academic year, students are asked to pay attention to<br />
more advanced po<strong>in</strong>ts of essay content/organisation/style. To help them make their<br />
comments more substantial we read <strong>and</strong> discuss the comments they give to each<br />
other, so that gradually they become clearer <strong>and</strong> more specific.<br />
Every effort is made to ensure that each student <strong>in</strong> the group receives some<br />
feedback on their work. It is stressed that work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the wiki students receive a<br />
greater level of responsibility: the students are not only responsible for themselves<br />
but also for their peers. Sometimes this is a difficult aspect of the course <strong>in</strong>struction<br />
which some students struggle with for quite some time dur<strong>in</strong>g the course.<br />
In accordance with the course requirements, <strong>in</strong> addition to publish<strong>in</strong>g their own<br />
works each student is required to comment on a work published by at least one of<br />
their peers.<br />
Some common activities <strong>and</strong> exercises<br />
One of the first activities the students are offered is to share their experience <strong>in</strong><br />
writ<strong>in</strong>g an essay or some other k<strong>in</strong>d of work when discuss<strong>in</strong>g the question of the<br />
stages of the writ<strong>in</strong>g process <strong>in</strong> the beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g of the academic year. They are asked<br />
to describe their approach to writ<strong>in</strong>g an essay <strong>and</strong> share some <strong>in</strong>sights <strong>in</strong>to it, as<br />
well as some difficulties they can encounter with their peers. They also need to<br />
read at least one reflection written by another student <strong>and</strong> comment on it. This way<br />
the students are first <strong>in</strong>troduced to one of the common activities <strong>in</strong> which they will<br />
participate regularly throughout the course.<br />
Among the exercises the students are offered to complete are student-generated<br />
exercises. To start us<strong>in</strong>g them on a regular basis, the teacher first creates a<br />
worksheet with common errors students made <strong>in</strong> a particular piece of work <strong>and</strong><br />
publishes it <strong>in</strong> the learn<strong>in</strong>g environment, for the students to discuss <strong>and</strong> correct the<br />
errors. Later on <strong>in</strong> the course, the students are asked to create their own worksheets<br />
for their peers based on the analysis of their own common errors. This way they<br />
are able to recycle the material with which they have problems several times, <strong>and</strong><br />
to help each other along the way. Judg<strong>in</strong>g by the results of the end-of-the course<br />
survey, the majority of students found peer-generated exercises quite <strong>in</strong>terest<strong>in</strong>g to<br />
complete <strong>and</strong> rather useful as regards the improved level of grammar <strong>and</strong> vocabulary<br />
knowledge they were able to achieve by the end of the academic year (Nstudents<br />
= 27; approval rate 3.8). It can be considered quite a positive result consider<strong>in</strong>g the<br />
fact that the students’ prior experience is to a very large extent teacher-centred.<br />
Contextual challenges<br />
When tak<strong>in</strong>g the course offered <strong>in</strong> the described mode the students face several<br />
k<strong>in</strong>ds of challenges, some of which are associated with learn<strong>in</strong>g to write itself <strong>and</strong><br />
others with the mode <strong>in</strong> which the course is delivered.<br />
Challenges of learn<strong>in</strong>g to write are probably common to the majority of learners<br />
work<strong>in</strong>g on the development of their writ<strong>in</strong>g skills, such as formulat<strong>in</strong>g the topic for<br />
their essay, develop<strong>in</strong>g it with adequate support, <strong>and</strong> organis<strong>in</strong>g their ideas logically<br />
<strong>and</strong> consistently. Another challenge on the writ<strong>in</strong>g side is connected with the students’<br />
ability to write their works at an adequate level of grammar, vocabulary <strong>and</strong> style.<br />
A blended <strong>English</strong> as a Foreign <strong>Language</strong> academic writ<strong>in</strong>g course | 47