Supplemental Blended Learning For Undergraduate Students

Abstract

Blended learning is a popular trend in contemporary education. It is one of the most effective technologies for English language teachers, because e-learning is not yet perfect, and traditional learning is no longer efficient enough. This time-saving technology becomes effective for both linguistic and non-linguistic specialties. The present-day study was conducted to develop the structure of a university professional English language course, which combines face-to-face classroom activities, and computer-mediated and Internet activities. The idea of blended course developed in this paper is based on the use of traditional professionally oriented textbook for classroom learning supplemented with interactive electronic grammar textbook for out-of-class activities. To assess the effectiveness of the course a students’ questionnaire about the specifics of the use of an electronic textbook was developed. The participants were 30 undergraduate students who participated for course credit. It was revealed that the use of an electronic grammar textbook as a part of a blended learning course is feasible and approved because out-of-class grammar learning helps to save time for speaking skills practicing. The automatic checking of tasks provided by e-textbook promotes the individualisation of education. The possibility to work with e-textbook any time anywhere promotes the democratisation of education which is connected with the possibility of self-organisation of education. The results of the research indicated that the use of blended learning technology helps to improve progress in studies, and is useful for both teachers and students.