Blended Language Classes

Grant program: Teaching and Learning Development Grant (TLDG)

Grant recipient: Billie Ng, Department of World Languages and Literatures

Project team: Sally Huang, research assistant

Timeframe: September 2016 to August 2017

Funding: $5,000

Course addressed: CHIN 100 – Mandarin Chinese

Final report: View Billie Ng's final report (PDF)

Description: I would like to redesign CHIN 100 Mandarin Chinese into a blended course and to investigate if this approach is better for students learning Mandarin Chinese.

Questions addressed:

• Do students access online resources posted by instructor for the course?  How often?
• Is there more independent learning? Are students acquiring information from additional sources other than what is posted by the instructor? How do they find these additional resources?
• Is there more individualized learning?
• Do students learn better (than those in previous semesters)?
• Does it improve retention rate?
• Do students prefer a blended mode of instruction?

Knowledge sharing: Findings of this project will be shared with Language Training Institute colleagues at monthly meetings and end-of-semester seminars, the SFU community at workshops, conferences and other events, and language instructors from other universities and institutes at conferences.

Ng, B. (2017, October). Flipped and blended learning in the Chinese classroom. Presentation at the 14th International Conference on the Teaching of Chinese as a Second Language, Jinan, China.

Ng, B. (2018, April). 翻转课堂与混合式汉语教学的一些思考 (Rough translation: Reflections on flipped classrooms and Chinese teaching). Presentation at the 14th Canadian National TCSL Symposium, Canadian TCSL Association, Vancouver, BC.

Keywords: Language learning, online materials, video, animation, online quizzes, online exercises, individualized learning, independent learning, questionnaires, course retention, Blended learning, flipped classrooms, Mandarin Chinese, technology, language instruction