Designing for a Production-Oriented Approach to Blended Learning in English Language Teaching

Abstract

Blended learning has been proven to yield benefits and pose challenges to teachers and students. To address the problems in the blended learning design of the previous offering of English as a foreign language (EFL) courses, this study aims to create a better instructional design for an upgraded EFL course integrating multiple MOOCs by strengthening synchrony-asynchrony cohesion and enhancing the stimulation of asynchronous learning activities. The production-oriented approach (POA) was adopted as the framework for the instructional design of the course. After the upgraded course was offered, a questionnaire survey was conducted among the students to investigate their perceptions of the course, and two tests were administered to measure their learning outcomes. The results showed a highly positive attitude toward the POA-guided blended learning design and significant progress in the overall quality of students' interpreting.