Contemporary blended learning backgrounds of teaching English for law enforcement

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Contemporary blended learning backgrounds of teaching English for law enforcement

Olena Loputko, Kyiv

Vadym Bohutskyi, Kyiv

Ihor Romanov, Kyiv

The article is devoted to the implementation of contemporary blended learning backgrounds into teaching English for specific purposes in the higher educational establishments of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. The analysis of the method's usage in the special conditions of the war state is introduced. It is underlined that the implementation of such kind of technology will benefit not only the possibility to hold an educational process in the distant form in stressful conditions but also give the opportunity to the formation of a specific discipline's knowledge using interdisciplinary ways, to support the skills and abilities of the active self and group work.

Олена Лопутько, Вадим Богуцький, Ігор Романов ВИКЛАДАННЯ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ МАЙБУТНІМ ПРАЦІВНИКАМ ПРАВООХОРОННИХ ОРГАНІВ НА ОСНОВІ СУЧАСНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ ЗМІШАНОГО НАВЧАННЯ

Стаття присвячена впровадженню технології змішаного навчання у викладання англійської мови спеціального призначення у закладах вищої освіти Міністерства внутрішніх справ України. Проаналізовано особливості використання педагогічної технології в стресових умовах воєнного стану. Підкреслено, що її впровадження сприятиме освоєнню знань із англійської мови на підгрунті міждисциплінарного підходу, формуванню вмінь і навичок активної самостійної та групової роботи.

Ключові слова: змішане навчання; англійська мова спеціального призначення; майбутні працівники правоохоронних органів; міждисциплінарність; активний агент; методичне забезпечення; воєнний стан.

Articulation of the problem

blended learning technologies english language teaching

Technological innovations of the contemporary world are giving us such opportunities which can hardly be overestimated. The educational process is consequently using the advantages of the digital learning. The system of higher education has been faced the problems of rapid necessity of innovations in the sphere of distant learning at the time of the COVID pandemic and the ongoing war processes in Ukraine make this question even more important.

In the sphere of teaching English for specific purposes in the higher educational establishments of the Ministry of the Internal Affairs of Ukraine (MIA of Ukraine) the actuality of the teaching and learning technologies of the educational process's distant learning organization gains special importance due to the several factors:

• Educational process in this educational process is specialized by the duties and obligations of the cadets and officers, especially at the time of the War.

• The study is strongly intensified and the need to review humanitarian part of the educational programs is obvious.

• The methods of teaching English for special purposes are to be chosen in accordance with the military state of the country, duties of the participants, their geographical location and a lot of other factors.

The author strongly beliefs that the usage of the blended learning method and its modifications will help to include these special factors into the educational process's organization.

Analysis of recent publications

The problem of using blended learning technologies and their modifications in the process of learning a foreign language in the higher is devoted to the study of domestic (H. Oleynikova, О. Sherbakova, Zh. Nikolaieva, О. Korotun etc.) and foreign scholars (C. Artmas, C. Bonk, K. Chan, J. Evans, M. Impedovo, C. Graham, A. King, K. Kinley, D. Marsh, H. Yip, and others). Scientists, in particular, pay special attention to the classic definition of the term “blended learning”, to the development of its modern variation accounting rapid creations in the technological strengthen by the digital modernization. Besides, some of them stress the teacher's role as the creator and moderator of the educational process and peculiarities of the learners' personal interests.

The research all the above mentioned facts gives the possibility to define the purpose of the article as to build the frame of such a blended system of teaching English for specific purposes which would allow to continue educational process in the higher educational establishments of the MIA of Ukraine in the most flexible way for teachers, cadets and officers taking into account challenging circumstances of war in Ukraine.

According to the formulated purpose the following aims could be formulated:

1. To study the works of contemporary domestic and foreign scholars in the sphere of blended learning technology's development and clear out the most suitable for the upcoming model elements.

2. To take into account special regime of the professional duties of students, cadets and officers.

3. To mention technical support of the educational establishments, the possibility of connection and the geographical position of the members of the educational process.

4. To work out such a technology of blended learning of English for specific purposes which will include as many of the flexible structural elements as possible.

5. To define further directions of the technology's development.

The study is presented on the ground of historical, content and structural analysis of the scientific works, their modifications and variations, elements of observation and modelling will also be included into the article.

Research findings

At the beginning of the study it is worth to clear out the peculiarities of the term «blended learning». Although, the backgrounds of the concept were developed intensively in the resent years, the following standing points are considered to be the most useful in the content of the presented work.

As to the definition of the term «blended learning» in the borders of this article the most suitable is considered to be the one, presented by C. Bonk and C. Graham (Bonk & Graham, 2012, p. 5) who defined that “Blended learning systems combine face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction”. In this work the authors (Bonk & Graham, 2012, p. 12) introduced that the blended learning systems can be designed accounting six categories:

(1) the role of live interaction;

(2) the role of learner choice and self-regulation;

(3) models for support and training;

(4) finding a balance between innovation and production;

(5) cultural adaptation;

(6) dealing with the digital means”.

From the point of view of the English language's study the very special attention is paid to the authors who work for the international language organizations, namely Cambridge University press, as their points of view are considered to be the most authoritative in the sphere of teaching English in the world. As an example the definition, given by A. King (King, 2016, p. 2), were he states, that “the practice of combining (blending) different learning approaches and strategies is not new. Distance learning courses have long combined blended learning through a mix of self-access content (print / video / TV/radio) and face-to-face / telephone support. What is new is that today, technology combines all the different media within one environment: online. The online space facilitates learner-learner interaction, encourages incidental and exploratory learning and allows learners and teachers to stay connected outside the classroom, if they so wish. Learners can benefit from the fact that space and distance do not matter anymore. Teachers and educationalists are now understanding more and more that, with the 'right blend', teachers can offer a much richer, supportive learning environment, learning opportunities increase, learning becomes more effective and the learning process becomes more enjoyable.”

D. Marsh (Marsh, 2012, p. 2-5) also supports his definition, stressing that “Today blended learning can refer to any combination of different methods of learning, different learning environments, different learning styles. In short, the effective implementation of blended learning is essentially all about making the most of the learning opportunities and tools available to achieve the "optimal" learning environment.” She also underlines the following strengths of blended language learning;

• “It provides a more individualized learning experience J provides more personalized learning support;

• It supports and encourages independent and collaborative learning;

• It increases student engagement in learning accommodates a variety of learning styles;

• It provides a place to practice the target language beyond the classroom;

• It provides a less stressful practice environment for the target language;

• It provides flexible study, anytime or anywhere, to meet learners' needs;

• It helps students develop valuable and necessary twenty-first century learning skills.

Significant deal of information is performed at the sites of universities, language learning and development platforms. Special interest is paid to the basic grounds of the blended learning performed in the work (Blended Learning: 10 Trends. April, 2014). The main 10 directions of the continuously developing technology of blended learning can be defined like that:

• Constant change of the student' quantity.

• Development of cognitive skills on the high level (According to Bloom's taxonomy).

• Realization of activities of the teachers' and the students' advantages.

• Teaching of the decision making with e usage of the knowledge bases.

• Support of the learning individualization.

• Productive gamification.

• Mobile world of the students.

• Student's access to the mobile devices.

• Broadband connection.

Grounded on the abovementioned scientific works in the sphere of blended learning, taking into account the most contemporary trends and peculiarities of the English language study, performed by authoritative international organizations, specifying the technologies' development, specially minding the demands and trends of the foreign languages development in the higher educational establishments (Concept of development ..., 2019) and other, paying attention to the performing law enforcement duties at the time of war the main frame of the blended learning organization of teaching English for specific Purposes at the time of war can be defined.

The background content elements of this model were inspirited by the works of the Cambridge Educational Centers' scientists (King, 2016) and (Marsh, 2012). The main tips and technologies of the Cambridge Education and British Council cites are also used in the process of writing this article.

At the beginning of the model's description it must be stated that during the period of the military state of the country the system must be as much flexible as possible and the exclusion of one element is to be replaced by the strengthening of the others.

The following main active agents are to be introduced in the model:

1. An Educator (a teacher, a tutor, a lecturer)

2. A Learner (a cadet, a student, an officer)

3. A Support (a methodical department worker, a course officer, authority of the educational establishment).

We are also to underline levels of the blended learning technologies on which the definite characteristics of the active agents' interaction and the usage of the possible technical means will be performed:

1. Preparatory, pre-task level

2. Initial level

3. Middle level

4. Final level

5. Post work considering

Before the presenting of the model it is to be stated that the usage of the “blend” proposes a part of the time to be devoted to the off line auditoria communication with the teacher. It comes nearly impossible at the state of war. That is why it is considered to be replaced by the other forms and means where possible.

Table 1.Model of the teaching English for law enforcement in challenging circumstances

Conclusions

While analyzing scholars' works the following findings may be presented: the blended learning system of teaching English for specific purposes at the higher educational establishments of MIA of Ukraine is a complex and structured technology which includes a lot of necessary elements. It also must fit a great deal of demands. First of all, the participants of the educational process must be active and result oriented, the system itself is to be is flexible as it is possible to be ready to the changes of circumstances in the condition of the war state. The supportive part of the authorities of educational establishments and methodological workers is peculiar to this technology's building. The remarkable part is also devoted to the close connections, interdisciplinary relations and technical support of the active agents of the educational establishments.

Naturally, the restricted volume of this article gives no opportunity to research all the features and possibilities of the technology. Among others, the most competitive fields of the further researches are seen in the spheres of the careful planning of the work with this method and the planning of the work of those participants of the educational process's whose connection is complicated. Technical and methodological support of the educational establishments also may be a significant part of further study.

Список використаної літератури

Концепція розвитку англійської мови в університетах. (2019). Поточна редакція від 13.08.2019. Взято з https://mon.gov.ua/ua/news/mon stvorilo-koncepciyu-rozvitku- anglijskoyi-v-universitetah-u-dodatkuriven-v1-obovyazkova-umova-vstupu-v2- vipusku-vikladannya-profilnihdisciplin-inozemnoyu-ta-movni-skriningi Коротун, О. В. (2016). Методологічні засади змішаного навчання в умовах вищої освіти. Інформаційні технології в освіті, 3(28), 117-129.

Олейнікова, Г. (2022). Особливості викладання іноземної мови у форматі змішаного навчання. Науковий вісник Ізмаїльського державного гуманітарного університету, 58, 109-119.

Щербакова, О. Л., & Ніколаєва, Ж. В. (2017). Змішане навчання як форма організації навчального процесу з іноземної мови у ВНЗ. Молодий вчений, 4.1(44.1), 69-73. Blended Learning: 10 Trends. April. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.dreambox.com/blog/ blended-learning-10-trends

Bonk, C. J. & Graham, C. R. (2012). The Handbook of Blended Learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.id/books?id= 2u2TxK06PwUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gb#v=onepage&q&f=false Evans, J. C., Yip, H., Chan, K., Armatas, C., & Tse, A. (2020). Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a Hong Kong university. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(4), 643-656.

Impedovo, M. A., Khalid, MD. S., Kinley, K., & Yok, M. C. K. (Eds.). (2022). Blended Learning in Higher Education. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag.

King, A. (2016). Blended language learning: Part of the Cambridge Papers in ELT series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/ us/files/2115/7488/8334/CambridgePapersinELT_BlendedLearning_2016_ONLINE.pdf Marsh, D. (2012). Blended Learning: Creating Learning Opportunities for Language Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wang, Z. (2014). Developing accuracy and fluency in spoken English of Chinese EFL learners. English Language Teaching, 7(2), 2014, 110-118.

References

Blended Learning: 10 Trends. April. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.dreambox.com/ blog/blended-learning-10-trends

Bonk, C. J. & Graham, C. R. (2012). The Handbook of Blended Learning: Global Perspectives, Local Designs. Retrieved from https://books.google.co.id/books?id= 2u2TxK06PwUC&printsec=frontcover&source=gb#v=onepage&q&f=false Evans, J. C., Yip, H., Chan, K., Armatas, C., & Tse, A. (2020). Blended learning in higher education: professional development in a Hong Kong university. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(4), 643-656.

Impedovo, M. A., Khalid, MD. S., Kinley, K., & Yok, M. C. K. (Eds.). (2022). Blended Learning in Higher Education. Aalborg: Aalborg Universitetsforlag.

King, A. (2016). Blended language learning: Part of the Cambridge Papers in ELT series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://www.cambridge.org/ us/files/2115/7488/8334/CambridgePapersinELT_BlendedLearning_2016_ONLINE.pdf Kontseptsiia rozvytku anhliiskoi movy v universytetakh [Concept of development of the English language in universities]. (2019). Retrieved from https://mon.gov.ua/ua/ news/monstvorilo-koncepciyu-rozvitku-anglijskoyi-v-universitetah-u-dodatkuriven- v1-obovyazkova-umova-vstupu-v2-vipusku-vikladannya-profilnihdisciplin- inozemnoyu-ta-movni-skriningi [in Ukrainian].

Korotun, O. V. (2016). Metodolohichni zasady zmishanoho navchannia v umovakh vyshchoi osvity [Methodological basis of the blended learning in the conditions of higher education]. Informatsiini tekhnolohii v osviti, 3(28), 117-129 [in Ukrainian].

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Shcherbakova, O. L., & Nikolaieva, Zh. V. (2017). Zmishane navchannia yak forma orhanizatsii navchalnoho protsesu z inozemnoi movy u VNZ [Blended learning as a form of the organization of the educational process of the foreign language in HEE]. Molodyi vchenyi, 4.1(44.1), 69-73 [in Ukrainian].

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