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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■■ <strong>English</strong> for Academic Purposes (EAP), the tra<strong>in</strong><strong>in</strong>g of students for the use of <strong>English</strong><br />
<strong>in</strong> a higher education sett<strong>in</strong>g. This is because most <strong>in</strong>put students receive <strong>in</strong> their<br />
subject field of study is provided <strong>in</strong> <strong>English</strong> <strong>and</strong> the University wishes to prepare<br />
students to take postgraduate courses <strong>in</strong> <strong>English</strong> speak<strong>in</strong>g environments. Each<br />
course focuses on one skill. Levels 1–3 have read<strong>in</strong>g as the ma<strong>in</strong> skill, <strong>in</strong> order to<br />
have students read<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> their field of study as soon as possible. Levels 4 <strong>and</strong> 6<br />
have a strong emphasis on speak<strong>in</strong>g to prepare students to participate <strong>in</strong> class, <strong>and</strong><br />
level 5 deals with writ<strong>in</strong>g to enable students to write essays <strong>and</strong> papers <strong>in</strong> <strong>English</strong><br />
when they graduate. Their exit level should be a TOEFL of 80 or IELTS 6.5.<br />
<strong>Course</strong> for the blend<br />
The course <strong>in</strong> which this project is based is at the fourth level of <strong>English</strong>, <strong>and</strong> is called<br />
‘Autonomy <strong>and</strong> Orality’. The aims of the course respond to the theoretical background<br />
of the programme. It is a 13-week long high-<strong>in</strong>termediate course that meets three<br />
times a week for 1.5 hours <strong>and</strong> is divided <strong>in</strong>to three units. The first unit is five weeks<br />
long while the second <strong>and</strong> third units are four weeks long. In addition, each week <strong>in</strong><br />
one of the sessions students have access to a language laboratory. When the blend<br />
began, this was the only level <strong>in</strong> the programme that had <strong>in</strong>structors who were will<strong>in</strong>g<br />
to experiment with technology <strong>and</strong> there were four groups taught by two <strong>in</strong>structors.<br />
The number of groups <strong>in</strong> this level had the potential to <strong>in</strong>crease, unlike <strong>in</strong> other<br />
levels. In a nutshell, it was selected as a pilot for blended learn<strong>in</strong>g courses because<br />
its <strong>in</strong>structors were will<strong>in</strong>g to take the risk <strong>in</strong> terms of technology <strong>and</strong> the pilot would<br />
affect a limited number of participants.<br />
Students <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>structors <strong>in</strong> the blend<br />
The population <strong>in</strong>volved <strong>in</strong> this project <strong>in</strong>cludes students <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>structors whose<br />
backgrounds are varied. On the one h<strong>and</strong> there are los Andes undergraduate<br />
students, who, as mentioned before, are technologically literate, <strong>and</strong> come from<br />
different fields of study <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g, but not exclusively, mathematics, eng<strong>in</strong>eer<strong>in</strong>g,<br />
medic<strong>in</strong>e, law, <strong>and</strong> literature. These students need to learn <strong>English</strong> due to the foreign<br />
language requirements established by the University or because the academic<br />
environment imposes the need. On the other h<strong>and</strong>, there are <strong>in</strong>structors who are<br />
qualified <strong>in</strong> EFL <strong>and</strong> have teach<strong>in</strong>g experience at undergraduate level, but are not as<br />
familiar with the use of computers as students are. All of the <strong>in</strong>structors hired <strong>in</strong> the<br />
University have a native-like comm<strong>and</strong> of <strong>English</strong> <strong>and</strong> have an EFL, Teach<strong>in</strong>g <strong>English</strong><br />
to Speakers of Other <strong>Language</strong>s (TESOL) or similar degree. In addition, they have<br />
taught undergraduates before <strong>and</strong> have experience of teach<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the programme.<br />
Despite the fact that some of them have been work<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> the University for some<br />
time, their comm<strong>and</strong> of <strong>in</strong>formation communication <strong>and</strong> technology (ICT) skills<br />
were not as good as their students. Some <strong>in</strong>structors had used computers <strong>in</strong> the<br />
classroom while others had hardly ever used them for personal reasons or outside<br />
of the classroom. The <strong>in</strong>structor turnover <strong>in</strong> the course is high: four <strong>in</strong> a year.<br />
52<br />
| Incorporat<strong>in</strong>g blended learn<strong>in</strong>g