What Can a Blended Language Course Bring to Intermediate Students in French?

Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Claire Bossavit, Department of French

Project team: Cosme Fandy, Sasan Ebrahimi, Annie Slizac, Lara Tiu, and Doris Hong Ji Yuen, research assistants

Timeframe: January 2018 to February 2020

Funding: $6000

Courses addressed:

• FREN 210 – French Intermediate I
• FREN 211 – French Intermediate II

Final report: View Claire Bossavit's final report (PDF)

Description: I would like to know how students learn French through a blended delivery course (50% in class – 50 % online) compared to a 100% face to face course.

Questions addressed:

• Who is more likely to choose, enjoy and benefit from the blended course compared to the face-to-face version?
• What is the impact on the acquisition of the different language skills (listening, speaking, writing, reading) in the blended course compared to the face-to-face version?
• How do students of the blended course perceive their learning experience?
• Is the blended course more or less beneficial for some skills than others? How does it compare with the regular course?
• Which tools and materials are more useful to students for the online portion of the blended course?

Knowledge sharing: I have shared my findings during informal conversations with my colleagues all along the project and we are now discussing the future of the blended sections as well as other blended courses in the Department.

I am also planning to send a proposal for a formal presentation at events gathering language teachers such as the next SCOLA meeting and Languages without borders from CASLT.

Keywords: language learning, language teaching, French, blended design, blended learning, online