High Leverage Online/Blended Teaching Practices for Language Learning

Teaching and learning languages online (fully online or with any online component) is a unique endeavor for many reasons including: 

  • Language courses require reading, writing, speaking, and listening, in contrast to other courses which can rely more heavily on reading and writing. 

  • Language courses require more interaction (student-student, student-instructor) than typical courses to ensure the adequate practice and feedback needed to learn a language.

  • Language learning includes cultural learning. 

  • Language learning entails risk taking and ambiguity, which requires trust in a class’s sense of community. 

These qualities require particular considerations in online/blended language learning course design and implementation, including additional and different technological tools, activities, and participation structures. 

Below, you’ll find research-driven high-leverage practices for teaching languages online, organized into several categories: Designing & Structuring The Course; Supporting Learner Motivation & Autonomy; Building Community Engagement. 

Designing and Structuring The Course

The first section focuses on successfully designing an online or blended course, not as a reproduction of an in-person course online, but as a rethinking of its structures in light of the unique affordances and the potential drawbacks of online learning.

Hallmarks of Communication-Focused Pedagogy

High quality online and blended language learning course design is anchored in practices that will be familiar to many language instructors, as they are central to best practices in applied language studies and world language education methodology. For example: 

  • Focusing on meaning over form

  • Using grammar drills sparingly and with intention 

  • Using authentic texts 

  • Prioritizing student-student and student-instructor interactions 

  • Prioritizing immediate, continuous feedback focused on product and process

    These practices become even more important in online and blended learning.  It can be easy to default to a focus on grammar and grammar exercises in an online environment or course component, especially given that many readily available technologies (e.g., automatically graded quizzes, written text submissions) are easy to integrate into an LMS platform. It remains essential—but requires a little extra coordination and thought—to work interaction into online or blended learning environments. 

Backwards Design

An important first step in designing an online or blended learning course is a return to learning objectives: what learning outcomes related to listening, speaking, reading, writing and cultural competence should students achieve by the end of the class? 

With these end results in mind, both activity creation and technology tool selection should be tailored in relation to these objectives. In other words, which learning materials and activities will support students in achieving the targeted objectives? What available tools, both digital and non-digital, will best facilitate these activities and objectives?

Example from a first semester language class

Sample course objectives related to speaking:

  • Greet and take leave appropriately in formal and informal contexts

  • Ask and answer basic information questions about you, your friends and family

  • Talk about yourself, your family, activities and classes, your possessions, your house and town, your likes and dislikes

Sample unit objectives :

  • Answer basic questions about likes/dislikes

  • Ask basic questions about likes/dislikes

Sample learning activities (+ tools to facilitate learning activities):

  • Asynchronous student-student interviews (+Padlet)

  • Synchronous student-student dialogue (+Zoom breakout room)

Managing Student Expectations

Help students to understand what online/blended language learning entails from the beginning. Online/blended class formats require more student autonomy and discipline, as more components of the course are completed independently. Setting these expectations early can be helpful, such as during the Start Here! or course introduction. See the section Learner Autonomy and Motivation for specific practices to support students in developing their own autonomy. 

Increased Teacher Presence Online 

In online and blended language learning courses, it can be easy for the instructor to fade into the background. However, as seasoned instructors know (and as research studies have shown), an accessible and present instructor is essential to an effective language class. 

In practice and in relation to online/blended language course design, there are multiple ways to increase instructor presence online. For example, instructors can participate in online discussions, rather than just assigning them. Participation doesn’t mean responding to every student’s comment (this can mute student-student interaction) but asking for clarification, elaborations, or making connections to past or future modules. 

Additional ideas for maintaining a strong online instructor presence include: 

  • Creating social discussion threads or boards (e.g., posting relevant or humorous social media posts, target language movies/TV)

  • Encouraging students to reach out to you via email with questions

  • Hosting multiple office hours throughout the week, scheduled at different times (to accommodate different schedules)

  • Requiring that all students meet with you one-on-one once in the first few weeks of the semester

Start Here! The Importance Of A Course Introduction 

Even more so than in regular online or blended courses, it’s vital to include a robust introduction to your online/blended language learning class. These course introductions serve multiple roles, including 

  • Reviewing goals of the course

  • Setting expectations for the course (how much time will be required, how much work will be independent)

  • Providing a virtual tour of the online learning platform (e.g., how to access learning materials, how to turn things in)

  • Laying out the structure of the course (types of activities, major grade categories) 

  • Introducing the technological tools that will be used in the course

  • Building community among students and with the instructor

Supporting Learner Motivation & Autonomy 

The section below focuses on strategies to support learner motivation and autonomy.

Managing Student Expectations

An important initial step in any blended/online course is setting expectations for students regarding the structure and workload of the course. Indeed, an important factor in student satisfaction with online or blended courses is realistic expectations of the workload. Setting expectations in this realm includes:

  • How many hours students can expect to work outside any synchronous class components

  • How many hours students can expect to dedicate to the class total

  • What kinds of tasks students will be asked to take on, with and without instructor or fellow student support 

  • How students can contact you,  your availability in office hours and working hours and when students can expect to hear back from you in terms of email responses and grading turnaround 

  • How and how much they’re expected to interact with their fellow classmates and their instructor; it can also be helpful here to underline why this is important as far as opportunities for interaction and building classroom community 

Supporting Student Independence

Students who enroll in your blended/online language class will have varying degrees of experience, especially with regard to learning a language in this format. It’s therefore important to show students how to be successful at learning in a blended or online environment and to develop their autonomy–-that is, their ability to take responsibility for their learning in the online/blended context. 

Here are some specific ideas to develop students’ autonomy:

  • Involve students in goal setting for each lesson, unit, or class

  • Distribute short surveys at the end of lessons or units that encourage students to reflect on what is going well and what could be improved in relation to meeting deadlines, student-student interaction and achieving their own language learning goals

  • Ensure clarity of workflows and deadlines in the syllabus (see Managing Student Expectations for more)

Building A Classroom Community 

Students in language learning courses benefit immensely from a classroom community. This community component is just as important in blended/online learning environments but can require additional thought to execute. Ways to build a strong classroom community include promoting student-student interaction, increasing instructor presence online, and managing student expectations. 

Promoting Student-Student Interaction

With fewer or no opportunities to interact with their peers face-to-face, students in blended/online language learning environments need additional opportunities to engage with each other. This not only builds classroom community but also supports the ongoing practice required of all language learning courses. 

Student-student interaction in blended/online learning can take many forms, including: 

  • Assigning students to small groups (“peer or study groups”) which, with appropriate scaffolding, they can rely on for questions, study partners, etc.

  • Using breakout rooms in synchronous meetings (ideally with less than 4 students)

  • Assigning asynchronous partner or group activities 

  • Encouraging student-student responses on all discussion boards, including any “Questions” boards

  • Beginning the course with a focus on cultivating classroom community and student-student interaction by asking students to write a personal bio or share a personal story or photo and comment on each other’s posts

Increased Teacher Presence Online

As discussed above, in online and blended language learning courses it can be easy for an  instructor to fade into the background. However, as seasoned instructors know (and as research studies have shown), an accessible and present instructor is essential to an effective language class. 

In practice and in relation to online/blended language course design, there are multiple ways to increase instructor presence online. For example, instructors can participate in online discussions, rather than just assigning them. Participation doesn’t mean responding to every student’s comment (this can mute student-student interaction) but asking for clarification, extensions, etc. 

Additional ideas for maintaining a strong online instructor presence include: 

  • Creating social discussion threads or boards (e.g., posting relevant or humorous social media posts, target language movies/TV)

  • Encouraging students to reach out to you via email with questions

  • Hosting multiple office hours throughout the week, scheduled at different times (to accommodate different schedules)

  • Requiring that all students meet with you once in the first few weeks of the semester