Blended Learning of the English Language:

Combining Online and Face-to-Face Teaching

Irina A. Malinina
Foreign Languages Department
National Research University Higher School of Economics,
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
[email protected], [email protected]

Abstract level of training. Moreover, it is of equal importance to

manage the educational processes.
This paper considers methods and approaches used This aim forces the changes in requirements for
nowadays in higher schools in order to arrange contents, approaches, methods and techniques of
educational environment, which could help to meet the education and, as a result, for teachers, because they
requirements for graduates. Application of learning determine to a very large extent the quality of training.
management systems and web-related technologies makes
educational process social and collaborative, allows 2. Blended Learning
monitoring the learning activities of students, contributes
to the individualisation of higher education and presents In 2003 the American society for training and
information on a higher level. Live communication also development announced blended learning one of the
plays an essential role in education, as gives rise to ten top trends in the knowledge delivery industry.
emotions, increases motivation, improves communicative Almost ten years later the term “blended learning” is
culture, promotes personal and professional growth. To used frequently in education-related fields.
create conditions for providing the required level of Blended learning is the term used to describe
training teachers should constantly develop their skills learning or training events or activities where e-
and abilities, find new ways to refine their offerings to learning, in its various forms, is combined with more
students. Combining online and Face-to-Face teaching is traditional forms of training such as "class room"
one possible strategy, allowing to reach the aim of higher training [5].
education. Another definition of blended learning is "any time
a student learns at least in part at a supervised brick-
and-mortar location away from home and at least in
1. Introduction part through online delivery with some element of
student control over time, place, path, and/or pace." [6,
Application of information technology in many p.4]
spheres of human activity including education is a In reviewing the literature, many suggest that
distinctive feature of the development of the modern blended courses emerge “where between 30 to 79
society. Speaking about graduates of institutions of percent of the instruction is delivered online”. But
higher education we mean not just a professional in a online teaching is a complement to on-campus teaching
particular area, but a cultural, educated, creative person and not a replacement [8, p.5].
who is not only able to use data and information and According to David Nagel there are six models of
communication technologies (ICT) in his or her work, blended learning:
but also willing to take advantages of them in 1. The "face-to-face driver" model, in which a
maintaining and developing own intellectual and teacher in a traditional classroom instructional setting
creative potential. employs online learning for remediation or
In order to reach this aim of higher education it is supplemental instruction;
necessary to create conditions and arrange educational 2. The "rotation”: model, in which students
environment in the way that will provide the required move back and forth between online and classroom
instruction;
 3. "Flex," a model in which the curriculum is  ability to rationally evaluate their own
delivered primarily through an online platform, with professional work and put achievable goals.
teachers providing onsite support; The ability to analyze their own teaching activities
4. The "online lab" approach, wherein an online is of high priority as well, as it helps to correct,
course is delivered in a physical classroom or improve and match them to modern requirements.
computer lab; Moreover, it allows to identify teachers’ own strengths,
5. "Self-blend," a model in which students weaknesses and opportunities and, as a result, to create
choose on their own which courses they take online to a strategy to improve the level of professional work
supplement their schools' offerings; and to contribute to the development of the personal
6. The "online driver" model, where the courses qualities of the teacher.
are primarily online and physical facilities are used Teaching involves performing several functions –
only for extracurricular activities, required check-ins, teaching itself, educating, organizing and researching.
or similar functions [5]. Professional activity of the teacher will be ineffective
Alan Clarke gives another variety of forms in if it is built for the fulfillment of only one function.
blended learning: This activity is defective because it does not exploit
1. Conventional lecture with teaching notes and opportunities to achieve higher educational outcomes,
visual aids placed on a college intranet for you to but also because it does not contribute to the
access. development of the personality of the teacher.
2. Using digital cameras to record practical work The most favorable condition for professional and
for your portfolio of evidence. personal growth is a combination of various activities.
3. All assignments submitted in an electronic Only those teachers who constantly improve their work
format and feedback provided in the form of and develop their skills will be able to provide the
annotation. required level of training.
4. Email and conferencing with tutors in place of It is a well-known fact that objectives of education
face-to-face tutorials. can be achieved using various methods and techniques.
5. Simulations of laboratory experiments as part It is necessary to keep in mind that only their combined
of a conventional/ science course. use will lead to success in the educational process. The
6. Distance learning course with regular face-to- choice should be made on the basis of purposes and
face meetings [2, p.117]. tasks of learning; the level of knowledge is also
In order to choose the most suitable variant it is important. Choosing a method of training the teacher
necessary to consider several factors including: considers different factors such as time determined for
 Students the study of this topic, role and significance of
 Teachers educational material for further professional or
 Time learning activity of students, available resources and
 Money tools, equipment, etc.
 Goals So, to sum it up, it is vital to remember that training
 Recourses [6, p.20]. is not only mastering of knowledge and skills, but also
development of both students and teachers. In this
double-sided process the main function of a teacher is
3. The Role of a Teacher to arrange educational environment and provide
students with necessary materials. The best way to do
The main characteristics of a modern educator are
it is to combine the use of online resources with face-
deep knowledge of the subject, scholarship, curiosity,
to-face teaching.
pedagogical skills, communicative culture, readiness
and ability to implement into the learning process
methods and technologies providing constant 4. Application of ICT
development of students, encouraging the growth of
their creativity and initiative. Application of ICT opens up new opportunities in
Nowadays the list of professional skills of teachers arranging educational environment. The new Web
includes different abilities, for example, provides resources, tools and technologies that can
 ability to design their own training make educational process social as they help create
technologies; collaborative learning atmosphere.
For example, tricider.com
 ability to independently and efficiently resolve
(http://www.tricider.com/) is an excellent tool for
constantly arising difficulties and challenges;
brainstorming and sharing ideas. Besides, it can be
 ability to develop and use non-standard
used to vote for or against the suggested idea and give
methods of solving educational problems;
your arguments.
 What is great about using a tool like this is it makes effective means of forming communicative culture of
learning experience social as it connects students with the students. The latter is of vital importance due to the
each other. Moreover, it teaches students to work in a global integration.
team, listen to, agree, disagree, convincingly prove ESLVideo (http://www.eslvideo.com/index.php) is
their points of view, give reasons and make a great tool of video based quizzes. Here there is a
conclusions. choice to create your own quizzes, you can ask as
Tricider.com can be used as a preparation for a role many multiple choice type questions as you wish or
play or other methods of active learning. As a home use available ones. It is possible to add transcripts,
assignment a teacher may ask students to find the way translation or notes to the video. What is also great is
out of the problem faced by the company or that the site can assess the work: students get the
corporation. After brainstorming students suggest the feedback on their answers and then their results are
solutions of the problem and then in the class they are sent to the teacher (if the class are registered users of
acquainted with the way of resolving this dilemma, the site), so it can be done at home. Or a teacher may
which actually took place. get students to create quizzes for each other as a
Thus, this method of training helps to increase hometask.
motivation to learning, because the awareness of Speaking about teaching phonetics the role of ICT
students that they not only analyze the problems is also significant. It is possible to record your own
related to their future profession, but also discuss the pronunciation and compare it with the standard.
real events, allows them to believe in themselves and Almost all modern dictionaries have audio translation
provides an additional incentive to study. Students and it is very useful in order not to make mistakes
always expect activities and content to be relevant to when speaking with people of other cultures (as
the real world [1]. different pronunciation always worsens
So, tricider.com promotes interaction and understanding).
collaboration of students and helps to move from Moreover, there are sites that can be used for
instructor-centred methods of teaching to more teaching pronunciation with different purposes. For
contextual learning and real-world problem-solving example, forvo.com (http://www.forvo.com/) is a
techniques [9]. multilingual pronunciation dictionary; words are
Learning a foreign language involves getting recorded by the users of the site. You can get the
acquainted with national traditions, mentality and general information about the person who recorded the
culture of the country where this language is spoken. word; also you can add your own pronunciation. What
Lack of language environment can be compensated is especially good about this site is that you can get a
with the help of authentic texts that demonstrate wonderful collection for comparing accent.
different aspects of the life of another nationality The purpose of another audio tool voxopop.com
(cultural, social, domestic, economic, etc.) and promote (http://www.voxopop.com/) is to record your own
the understanding of the language in the way native speaking for others to listen and respond to [7]. It is
speakers use it. Various in style, grammar, topics excellent for real communicative speaking and
authentic texts illustrate the functioning of the listening practice out of the classroom. This site can be
language in a natural social context and allow students used for writing dictations as well, when a teacher
to easily adapt to the individual manner of speech and records a dictation text and gets students to write it
as a result help intercultural communication. down. It is also a great tool to record and practise
Modern ICT let present new material on a higher pronunciation drills, which are very useful when
level. Speaking about learning a foreign language it is studying a foreign language.
difficult to overestimate the role of ICT. Can a black- Students who wish to be a success in life should
and-white script of a dialogue be comparable with a learn to acquire knowledge using different kinds of
video conversation?! Besides, a student can stop the learning systems and platforms. Moreover, online
recording when they want, watch and listen to any part learning can help teachers to save time while at the
of the conversation as many times as necessary and same time increase their offerings to students. Web-
what is also very important students get acquainted related communication technologies, such as Quizlet
with the body language. It is very useful to give tasks (http://www.quizlet.com/), let learn words in a new,
on the interpretation of facial expressions and gestures more interesting, exciting and, as a result, effective
of native speakers and recognition of their way. It is well-known that it is impossible to master a
relationship’s style (formal, informal, friendly and so foreign language without constant exercising and
on). drilling. And Quizlet is of great help here, as it allows
So, application of ICT, on the one hand, contributes in a playful manner to practise words and word
to the individualisation of education, as it allows to combinations.
study at one’s own pace and, on the other hand, is an
 Depending on the objectives and available time the the help of these questions the teacher can draw students’
teacher can use ready-made cards, as now there are attention to various means that can make presentations
more than 9 million sets of topics to choose from. effective, easy to follow and understand.
Another way is to tailor cards to suit the requirements Implementation of learning management system
of educational programs or create own sets paying (LMS) allows teachers to monitor the learning
attention to the needs of a particular group of students, activities of students. Moreover, it helps to
their level of knowledge and experience. It goes communicate teachers and students, to make
without saying that cards specially tailored for a certain announcements, determine the time for examinations,
group always give better results, as while making them set deadlines, get quick responses and feedback from
teachers take into account characteristics of students, students. Some LMS, for example Moodle,
their preferences and needs. So, with the help of Blackboard, have built-in wiki tools, which are
Quizlet.com it is rather easy and very convenient to designed to collaborate, share and build online content
approach individually to each group and even to a and are especially useful for learners who are separated
particular student. by time and place. Wikis are more effective for
Another advantage of using ICT in teaching English forwarding information compared to emails
is the opportunity of working with tests. Almost all attachments with tracked changes, a method that
textbooks have already developed tests. The only thing supports only one editor at a time and can create issues
the teacher has to do is to download them. The system with students having multiple and conflicting versions
will check them, paying attention to the number of of the same document [4].
attempts and time needed to complete the test of each Using a variety of methods, techniques and tools
student. the educator tries to build students' interest in the very
Web-related tool Cloze test creator process of communication. It is necessary to draw
(http://l.georges.online.fr/tools/cloze.html) is excellent students’ attention to the logic of the narrative,
for revising and testing. You can upload any text and introduction and conclusion, usage of linking phrases.
choose what exactly you want to check. The choice is The teacher should be ready to come to help using
every n-word, articles, prepositions, link words, leading questions, prompting the required word,
auxiliaries, wh-words, quantifiers or modals. You can assisting in completing the thought. All these
also add clues if you wish. contribute to overcoming the psychological barrier and
Another tool that can be used for revising is Wordle increasing communicative activity, which is necessary
(http://www.wordle.net/create). What is especially to learn the art of communication.
great about this site is that it creates colourful graphic The teacher should remember that education, as
representations of the texts. To add to this, it is well as any other activity has not only cognitive
possible to edit the text: to delete any word, select the aspects, but live communication also plays a huge role,
text direction, change colours or fonts. Another task which gives rise to emotions, feelings, promotes
Wordle can be suitable for is drilling grammar, for personal and professional growth. The teacher should
example Past Tenses. try to find an individual approach to each student and
If you want to make drilling more interactive and create an environment of psychological comfort in the
social you can use a stickman educational process. First of all it concerns the skill of
(http://www.drawastickman.com/). Practising teachers to dialogue, since the presence of
prediction, for example, in a playful manner could be communication barriers leads to a decrease in the
more effective. quality of education and demotivation.
Another important skill nowadays is the ability to
make presentations. And again ICT are very useful 5. Conclusion
here. Due to the goal and time available to achieve it
presentations can be demonstrated during the lesson or Finally, it is important to underline that there is not
the teacher can download them (for examples, from a single strategy how to achieve the desirable aim in
YouTube) and students will have an opportunity to watch education. Each teacher should use various methods
them at home as many times as needed in a relaxed and and techniques, constantly explore new opportunities,
comfortable atmosphere. The teacher may prepare the study, develop their skills and abilities. It is necessary
questions beforehand, such as: While delivering the to remember what worked perfectly yesterday might
speech did the presenter remember to face the audience now seem not only old-fashionable, quaint, but also
and make eye contact with them? Was he/she logical? ineffective and inefficient.
Did he/she emphasise key words? When presenting a So, in order to “survive” it is essential to be
detailed argument, were facts and figures used to flexible, to adapt to changing conditions, develop and
support the ideas? Did the presenter use approximate be in a continuous search for new approaches, ways
or rounded figures? Were visuals very useful? etc. With and tools that can be useful in satisfying cognitive
aspects of education, increasing motivation and
productivity of learning. Teachers should not forget
about classroom communication, as education is not
only studying, but also upbringing and development.
Therefore, it is vital to choose the correct material
(text, audio, video) in order to draw students’ attention
to ethical issues, social responsibility, cultural aspects
and so on. Thanks to ICT it is easier to achieve this
purpose of education as well.
Nowadays it is impossible to imagine educational
process without online learning. Various web-related
communication technologies, learning management
systems help teachers save time and increase their
offerings to students. But it is necessary to remember
that ICT are only means (certainly, very effective and
powerful) that can be very useful for reaching the aim
of education.

6. References
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new technologies to foster student interaction and
collaboration”. Distance education, 27(2), 2006, pp. 139-153.
[2] Clarke, A. e-learning skills. Palgrave Macmillan, 2004,
258 p.
[3] Lightner, S., Bober, M., and Willi, C. “Team-based
activities to promote engaged learning”. College Teaching,
55(1), 2007, pp. 5-18.
[4] Richardson,W. Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful
Web tools for classroom. Thousands Oaks, CA: Corwin
Press, 2006.
[5] Stockley, D. Blended learning or training - definition and
explanation. http://derekstockley.com.au/blended-
learning.html
[6] Peachey, N. An overview of blended learning. 2012, 32 p.
[7] Peachey, N. Web 2.0 tools for teachers. 2012, 53 p.
[8] Watwood, B., Nugent, J., Deihl, W. Building from
content to community: Rethinking the transition to online
teaching and training. White paper. VCU Center for teaching
excellence, 2009, 22 p.
[9] West, James A., West, Margaret L. Using wikis for online
collaboration. The power of the read-write web. Wiley
Imprint, 2009, 142 p.