Blended Learning In ELT - Roger Palmer Interview

Blended learning is a mixture of face to face learning and e-learning. It's not just about using technology in the classroom. In fact, many of these classes may appear very similar to ordinary face to face lessons. What happens outside of the classroom is equally, if not more, important.

Roger Palmer was a speaker I was keen to hear at an ELT conference in Taiwan several years ago—and this is an interview I carried out at the time. Although the interview is a few years old, I think it still contains a lot that's useful for teachers now. I was especially interested to hear his ideas on blended learning because this is an aspect of ELT that I've been trying to understand and use more in my own classroom over the past few few years.

Roger works at Konan University in Japan, has co-authored i-zone and promotes the use of blended learning in English language teaching in different parts of the world. In the talk, he discussed his ideas on blended learning, and on how to use it in the English class.

Most of my efforts so far at using technology in teaching have involved using the internet as a resource in the classroom, so I was especially interested to learn more on blended learning.

Interview with Roger Palmer on Blended Learning
How much time do your students spend online during a typical blended learning class? How much time do they spend online outside of class time?

In class, the face-to-face time is really valuable for my learners as that's when they make sense of the online study that they have accomplished outside. So for presentation of material, checking online progress, and using the videos, I'd say a maximum of 20% of the class time, and often no time.

We use the book in class with iZone, and so there is certainly no requirement to be online during class. However, thinking about their interest and motivation, students do ask to do Webquests and they like the interactive language games in iZone, and I like to let them have agency. They like to present English listening material to their partners that they source online.

Outside class, they are expected to use the Online Labs, and for iZone they do Online Prepare before coming to class, and the extra activities such as writing tasks after class, as well as taking the online test after every unit. They need to be online to check their progress in real-time in the Gradebook, too.

So they can theoretically spend 100% of their outside class study time online. Interestingly, in the online world time on task and progress is tracked, and you find that they spend a lot more time in English than they would in a comparable course which did not have an integrated online component.

Schools and universities (although not private language schools) seem willing to spend lots of money buying expensive equipment, but very little on training teachers in the use of the technology or with ideas on how to use it creatively in the classroom. I've seen technology that isn't used or is underused. Do you see any solution to this problem?

That's a very good question. One solution to equipment is to take it out of the classroom. Our approach has been to design materials for an online lab (the digital) which fully support and integrate with the textbook (the print). That means the teacher has a textbook in class and there is no need for any expensive equipment.

I have been to Indonesia and discussed this with teachers using iZone in schools far from major towns. So my first answer would be to use face-to-face time to its utmost and take advantage of teachers as a resource, with print materials. The only technology is the online connection after class, and for that an Internet cafe is more than enough.

The second solution is to automate the online labs, so that student work is checked as they go, and that the students and teachers can track and check work anytime, anywhere. It means for the instructor that there is no extra burden of marking work done outside class.

The third solution I can offer is to consider how technology fits in with teaching and learning goals, and not how to use technology for its own sake. The tasks that are best accomplished in class with teachers and in contact groups should be done there; many other tasks, such as taking a role-play character and engaging in a model dialogue with a character, recording your voice and analyzing it, being instructed by avatars on learning strategies, checking language and grammar immediately via pop-up boxes, instantly translating rubrics, being able to watch video segments as many times as you need, studying at your own pace at a time and in a place of your choosing, getting immediate feedback, playing online language games, all these are best done online. So that's how we use online labs.

One additional point here does involve teacher training. I have a recently-published CELTA guide on my bookshelf by a major publisher, written by a best-selling author. There is nothing in there in teaching with technology at all. I think it flies in the face of best teaching practices and research on the kinds of learners we meet in out teaching contexts. Blended contexts vary enormously, too!

What's your opinion of becoming a 'friend' to students on Facebook? This will alter the student - teacher relationship. Do you think this could be a problem?

Again, contexts vary, expectations of teacher-student relationships vary, and ages and backgrounds and beliefs of students vary. In my teaching situation in Japan, where all my students are adults, it is quite common to set up user groups for particular classes. Facebook is just one part of it.

I think we should be careful not to be too judgmental on this: what is the role of the teacher and student in the digital age? We have student-student in class, student-teacher in class, student-student online, student-teacher online, as well as students outside class interacting with online labs. That's without even mentioning connectivity that has nothing to do with my class, such as social networking.So the situations we face are in flux, and language education is changing with it whether we like it or not.

We have probably never had to deal with these kinds of challenges and opportunities before. Jeremy Rifkin describes our interconnected lives on the internet as distributive, as opposed to centralized knowledge and power. We used to depend on fossil fuels, processed in a central location; now, we are moving towards renewables such as solar and wind, connected around the world on a grid, just like the Web. I don't think trying to stamp out or control Facebook or Twitter can possibly work. Yes, our relationships are indeed changing, but I think they are potentially richer. Look at the growth in Personal Learning Environments (PLEs).

How do you see e-readers (such as kindle or nook) being used in TESOL?
In line with what I mentioned above, when the technology allows for a richer experience using an eBook, then we will be using them more and more - it's already happening, of course.

Interestingly, many commentators have stressed that with any digital content, the consumer and creator roles are blurred. Somebody writes a book, I cut it and paste it, change the ending, and use it in class.

I am both consumer and creator. So yes, I can see this and a myriad other uses for e-readers.

How is your new blended learning course (iZone) different from conventional coursebooks?

Imagine a conventional coursebook. All four iZone levels have a coursebook that can be used as it is by the teacher in class. That part is the same. Now imagine that before every class, your students go online to prepare. They go through the videos, they check their listening and comprehension. They work with the skills and strategies. They practise the vocabulary and functions. They familiarize themselves with the topics. They grade themselves as they go. They work at their own pace, perhaps at home, even in the middle of the night if they like!

Next, they come to class with the book. They already have the schema and know the topic. You introduce the same vocabulary and structures, in a different set of situations, helping them to reinforce the learning they have done, using the strategies in new ways to stretch them, engaging them in communicative tasks, using your skill as a teacher to develop their language.

They then go online again, and do the extra writing tasks, the language games, watch the longer version of the video, and take a test to check their progress.
So it is a fully-integrated package, using what we know about face-to-face and enhancing it with what we know about online. I think it adds up to much more than the sum of its parts.

How important is the listening component of iZone? Do the students have graded materials to listen to outside of the classroom?

They have a ton of listening to do online, and it is level dependent. The Longman corpus and the Longman Spoken Grammar is woven through the course and listening tracks, so students start with the S1 words (most frequently-occuring 1000 words in spoken English) and move through to the S3 words and beyond. Not only listening exercises as you describe, but there are also video tasks, role-play tasks, recording their voices and playing back, and even the language points are in the form of an avatar speaking to them. They then have all the audio sections in the coursebook as well. It is a large body of varied listening material, which gives much more practice of target language than you would get in a course lacking the online lab.

How can iZone save teachers time?
As mentioned, when students prepare online they are ready to go when they come to class. The 'getting ready' exercises in conventional courses are time-consuming. With iZone, students not only prepare the topic, but they prepare the vocabulary, functions and strategies as well. It saves a huge amount of time, and students are not confused. Also, the teacher does not have to make or mark homework. The tests are online and graded automatically online. There are additional downloadable tests if that's not enough!

How much does the teacher's book help teachers who are not proficient in using technology in the classroom?
There is lots of support online. The technology is in the background. The teacher is teaching the book, and the online component takes care of itself. Detailed notes are freely available to help the teacher.

And finally. Do your children ever teach you about new technology?
Yes, all the time. I am doing a project on the use of technology to help student writing, especially genre-based writing. My son has taught me how to use my iPad properly!
Thank you very much for answering the questions. If there's anything else you would like to add, please feel free to do so.

Mark, I'm sure there's more, but that's enough for now. Thanks again for giving me the opportunity to talk about what I like!

Roger - Thanks again for the interesting and informative interview. I hope that your answers will stimulate ideas on the use of blended learning in English language teaching - or the teaching of any other language.

Should Teachers Teach Students to Read Aloud or Read Silently?

When I was an MEd (TESOL) student, I listened to my professor and a classmate discussing how to teach reading. But as I listened I noticed something strange. They appeared to be talking about different things–although neither seemed aware. Our tutor was clearly talking about strategies to improve students’ reading comprehension, but my classmate seemed to have something different in mind. I asked her if by reading she meant that all the students stand up and read aloud together. She said yes–our tutor ended the discussion in surprise.

If such a misunderstanding can develop in face to face conversation, then it’s hardly surprising that even bigger misunderstanding can occur online. As was the case when I recently read an online discussion on whether English teachers should teach students to read aloud or read silently. The teachers were passionate in defending their positions, but one thing became quickly clear to me: the meaning of reading aloud varied widely, as did their approach to teaching it, and the teachers who advocated either reading silently or reading aloud often taught in very different contexts.

What is Reading Aloud?
“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees,” William Blake.

No fools here, but people do see things differently. For some teachers reading aloud simply means having the whole class stand up and read chorally from their books; for others it means reading individually or in pairs; and yet, for others, it means reading aloud within activities or games.

One example of using reading aloud can be found in a common activity for children: ‘running dictation.’ Many of you will be familiar with this activity. The teacher sticks sheets of paper, with a simple story or other piece of text printed on it, on the walls at the back of the classroom. The students form teams and (without shouting) a ‘reader’ must read the text aloud to the ‘runners’ who run and repeat what they remember to a ‘writer.’ There are many other games or game-like activities (far too many to list here) which can use reading aloud.

My point is that ‘reading aloud’ means different things to different teachers, depending on the their training, personal experience as students, professional teaching experience, and the educational culture of their school and country.

The Benefits of Both
Reading aloud is great for bringing a class together, especially if you teach students who have attention problems in class. Choose students (perhaps those chatting or using smartphones) to read text aloud. If several students have problems focussing you can ask a student to read one sentence, and then another student to read the next and so on. So, reading aloud is one way to help bring the class together and help them understand instructions for an activity at the same time.

Reading aloud can help with the pronunciation of individual words.
Reading aloud can help teachers spot pronunciation problems with individual words.
Reading aloud can help shy students gain more confidence.
Reading aloud is pretty much all you can do with young children (of these two options).
Reading aloud can be fun (when done as a part of a creative activity).

But…

Reading silently can help reading comprehension. When students read silently they can focus on the meaning, they can search for specific information.
Reading silently is faster (when students don’t subvocalise).
Reading silently can be a relaxing activity (I certainly feel more relaxed).
Reading silently is a more natural activity (for most types of reading).

The Drawbacks of Both
Reading aloud will not (usually) help with sentence level (or beyond) pronunciation. There can be exceptions to this–but for most teachers I think this is true. The robotic pronunciation I sometimes hear with my students in East Asia is, I believe, exacerbated by years of chorally reading aloud in classes. There are better ways to practice rhythm.

Reading aloud can be painful. If someone attempted to read a complete novel aloud to you it would quickly become annoying :) Similarly, I’ve seen teachers engender hatred of advanced level class readers (which the students had previously enjoyed) by forcing them to read long tracts aloud.
Reading aloud usually results in a focus on pronunciation of the individual words being spoken, not on the meaning.

Reading silently doesn’t practice pronunciation at all (although it does practice other things).
Much depends on your aims.

Do you wish to practice reading comprehension?
Do you wish to practice pronunciation of individual words?
Do you wish to practice pronunciation at the sentence level (i.e. rhythm)
Do you want to bring the class together?

And Your Situation
Is your class elementary or advanced?
Are they young children or adults?
Are you teaching a small group or sixty+ students?

Personally, I use both reading aloud and reading silently. With my higher level classes, I’m more likely to use reading aloud to bring students together when we are beginning a new class activity, or when I’d like them to ask questions. When I taught children I used reading aloud more, but not exclusively. Reading silently and searching for information is one of the skills I encouraged students to develop.

One of the dangers I see in usually having students read aloud is that teachers may restrict their teaching of pronunciation to individual words and not progress to teaching the rhythm–this will obviously depend on whether the teacher develops other ways of practicing rhythm or not.