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Rafał Bzdak
Opportunities and limitations of blended learning
1. Introduction
At the beginning of this century, Marc Prensky coined a term to descri...
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1
Rafał Bzdak
Opportunities and limitations of blended learning
1. Introduction
At the beginning of this century, Marc Prensky coined a term to describe the modern
generation of teenagers and young adults as ‘digital natives’, i.e. “people who are the native speakers
of the digital language of computers, video games, and the Internet” (Prensky, 2001: 1), for whom
electronic devices are a means to do work and have leisure. This description seems true not only for
American students, but also for a significant number of young Poles in the first decade of 21st
century1
.
The widespread use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) leads to changes in work
(e.g. video conferencing, or teleworking replacing meetings in person) and leisure patterns (e.g. social
networks, where people socialize in virtual environments). Similarly, ICT is incorporated in learning
and teaching activities and is frequently a significant factor in changing teaching methods used in
classrooms as well as online educational environments.
The blend of language learning and digital technology (e.g. PCs, laptops, PDs, the Internet,
mp3, or mp4 players), commonly referred to as CALL or e-learning (Davies, 2009), is a complex
phenomenon2
. One of its facets is the use of computer software to supplement teaching and learning
(with educational packages, used by learners to acquire and practice language skills, and authoring
tools, used by teachers to prepare interactive or printed exercises for students)3
. Another trait of e-
learning is the combination of Internet resources and language instruction. ICT supplements language
instruction with communication opportunities (e.g. a variety of forums, chat rooms, social networks
and virtual worlds), online thematic resources (e.g. virtual museums, expert websites) and high quality
linguistic resources, e.g. online dictionaries provided by Longman, Cambridge University Press and
1
An international website featuring statistics concerning Internet usage around the world, Internet World Stats
(http://www.internetworldstats.com/), provides data according to which, in November 2008, 52% of Poles had
access to the Internet, compared with 72,5% of the population of USA.
2
For an exhaustive review of methodology-driven uses of ICT in language teaching, cf. Krajka (2007).
3
For a detailed description of educational software, cf. Gajek, 2007
2
Merriam-Webster, or English and American corpora, such as British National Corpus and The Corpus
of Contemporary American English4
.
One of many facets of the amalgamation of ICT and language teaching is blended learning
(BL). Despite a diversity of definitions of BL (cf. Sharma and Barrett, 2007), it is frequently defined
as “the combination of conventional teaching approaches and e-learning elements within a single
course or programme” (Littlejohn and Pegler, 2007: 29). Notably, the word ‘combination’ is
understood as “seamless integration or intermingling of e-learning and conventional teaching
approaches and environments” (Littlejohn and Pegler, 2007: 30). In other words, the focal point of BL
is “creating a learning environment that works as a whole” (Neumeier, 2005: 165). The conception is
shared by numerous experts in BL and CALL (e.g. Garrison and Kanuka, 2004; Neumeier, 2005;
Olapiriyakul and Scher, 2006; Davies, 2009). In this view blended learning is a multifaceted reality,
which can be described by pointing to certain parameters, analyzed by Neumeier (2005), such as (1)
modes of learning, (2) model of integration, (3), interaction of learning subjects, (4) teaching methods,
and (5) location. This analysis will demonstrate both opportunities created by this novel learning
environment and its limitations.
2. Modes of learning in BL
BL is a mix of two modes of learning, face-to-face (FTF) and online, and the time ratio
between the two modes has to be clearly determined before the launch of the course. This will allow
clear formulation of learning aims, structure of the course, assigning of roles and tasks to participants.
Such a choice is greatly influenced, as Neumeier (2005) contends, by three factors (1) learning aims,
(2) learning subjects and (3) the infrastructural resources. The first factor determines how much
material and what tasks are to be done by students in the online and FTF modes. Typically, most
communicative tasks and discussions are conducted in FTF classes, which can also be dedicated to
problem-solving and maintaining or restoring students’ motivation, whereas training in receptive skills
and writing is delivered in the online mode.
4
http://corpus.byu.edu/. This website provides access to both corpora to registered users. Registration is free.
3
Second factor which can determine the time ratio is the characteristics of participants. Felix
(2003) enlists problems students may face when doing online tasks, such as the cost of Internet access
and printing materials, or insufficient command of learning strategies, especially metacog...