Blended Learning for Teaching Professionally Oriented Foreign and Native Languages

Abstract

The work represents a new approach to the technology of blended learning. This new vision was developed during the period of online education in 2020-2021. The research shows relevance in the framework of developing high efficiency of professionally-oriented language education. Blended learning is an educational technology that has been theoretically developed in various countries over the past decades. Blended learning was and still is mostly understood as a combination of offline and online education as delivery methods; at present, such training involves a flexible combination of formats, in different proportions. The aim of the rese4arch is combining different types of delivery methods, pedagogical strategies, and tactics according to the needs of a particular student or a group of students. In Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University), we provide teaching of both foreign and native professionally-oriented languages. In the situation of the COVID-19 Pandemic, we started to use new approaches to education. One of the ideas was to use a blended learning technique mixing two language disciplines. This approach turned out to improve the efficiency of the teaching process in unprecedented conditions due to the inclusion of all the skills and systems of languages. We developed general speech culture, intuitive linguistic flair, enlarged students’ active vocabulary, improved soft skills (flexible skills) of a non-linguistic type, which include critical thinking, teamwork, and creativity. The main task of developing and introducing this new approach was the provision of efficiency of teaching professionally-oriented language skills.