THE QUESTION OF USING «BLENDED LEARNING» IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE

К ВОПРОСУ О ПРИМЕНЕНИИ «BLENDEDLEARNING» ПРИ ОБУЧЕНИИ ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ

Научная статья

Шмелева Ж. Н.¹, Капсаргина С.А.^{2, *}

¹ ORCID: 0000-0002-7346-3896;

² ORCID: 0000-0003-2102-4776;

^{1, 2} Красноярский государственный аграрный университет, Красноярск, Россия

* Корреспондирующий автор (kpsv[at]bk.ru)

Аннотация

Сегодня в образовательном процессе активно используются современные технологии. Федеральный государственный образовательный стандарт уделяет значительное внимание внедрению информационных технологий в образовательный процесс в рамках системно-деятельностного и личностно-ориентированного подходов с целью развития информационной культуры учащихся. Внедрение инновационных методов делает процесс обучения более эффективным. Современные исследования в области преподавания иностранных языков показывают, что смешанное обучение представляет интерес для практиков. Эта статья посвящена внедрению смешанного обучения и «перевернутого класса». Авторы приходят к выводу, что смешанное обучение и «перевернутый класс» являются более эффективными способами обучения. Среди преимуществ рассматриваются такие позиции, как увеличение времени контакта между преподавателем и студентом, повышение степени ответственности и автономии студента, индивидуальный подход к каждому студенту, возможность для каждого студента работать по своему индивидуальному пути, более эффективное использование времени студента и преподавателя, повышение степени креативности и критического мышления студентов, повышение мотивации студентов, улучшение обстановки в аудитории, которая становится более дружелюбной и комфортной, возможность более высокой концентрации внимания.

Ключевые слова: цифровизация, технология обучения, студентоцентрированное обучение, смешанное обучение, перевернутый класс, электронное обучение, видеоконтент.

THE QUESTION OF USING «BLENDED LEARNING» IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Research article

Shmeleva Zh.N.¹,Kapsargina S.A.^2, *

¹ ORCID: 0000-0002-7346-3896;

² ORCID: 0000-0003-2102-4776;

^{1, 2} Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

* Corresponding author (kpsv[at]bk.ru)

Abstract

Today, modern technologies are actively used in the educational process. The Federal State Educational Standard pays considerable attention to the introduction of information technologies into the educational process within the framework of system-activity and personality-oriented approaches, in order to develop the information culture of students. The introduction of innovative methods makes the learning process more efficient. Modern research in the field of foreign language teaching shows that blended learning is of interest to practitioners. This article is devoted to the implementation of blended learning and flipped classroom. The authors come to conclusion that blended learning and flipped classroom are more effective ways of teaching. The authors analyze the advantages of these methods, which they have in comparison with traditional methods. Among these advantages, such positions are considered as increasing the contact time between the teacher and the student, increasing the degree of responsibility and autonomy of the student, a personalized approach to each student, the opportunity for each student to work in their individual path, more efficient use of student and teacher time, increasing the degree of creativity and critical thinking of students, increasing student motivation, improvement of the situation in the audience, which becomes more friendly and comfortable, the possibility of higher concentration of attention.

Keywords: digitalization, training technology, student-centered learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, e-learning, video content.

Introduction

The issue of the transition from the teacher-centered approach to the student-centered one has been widely discussed by the domestic and foreign university teachers. Many researchers consider the teacher-centered approach to be ineffective in some cases as the material presented in the form of a lecture is not perceived by some students who may distract during the class and lose the understanding of the material.

Krasnoyarsk state agrarian university became the participant of the Erasmus + project IMROvE_AGRO in 2020. The project is aimed at strengthening regional cooperation between Kazakhstan, Mongolia and Russia, as well as creating new prospects for international cooperation between these countries and the EU, which, in turn, contributes to the overall reform of national higher education systems. The European partners from Germany and Great Britain have effectively re-oriented their teacher-centered learning to the student-centered learning with the help of blended learning and flipped classroom. As their experience was rather productive, it was suggested that Russian faculty members and partners from Mongolia and Kazakhstan should develop their Master courses using the above-mentioned technologies in the framework of Erasmus+ project implementation.

The aim of the article is to analyze the possibility of blended learning and flipped classroom use while developing educational courses at Krasnoyarsk state agrarian university.

The tasks of the research work are as follows: to compare blended learning and flipped classroom; to find differences and similarities between them; to discuss their advantages; to show how these types of activities can be implemented.

To solve the above-mentioned tasks, the following methods were used: the analysis of theoretical and practical fundamental works of domestic and foreign researchers in the field of blended learning, synthesis, induction, deduction, practical experiment, direct and indirect observation, questioning, testing.

To begin with, it is necessary to define what ‘blended learning’ is. “Blended learning is a combination of traditional forms of classroom learning with the elements of e-learning, which uses special information technologies, such as computer graphics, audio and video, interactive elements, etc.” [1], [2], [3]. The learning process in blended learning is a sequence of phases of traditional and electronic learning, which alternate in time. The achievements of information technologies themselves have contributed to the development of blended learning, primarily due to the ability to share information via the Internet. Exam questions, samples of project assignments, and study materials can simply be posted on the university intranet or sent to students by e-mail. Similar terms that are used instead of ‘blended learning’ are: hybrid, technology-mediated, mixed-mode, web-enhanced and other.

Learning arrangements differ in time, place and social interaction. According to the time criteria it can be synchronous vs asynchronous; according to place – on site vs on-line; according to social interaction- individual vs group setting. When designing their own courses the faculty members should find the effective balance between the arrangements [4], [5], [6].

There are various components in blended learning: e-learning, video conferences, chats, podcasting, you-tube videos, blogs, content delivered by the instructor, etc. The advantages of blended learning are numerous. First of all, modern generation of students spends much of their time in the Internet; they are well acquainted with various ICT. Consequently, it is quite logical to use ICT in the learning process. Secondly, blended learning helps develop learner’s individual learning route, facilitates the student’s autonomy as a result of the self-regulated learning. Thirdly, it frees up faculty members to support those students who may need individualized attention. Next, it helps collect students’ data and measure the academic progress (tests are automatically scored, the feedback is instantaneous). Also, it gives more time for meaningful communicative activities, supports peer learning. And the last but not the least, blended learning is supported by the authentic materials, provides lower costs, for instance, by replacing pricey textbooks by on-line materials or e-books. Blended learning is more effective that pure face-to-face or purely on-line teaching as it gets more student-oriented nature.

Speaking about flipped classroom the authors would like to underline that it is a form of blended learning. This term is usually used to describe a class format that incorporates pre-recorded lectures followed by in-class activities. It is necessary to identify the key characteristics of this type of learning.

In flipped classroom the learners gain exposure to the new material and concepts of class by watching videos or accessing other resources. The faculty members often say that in the lessons they caught themselves thinking that they did not have time in the classroom and actually sent students home to deal with difficulties on their own, while at home they did not have the opportunity to ask the teacher again, and they often did not understand the tasks. Moreover, the parents could not help them either due to the complexity of the subject. Therefore, the faculty member should «flip their classes» by giving the students the tasks for independent study of the material at home, with the help of videos. Consequently, in the class, during face-to-face session, the faculty has the opportunity to help students understand more complex issues. The advantages of the video are that a student can stop it, scroll back and study at a pace that is convenient for him. There are two basic points if you “flip the class:

1. a) it is necessary to teach students to watch videos, not just to watch, but to delve into and make notes;
2. b) it is important to explain to students how to watch videos interactively, write down questions, stop the video and think about its content [7], [8].

Next characteristic of flipped learn lies in the fact that class time is dedicated to hands-on learning and emphasizes higher-level thinking and cognitive activities in order to deepen the understanding through active learning strategies.

Moreover, the students are engaged in collaborative activities and their progress is monitored constantly monitored.

The 1^st stage of activity includes working at home with the video content. The 2^nd stage includes working in the class, face-to-face lesson. The students have the following types of activities during the class: questions and answers session; summary of main points; further activities to deepen and broaden the knowledge; cooperative and collaborative activities; discussions. It is also necessary to have the after class activities: additional materials and activities on learning management system; students’ feedback; evaluation of the effectiveness of learning process based on module.

One more important point of this topic is identification of learning types and instructions that are typical for each of them. They are as follows.

Acquisition. Learning through acquisition is what learners are doing when they are listening to a lecture or podcast, reading from books or websites, and watching demos or videos. The following instructions are typical: Read, Watch, etc.

Collaboration. Learning through collaboration embraces mainly discussion, interaction and group-tasks – involving tutor and student, student and student, peers, or wider professional community. The following instructions are typical: Discuss, Share, Collaborate, Debate, Peer review, etc.

Investigation. Learning through investigation guides the learners to explore, compare and critique the texts, documents and resources that reflect the concepts and ideas being taught. This may include analysis of texts and other documents or conducting and analyzing experiments. The following instructions are typical: Assess, Evaluate, Consider, Compare, Critique, Establish, etc.

Professional. Students develop reflective skills and behaviors for professional practice, identifying their role in the professions and knowing what they need to do in order to meet required standards. The following instructions are typical: Contextualize, Evidence, Align, Reflect, Role-play, Audit, etc.

Practice. Learning through practice enables learners to use feedback in order to improve their next action. Feedback may come from self-reflection, peers, staff, or the activity itself. The following instructions are typical: Check, Practice, Assess, etc.

Production. In production, the learner consolidates what he has learnt by articulating the current conceptual understanding and how he used it in practice. It includes coursework and summative assessment. The following instructions are typical: Create, Produce, Develop, Draw, Make, Build, Design, Develop, etc[9], [10].

The basic point is that each module in the educational course should incorporate a minimum of four different learning types. The learning activities for each module should consist of no more of 50% of acquisition. The lecture should not last for more than 15 minutes without introducing tasks or breaks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that the growing popularity of blended learning is due to modern conditions that cause socio-economic changes in society, which affect the requirements for graduates of higher educational institutions. The “Flipped Class” technology is a new approach to the organization of training, in which classroom and extracurricular work are reversed; an approach that allows the teacher to be an assistant, and also increases interaction and individual contact time between participants in the educational process.

Конфликт интересов Не указан.

Conflict of Interest None declared.

Список литературы/References

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