Active Blended Learning in an Undergraduate English for Academic Purposes Program

Abstract

This chapter presents a multi-method qualitative study of an active blended learning (ABL) activity in an undergraduate English for academic purposes program at a North American university. The purpose of the study was to understand how instructors facilitated ABL in five online book clubs. The community of inquiry (CoI) framework is used to analyze the comments and posts in the book clubs. This data is discussed with data from interviews with three case study students and four book club instructors and data from a CoI student survey. The findings indicate that instructor book selection, questions, scaffolding strategies, modelling, and manner significantly mediated student perceptions regarding their engagement, participation, and interaction in the ABL activity. The study shows how students scaffolded each other's learning, read extensively, and practised academic reading strategies. Implications of how instructor pedagogy mediated student perceptions about their participation and learning in the ABL activity are then presented.