Page 225 - BLENDED LEARNING

in classrooms without electricity in Vanuatu. I have also seen seven-year olds in
resource-rich regions such as Hong Kong and Singapore sitting staring blankly at
computer screens whilst working through tedious drills because their teachers have
been told to use a blended learning approach in which a fixed amount of the course
has to be delivered electronically.

What matters most when making a decision to use a blended learning approach
is its contextual appropriacy and the likelihood that it will be more beneficial for
the learners than a purely face-to-face or purely online course. What matters
most also when deciding how many and which components to deliver online in a
blended learning course is the likelihood of benefits for the learner. Fortunately all
the contributors to the chapters in Part 4 (and to the other chapters in the book)
appreciate these priorities and made such principled decisions in designing their
courses. They obviously had in mind such pragmatic considerations as widening
participation, increased retention, saving time and eventually saving money but their
priority was to provide value to the learner in relation to the short- and long-term
learning objectives of their courses. Perhaps the courses which achieved these
objectives best were those which were able to provide the learners with informed
choices. The ideal is the choice of whether or not to join a blended learning course
plus the choices within a blended learning course of which components to do online
and which to do face-to-face. Learners need information and sample experience
before making such choices and maybe this should be the starting point for all
blended learning courses.

References
Barker, D (2011) ‘The role of unstructured learner interaction in the study of a foreign
language’, in Menon, S and Lourdunathan, J (eds) Readings on ELT Materials IV.
Petaling Jaya: Pearson Longman, 50 –71.
Ghosn, I (2013) ‘Language learning for young learners’, in Tomlinson, B (ed)
Applied Linguistics and Materials Development. London: Bloomsbury, 61–74.
Rixon, S (2013) ‘Materials for young learners’, in Tomlinson, B (ed) Developing
Materials for Language Teaching. Second edition. London: Bloomsbury.

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