Page 27 - ELG1810 Oct Issue 461

OUT FEATURES & COMMENT

OF THE
BOX

Where are

we now with

Blended Learning?

Courses range from pedagogically
robust to little more than fl ashy
marketing, writes Pete Sharma

At the last IATEFL conference pre-packaged digital material
Barney Barret, my co-author, complements and integrates
and I ran a poll to see what with other parts of the blend is
practitioners actually ‘do’ when often left open.
implementing phonics in Japanese primary using Blended Learning courses. In one ‘flipped’ course, the
schools: which pronunciation to teach, The results (on my website) software presents the grammar
for example? are fascinating. lessons. As a teacher, I’m not
And to what extent should the rules be taught The range of blends and types convinced that I should be
explicitly? There is also the question of when of learning platform being used handing over this role to the
phonics should be introduced and the extent is staggering. We were impressed software. However, a time-poor
it should be a part of the curriculum. Would a by the pedagogical robustness teacher who creates their own
simple awareness of phonics be enough? of many BL courses, created in screencasts has truly taken into
Needless to say, there are other concerns response to local circumstances account learner needs, rather
too. At the national conference for the Japan and learner needs. than adopting a ‘one-size fits all’
Association for English Teaching in Elementary However, what qualifies as approach, and is more likely to
Schools (JES), held in Nagasaki in July this year, a BL course is another matter. deliver an effective course.
the issue of continuation of the curriculum from Broadly, such a course involves Some organisations proudly
primary school to junior high school was raised. face-to-face classroom lessons announce that part of the
In some regions, teachers from junior high and online learning. However, blend will be delivered through
schools are visiting the primary schools in order many online components are machine-generated algorithms.
to prepare a smooth transition from primary to ‘supplemental’ and incorporate While adaptive learning has
secondary English language education. the ‘drag-and-drop, gap-fill’ a place, this rather premature
Adding phonics into the curriculum would approach of twenty years ago. development misunderstands
only complicate the transition, as junior high Many providers make the role of the language
teachers are not trained in them. Indeed, I grandiose claims which seem teacher within both BL and
stopped teaching junior high school students more about marketing than language teaching, and may
after being demotivated; I saw my students lose pedagogy. For example: “Our lead to demotivated students
their good, clear pronunciation after going into BL course is the most effective (the voice-recognition hasn’t
junior high where they picked up ‘katakana ’ method”. This misses the recognised their utterance!) and
*
pronunciation from their teachers. point of BL entirely, which disenfranchised teachers. The
Regardless of the difficulties of implementing is increased flexibility, as no teacher is central to the success
phonics into a curriculum, either during teacher single method can work with of a BL programme.
training or in the elementary school curriculum, all students. Exactly how such
some training and awareness could help teachers ■ Pete Sharma is an author,
build their confidence, and reduce their concerns. lecturer, consultant and teacher
Do I need to spell this out? trainer and co-author of Best
Practices For Blended Learning
■ Kate started teaching English in 1988, and has lived www.petesharma.co
in Japan for about 24 years. Her language school for
children had a strong phonics and reading programme, Read the online case studies
to which it attributes its success. She is an associate which supplement his book: www.
professor currently researching Japanese elementary pavpub.com/best-practices-for-
school English education. blended-learning/, go to: www.
etprofessional.com/best-practices-
* Katakana is the alphabet and sound system used for for-blended-learning
transliterating non-Japanese words into Japanese.
editorial@elgazette.com 27