SOME BLENDED-LEARNING PATTERNS FOR NON-ENGLISH MAJOR UNDERGRADUATES OF ECONOMICS

This paper overviews some key issues central to the essence of blended learning looking at it from the point of view of both the student and the teacher, exploring their challenges and perspectives. Blended learning allows to exploit various forms and methods in foreign language teaching creating opportunities and actual challenges. Some of them relate to technology while others relate to classroom management and community building. Focus is made on the community building which turns out to be to the most critical if students face a lack of support from teachers. To address this problem, they employ an array of strategies based on their long-term experience and feedback from the students enabling task designers to make better decisions about what when and how to use distance and blended learning. Special emphases is made how to implement flexible patterns which combine specially selected on-line content and a face-to-face classes where students receive help and guided progress from their teachers enabling them to become more self-motivated and self-directed learners.