Language teaching in blended contexts Margaret Southgate Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor in Languages Faculty of Education and Language Studies The Open University in Wales

Pioneers in blended language teaching

Sharing expertise

Four key principles creativity responsiveness openness pragmatism

The nature of the blend

An integrated blend

Blending, not layering

Combining tools and resources Understanding of strengths, weaknesses, appropriateness Strong integration of environments (Stacey and Gerbic, 2008)

Aiming for strong integration The four-stage model (after Garrison & Vaughan, 2008): Individual work before a synchronous session Group work during a synchronous session Activities after a synchronous session Preparation (individual and/or group) for the next synchronous session

Implications for assessment Using a range of media, such as –Online quizzes –Audio recordings –Blogs –Forum contributions Assessment as a teaching tool –Written or audio-recorded feedback –Sensitive to individual needs ?

The teacher’s role presenter? designer? facilitator? moderator? learning adviser? assessor? author?

Learner diversity One size fits all?

Learner diversity Consider some key areas: Task choice and design Use of personal information Activity and group management Language use The languages classroom: Place of comfort or obstacle course? Nicolson & Adams (2010)

Autonomy and motivation [Autonomous learners] “understand the purpose of their learning programme, explicitly accept responsibility for their learning, share in the setting of goals, take initiatives in planning and executing learning and evaluate its effectiveness.” Little, 2003

Autonomy and motivation closely linked crucial for successful language learning fostered through supportive feedback Learners need opportunities to communicate in the language Teachers can encourage learners to make their own choices

Autonomy and motivation

Fostering autonomy built-in flexibility guiding rather than controlling minimal teacher intervention learners explore and experiment take decisions, including opting out give positive feedback to others learn from feedback

Teacher development “Blended learning inherently is about rethinking and redesigning the teaching and learning relationship” Garrison and Kanuka 2004 Garrison and Kanuka 2004 staff developer learner teacher

Teacher development Teacher Peer support Tandem teaching Mentoring Workshops & meetings Face-to-face Telephone Synchronous online Asynchronous online Micro- teaching Observing Action research Shared resource banks Virtual staff rooms Intranet notice board Chat forums Wikis Self- access materials Techniques Resources

Where next? Four key principles: creativity responsiveness openness pragmatism

References Garrison, D.R. and Kanuka, H (2004), 'Blended learning: uncovering its transformative potential in higher education', The Internet and Higher Education, 7 (2), Garrison, D.R. and Vaughan, N.D. (2008), Blended Learning in Higher Education (San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass). Little, D (2003), 'Learner autonomy and second language learning', The Guide to Good Practice for Learning and Teaching in Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies., accessed 21 January Nicolson, M and Adams, H (2010), 'The languages classroom: place of comfort or obstacle course?', The Language Learning Journal, 38 (1), Nicolson, M, Murphy, L, and Southgate, M (eds.) (2011), Language Teaching in Blended Contexts (Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press). Stacey, E and Gerbic, P (2008), 'Success factors for blended learning', ascilite (Melbourne, Australia).

Language teaching in blended contexts Margaret Southgate Senior Lecturer and Staff Tutor in Languages Faculty of Education and Language Studies The Open University in Wales