Reflections: Blended Education Model for the Improvement of ESL Speaking and Listening Skills via Zoom Meetings/Webinars.

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Reflections: Blended Education Model for the Improvement of ESL Speaking and Listening Skills via Zoom Meetings/Webinars.

February 19, 2020 by amelo14

DIPLOMA COURSERA BLENDED JPG

Coursera AKUJYGVVKA35

UPDATE: CONCRETE YouTube Channel “PROACTIVE ESL” created as part of the project, here:

PROACTIVE ESL with Teacher Andy

As well as “Business English and “English for Academic Purposes” online courses at www.edmodo.com

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Blended Education Model for the Improvement of

ESL Speaking and Listening Skills via Zoom Meetings/Webinars.

Andrés Melo Cousineau

January-March, 2020.

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SECTIONS

A. Introduction

B. The basic two-pronged project

C. The interconnection to curriculum

D. Other benefits and risks

E. The Question of Motivation

F. The Question of Assessment

G. Other experienced blended-teaching application samples: EF

H. Disrupting the blended model: The Humanities´ original disruptive essence

I. Technology: hardware and software.

J. Sources and bibliography

_________________________________

A. Introduction

As I have been an in-class ESL teacher for many years, one who is also a photographer and permanently up-to-date with technology, I have always been interested in seeing the possibilities related to teaching languages beyond the physical classroom, be it through hybrid, blended or flipped classrooms. In other words, continuing to traverse the ¨brick to click¨ adventure, as they say. Especially in the learning of languages, the use of the internet has become an everyday fantastic possibility. Some of my personal favourites, among many: “Mango” https://mangolanguages.com/ and “Tandem” https://www.tandem.net/ . For a more complete directory see here: http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory-of-learning-performance-tools/learn-a-language-online/

I myself have used the online learning options not only at Coursera, having finished three courses already (including learning Mandarin!), but also several at Udemy (for drone photography) and many more at the amazing The Great Courses (including many directly related to the role of the Humanities in education and cultural understanding). Moreover, I have been lucky to have learned multiple languages in diverse periods of my life and have been able to do so using diverse methodologies and technologies. This has taught me best how to be a better language teacher. A flipped kind of teacher! LOL.

I particular, I see the disruptive possibilities for current ESL classes by using online teaching as a form of emphasizing oral active (speaking) and passive (listening) production given that many students feel that both speaking and listening to English are some of the most difficult skills for them. Just today I heard once again, after having heard so many others, how a student repeated, “my English is broken”, and at the very same time added seriously, “but I have a very good teacher”. I am sorry, great teachers do not have students who end up seeing themselves in this way. Learning English thus becomes a source of frustration. But learning is definitely the highest joy available to humans. This is why I told him to tell me how you would say “My English is not broken” in Tibetan, for he was exiled from Tibet. He immediately offered the translation. I told it to repeat it to himself out loud. He got what I was saying to him, and laughed.

So we do need disruption. Disruption is necessary. Technology can be another avenue for such disruption. However, technology on its own can never be disruptive. This is why disruption is generally praised while avoided in reality. Few “talk the talk, AND, walk the walk”. As Bates puts it:

“teaching and later distance education, to a force for radical change in our educational systems – but radical change based on the full potential of e-learning is something that still has yet to occur on any significant scale”. (Bates; my emphasis)

And this disruption is not merely progressive or futuristic. True disruption moves beyond technology, Otherwise, we moderns would be the only disruptors in history! It also involves seeing that perhaps the truest education is the recovering of certain forms of understanding which are now lost to us. The original disruption is the disruption of the soul. Coming from the Humanities, one need only think of the original disrupter, Socrates. Everyone knows his name, few read him. And even less so read him in the original Ancient Greek. Learn Ancient Greek, disrupt yourself. Talk the talk, walk the walk.

B. The basic two-pronged project

More specifically, my project is twofold;

First off, to create a set of more permanent online lessons geared towards understanding why it is in fact so difficult for some students to speak and listen to English, for instance, by focusing on:

a) pragmatic pronunciation and fluency issues such as the “schwa” and issues such as the difference between “stressed-timed” languages and “syllable-timed” ones (or, another way of putting it, focusing on “thought groups”) which I believe are crucial to overcoming the sense of failure many students have in themselves,

b) the use of specific grammatical areas such as “tag questions” or “phrasal verbs” or “past progressive”, and many others, which students “LEARN”, but cannot actually produce in their communicative interactions (what the specialists, and there are tons of specialists, call “acquire”). For instance, you can have a billion apps on “phrasal verbs”, but not a single student be MOTIVATED to learn them. You can complete the sentence: “She is a teacher, isn’t she?” in a textbook or exam, BUT NEVER be able to produce a SINGLE tag question in a conversation.

and finally,

c) communication-focused topics such as c.1) those used in Business English classes —and their conception of realia and real-world assessment— which include “communication”, “presentation and body language”, “leadership”, “ethics”, “multiple intelligences, and many others, or c.2) the fundamental communicative functions which are the core topic of what is known as “Survival English” (“Buying Things”, “Giving Directions”, “Ordering in a Restaurant”, etc.). The Mango app EXCELS in this regard,

All of these, most of which we have already prepared over the years, would be set up by using screencast software such as “ScreenFlow” for the Mac in combination with other software such as Keynote, PowerPoint, iMovie (see “Technology Section” below.) and linking the finished video vlogs as specific lessons on YouTube to reach a larger audience —not of TESL experts— but of frustrated ESL students.

Secondly, and this is the real concern of this piece of writing, to use technology to engage in 1-to-1 classes (or, very small groups of maximum five such as those used in Business English environments), by means of a video conferencing technology called “Zoom”; a technology which can also be linked to broader Learning Management Systems (LMSs). In this sense, this second focus is very different from the huge MOOC courses whose audience, by their very nature, is extremely large. In contrast, mine seeks more of a 1-on-1 interaction so that the speaking and listening skills can be focused on an individual case. (or perhaps, in some cases a maximum of five students). But even for larger groups, this would apply as well, if scheduled correctly and using one’s imagination.

This second focus, combined with the already mentioned and more general first focus, can be the basis of a veritable blended option for different students.

The technology I have decided to use is ZOOM. https://zoom.us/ Zoom is a video conferencing, web conferencing, and webinar-producing technology. As part of preparing this approach, I myself have been taking all their free online training webinars. Quite exciting to see the demonstration of the variety of tools available. And by clearly differentiating between “Meetings” and “Webinars”, in my case, it allows for a more “Meeting-style” or F2F connection when on a 1-to-1 situation —that is to say, closer to my second objective above– and for a more “Webinar-Style” connection when providing a more Lecture style presentation, that is to say, my first objective above. However the Webinar option, unlike the Meetings option, is not altogether free. Besides all this, Zoom provides a generous list of “Case Studies” which showcase companies that have chosen it. Moreover, here in Ontario, Canada, “TESL Ontario” actually uses Zoom for many of its own webinars! https://zoom.us/customer/all

By using Zoom, there is the possibility of focusing at a more individual level on the needs of frustrated students who see that their speaking and listening skills remain static and unchanging (even worsening!) for long periods of time, even though they have spent a lot of money and a lot of time trying to reshape their linguistic skills so that they improve, and through said improvement, so improve their lives.

This could be disruptive, EVEN if we are ALREADY flooded, as we saw at the beginning, with hundreds of language learning apps for all types of devices, and “’á la carte” lesson plans (“onestopenglish.com”, “breakingnewsenglish.com, etc.) for all types of situations. In contrast, we still believe that the role of the teacher, as a guide to having students understand that nature of their frustrations, is the key to opening up their abilities in ways they cannot themselves even imagine. If it weren’t so, given the innumerable sources online already available to learn English, we would certainly have a bilingual planet by now! LOL. As McIntyre puts it:

“disruptive technologies don’ typically don’t meet existing customer needs as well as currently, available product so services, but he a whole new type of customer base is often generated, sometimes eventually usurping the original dominant model.” (McIntyre, 94, 95; my emphasis)

In our case, coming partly from the Humanities, the many dominant models in the teaching of ESL leave much to be desired in terms of seeing education holistically, that is to say, beyond simply learning a language. We mean holistically in the Socratic sense of the word, in the sense of a true liberal education that liberates. But, for instance, questioning current models such as the ¨Communicative Approach¨ has become almost impossible, particularly when its goals are further entrenched through technologies that make it even more unquestionable. One need only to see how this approach considers the “Translation method” to have a view of its own sense of superiority.

Our hybrid would thus seek to become disruptive in the original Socratic sense of “only knowing that one does not know”. For isn’t this the situation in which each courageous language learner sets himself or herself, at the very start of his voyage in and through words? Isn’t this acceptance of great ignorance what gives language learning its nobility and admirable nature? And you would have to know Ancient Greek to actually, in reality, not in theory, see the benefits of the “Translation Method” itself. For one, when you translate, you acknowledge the superiority in thought of those who have come before you.

To repeat, for the second part of my particular project, which as I mentioned involves 1-to-1 connections with students in order to provide guidance and practical situations in which to PRODUCE the English language (Survival English, Grammatical topics and Problem-solving Situations and related Skills), I have decided, that instead of simply using “Skype” or any other well-known messaging App (“WhatsApp”, “Messenger”, …) the use of a platform such as Zoom has incredible advantages. https://zoom.us/ . Zoom is used by many reputable companies, including public service institutions, universities and private companies such as Uber and Delta! https://zoom.us/customer/all

What are the advantages of using Zoom, in greater detail? It is a simplified video conferencing and messaging platform that can easily be used across devices. I recently easily shared my iPhone screen via AirDrop live while hosting a meeting with a potential student. Other advantages include the fact that it: 1) provides STABLE and excellent quality HD audio and video, including virtual screening and use of better-quality external cameras and microphones, 2) is free for 1-1 meetings but easily expandable, and not particularly expensive to do so, 3) has built-in enhanced collaborative tools (whiteboard, screen sharing, private chatting for on the spot explanations), 4) creates an environment for secure meetings (specific id for each meeting randomly generated), 5) allows for recording and transcripts so that progress and repetition can be guaranteed, 6) has easy and effective calendaring, 7) easy and clear team chats for groups of more students that can themselves be broken into different So called “breakout rooms” where they can practice in pairs or groups!, 8) In particular, in the area education, it can also Integrate seamlessly with LMS options such as Canvas or Moodle or Blackboard, https://zoom.us/education 9) it also provides accessibility for all learners, for instance by allowing closed captioning by a party invited to the meeting, not to mention audio recording (which allows for a defense of differentiation, particularly in the case of those requiring special needs adjustments such as the 504 case in the USA; see, https://fltmag.com/differentiation-accommodations-world-language-classroom/ and https://fltmag.com/universal-design-instruction/, 10) allows for only the host meetings to have a zoom account (others can easily join meetings without having to sign up), and 11) in the paid version, allows for polls that can be used as quizzes, 12) can provide a self-practice option to practice your own meeting (zoom.us/test ), 13) as mentioned previously, clearly differentiates between the use of meetings and webinars, setting the second option for a more “lecture style” setting, and finally, 14) allows for a connection to PayPal to ease the payment of any specific 1-on-1 class.

Why not other technologies? As mentioned above, a more complex LMS system is meant for much larger groups and much tighter institutional integration. Also, as I am focusing on oral production I am not interested in a written blog, though a written blog could accompany the student’s use of homework and such. The less we write, the more we speak. As a matter of fact, as a classroom teacher, I have purposely, many times, written poorly and quickly on the blackboard TO GET STUDENTS to move away from the written work in order to PRODUCE orally, which is, for most, their great unachieved linguistic desire. Once a colleague saw this and told me I should improve my writing on the whiteboard. LOL. Also, I have purposely ripped many a paper in class to visually make students understand that they can and must become independent from the paper in order to speak. Their reaction is priceless. Talk the talk, walk the walk.

In fact, this project and its emphasis on the PUBLIC use of language clearly exemplifies the very interesting and powerful argument presented in Death to the Digital Dropbox: Rethinking Student Privacy and Public Performance – Educause Review. There, the authors state: ”Students benefit from public performance and public critique because people have to perform in the “real world” and are regularly subject to critique.” We seek to emulate this setting learning within the framework of “Public Performance Models”, that is to say: “Public. Performance. Critique. It’s a time-honored model in the performing and fine arts. Other disciplines like teacher education and medicine also have elements of public performance in their curriculum. But we, like others,³¹ strongly believe it is time to consider public performance as a pedagogical tool in all disciplines.”

If any discipline requires this model, it certainly is that of language learning itself!

Of course, the original foundation of this type of learning goes back to the public use of rhetoric in the Greeks (please see my final note at the end of this exercise), but what these authors emphasize moves us well beyond the static and introspective view of learning that does great damage when our students go out into the complex public arena. Therein, as leaders, they must be able to communicate in different roles, as managers, as CEOs, as doctors and nurses, and of course, most fundamentally, as public citizens and political leaders. Take the current case of the coronavirus! This is why one of the highest concerns in this project is a better understanding of how communication as a complex skill and the learning of a language are deeply interconnected. But the current models, instead of seeing this as the basis for the most incredible growth, actually generate fear and an inability to speak, that defeats the whole purpose of actually learning a language. Students feel trapped rather than liberated. But true education is liberal education, that is to say, education that liberates.

C. The interconnection to curriculum

When looking at one´s learning objectives, one has to consider how the activity, resource or assessment is aligned with the rest of the curriculum in one’s course or program. In doing so, one can certainly take some advice such as that presented in Questions to Consider As You Prepare to Teach Your First Hybrid Course. Among the top considerations when creating a hybrid course one finds, a) instead of rigid unchangeable frameworks, greater flexibility and ample opportunity to find different balances between online and face-to-face activities, and, b) instead of regular forms of assessment and engagement, the creation of innovative formats. Blended learning requires innovation and encourages creativity. But beyond these, for our purposes, the core activities which will be focused on from the previous article include c) an emphasis on active learning and problem solving (see question 4 on assessment below), d) student ownership of own learning(see question 3 on motivation below), and e) a focus on inquiry and dialogue (see question 1 above) (ibid.)

In our specific case, the connection between the given activity and the technology chosen will inevitably have to be guided by the general objectives and goals set out in the broader program itself. In this regard, we indeed have to answer one of the important questions set out in the article, “Ten Questions to consider when redesigning a course for hybrid teaching and learning”, namely: “How will the face-to-face and time out of class components be integrated into a single course? In other words, how will the work done in each component feed back into and support the other?” http://www4.uwm.edu/ltc/hybrid/faculty_resources/questions.cfm

As mentioned, we aim at having a two-pronged approach. Using Zoom we can aim at one-to-one conversations online while using YouTube (or Vimeo or an LMS) we can aim at more pre-recorded material that a given student can view both prior AND after having had the online conversation/class.

To repeat, the first part involves creating a set of more permanent online You-Tube-like lessons geared towards understanding why it is in fact so difficult for some students to speak and listen to English, for instance, by focusing on:

a) pragmatic pronunciation and fluency issues such as the “schwa” and issues such as the difference between “stressed-timed” languages and “syllable-timed” ones, b) the use of specific grammatical areas such as “tag questions” or “phrasal verbs” or “past progressive”, and many others, which students “LEARN”, but cannot actually produce in their communicative interactions, and finally, c) communication-focused topics such as c.1) those used in Business English classes, or c.2) the fundamental communicative functions which are the core topic of what is known as “Survival English”.

This first level actually follows the general curriculum objectives set out by evaluation and assessment standards which we will discuss under question four below. For instance, in the ESL arena, the different learner levels, “Beginners”, “Intermediate”, “Upper-Intermediate”, and “Advanced”, must clearly be separated and lessons planned accordingly and clearly indicated as such. Let us say we create a Screen Flow video on the topic “Tag questions” mentioned previously. This specific topic will follow the general guidelines set out in the benchmarks for language acquisition In this specific case, tag questions are best suited for an “Upper Intermediate¨ student, in spite of their deceiving grammatical simplicity. This is quite surprising and it is part of the issue with having students actually USE tag questions in their day-to-day conversations. Of course, in our particular case, we are fortunate to have taught many years under many changing circumstances so rather than looking up the benchmarks themselves, we can search our own teaching history to readily connect the given topic to the specific point in time generally accepted to be the best for learning it. Experience makes the benchmarks come alive.

Now, in or two-level project, the second part, namely, using Zoom as a technological tool to engage in direct conversations, would be something like actualizing the different parts of the curriculum set out in our first part. For instance, once the students have viewed the online YouTube presentation on “Tag Questions” (which would be unique in itself and NOT merely grammatically-oriented as many are in YouTube), the actual conversation would be focused on slowly guiding the student to USE the tag questions in a specific set of circumstances. As a teacher, you can actually begin by asking the student diverse questions USING tag questions. “You did your homework, didn’t you?”, (etc.). Of course, the specifics of said lesson would be part of a VERY SPECIFIC Lesson plan on tag questions which would be too long to provide here. Let us just say that as we have presented “Tag Questions” many times over the years —and have actually learned OURSELVES why student rarely if ever ACTUALLY use them— then we have ALREADY created a set of exercises for students to SEE why they believe they know tag questions, but cannot actually USE then in spoken English. This should puzzle students and make them wonder critically about HOW they view learning and why they may become frustrated by this limited understanding of what to learn a language means. They should understand, shouldn’t they? LOL

In this away the two-pronged approach will not only activate his learning but ALSO will follow a general curriculum set out previously following ESL language learning guidelines easily available to all teachers online which differentiate between the levels (from Beginners to Advanced) and the kind of OBJECTIVES that should be provided and tackled in each of the four major linguistic skills, be they reading, writing, listening or speaking objectives. Evidently in our case SPEAKING and LISTENING will be the CORE of the interaction.

D. Other benefits and risks

Now, although ZOOM actually is an open-access technology, it can be used not only to connect easily to open public tools such as YouTube and Twitter but also to more complex LMS platforms such as Canvas, Moodle and Blackboard. As we have pointed out many of its benefits above, here I will simply proceed to go through 1) a run-down of its qualities when compared to the top benefits of LMS systems; 2) mention some possible limitations and risks I can foresee; and finally, 3) point to actual physical hardware and software to be used in the project. But given its flexibly, one could say the Zoom is truly HYBRID!

1) Run-down of Zoom’s LMS related qualities

In Top 8 benefits of using Learning Management System “eLearning Industry” points out the actual potential benefits of using an LMS system. Let us look at how Zoom fares with each by simply providing a YES or NO.

TOP BENEFITS	ZOOM
1. Organizes eLearning content in one location.	YES
2. Provides unlimited access to eLearning materials.	NO
3. Easily tracks learner progress and performance.	NO
4. Reduces Learning and Development costs.	YES
5. Reduces Learning and Development time.	YES
6. Keeps organizations up-to-date with compliance regulations.	N/A
7. Quickly and conveniently expands eLearning courses.	YES
8. Integrates social learning experiences.	YES

2) Run-down of some potential limitations and risks to be considered prior to even initiating the project:

Apart from the question of motivation and assessment, which we will treat separately in the next two sections, some of the other risks include:

a) As the aim is to have a 1-to-1 contact (or sometimes a group of maximum 5 students) the sense of a larger community within which one learns a language might be lost. Of course, people learn languages ALSO to meet people, especially here in Toronto which is a multicultural hub for ESL students. This deficiency can be remedied somewhat by pointing out that the student will progress at a much much faster pace than otherwise.

c) Connected to the previous point, given that this is a more individualized approach, then the opportunity for the realistic activation of cultural intelligence is greatly diminished, except for the fact that the teacher knows well, in my case, Canadian Culture. This is certainly a negative. As the culture model puts it:

“Simply connecting students does not guarantee that intercultural understanding will happen. Culture uses a comparative approach and asks students to analyze and compare similar materials from their respective cultures, juxtaposed online. They discuss the materials both in their classroom with their own group, and with their partners via asynchronous forums.” https://fltmag.com/the-cultura-model/

It, therefore, becomes very important to provide such cultural possibilities via added material or providing connections through other platforms that possibility an exchange.

b) As any teacher who has ever taught privately, cancellations are an issue. But a strict cancellation policy can be set in place for situations in which cancellation becomes the norm. However, if one has taught business people (CEOs and such) one has to understand that their schedules are complex and a teacher involved in this project must be aware of this. Not knowing this, will lead to being unprofessional. Also, if the aim s Business English students, then wearing a suit is a must.

c) Although ZOOM provides a specific private ID for the host, it is best not to share it as anyone who knows it will be able to go into any future meeting without having been invited. This is why Zoom generates, instead, random meeting numbers for each new meeting, thus guaranteeing a certain level of privacy and security.

d) Of course, a stable Wi-Fi connection is a must both for the teacher and the student. As this is not provided by an institution such as is the case in many LMS situations, it is up to the teacher and student to assure this. If the student has questions regarding technology a brief meeting can be done where one can explain the details. Fortunately, ZOOM, in particular, is incredibly user-friendly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2pq4I1urXA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onP9J6ruqM8&t=373s

https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us

And finally,

e) Though I myself have been able to engage in different forms of feedback throughout a given course, including anonymous final written assessments and survey s by students (As Davis suggests in https://www.edutopia.org/blog/student-feedback-improves-your-teaching-vicki-davis), still because these are one-on-one interactions, it would be difficult to safeguard anonymity! LOL. But cases such as these, the consequences of bad classes or a bad connection with the learner, is OBVIOUS. Your instruction will come to an end. And this will definitely make you rethink critically the ways to reengage a possible future audience, be it of one student, or more.

E. The Question of Motivation

When discussing the strategies to engage students in online or blended activities/courses, one certainly has to reconsider the motivational elements required for successful interaction. Although there are many fundamental roles a teacher has to play in order to keep motivational levels up, one of the core ones is participation in the online course discussion threads. This is clearly stated in the following article: “When you teach in the classroom, you talk; when you teach online, you participate in threaded discussions. If an instructor is not participating in the threaded discussions, the course becomes a correspondence event rather than an online learning experience.” (my emphasis). https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/instructor-presence-in-the-online-classroom/

The online course can become like a deserted island!

But in our case, given that the focus of our second objective is mostly that of one-to-one interactions, then clearly the motivational sphere involves being able to be a great communicator and presenter as a teacher and as a person. Thus, in the same article, we can read that a great way to keep motivation high is to “use email, Skype, video messages and/or feedback on student submitted assignments for instructor-student communication.”. (Ibid.) In fact, in our case, this is OUR only avenue to engage and motivate! Zoom is the technological means towards that objective.

Therefore, each and every single encounter via Zoom should engage the student in such a way that they wish to come back to the next one! Of course, we cannot go into detail of the essentials involved in creating a great communicator. But unlike many teachers, given our background in the Humanities, we have actually had to study the nature of great communication and the biographies of the most impressive communicators to have lived. For example, few know about Aristotle´s “Rhetoric” and his famous triangle of communication (ethos, pathos, logos). Also, few read great communicators such as Lincoln, and example of which is his famous” Gettysburg Address”. Want to learn from Lincoln? Check the analysis here: “Speech Analysis: Gettysburg Address – Abraham Lincoln”: http://sixminutes.dlugan.com/speech-analysis-gettysburg-address-abraham-lincoln/

As we have taught Business English previously, we have been fortunate to help students understand the value of these types of communication and of these types of leaders. So much so, that as a result of these “communication lessons” to business students, the students became better prepared as engaging speakers in their second language! In the process, we as teachers learned quite a lot as well! We became better communicators, and, hopefully, this will aid us in activating motivational elements all around! Here are some of our students´ presentations from a few years ago, uploaded to the SlideShare website:

https://www.slideshare.net/EAFITBUSINESSENGLISH/presentations

(We ourselves, of course, have multiple PowerPoints/Keynotes on the issue.)

Yet, at a very minimum, the design of the course and the clarity of objectives becomes central so that the student will see the path to follow and can see the goals and the objectives to be met in terms of speaking not only in private but in public. Many YouTubers presenting their English Lessons are extremely good but lack this sense of direction. It is just one video after another, but the linking thread is generally lost.

In our case, our project using the Zoom platform unlike a simple online course, actually involves CONSTANT face-to-face interaction, though of course, via long-distance video. This perhaps may help in alleviating the reasons for boredom and lack of engagement that may occur in some blended or online courses. If your own physical classes show that motivated engagement is the norm, the presenting yourself in the same manner in your online element should produce similar results, if one is aware of the differences in the medium form the very start. Certainly, this being the reason for taking online courses such as this one! A great online example for ESL learning in the fantastic “Learn English with Papa Teach Me”. Everyone learning English should pay him a visit! Funny and effective.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwk6ifONlkvqnoMF2uyA05g

We might disagree with some aspects of his teaching, but he is phenomenal as a communicator for young students.

Be that as it may, the crucial point to put forward to the learner is that of autonomy. In an interesting article on self-determination within language learning, we read:

“In this context, autonomy does not refer to independence but to the desire to have control over one’s own life and to make choices based on personal preferences. In an online course, this means providing students with opportunities to have some control over the learning experience.” http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/online-education/using-self-determination-theory-improve-online-learner-motivation/

Without a doubt, blended and online learning must address the question of the student becoming autonomous. That is to say, the student must begin to learn that she is in charge of, even yet, she is the LEADER of her own learning and self-transformation. For, isn´t that the purpose of education? That we become our own best friends through learning and not great exam takers who do not even know ourselves in the very least? Autonomy means in Ancient Greek —which we have studied quite a bit— “giving yourself your own law”. Cannot go into the details of what THIS means for the ancient Greeks! But certainly, this is a concept for blended learning teachers to address! Does our education make us so? We truly doubt it. In a culture of endless adoration or “teamwork”, rarely do we find individuals who are “their own law”.

Practically speaking, having the student play a role in the decision on the content, the format and the grades can help immensely in actually having the student actually “feel” the reality of this autonomy. For instance, coming to UNDERSTAND that the “exam” IS the conversation, may be life-changing. And she can give herself the grade she believes is the right one. Autonomy. Bet you in does not work for the IELTS, though, or for getting into University. Little to no autonomy.

To repeat what we said in our first assignment; in our case, the many dominant models in the teaching of ESL, coming from the Humanities, leave much to be desired in terms of seeing education holistically, that is to say, beyond simply learning a language. We mean holistically in the Socratic sense of the word, in the sense of a true liberal education that liberates. We do not mean “holistically” in any other sense. But questioning models such as the Communicative Approach has become almost impossible, particularly when its goals are further entrenched through technologies that make it even more unquestionable.

This foundational element of autonomy, essential to online and blended learning, is also emphasized by using the term “Self-Directed Learning” that is to say the “ (willingness and capacity to conduct one’s own education”) https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/how-to-motivate-students-in-the-online-learning-environment/

Little wonder Socrates is all for autonomous learning, rather than simply avoiding autonomy. And consequently, true teamwork is the interaction of profoundly self-determined individuals. We ourselves have autonomously taken multiple online courses at Coursera (Mandarin, our seventh language), at Udemy (Drone photography as we have our own professional photography website), at The Great Courses (On Lincoln, on the Greeks, On Confucius, ….) and others.

(Parenthetically, on a more technical day-to-day level, to keep motivational levels high, Morrison tells us, we can also do so by: 1) Providing timely feedback on assignments. 2) Responding to student questions within 24 hours. 3) Including constructive and personalized feedback on assignments. 4) Crafting a weekly message in the form of a text or video message to post to the course home page. 5) Acknowledging academic challenges, and finally, 6) Commenting strategically within discussion boards – making note of insightful or notable comments made by students. https://onlinelearninginsights.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/how-to-motivate-students-in-the-online-learning-environment/ . But these pale when compared to the goal of autonomy.)

F. The Question of Assessment

When thinking of a plan for evaluating our online activities, I believe first of all we should focus on the different general forms of assessment, be they “formative” or “summative”. In our case, because we are not really interested in developing the student´s skills to pass exams such as the TOEFL or the IELTS, and because our goal is the activation of the student’s speaking abilities, then certainly the aim is one which tilts the balance towards a more formative type of assessment. What we wish is to make the student slowly aware that by learning to enjoy speaking in English she can overcome the different barriers to become more productive. For instance, believing that one needs perfect pronunciation to be able to speak with greater fluency is a HUGE barrier that must be taken down so that greater fluency may be achieved. Of course, dissolving these barriers raises motivation to unheard of levels!

In other words, ours would not generally be “summative assessments”, which are ”are often high stakes, which means that they have a high point value.¨ Rather, our assessments for the most part would be “formative” not only in the sense that they are “low stakes”, but assessments whose aim ”is to monitor student learning to provide ongoing feedback that can be used by instructors to improve their teaching and by students to improve their learning.“

What is the difference between formative and summative assessment? – Carnegie Mellon Australia

By improving the student´s learning capacity, we seek to gain a specific comfort zone and a higher level of self-esteem that will allow the student to produce IN SPITE OF grammatical or pronunciation errors. To correct incessantly when seeking fluency is detrimental to the goal. But teachers with great experience will know which mistakes to point out ONCE THE STUDENT HAS FINISHED speaking, be it through an interview or an online presentation of a given case study. One has had to have seen teachers cutting off students in the middle of a sentence to truly understand. No wonder so many fear speaking English! I mean FEAR, trembling kind of fear.

Still, in this regard, without a doubt the greatest limitation Zoom might have can be seen in the area of assessment. However, taking a step back, this truly depends, as we mentioned, on how one defines assessment, whether it is summative or formative, and other such considerations. On the one hand, as I mentioned, Zoom polls on their own can actually be used as quizzes. But if the project we are defending seeks to assess the actual practical communicative abilities of the students or clients, the by far the RECORDING video and audio options provided within Zoom’s environment are of great importance. Students and teachers will actually be able to record and listen to the recordings once again to point out issues with fluency, grammar, and pronunciation. And as the goal is to SPEAK and PRODUCE, then really the main assessment goals will be covered to a great extent by this feature. Of course, Zoom lacks any rubrics or shared rubrics by a University, but an independent teacher who has a lot of experience can find rubrics online such as, i) the Canadian Benchmarks here:

https://www.language.ca/resourcesexpertise/on-clb/

https://www.canada.ca/content/dam/ircc/migration/ircc/english/pdf/pub/language-benchmarks.pdf

Or, ii) the Level descriptions of the Common European Framework of Reference for … mastery of each skill, which is graded on a six-level scale (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), here:

http://ebcl.eu.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/CEFR-all-scales-and-all-skills.pdf

Or even better, iii) the really good ACTFL redesigned standards consisting of the five C’s: Communications, Cultures, Connections, Comparisons and Communities.(see https://www.actfl.org/sites/default/files/publications/standards/World-ReadinessStandardsforLearningLanguages.pdf )

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G. Other experienced blended-teaching application samples: EF

In terms of my own personal experience, I must say that having worked at EF here in Canada (https://www.ef.com/ca/ilsd/) has allowed me to see the complexity of creating a blended environment for education. Moving from the Cloud to reality is a sobering kind of movement! You can fall flat on your face several times! And I saw EF standing up each time. Impressive.

Among the difficulties I was lucky to be able to witness:

1) the complex move from iPads to Chromebooks as the main “execution technology”, given their cost, availability, simplicity, security, and control. This reveals the difficulty in trying to decide WHAT technology and WHICH devices an institution will use and to which it commits its finances.

2) a similar transformation in terms of the LMS which would be the basis for the interaction with students. Creating EF Class, for instance, radically transformed the way the online portion of the English learning curriculum was actually delivered to students both inside and outside the physical l classroom. It thus generated even more autonomy in learning for those actually interested in taking advantage of these new tools.

2) the lack of understanding of even basic technology by some colleagues, some of whom did not really even know what a “Chromebook” was, not to mention the intricacies of an LMS system or basic HTML coding. I myself requested more visual explanations as I am more of a visual intelligence learner!

3) the difficulty in creating diverse apps for Android and Apple phones and other devices, and more importantly, getting both teachers and students to actually use them.

4) for a larger company, the implementation across diverse cities around the almost simultaneously! In the case of EF, it was amazing to witness this. As I have never been into administration, one cannot but be awed at those who take on these challenges and remains sane in the process! LOL

5) The actual physical implementation of Wi-Fi through the whole school with multiple classrooms unable —or perhaps, even unwilling (!)— to receive the signal!

And even more fundamentally,

5) Coding bugs, and then more coding bugs, and then more software collapses. And then some more. “I cannot log in”, “The page freezes”, “The student cannot see the page”, “Why did they change the password”, “Help”, etc.

As EF is such a huge and serious institution dedicated primarily to education rather than simply the teaching of English, it helps to read their own views on blended learning which emphasizes the 7 advantages to blended learning, namely: 1) Personalization, 2) Increased autonomy, 3) Increased access, 4) Study at your own pace, 5) Increased feedback, 6) Face to face input, 7) Improved learning outcomes. These views can be found here: “What is blended learning?”

https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/teacherzone/what-is-blended-learning/ and

https://www.ef.com/wwen/blog/teacherzone/what-is-blended-learning-2/

(Other specific examples of the use of technology I have been able to witness in the ESL area can be found in the impressive Business English series MARKET LEADER by Pearson. Their “Active Teach” allows for a multiplicity of tools to be used by a teacher by making the text itself interconnected to the web. https://www.pearsonerpi.com/en/elt/block-b/market-leader-intermediate-teachers-book-with-activeteach-824949 I was able to take part in its implementation in some courses taught previously which included the use of extensive Keynote presentations which were uploaded by students to Slideshare. (see: https://www.slideshare.net/EAFITBUSINESSENGLISH?utm_campaign=profiletracking&utm_medium=sssite&utm_source=ssslideview )

H. Disrupting the blended model: The Humanities´ original disruptive essence

Finally, and as a much more PERSONAL concluding note, given that my original background is that of the Humanities —and in particular that of Political Philosophy— it goes without saying that the Humanities have much to add to the discussion, but unfortunately, they are little taken into consideration in the ESL or the blended-learning theories and applications.

a) One such example, of many possible, is the work of Heidegger, known for his famous and difficult text, “The Question Concerning Technology“. It is obvious from reading and listening to all current blended learning models, that there is no real concern for the gravity of Heidegger’s famous findings as regards the nature of technology and the way of learning in the Modern West. https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Heidegger_Martin_The_Question_Concerning_Technology_and_Other_Essays.pdf

One just has to listen to Heidegger’s initial words to see the scope and seriousness of his inquiry:

“In what follows we shall be questioning concerning technology. Questioning builds a way. We would be advised, therefore, above all to pay heed to the way, and not to fix our attention on isolated sentences and topics. The way is a way of thinking. All ways of thinking, more or less perceptibly, lead through language in a manner that is extraordinary. We shall be questioning concerning technology, and in so doing we should like to prepare a free relationship to it. The relationship will be free if it opens our human existence to the essence of technology.” (1; my emphasis) https://monoskop.org/images/4/44/Heidegger_Martin_The_Question_Concerning_Technology_and_Other_Essays.pdf

b) Or take the seemingly unproblematic and pervasive use of the word “differentiation” in all ESL curricula, and beyond. It is a use that assumes this core concept of postmodern thought is without deep problems or even flaws! Yet, I must confess that, for example, I shuddered in disbelief when reading an article that defended “buffet-style learning” because it provided different learning strategies for the different learning styles and multiple intelligences students may possess. As the author writes:

“As a parent/teacher, it is my job to make sure everyone eats/learns enough, and gets what they need. This means filling one daughter’s plate more than the other, and balancing out the meat and veggies. Is it fair that I don’t expect them all to eat the same quantity of the same food? Not only is it fair, it is the only way for everyone to stay sane!” https://fltmag.com/differentiation-accommodations-world-language-classroom/

Unfortunately, this is not the place to indicate the profound problems with this perspective, especially as the author phrases it. You see, for the Greeks, there is feeding the mind and then there is feeding the body. Most Greek thinkers were very clear on the crucial separation between the two. But given the foundation of modern thought, in particular, through the work of Hobbes and Locke, this separation has not only been silenced, but the nature of the body and its necessities has also become paramount. For the most disruptive questioning of this supremely problematic notion of “difference” and its related concepts of “relativism” and “perspectivism” see, Leo Strauss’s article “Relativism”. http://dhspriory.org/kenny/PhilTexts/Strauss/Relativism.pdf

However, in another article that discusses the way to transform digital literacy, we can see more hope in truly going beyond such depressing analogies as that of a “buffet”. As the author puts it, after having mentioned four different critical reflective lenses, namely 1) the autobiography as learning or practice, 2) our learner’s eyes, 3) our colleagues’ experiences, and 4) the theoretical literature, he writes:

“In other words, it is less about tools and more about thinking. This quote from the NMC 2012 Horizon Report on K12 education exemplifies the importance of not only teaching kids how to use technology, but how to think and evaluate.” https://www.learningliftoff.com/transforming-way-learn-digital-literacy-important/#.U8yhVFbVaxx See also, https://www.kent.ac.uk/teaching/documents/academic-practice/New%20to%20teaching%20Staff/Brookfield%20models%20of%20reflective%20practice.pdf

Difference is not the aim. The true aim is understanding by thinking. Perhaps difference may be part of the road, but it certainly is not the end of the road.

And finally,

c) The radical critiques of ideas such as the Modern Western desire for a radical democratization of universal education and all that this implies. With regard to the first issue, one can take a look, for example, at the ingenious and impressive work of De Tocqueville, Democracy in America, a kind of Aristotelian view of modernity. In this regard, it is striking to hear teachers repeat —a bit like parrots—sayings such as “not the sage in the stage, but the guide on the side”, and so many others phrases that reveal a lack of concern for fundamental critiques of educational positions such as these. If you can, please sit down. People like Aristotle still believe in wisdom and sages. One of them was Socrates. In the East, another is Confucius. I myself defended such positions not only in my TESL training but also in my POST-TESL training. It was like speaking an alien language! People love to speak about disruption without really being disrupted. LOL To remedy this situation, perhaps I will be able to create a blended course related to these critiques and authors. Now, THAT would be really and fundamentally disruptive. For wouldn’t it be very odd that the defenders of so-called “difference” really ended up disliking that which is different from what they believe is the so-called “truth”?

For now, let us focus on the two main objectives outlined above in order to see the possibilities of improving production via a blended model in students who might have seen their possibilities for learning a language hampered for diverse reasons.

I. Technology: hardware and software.

And with regards to the specific actually researched physical hardware/software to be used in the project one could provide the following list, many of which can be purchased used for a much more affordable price:

(Links to tutorials and Amazon also provided.)

A great site is: http://c4lpt.co.uk/directory-of-learning-performance-tools/audio-podcast-tools/

a) Video

Logitech 922x (purchased used for a great price)

https://www.amazon.ca/Logitech-Stream-Webcam-Streaming-960-001176/dp/B01LXCDPPK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=logitech+922&qid=1582039096&s=electronics&sr=1-1

Canon t4i and 17-55 f/2.8 lens

b) Audio

Blue Yeti with pop filter (purchased used for a great price)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIBTbRWuNG4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1g4XOp6LgM

BOYA Lavalier mic

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00EPZZS4O/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1