Review of Blended Learning: Using technology in and beyond the language classroom.(Book review)

Blended Learning: Using technology in and

beyond the language classroom

Pete Sharma & Barney Barrett

2007

ISBN 978-0-230-02083-2

US $ 23.96 (paperback)

160 pp.

Macmillan Publishers Limited

Oxford, England

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Computers and technology play starring roles in our personal and professional lives, and they have also been playing dominant roles in the classroom. In recent years, publishing houses have disseminated new language learning technology, and teachers have also posted a wealth of materials on the Internet that help to enhance students' language learning experiences. In Blended Learning: Using technology in and beyond the language classroom, Pete Sharma and Barney Barrett have assembled a guide for beginning teachers and technology users that introduces these supplements to the language classroom.

The authors note that their goal is to introduce different pieces of technology to all language instructors, regardless of their level of experience with the technology under discussion. While they do a solid job of introducing the technology to novices, much of the information in the chapters may, however, be too basic for more advanced users. Blended Learning consists of nine chapters that cover a wide range of topics--from introducing new pieces of technology to creating one's own materials using the Internet. The book also contains two appendices with supplemental lesson plans as well as a very basic how-to guide for true beginners to the Internet and the World Wide Web. Each chapter consists of three parts: a basic guide to using the equipment, such as ways of finding information and multimedia using search engines, a section covering common problems and solutions, and a segment consisting of a few model lesson plans for learners in secondary and higher education institutions at all proficiency levels. Many chapters also contain case studies of successful use of the technology under discussion. Each segment and each chapter is independent from the others so that readers can skip to portions of the text that are of specific interest to them. This makes the book potentially more accessible to a wider audience. Overall, the majority of the book is geared toward technology users at a beginner level, but there are helpful websites and lessons for more advanced technology users as well.

Chapter by Chapter Analysis

The first chapter in the book offers a definition of blended learning, a concept that has become more and more prominent in second language classrooms (MacDonald, 2008; Thorne, 2003). Sharma and Barrett indicate that the crucial element in blended learning is an appropriate balance of face-to-face teaching and technology use. Neither the computer nor the World Wide Web is meant to replace instructors; both are supplements to instructor-developed lesson plans, but technology can provide a myriad of benefits, including the development of independent learners, a source of instant feedback, and motivation to learners. The authors also suggest that many second language learners have come to expect technology in the classroom because they see themselves as part of the "Net generation" (Tapscott, 1999, p. 2); however, Sharma and Barrett stress that technology should fit appropriately into each lesson plan and should not be used just for the sake of using it. Technology should be used to enhance instructors' lesson plans and create interactive and motivating lessons for both teachers and students. For those who have been in the language instruction field for a few years, this will not be new information, but for new teachers this could be helpful advice.

Chapter Two focuses on the very basics of the Internet and the World Wide Web. The chapter explains in detail how to search on the web and offers tips about refining searches and finding multimedia resources, such as audio and video segments, on the Internet. Sharma and Barrett also briefly touch on various other items of technology that an instructor can use to locate information, such as blogs, podcasts, email newsletters, and RSS feeds; however, they discuss each of these in greater depth in later chapters. In the "Opportunities and Issues" section of the chapter, the authors note that a variety of authentic texts, such as news articles, are useful for creating reading lessons, while the multimedia available, such as BBC video news, are helpful for listening lessons. Such web-based multimedia outputs have the added benefit of being up-to-date so that material might be more appropriate and meaningful to learners, especially those in secondary and higher educational institutions. In the "Practical Activities" portion of the chapter, the authors provide a number of model lesson plans they developed, though frequently based on others' ideas. These lessons teach students how to search for vocabulary collocations on the Web and evaluate blogs to use in class. They also help students distinguish between reliable and unreliable Internet sources through webquests (Dodge, 1995). This chapter features two case studies with examples of authentic tasks using the Internet. The theme of the chapter is that the goal when using the Internet in the classroom is the creation of independent learners through scaffolding lesson plans and authentic tasks, such as using podcasts for extra listening practice.

The book's third chapter focuses on the ELT materials teachers can find on the Internet or on publisher-provided CD-ROMs. The first segment explains the different formats and types of materials available, such as downloadable materials, online materials, and materials on a disk, as well as some suggestions about combining these e-materials with their respective course books. The authors list a number of websites through which instructors can create their own materials, such as www.cambridge.org/elt and englishfeed.com, and they explain how these websites work. The authors also speak enthusiastically about the Macmillan English Campus, "an Internet-based, interactive learning environment" (p. 42) that contains various pre-designed materials (grammar worksheets, vocabulary activities, listening and pronunciation practice) and can be purchased by schools though the price is not provided. In the "Opportunities and Issues" section, the authors touch on the many evident benefits and pitfalls of using the Internet to create one's own materials, such as the necessity for teachers to gear lessons directly towards their students and not only use pre-designed lesson plans. They also address how online materials can affect both the teacher (increased flexibility in lesson planning) and the student (increased motivation from online language games). Again, this is probably not a new idea to experienced teachers but could be helpful to those newer to the field. A number of lessons that take advantage of the interactive and up-to-date materials available on the web and on CD-ROM are presented in the practical activities section, for example, predicting the content of a text from the headlines of online news sources. This chapter emphasizes the increase in motivation, especially of young learners, that online and CDROM materials provide, as well as the sense of accomplishment students get from working independently and within their own time frame on assignments and tasks.

Chapter Four discusses various kinds of dictionaries available to second language learners. The authors address Internet-based dictionaries (e.g., Cambridge Dictionaries and Macmillan English Dictionary Online), CD-ROM dictionaries (e.g., Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and Macmillan English Dictionary for Advanced Learners), portable electronic dictionaries (e.g., the English-Polish, Polish-English computer dictionary), and concordancers (devices that "list ... the occurrences of either a particular word, or a part of a word or a combination of words in context" (St. John, 2001, p. 185)). Sharma and Barrett point out that, while online and CD-ROM dictionaries create learner independence by allowing students to practice outside of class, portable dictionaries provide the just-in-time (Reinking, McKenna, Labbo, & Kieffer, 1998) learning critical for learners in authentic settings. They also note, as many teachers will have noticed themselves, that some students become over-reliant on electronic dictionaries, thus not developing learner autonomy. While concordancers provide for authentic contexts by taking words from a corpus of authentic texts (St. John, 2001), they are frequently more difficult to find and then overwhelming for second language learners because they require language analysis too difficult for lower level learners. The practical activities section of the chapter provides a number of activities through which learners can practice dictionary use; however, the activities focus more on introducing students to using dictionaries as opposed to creating authentic situations in which students must use dictionaries. For example, one of the activities requires students to choose a word and create a "word map" including the word's collocations, parts of speech, and pronunciation. This would be more authentic if, instead of being an isolated activity, it was added as the exploiting (Nunan, 1996) activity of a reading or listening lesson plan.

The fifth chapter moves away from Internet-based activities and addresses computer programs. Sharma and Barrett spend the first segment of the chapter talking about the very basics of Microsoft Office. The first segment contains directions about how to install and use Microsoft Office products, both in and outside of class. Some benefits of word processing software for teachers are the ease of correction of student written work and the ability to save lesson plans and adapt them for other classes. These same benefits are also attributed to presentation software. However, these programs are not devoid of distractions for learners as students can get carried away with the additional features, such as the editing tools and animation possibilities. Many of the practical activities suggested by Sharma and Barrett for these programs involve group work. For example, one activity requires students to create a group business presentation using PowerPoint, certainly an example of authentic use for this software. This chapter, while potentially helpful to some true beginners, seems better suited as an addition to Appendix 2 (Getting Started on the Web) than an entire chapter in the book.