Language Teaching in Blended Contexts (review)

The proliferation of blended language learning programs in higher, further, and adult education contexts, driven by economic, social, and technological changes, has imposed new demands and challenges on language teachers. However, teachers are often ill-equipped or insufficiently trained to deal with the plethora of tools, modes, and approaches used in blended learning as well as with their own changing roles as teachers. This edited volume, a collaborative work by contributors from the Open University in the UK (a leading pioneer in the development and practice of blended language teaching and learning) aims to give guidelines to teachers and teacher developers who deal with such issues.

The editors and contributors draw on more than 15 years of experience in developing and teaching in innovative and challenging blended-learning environments that combine conventional face-to-face and telephone teaching with a range of synchronous and asynchronous online teaching modes. Building on the considerable number of publications in this field, which have tended to focus on specific aspects of blended-language learning, this is one of the few books to offer a comprehensive examination of the many facets of language teaching in blended contexts. Its primary focus is on reviewing key principles and sharing best practices, and showing how best to support learners through practical examples in an endeavour 'to keep the learner at the centre' of teachers' practices (preface, p. xx). In this sense, the book can be considered a core text for understanding the fundamentals of blended learning and teaching while providing a valuable contribution to teachers' professional development.

The book is composed of five sections, beginning with a review of the learning context, then moving on to the design and implementation of assessment for blended contexts and an in-depth presentation of different delivery modes, tools, and resources with illustrative examples and case studies, and finally an overview of ways to promote teacher development and critical reflection. Its flexible design ensures it can be read either as a cohesive whole or its chapters and sections can be consulted independently.

One of the prevailing themes that permeates the whole volume and forges a link between the different sections and chapters is the changing role of the teacher who, in the learner-centred, multimodal blended context, becomes a 'facilitator' and 'mediator' supporting student interactions and learning (p. 9). Each section explores these roles in relation to key principles of blended learning concepts and provides detailed descriptions of implementations combined with practical guidelines and analytical tools.

The book begins by setting up the rationale for blended learning and endeavouring to provide a clear definition of a concept that is constantly evolving with technological advances. It also examines some key notions underpinning the blended-learning context and their implications for teaching practices, including learner diversity, learner autonomy, and motivation. This sets the scene for subsequent chapters of the book that refer to these notions. It becomes clear from the outset that the authors advocate the sociocultural approach to learning with its emphasis on social interaction within a situated context, although the underlying theory is not elaborated upon.

Section two addresses the question of tailoring assessment strategy to blended contexts. It explores criterion-referenced assessment systems, the importance of feedback in developing and maintaining an ongoing teacher-learner dialogue, and, finally, methods of self-, peer, and collaborative assessment focusing on how learners can be encouraged to take a more active role in assessment and reflect critically on their language learning. Practical advice and tools such as marking criteria and descriptors and self-assessment forms, as well as examples of feedback for written and speaking tasks, are key features.

A key strength of this book is its detailed examination of the wide spectrum of blends that exist in language teaching using the different synchronous and asynchronous technologies and modes. The authors have chosen to focus on traditional tools and modes including Web conferencing applications, telephony, face-to-face teaching, as well as wikis and forums, shying away from more...