My interest in Blended Learning (BL) has grown over the past two years as I have begun to use it in my professional English training courses, as well as its widespread application since the beginning of the Covid pandemic. My goal is to develop a BL English grammar curriculum as a free gift (in line with Godin’s ideas) to anyone who is trying to learn English as a second language and to incorporate it into my training to better teach my clients.

In this article, I would like to discuss Blended Leaning, its history, and its current and future application. The focus will be on BL in the context of English second language (ESL) teaching as it is directly practical and applicable to my sphere of education. Equally, by focusing on one discipline, it allows for a more specific conversation and avoids oversimplification or generalization.

Definition

Blended learning is a combination of face-to-face learning (F2F) and digital or online learning. Commonly associated with Hybrid Learning (HL), which is a system in which a portion of students attend both in-person and virtually, BL students attend F2F classes and complete online studies.

In 2021, BL has become such an integrated part of education that it would appear seamless. Consider, however, that BL used to mean that students could access learning materials online, submit assignments electronically, or discuss issues with their cohort/teachers via email. Today, BL can hardly be defined by such standard everyday practices. Instead, BL classes incorporate course-specific programs, entire platforms, and interactive programs designed to augment the learning experience.

History

BL programs started with private and corporate training programs, seminars, mentoring, coaching, and interactions (Gruba & Hinkelman, 2012). As they gained traction in higher education, Oliver and Trigwell (2005) critiqued them for being ill-defined and inconsistently used, which led them to be inadequately and poorly implemented. These “vague conceptualizations hindered the creation of principled guidelines…resulting in stillborn agendas” (Gruba & Hinkelman, 2012, p. 2). As such, the integration of BL into traditional classes and curriculum has been largely piecemeal. In fits and starts, BL has made its way into most classrooms.

There have been attempts to create organization from the chaos, but even today technologies that are adopted for higher education are used inconsistently and irregularly by teaching staff. Some academics have created handbooks for defining BL and its application, such as Bonk and Graham (2006), Garrett (2009), and Gruba & Hinkelman (2012), but consensus has not been reached as to its form, function, or effectiveness.

BL and Language Learning

In the last five years, there have been multiple academics who have conducted research projects to discover the impacts of BL in language studies and how they are received by students. These include studies that have looked at students in English Foreign Language (EFL) programs in Japan (Hirata, 2018) and Korea (Lee & Wallace, 2018), in university (Zhang & Zhu, 2018), and more generally (Gruba & Hinkelman, 2012; Shebansky, 2018). What these studies uncovered was that students could achieve a high level of success in ESL studies given the conditions were right.

Proper conditions include access to adequate equipment and online connectivity, teacher engagement, and proper resource material being provided online. Students who participated in the BL classes generally performed better on standard tests than did the non-blended classes. There were also increased levels of participation, engagement, and enthusiasm in the F2F portions of the class (Lee & Wallace, 2018). However, some students noted that the online portion of the classes could be isolating and led them to engage less with the material (Hirata, 2018). The research led to the conclusion that teacher preparedness and administrative support were very important in BL classes’ success.

Conclusion

In 2021, in the face of an ever-lengthening pandemic and notable shifts in education at all levels, there has been a huge influx of online learning, blended learning, and leaning applications. As Gruba and Hinkelman (2012) observed almost a decade ago, the adjustments have been piecemeal, and technology has been added when and where appropriate. It will be interesting to see if there will be a transition to educational institutions to focus on education from a technological starting point instead of what seems to be the inverse.

References

Gruba, Paul & Hinkelman, Don. (2012). Blending Technologies in Second Language Classrooms. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.

Hirata, Yoko. (2018). E-Learning courseware for language education in Japan: its application and student perceptions. Open Learning    (33:2). Pp. 83-98.

Jocius, Robin. (2016). Telling Unexpected Stories: Students as Multimodal Artists. English Journal (105.5). pp. 16-22.

Lee, Given & Wallace, Amanda. (2018). Flipped Learning in the English as a Foreign Language

Classroom: Outcomes and Perceptions. Tesol Quarterly (52:1). Pp. 62-84.

Shebansky, William. (2018). Blended Learning Adoption in an ESL Context: Obstacles and Guidelines. TESL Canada Journal (35:1). Pp. 52-77.

Zhang, Wei & Zhu, Chang. (2018). Impact of Blended Learning on University Students’ Achievement of English as a Second Language. International Journal on E-Learning (17:2). Pp. 251-273.