A Theme-based, Blended Learning Approach to Teaching Authentic Readings
Portfolio: A Theme-based, Blended Learning Approach to Teaching Authentic Readings by Jayun Jang 201158037 Department of English Language Teaching Contents Development Hankuk University of Foreign Studies Spring, 2016 Submitted to the graduate faculty of the Graduate School of TESOL in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MA TESOL Acknowledgments I would like to express my warmest gratitude to all those who helped me in the completion of this portfolio My deep gratitude goes first to my advisor Steven Adoranti, who expertly guided me through my graduate school His unwavering enthusiasm kept me constantly engaged with my portfolio Thanks also go to Nan Suk Son, Sumin Lee, Heejung Yoon, Nuri Kim, and Blumengasse for helping me survive all the stress and not letting me give up I owe a deep sense of gratitude to Soon Ok Choi for taking care of my daughters and her constant encouragement to carry out the work successfully Grateful acknowledgement is expressed to my beloved parents, Jai Eun Jang and Yeon Ok Yoo for being my inspirations and motivation to always soar higher I love you the most Thanks for being my mom and dad! My beloved and supportive husband, Johnston Bae who is always my side when times I needed him most and helped me a lot in making this study, and my lovable children, Marie, Helen, and Rose who served as my inspiration to pursue this undertaking Table of Contents ! ! Introduction 1! Teaching Approach 2! 2.1 Theoretical Background 2! 2.2 Teaching Methods 7! Unit Plan 11! 3.1 The Learners 11! 3.2 The Learning Environment 12! 3.3 Unit Goals 14! 3.3.1 Overview 14! 3.3.2 Content Goals 14! 3.3.3 Language goals 14! 3.4 Learning Threads 15! 3.4.1 Overview 15! 3.4.2 Content 16! 3.4.3 Vocabulary 17! 3.4.4 Grammar 18! 3.4.5 Language Skills 19! 3.5 Lesson Plans 20! 3.5.1 Overview 20! 3.5.2 Lesson 21! 3.5.3 Lesson 29! 3.5.4 Lesson 37! 3.5.5 Lesson 45! 3.5.6 Homework 53! 3.6 Assessment 54! 3.6.1 Overview 54! 3.6.2 Unit Achievement Test 55! 3.6.3 Unit Achievement Test Answer Key 58! 3.7 Educational Website Analysis 59! 3.7.1 Educational Website 63! References 64! i 1 Introduction I started using English before I could speak Korean and liked to study English Therefore, I majored in English Language and Literature in my undergraduate degree This was a great experience for me and I decided to pursue English teaching, as a career To follow my goal, I applied to the Graduate Schools of TESOL at HUFS in order to become a better teacher This portfolio represents my experience as a student and reflects my attitude to teaching This portfolio shows what I have found most valuable and worthwhile throughout teaching English Instead of teacher-led lecture class in school, I realized the powerful learning method by cooperative and collaborative group activities and trying to make lessons personal It begins with a teaching approach, describing my theoretical background and methods Furthermore, focuses on theme-based instruction, collaborative and cooperative learning, blended learning, and student-centered classrooms And I created a unit plan to fulfill the idea above The theme of the unit plan is Ocean Pollution It gives opportunities to students to think about the ocean pollution we are confronted with and offers solutions to prevent the disasters we are making With regard to the activity design, students will different types of interactions and be cooperative with a high participate rate Lesson one gets students to think about the importance of the ocean and basic knowledge of the ocean Lesson two helps student to predict the reasons of pollution and what causes human make Lesson three allows students to realize how the pollution affects the global environment and lastly, in lesson four, students come up a solution of ocean pollution and make examples to help revive the ocean’s ecosystem The final part of my portfolio comprises an assessment that measure students’ understanding and an educational website (www.bluebirdvillage.com) that students will access and use throughout the unit My goal as a teacher is to make every student enjoy learning language, build confidence, and gain knowledge I hope my students will feel happy with learning English and become a successful language learner Learning second language is time consuming, frustrating, and difficult but I am sure it is worth it 2 Teaching Approach 2.1 Theoretical Background Constructivism has become one of the biggest influences on language teaching in the last twenty-five years The current interest in constructivism follows a theory that links learning with creating meaning from the leaner’s experience (Duit & Treagust, 1998) In the 1960s, with behaviorist education practice, educators experienced the frustrations, which led to the emergence of constructivism and constructivist ideas In behaviorism, teachers are fully responsible for the leaner’s performance, but this idea started to fade for many reasons such as the complex context of the learning environment and the poor performance from students In contrast to behaviorism, constructivists argue that knowledge is not passively received but built up by the learner (Von Glasersfeld, 1995) For this reason, constructivists switched the priority from knowledge as a product to knowing as a process Constructivism is a learning theory that states that learners construct their own knowledge by themselves There are two main principles to fulfill constructivist pedagogy One is that it should be designed as learner-centered Every educational need must focus on the learners Second is that knowledge can’t be passive; it should contain learner’s experience or background knowledge (Duit & Treagust, 1998) “Social constructivism focuses on an individual’s learning that takes place because of their interactions in a group” (Harder, 2010, p 103) Students bring their rich prior experiences, background knowledge, and principles that they use in constructing new understandings Nowadays, teachers recognize the power of student interactive, collaborative and cooperative class activities in learning For example, classrooms these days are designed to have students work in pairs or partners, as well as to share their opinions in whole class discussion activities Many researchers have shown that social constructivism is an effective means to learn a second language Constructivism is an active process and learning is situated (Merrill, 1992) It emphasizes that instead of passive learning, active learning is effective Piaget (1973) states that expansion of knowledge is the result of individual constructions made by the leaner’s understanding In Korea, Kim (2005) found in his study that academic achievement of students improves in constructivist teaching environments Traditionally in Korean classrooms, students were expected to agree and obey unquestioningly to the teacher However, this view is beginning to change Teachers are starting to believe that their students should participate actively in class, join in interactive language learning tasks and become autonomous learners Autonomy requires responsibility, since being autonomous requires students to account for their actions (Shapiro & Koren, 2007) Littlewood (1999) states that learners should take responsibility for their own learning It is because first, under any circumstance, all learning should deal with the learners themselves, and second it is because even though leaners finish their formal education, they need to develop the ability to continue learning For encouraging learners to improve their achievements and learning processes, it is important that teachers and educators recognize the learning styles and strategies of their learners Lester and Onore (1990) claim that a teacher’s beliefs about teaching and learning affect the learners in these ways Under constructivism, Vygotsky’s concepts of zone of proximal development (ZPD) and scaffolding have influenced how we think about knowledge and how it develops, which has influenced classroom instruction The ZPD is defined as the gap between the actual developmental level and the level of potential development and solving problems with help from an adult or in working together with more capable peers (Vygotsky, 1978) Vygotsky’s theory does not mean that teachers can teach anything to the learner; development is possible only when the instruction and activities that are suitable for the learners are within their zone promote development The teacher must make activities that incorporate what learners know and also what they can learn with the help of more capable peers (Karpov & Haywood, 1998) Teachers should understand students’ current proficiency level and how much they can they acquire If the concepts are too difficult and complex for the students, then they can’t learn them Next, scaffolding, which is directly related to constructivism, is support that helps learners successfully complete a task based on their learning ability For example, when a toddler starts to learn to walk, parents hold their hands for help Then after walking, parents don’t help any more That is an example of scaffolding When no longer needed, it is removed The reason we use scaffolding is because it provides for a supportive learning environment for learners In a scaffold learning environment, students are encouraged to ask questions, provide feedback and support their peers in learning new content This process encourages students to take a more active role in their own learning Students take part in the responsibility of teaching and learning through scaffolds that make them move up in their current knowledge levels Through this interaction, students are able to take ownership of their own learning Burch (2007) did a case study on scaffolding One of the main aims of the study was to examine the achievement of scaffolding to the young learners in literacy learning Another purpose was to recognize the use of scaffolding techniques as young learners extend their knowledge for reading and writing in the classroom setting It was discovered that the implications for instruction and student learning were remarkable Young learners learn written language with their prior knowledge and background and the individuals they encounter “It is this social interaction with adults and peers in writing and reading contexts that provides them opportunities to manipulate and explore language especially print on their own” (Burch, 2007, p 48) Scaffolding allows student to gradually develop their reading and writing skills to become more independent As learners construct their own knowledge, become more and more independent, and self-manage their own learning, their problem-solving skills develop (Clay, 1998) However, it is important that too much support shouldn’t be provided so that students can continue to make decisions for themselves independently and feel confident Next, the noticing hypothesis is relevant in learning language with constructivism Schmidt (2004) introduced the noticing hypothesis and stated, “noticing is the necessary and sufficient condition for the conversion of input to intake for learning” (p 17) The noticing hypothesis is relevant to learning language with textual enhancement because textual enhancement is a technique that makes highlighted aspects of the input more noticeable The important point is that even though the target language is provided, learners are in charge of their own acquisition They are responsible for their own learning To bring learner’s attention, one way to make the context more noticeable is to use textual enhancement Goldschneider and Dekeyser (2005) stated that when the input is made physically noticeable, it attracts more attention from the learner, which will lead to the process of the input becoming easier Teaching techniques such as textual enhancement include bolding, color-coding, underlining, italicizing, capitalizing, and using different font types and sizes to attract more attention from learners (Doughty & Wiliams, 1998) These types of noticing attention will lead to the learners to recognize the target objectives and to process them for more efficient acquisition (Robinson, 1995) Shook (1994) did a case study to investigate the effects of textual enhancement In the study, he found that participants who were exposed to textual enhancement (bold and capital letters) did better than others When learners read an article, and if it includes highlighted target language, students can easily understand that the word is important Even though learners don’t understand what the word or grammar structure is, at least they can notice the linguistic feature Noticing will influence subconsciously as time goes by and the awareness of the target language will be learned However, Schmidt (1994) claims that input alone is not sufficient for language acquisition It is more important for learners’ to have intake out of the offered input Therefore, with textual enhancement, learners must try to understand the linguistic features by themselves and engage with them in a productive way With the new words and grammar from the comprehensible input, learning is reinforced Learners must practice with their peers or groups and recognize how the target language is used Last, in a constructivist classroom, there are many affective factors that need to be accounted for Affective filter was first introduced by Dulay and Burt (1977) and is incorporated into Krashen’s Input Hypothesis (1985) Krashen stated that there are four factors that influence SLA, and that anxiety and motivation are especially important to consider because if learners’ responsibility is high, anxiety influences a lot in language learning Research has shown that anxiety is an important factor in second language learning MacIntyre (1999) states that language anxiety occurs when learners are worried and have negative emotional reactions while acquiring or using the second language Steinberg and Horwitz (1986) found that more anxious students used less explanation in describing unclear tasks compared to less anxious students That is, high-anxious students tended to make less effort to speak about difficult subjects in the target language This shows that anxious students experienced the fundamental problems in learning vocabulary (MacIntyre & Gardner, 1991) Additionally, Gardner, Lalonde, & MacPerson (1987) noticed that anxious students tended to have smaller word production than the less anxious students, and Steinberg and Horwitz (1986) noted that learners’ speech seemed to be less complex Most language learners experience a feeling of anxiety during their L2 study To support the idea, Raisati (2001) researched language-learning anxiety from EFL leaner’s perspective Raisati wanted to know how anxiety influences L2 learners Moreover, he wanted to find out the factors that hinder or negatively affect language learning and reduce anxiety Participants experienced some degree of anxiety and stated that language-learning anxiety posed problems for their performance Raisati mentioned that there are several factors that cause anxiety The biggest anxiety they felt was by the teacher and peer’s negative evaluation When the participants were not ready in advance, during class anxiety was high The important factor from the case study is that learners said that with a little help, the teacher and peers could reduce their anxiety The teacher should make the classroom stress-free as much as possible so that students can learn the material confidently In the article, participants point out that the teacher has an important role in reducing anxiety for the student Teacher should make extra meetings for students so that they will feel more at ease with the teacher, and this will lead to a friendly environment Additionally, teacher should help students to worry less about passing or failing the course In addition to the above factors and due to a variety of elements and materials that teachers can use to create a rich teaching experience, blended learning has become inevitable Blended learning is a type of learning that combines traditional face-to-face teaching with elearning, and which benefits from both methods, making a firmer learning experience (Usta, 2007) Blended learning can reduce learner’s anxiety Liu (2013) indicated that learners liked and preferred using blended learning The reason is that learners can not only build a strong bond within student-student and student-teacher interactions, but also decrease or even remove communication anxiety Online activities help remove anxiety and encourage students to be more self-dependent It provides more productive participation among students in the online environment and also for the in-class activity (Barenfanger, 2005) This could be explained due to the flexible process that blended learning offers It gives students more time to learn with an active environment that provides new experiences, which will eventually decrease students’ level of anxiety and shyness As mentioned above, motivation is one of the most important affective factors in a constructivist environment For several years, motivation has been a hot topic and many researchers have shown that it is an important factor in learner’s successful acquisition in SLA Crookes and Schmidt (1991) define motivation as the learner’s attitude towards the goal of learning SLA Motivation helps learners to expand a positive image, which contributes to increasing learners’ accomplishments Teachers and learners believe the concept in order to clarify what causes success or failure in SLA Gardner and Lambert (1972) emphasize that, although language aptitude is an important factor for individual language learning achievement, motivational factors can override the aptitude effect Without motivation, even individuals with the most outstanding abilities cannot accomplish long-term goals “High motivation can make up for considerable deficiencies both in one’s language aptitude and learning conditions” (Dornyei, 2005, p.65) Kim (2005) found that constructivism have effect upon motivation in learning academic tasks Accomplishing the activities as pairs and groups in the unit plan, it is important to understand that collaborative and cooperative work has significant effects on students Chang (2010) did a study on groups and how it influence individual learner’s motivation The result shows that it is very important because learners can get easily influenced If there are more motivated classmates, leaners who get along with the motivated classmate gain positive influence on their own motivation Members who get along well in the group show a strong connection by sharing ideas with each other, participating group activities, or working easily together On the other hand, learners in a passive group that doesn’t have interest or care for each other could reduce motivation How language learners acquire a second language is the main focus in SLA research Among many theories mentioned above, constructivism, noticing hypothesis, blended learning, and affective factors have a significant influence in acquisition and the way language is taught Knowledge is constructed when learners things for themselves (i.e., constructivism) and when it is recognized (i.e., noticing) and integrated with LMS (i.e., blended learning) it will reduce anxiety (i.e., affective factor) and increase learners’ motivation (i.e., affective factor) 2.2 Teaching Methods Each teacher has his or her own way of teaching a second language The teaching style must match the student’s needs and it should be properly adjusted in the lesson schedule All four language skills are used throughout unit However, students who I am teaching want to especially focus in reading therefore it is mostly emphasized With this information, I adopted cooperative and collaborative learning, theme-based instruction and blended learning in the unit theme Ocean Pollution 53 3.5.6 Homework Opinions vary on whether or not homework has positive effects on achievement (Cooper 2006) Based on this belief, students are requested to listen to a short video that they will learn before class and answer the following questions It will extend students’ learning by adding new information to discuss in class After they learn the lesson, students must after class activity By doing the activity, students can recall what they have learned and have their own pace of remembering the new vocabulary In each lesson, one activity is required before class For the pre-class activity, students must watch a short video and answer 4-5 questions The length of the video is about minutes giving background knowledge of the lesson Because of their different understanding pace, students can take time to understand the video They can go over as much as they want and if they wish, students can search on the Internet to get extra information The post-class activity is uploading vocabulary in the “glossary” Students must add 3-4 words after each lesson The reason no words are duplicated is because this unit is designed to have a thick and rich list of vocabulary Students can always go back and check their understanding and also see the list of words when they add new entry Making “dictionary” will allow students to work collaboratively and cooperatively There is no additional homework besides the pre-class and post-class activities using the website Students are overloaded enough with other homework and have no extra time to it, so, this class provides minimal assignment Additionally, homework has no grades Students will get pass and no-pass for their homework Like mentioning before, one of the best ways to reduce anxiety and make higher motivation is to make homework less stressful 54 3.6 Assessment 3.6.1 Overview From the achievement test, it is easily to check student’s progress and accomplishment Not only students can get feedback from the teacher but also students can check their weakness as well As, the achievement test, teachers can show it to the parents too Students who I am teaching and their parent want to have a clear grade for their test The total score for the test is 100, and each point per question that students achieve is written on each question In the case of short-answer and discourse completion questions, partial score is allowed Table # Rubric for question # 9, 10, 11 only Content Vocabulary Grammatical structures Excellent 28-30 points able to present own opinions with ample reasons in detail and in an organized manner with confidence able to easily use a variety of verbs, adjectives, nouns, and collocations in several contexts able to elaborate sentences using proper conjunctions, relative pronouns with confidence, or sequential markers with ease Good 25-27 points Satisfactory 22-24 points Dissatisfactory 0-19 points able to present own opinions with proper reasons in detail and in an organized manner able to adequately present own opinions with proper reasons in an organized manner unable to present own opinions with proper reasons able to use a variety of verbs, adjectives, nouns, and collocations with occasional mistakes able to elaborate sentences using proper conjunctions, relative pronouns, or sequential markers with occasional mistakes able to adequately use a variety of verbs, adjectives, nouns, and collocations unable to use a variety of verbs, adjectives nouns, and collocations able to adequately elaborate sentences using proper conjunctions, relative pronouns, or sequential makers; unable to elaborate sentences using proper conjunctions, relative pronouns or sequential markers; 55 3.6.2 Unit Achievement Test The ocean pollution is important to all lives on the Earth Because… (5) a Ocean is one of the most beautiful parts on the planet b Animals cannot live without sea salt c Creature cannot live without fresh air and water d Ocean makes most carbon dioxide by storming Why are the oil spills seriously harmful to the ocean? (5) a Oils on the ocean surface not dissolve, it stays on water b Oils suffocate birds and seals c Sticky oil makes fish blind and not be able to swim in right way d Oil also gets caught in the throat of sea birds Thus birds cannot swell prey We learned how used water could be harmful to the ocean Considering the context, select proper word in those below sentences about wastewater (Each 5) In [a Developed countries / Developing countries] this wastewater [b is stored / is treated], cleaned and [c dumping into / dumped into] the sea or river Even 20 though they [d dump /are treated], they are never the same as fresh water Considering the food chain, choose the suitable word from vocabulary box to use in the blank below (Each 5) [a ] can have an adverse effect on the food And we eat the food Heavy metals and other [b. ] can accumulate in seafood and make it [c. _] to eat Some of environmental organizations monitor this contamination and also [d. _] seafood safety tips pollution Helpful contaminants harmful Fishing provide plants eat shrimp solve environmental grow 20 56 How can rubbish pollute the Ocean? (5) a All types of rubbish are decomposed too fast to clean up b Since paper is consisting of torn trees, ocean cannot purify pieces of trees c Animals cannot live in the water contaminated by the rubbish d Oxygen reduces by decomposing rubbish in the water Read the flowing statements and rewrite them using relative pronoun ‘which’ (5) We can think about the oil spill Oil spill has been one of the biggest causes of the ocean pollution !!!!⇒ _ which _ Why oxygen levels are important to the ocean? (5) a When carbon dioxide levels go up, the number of marine animals decreases b When oxygen levels go down, it is difficult for the marine animals to survive c Oxygen level means the poison level of industrial and agricultural wastes d High oxygen level can decompose oils on the ocean Read the flowing statements and rewrite them as conditionals (5) As birds can move and fly well, their hunting and feeding children is not difficult !!!!!!!⇒ If birds cannot _, will _ How many items from the ocean you have? Look around you and find items! Collecting items from the ocean, write the reason why your item is related with the ocean Give examples (10) Ex) Coins: metals are founded from underground in the ocean !!!!!!! ! \ 10 57 10 Why is it so serious to us if the ocean is polluted? Write more than examples (10) 10 11 Write about three things you can personally to save the ocean (10) 10 Total score : 100 58 3.6.3 Unit Achievement Test Answer Key c Every creatures cannot live without fresh air and water a Oils on the ocean surface not dissolve, it stays on the water In [a Developed countries / Developing countries] this wastewater [b is stored / is treated], cleaned and [c dumping into / dumped into] the sea or river Even though they [d dump /are treated], they are never the same as fresh water a Pollution / b contaminants / c harmful / d provide d Oxygen reduces by decomposing rubbish in the water We can think about the oil spill, which has been one of the biggest causes of the ocean pollution b When oxygen levels go down, it is difficult for the marine animals to survive If they cannot move well, their hunting and feeding children will be much difficult Various answers are possible with proper connection to the ocean Ex) Tuna Can: Tuna is from the ocean and with tuna we can have tuna sandwich Vitamin: Many vitamin ingredients are from the ocean Diamond: To propose! 10 It is serious because if the ocean is polluted local marine are extremely harmed - Oil doesn’t dissolve and it stays on the water surface and suffocates fish - Oil spill gets on the gills and feathers to animals and it makes them difficult to fly - Oxygen levels go down - Harm the food chain and this affect human as we eat fish - Changes the sound of the waves 11 One of the main ways to reduce marine pollution is - When we throw rubbish, we have to get rid of it carefully - Plant trees - Recycle Reuse Reduce - Save water Fresh and clean water is precious Don’t waste it - Carry a reusable shopping bag instead of plastic bags 59 3.7 Educational Website Analysis The spread of social media and technology has changed the way teachers and students communicate The learning environment is no longer limited to traditional classrooms Using the Internet, students can get more opportunities to interact with their peers and teacher Therefore, I strongly believe that blended learning can open up a new learning system Blended learning is an essential program in which a student learns at least in part through online learning, with some element of student control (Horn & Staker, 2013) There are many advantages using blended learning First, learner’s academic progress is closely monitored so that it is very personal Second, learner has the opportunity to learn in his or her pace and receive credit through assessment Third, learner must take responsibility for his or her own learning Last, learner has a closer relationship with the teacher or groups and this will gain a greater understanding or individual needs To adopt blended learning in the unit plan, it should be wisely decided Blended learning is a combination of different learning techniques To make blended effective, it must be well designed so that which content must be learning during class and which might be better suite as digital content Moreover, the online activity and in-class activity should overlap The online activity should be obviously connected to the in-class content In my unit plan Ocean Pollution; blended learning is implemented well, as shown in Figure in-class • Build background knowledge from the video in a lesson acitivty • Optional PDF reading online before class • Study vocabulary from the video • Reorder reading article • Share opinions within their groups • Practice vocabulary from the online before class and inclass activities in the glossary activity • Optional PDF reading online after class Figure 5: Structure of blended learning in the Ocean Pollution unit plan 60 As a online pre-class activity, technological modules such as Lesson and PDF file can allow students to study and understand the lesson before class at their own pace Each lesson in this unit plan contains a lesson activity With the same learning flow, students understand they have to “Intro” Figure 6: Lesson sector at the beginning Under “Intro”, students watch a short video and answer the following questions To make the lessons consistent, each video last about minutes and have 4-5 questions When learners answer the questions, if they get a wrong answer, they can’t move to the next page Learners have to watch the video again and get the correct answer At the end, if wanted, students can check how many answers they got correct at the first time Additionally, learners will feel confident when they get the correct answer at once From the short video, students can grasp the background knowledge and guess the lesson topic before coming to class Furthermore, students can study in their own paces Without the time limitation, students can reduce anxiety and build a higher motivation It will also build students’ confidence in them as online and independent learners Additionally, students can go back to the preonline activity after they learn from class If students had difficulty when they were listening at first, with extra help in class, students can understand better Figure 7: Extra information reading material 61 Another helpful online pre-class activity or online postclass acitivty is using PDF file (see Figure 7) Students can get text resources for extra understanding Teachers can add materials or contexts that can’t teach during class because of the time issue With the context, students are provided with an overview of what they will in class Because it is posted online, students can refer back to it Figure 8: “dictionary” glossary activity anytime they want For the online post-class activity, it is designed for collaborate group project using glossary activity (see Figure 8) Through the glossary, each student will add new words that they have learned in class or before online class Students can see glossary in the class website for each lesson Each student must add 3-4 words after the lesson The words can’t be duplicated It must be new words At the end of the unit, it will be the class “dictionary” Students can go through the glossary whenever they want They can go through before they start a new lesson or review for a perfect understanding after the class Glossary is very important because it offers a learner-centered pedagogy Students are in charge of their studies and responsible for their work As it is a group project, students will work together It will increase the understanding of content and provides greater motivation to stay on task Blended learning is about finding better ways of supporting students in achieving the learning objectives and providing them with the best possible learning and teaching experiences (Bath & Bourke, 2010) Teacher should be aware of several important parts before applying online tasks to make the use of educational website successful One caution is that students may not be familiar with using educational websites Therefore, I designed the website simple and easy to start Another thing will be that some students might ignore the website and think it isn’t useful To make the website beneficial, all on-line work must be mentioned and learned in class Last is the lack of support Students can be lost or need help 62 when they are working by themselves In order to avoid the problem, all techniques must be simple and the instructions must be clear With the consistency of the lesson designed, throughout the unit plan, students will easily understand after the first lesson Plus, there are clear instructions on each activity with an example Students can follow the direction and complete the task Students are willing to learn differently these days Teachers must understand what students want and how they want to be learned Educational website proves to be a successful key in converting the traditional class Teachers must fully use the advantageous aspects of the technical modules and overcome the limitations 63 3.7.1 Educational Website 64 References American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (2012) Retrieved from http://www.actfl.org/publications/guidelines-and-manuals/actfl-proficiency-guidelines-2012 Anjum, A V S., & Ghouri, A M (2012) Social media marketing: A paradigm shift in business International Journal of Economics Business and Management Studies, 1(3), 96-103 Barenfanger, O (2005) Learning management: A new approach to structuring hybrid learning arrangements Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 2(2), 1435 Bath, D., & Bourke, J (2010) Getting started with blended learning Australia: Griffith Institute for Higher Education Bismoko, J., & Nation, I S P (1974) English reading speed and the mother-tongue or national language RELC Journal, 5(1), 86–89 Bonk, C.J (2002) Future trends of collaborative tools Indianapolis: Pearson Education Brinton, D M., Snow, M A., & Wesche, M B (1989) Content-based Second Language Instruction Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers Brown, H D (2001) Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (second edition) New York: Longman Burch, P (2007) Educational policy and practice from the perspective of institutional theory: Crafting a wider lens Educational Researcher, 36(2), 84-95 Chang, M J., Sharkness, J., Newman, C., & Hurtado, S (2010) What matters in college for retaining aspiring scientists and engineers Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Denver, CO Christensen, C M., Horn, M B., & Staker, H (2013) Is K-12 Blended learning disruptive An introduction to the theory of hybrids Clay, M M (1998) Becoming literate: The construction of inner control Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann Cooper, H (2006) Does homework improve academic achievement? A synthesis of research, 1987-2003 Review of Educational Research, 76(1), 1-62 Crookes, G., & Schmidt, R W (1991) Motivation: Reopening the research agenda Language learning, 41(4), 469-512 65 Doughty, C., & Williams, J (1998) Focus on form in classroom second language acquisition Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Duit, R & Treagust, D F (1998) Learning in science- from behaviourism towards social constructivism and beyond In B Fraser and K Tobin (Eds.), International Handbook of Science Education, Part (pp 3-25) Dordrecht, The Netherlands: Kluwer Dulay, H C & Burt, M K (1977) Remarks on creativity in language acquisition In Burt,M., Dulay, H., and Finocchiaro, M., Viewpoints on English as a second language New York: Regents Gardner, R C., and Lambert, W.E (1972) Attitude and motivation in second language learning Rowley, Massachusetts: Newbury House Publishers Gardner, R C., Lalonde, R N & MacPherson, J (1985) Social factors in second language attrition Language Learning 35(4): 519-540 Glasersfeld, E (1995) Radical constructivism: A way of knowing and learning Washington, DC: The Falmer Press Goldschneider, J M., & Dekeyser, R M (2005) Explaining the “natural order of L2 morpheme acquisition” in English: A meta-analysis of multiple determinants Language Learning, 55, 27-77 Guariento, W., & Morley, J (2001) Text and task authenticity in the EFL classroom ELT Journal, 55(4), 347–353 Hickey, B M (1993) Physical Oceanography Pages 19-70 in M.D Dailey, D.J Reish and J.W Anderson (eds), Ecology of the Southern California Bight University of California Press, Berkeley, California Johnson, D.W., & Johnson, R (1994) Leading the cooperative school (2nd ed.) Edina, MN: Interaction Book Co Karpov, Y., & Haywood, C (1998) Two ways to elaborate Vygotsky’s concept of mediation: Implications for instruction American Psychologist, 53(1), 27-36 Kim, C Y., & Blake, R (2005) Psychophysical magic: rendering the visible invisible Trends in Cognitive Sciences (8):381-388 Krashen, S (1985), The Input Hypothesis : Issues and Implications, NewYork: Longman Lester, N., & Onore, C (1990) Learning Change: One School District Meets Language Across the Curriculum, Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook-Heinemann Littlewood, J E (1982) Collected Papers of J.E Littlewood, vol Oxford University Press, Oxford 66 Littlewood, W (1999) Defining and developing autonomy in East Asian contexts Applied Linguistics, 20(1),71-94 Liu, M (2013) Blended Learning in a University EFL Writing Course: Description and Evaluation Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 4(2), 301-309 Long, M., & Richards, J (1987) Methodology in TESOL, Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers Lúðvíksdóttir, H J (2011) Topic-based instruction in the EFL classroom Topic-based lesson ideas for teaching students at the lower secondary level Háskóla Íslands: Kennaradeild MacIntyre, P D (1999) “Language Anxiety: A Review of Literature for Language Teachers” In D J Young (Ed.), Affect In Foreign Language and Second Language Learning (pp 24-43) New York: Mc Graw Hill Companies MacIntyre, P D., & Gardner, R C (1991) Methods and results in the study of anxiety and language learning: A review of the literature Language Learning 41, 1, 85-117 Merrill, L (1992) A pot of paint:Aesthetics on trial in Whistler v Ruskin Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press Piaget, J (1973) To Understand is to invent: he future of education New York: Grossman Publishers Robinson, P (1995) Attention, Memory, and the Noticing Hypothesis Language Learning, 45, 283-331 Robinson, P (1995) Aptitude, awareness, and the fundamental similarly of implicit and explicit second language learning In R Schmidt (Ed.), Attention and awareness in foreign language learning (pp 303-357) Honolulu, HI: University of Hawaii, Second Language Teaching & Curriculum Center Rogers, A R 1988 Does Biology Constrain Culture? American Anthropologist 90(4):819– 831 Schmidt, R W (1994) Implicit learning and the cognitive unconscious: Of artificial grammars and SLA In N Ellis(Ed.), Implicit and explicit learning of languages London: Academic Press Shapiro, M (2007) The triple helix paradigm in Korea: A test for new forms of capital International Journal of Technology Management & Sustainable Development, 6(3), 171-191 67 Sharwood-Smith, M (1991) Speaking to many minds: On the relevance of different types of language information for the L2 learner Second Language Research, 7(2), 118-132 Shook, D J (1994) FL/L2 reading, grammatical information, and the input-to-intake phenomenon Applied Language Learning, (1), 57-93 Steinberg, F S., & Horwitz, E K (1986) The effect of induced anxiety on the denotative and interpretative content of the second language speech TESOL Quarterly, 20(1), 131-136 Usta, E (2007) Blended Learning and Online Learning Environments: The Effect of Academic Success and satisfaction Unpublished Doctorate Dissertation.Ankara: Gazi University Graduate School of Eigitim Vygotsky, L S (1978) Interaction between learning and development From: Mind and Society (pp 79-91) Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press Williams, N.A., Bland, W., & Christie, G (2008) Improving student achievement and satisfaction by adopting a blended learning approach to inorganic chemistry Chemistry Education Research and Practice, 9, 43-50 Yorks, P., & Follo, E (1993) Engagement rates during thematic and traditional instruction ERIC Document Reproduction Service ... influences a lot in language learning Research has shown that anxiety is an important factor in second language learning MacIntyre (1999) states that language anxiety occurs when learners are worried and... mountain range on Earth? It spreads from Iceland to Antarctica beneath the Atlantic The Indian Ocean is located between Africa and Austral-Asia The waters of the Indian Ocean provide the largest... cooperative and collaborative learning, theme- based instruction and blended learning in the unit theme Ocean Pollution 8 Cooperative learning is a teaching method that connects with the ideas of