Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

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expected to use it appropriately. However, the course design overlooked the fact that several had never followed an online course before, let alone used a Moodle platform. It also ignored the importance of online social engagement. The course was therefore re-designed so that two weeks before the face-toface training, participants had a half day introduction to the platform and were shown how it works. Then, following the first two stages of Salmon’s (2000) fivestage model, they then had two weeks to build a profile, socialise and do some background reading for the course. Summary of Salmon’s (2000) five-stage model Stage Student activities Tutor activities Stage 1 Access and motivation Stage 2 Online socialisation Stage 3 Information exchange Stage 4 Knowledge construction Stage 5 Development • Setting up system and accessing. • Welcome and encouragement. • Guidance on where to find technical support. • Sending and receiving messages. • Introductions. • Ice-breakers. • Ground rules. • Netiquette. • Carrying out activities. • Reporting and discussing findings. • Conferencing. • Course-related discussions. • Critical thinking applied to subject material. • Making connections between models and work-based learning experiences. • Use of conferencing in a strategic way. • Integration of CMC into other forms of learning. • Reflection on learning processes. • Students become critical of the medium. • Facilitate structured activities. • Assign roles and responsibilities. • Support use of learning materials. • Encourage discussions. • Summarise findings and/or outcomes. • Facilitate open activities. • Facilitate the process. • Asking questions. • Encourage reflection. • Tutor is very active at this stage. • Support. • Respond only when required. • Encourage reflection. • Tutor is less active and hands over to the students. b. The programme was divided into two stages. As mentioned previously, one of the reasons for this was to facilitate a ‘transformational blend’, i.e. one that would achieve a radical change in pedagogy where participants’ attitude to, and adoption of, communicative testing changes, as well as connecting the learning with the workplace. Another reason was partly cultural. Chinese teachers, as mentioned previously, are used to being led in their learning, but also they are often not allowed to regulate their own time. They often have to react to last-minute demands of their head teacher, parents, subject leader, or even colleagues, and it is expected that requests will be seen to immediately. This meant many participants would fall behind with the online study and assignments. Several partners would therefore hold informal meetings of the participants, Reversing the blend: From online to blended | 87
where possible, to bring them together to tackle such issues, and also to boost motivation. Also, bringing the trainer in real contact again helped them understand the local context even more deeply, and so build more trust with the participants. 2. Delivery media and instructional modalities a. The face-to-face trainer was also the e-moderator. It was essential that the participants had a high level of trust and faith in the online trainer, feeling that person knew their context and their learning needs. That trust could only be gained effectively during the face-to-face training. b. The internet is very slow for some links to resources outside China, so for video tasks, if videos (with copyright) could not be stored directly on our China server, tape scripts were provided to help participants. c. The course design had to take cultural differences into consideration. For instance, Chinese teachers are not used to group tasks and would be reluctant to adapt or change other groups’ or participants’ work directly. Therefore, the wiki was not successful, and discussion forums were used for post-work comments instead. Conclusions Feedback has been very positive, with the varied learning modes proving particularly popular among participants. Since its first pilot in 2010, the project has been delivered with six different partners at municipal or provincial level. The blended learning style has been welcomed by both participants and partners, who are mainly local education authorities: I find this mode helpful and effective as it allows me to learn and practice after work. Shen Qing (participant from Shanghai) Through the Moodle online I really have learned a lot! I have got efficient help from Jeff (the trainer and E-moderator) and I have searched the internet for PDFs and much information about testing. I will try my best to help my colleagues and students know more about tests. One participant from Nanjing The blended learning approach has met the needs of the project and enabled participants to learn new skills in test writing such as: ■■ developing test specifications ■■ using their understanding of the advantages of certain test items to enable them to use a wider range of items ■■ using statistical tools like a discrimination index and item analysis ■■ being confident in their ability to write reliable and valid tests that will have a positive impact on communicative classroom teaching. It is hoped that this development of awareness, confidence and skills will have a positive impact on communicative classroom teaching in China. 88 | Reversing the blend: From online to blended
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Blended Learning in English Languag
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ISBN 978-0-86355-706-4 © British C
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Part 3 - English for Specific Purpo
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Acknowledgements We would like to t
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To address this deficit I proposed
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Introduction This introductory chap
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an almost identical definition in h
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■■ Learners’ expectations - l
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To achieve a ‘principled approach
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its weakness in speaking.’ Contra
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References Adair-Hauck, B Willingha
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Rossett, A, Douglis, F and Frazee,
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1 A collaborative online reading an
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engaging approach to teaching, wher
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page evaluation strategies, and col
Page 31 and 32: Conclusion Students received course
Page 33 and 34: 2 Blended learning in English for A
Page 35 and 36: All in the blend Reports on the app
Page 37 and 38: level of agreement or disagreement
Page 39 and 40: Hyland, K and Hyland, F (1992) Go f
Page 41 and 42: Why blend? The decision to offer th
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Page 45 and 46: In addition, there are a number of
Page 47 and 48: Turgut, Y (2009) ‘EFL learners’
Page 49 and 50: ■■ English for Academic Purpose
Page 51 and 52: Figure 1: Stages of the incorporati
Page 53 and 54: Table 3: Schedule for Unit 1 Week U
Page 55 and 56: Internet - links and WebQuests: Som
Page 57 and 58: References Allan, M (1985) Teaching
Page 59 and 60: My advice to intending EAP course d
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Page 63 and 64: The face-to-face element Because of
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Page 73 and 74: Clearly there are advantages to hav
Page 75 and 76: Lessons learned When deciding what
Page 77 and 78: References Osguthorpe, RT and Graha
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Page 81: typically involve writing or applyi
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Page 87 and 88: learning and characteristics, and k
Page 89 and 90: There is a fourth activity type in
Page 91 and 92: their own style of learning. At the
Page 93 and 94: Garrison, D and Vaughan, ND (2007)
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Page 97 and 98: Figure 3: The homepage in a Module
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Page 103 and 104: Appendix 1 Extract showing first th
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Page 107 and 108: ■■ Including later units on, fo
Page 109 and 110: The rationale behind the blend The
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Page 115 and 116: ■■ Fine-tuning of online course
Page 117 and 118: Comments on Part 2 Brian Tomlinson
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Page 125 and 126: Making recommendations My friend An
Page 127 and 128: Sustainability Blended learning oft
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The course covers listening, speaki
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latest, most secure and flexible pr
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not so much for language improvemen
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the reader/listener as customer) an
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2. ‘Technology is only important
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14 A longitudinal case study of the
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In the next version (v3) of the cou
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of a blend in Collis and Moonen’s
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of telecoms engineers, but it was w
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15 Using a wiki to enhance the lear
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The ‘history feature’ which can
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Figure 4: Student created listening
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Teaching methodology The blended de
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Figure 8: Student reaction to probl
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Lund, A (2008) Wikis: a collective
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hazard a guess that it was over con
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the management of the centres would
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There was a steady increase in the
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3. User experience - feedback on th
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Comments on Part 3 Brian Tomlinson
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17 A thinking-based blended learnin
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In each of the above parts, the lea
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Figure 1: Cycle of working with gra
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Model by JP, Form 10 Structure Mode
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Recommendation 2 Ensure that the on
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Sokol, A (2008) Development of Inve
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Moreover, as a result of increased
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In general, the students remarked t
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19 Students’ CALLing: Blended lan
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The students were taken to the comp
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When considering blended learning,
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Introducing Macmillan English Campu
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In both scenarios, the ratio of con
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attending scenario 1 courses. The o
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Comments on Part 4 Brian Tomlinson
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Conclusion Claire Whittaker
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Table 1: Neumeier’s (2005) framew
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Reasons given in the literature for
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Software Author and Chapter New Lea
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Keedwell’s (Chapter 13) blend on
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Table 7: Learning theories, languag
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What will the interactional pattern
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Whittaker (Chapter 16) believed tha
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Summary This chapter draws on the l
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Appendix 1 - Questions for blended
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Contributors Peter Aborisade lectur
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Jody Gilbert taught in post-seconda
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Juanita Pardo-González (BA Hons in
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The British Council is pleased to o
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Blended Learning in English Language Teaching: Course Design and Implementation

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