Teaching English as a Second Language in the Blended Format: Feedback From Instructors and Students

Blended course offerings in all disciplines, including modern languages, are becoming increasingly common at the universities in the US. While teaching a second/ foreign language in the blended format may not be seen as very different from teaching other subject matter, there are specific considerations that need to be addressed when designing and delivering language courses in predominantly text-based Learning Management System (LMS) environments. In order to learn a second/foreign language, students need to be given ample opportunities to communicate orally and practice speaking and pronunciation skills. New technologies within LMSs such as Wimba tools open possibilities for working on oral skills in the online part of the blended class. This poster presentation reports on a case study of a new, blended language learning course offered in the university setting. The presenter followed two English as a Second Language (ESL) instructors and their students in the first semester of teaching the class in the new format. The classes used an LMS that incorporated a Wimba voice plug-in feature to combine face-to-face classroom teaching and online learning in the computer lab and for homework. The study investigated the attitudes of the two instructors and their students towards the new format of course delivery and their views of the activities that contained Wimba voice technology. The data were collected through six in-depth instructor interviews, three student surveys, and a student focus group and were analyzed using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The findings indicate generally positive attitudes of instructors and students towards the blended class although some drawbacks were also noted. Instructors highlighted easy access to online course materials, ease of record keeping and monitoring student progress, and students' ability to work at their own pace as some of the main advantages. Overall, students liked the new class format and found it helpful for learning English; however, some students felt the class did not meet all of their language needs. Some of the shortcomings expressed by instructors were the time-consuming nature of responding to student work and technical difficulties. Finally, both instructors and students realized the advantages of online speaking and pronunciation activities that allowed additional oral language practice, longer student talking time, and individualized student feedback. The results of the study can inform the design of blended language learning models when it comes to the choice of online activities and technologies that align with the best pedagogical practices of teaching languages communicatively. The presenter will showcase LMS activities and the Wimba technology from the actual course so that the participants can experience firsthand the environment the poster describes. A handout summarizing the study will be also provided. This poster will be especially useful for college level faculty, administrators and instructional designers in different language program (e.g. ESL, Spanish, French, German, Chinese, Arabic etc ) as well as participants in other settings (e.g. K-12) who are interested in blended language instruction. The participants will learn about the experience of instructors and students in a blended language course offered for the first time and find out about features of the course which were perceived beneficial and those that needed improvement. Lastly, they will be able to interact with the technology that made the online oral skills practice possible.