Blended learning and the language teacher: a literature review

Abstract

An innovative idea which is increasingly gaining attention is the infusion of technology into face-to-face language curricular programs.Nonetheless, although “the approach of blending Computer-assisted Language Learning (CALL) applications with face-to-face teaching andlearning is as old as CALL itself” (Neumeier, 2005, p. 163), CALL as a field still lacks qualitative research on blended learning. There is insufficientinformation about teachers’ perceptions and the roles they play in these mixed environments, and without an understanding of these features,it is difficult to create new and effective models (Grgurovic, 2010). Research has been conducted comparing learning outcomes in traditionaland blended foreign language classes, yet the various sociocultural (external) and psychological (internal) aspects that mediate teachers’and learners’ transition from face-to-face to online learning, seem to go unexamined (White, 2006). Throughout this paper, therefore, I reviewliterature on the infusion of technology into the curriculum, specifically in relation to blended learning, so as to a) illustrate teachers’ viewsabout blended leaning and their transition from face-to-face to blended/online instruction; and b) discuss ways in which future research mightprovide an alternative understanding of how language teachers manage the new-work order established by the online learning componentpresent in blended programs.