A Study On The Teaching Effect Of Blended Teaching Method In A MOOCs-supported Course Of English For Academic Communication

Blended teaching integrates online components into a traditional classroom,forming a blended teaching and learning context which can solve some of the shortcomings brought by standalone online learning or entirely traditional teaching(Yousef et al.,2015).Previous studies have explored the blended teaching method extensively from different aspects,such as course design,instructional strategies and teaching assessment.In recent years,English for academic communication has gradually become the teaching focus in higher education.However,few scholars have discussed whether the blended teaching method is effective in the course of English for academic communication.In light of this,adopting the quantitative and qualitative methods,the study investigated the teaching effect of blended teaching method based on MOOCs in the course of English for academic communication from aspects of students' academic performance,satisfaction and the instructor's reflection.The study was conducted in a key university of science and technology.One teacher used different teaching methods to teach English for academic communication for two intact classes in one semester.The blended-teaching class consisted of 22 students and the traditional-teaching class consisted of 27 students.In addition to comparing students' academic performance of the two classes,questionnaires and interviews were used to investigate students' satisfaction about the teaching methods.Besides,the teacher who taught the two classes in the study was interviewed to reflect on the use of blended teaching in the course of English for academic communication.The study aims to address the following questions:1)Is there a significant difference between the blended teaching method and the traditional teaching method in terms of students' academic performance?2)Is there a significant difference between the blended teaching method and the traditional teaching method in terms of students' satisfaction?3)How does the instructor reflect on the use of blended teaching in the course of English for academic communication?The results show that: 1)there was no significant difference between the blended teaching method and the traditional teaching method in terms of students' academic performance;2)students who were taught in the traditional teaching method were more satisfied than those who were taught in the blended teaching method;3)blended teaching method extended classroom teaching,increased students' engagement and created a more comprehensive assessment mechanism.However,the variances between the online and offline teaching schedules and the uncontrollability of the blended effect made it more difficult for teachers' work,setting higher requirements for future teaching.The results of the study proved that blended teaching could cater to what Jean Piaget's personal constructivism underlined: knowledge of active-construction,students' active participation and interaction.It could extend traditional classroom teaching space and create a more comprehensive assessment mechanism.However,students' learning results of blended class in the study seemed not to be significantly better than that of the traditional class.On one hand,students' independent online learning of the blended appeared to be closely related to their self-discipline and self-motivation.Besides,it usually varied between the online and offline teaching schedules Therefore,the blended effect of the online learning and the offline instruction was sometimes uncontrollable.On the other hand,teachers' workload in the blended teaching environment of the study was actually increased and higher requirements for future teaching might be made.Therefore,it is possibly better for future teachers who are going to use a blended teaching method in their fields to carry out a systematic teaching design and management for the online learning and the offline instruction.Meanwhile,it seems to be essential to conduct an efficient way of supervision and guidance on students' independent online learning.Otherwise,it may be easy to result in a simple repetition rather than an organic integration.