Introduction

For the past few semesters the students taking a Master’s degree in Constitutional or Fiscal Law at the Universidad Regional del Sureste in Oaxaca, Mexico have complained about the difficulties involved in having a Legal English F2F (face-to-face) course from 7 to 9 on a Saturday morning. The course which is generally scheduled for 30 weeks frequently lasts over a year due to schedule changes on the part of the students, vacations and training commitments on the part of the professor. The students had suggested that the Legal English course should be more related to authentic legal problems rather than a review of Basic English structures as had been offered in past courses. Finally due to the widely different levels of English among the students, some of them complained of being bored, whilst others found the class was too rapid for them to follow. This research was intended to see whether changing from a F2F course to a blended learning (BL) course could overcome the problem of relevance and also the time constraints for the Master’s degree students. The two researchers from this university carried out this study and one of them is the blended learning teacher. Time constraints refer to the duration of the course, i.e., the number of months the course lasts, the time each student takes to complete a given task and the weekly scheduling of classes.

Background

The reason for the change from F2F classes to a blended learning model was based on the needs of the students, most of whom were professionals and had time constraints. After considering other options including distance learning and evening F2F classes, we decided that in the case of the Legal English students the best option was blended learning as it “integrates seemingly opposite approaches, such as formal and informal learning, face-to-face and online experiences, directed paths and reliance on self-direction, and digital references and group connections, in order to achieve individual and organizational goals” (Sethey, 2008, p. 32). Moreover, we considered that “Online platforms have progressed considerably in recent years and promise to offer increasingly useful, affordable, and accessible applications and tools for language learning” (Moore, 2009, p.4).  However, in view of the fact that our students were adult learners we considered it necessary that wherever possible online classes and F2F classes were given in alternate weeks because “Teachers using technology need to continue to provide opportunities for in-person interaction to promote language and literacy development” (Moore, 2009, p.4). In our opinion these characteristics, specific to a blended learning course, seemed to be the most appropriate to overcome the problems faced by the students in the areas of relevance, time constraints and differing levels of English.

In January 2011 the university offered students taking the Master’s degree in Constitutional Law and Fiscal Law the opportunity to study the obligatory legal English component as a blended learning course. Sharma and Barrett (2007) make reference to blended learning as “a language course which combines a F2F classroom component with an appropriate use of technology” (p.7). This modality seemed to be the best possible option for dealing with the aforementioned problems expressed by the students. Blended learning allows students to “engage with the materials and tasks to a greater or lesser extent according to their own interests, their existing skills, their time availability, their personal circumstances, their access to technology, and so on” (Motteram, 2006, p.2). The Legal English course also allowed the students unlimited attempts at completing the majority of the online tasks which were based on legal issues and used common legal terminology as “The challenge would seem to be the development of a learning space where students feel comfortable to fail, excited by the simplicity and focus of the literature used, motivated by the freedom afforded them, yet challenged by the need to engage in various activities through which their personality is drawn out” (Jones, 2006, p. 21). However, the two researchers were aware that the use of technology could lead to other types of difficulties for some students as “it is not surprising that different groups and individuals within these groups express rather different attitudes towards their ICT (Information and Communication Technology) experiences” (Motteram, 2006, p. 2).

Literature Review

Recent research on the use of blended learning and its benefits for students has mostly dealt with the teaching of subjects in the students’ mother tongue. There has been very little research about how a blended learning course can be used with beginners in a foreign language. Therefore, before implementing our first blended learning course for these Master’s students we had to consider “what is added to the experience that could not be obtained in the traditional classroom and how to blend Web-based interaction into F2F learning effectively” (Liang and Bonk, 2009, p.3). Several authors stress the importance of collaborative tasks in Blended learning (Salmon, 2006; Sharma and Barrett, 2007; De Beer and Mason, 2009). This means that students who are beginners in a foreign language often complain that participation in forums or discussion boards is very hard for them because “the use of a foreign language reduces the vocabulary available to write and, therefore, the expression of ideas becomes more limited than expression in the mother tongue” (Cantor, 2009, p.114). We tried to overcome the language difficulties by designing online activities using common legal terminology so as to ensure that all of the class can interact in the BL mode without facing undue stress.

Furthermore, we were aware that some of the affective barriers which impede a student’s learning can be overcome by the use of a BL course (Keengwe and Kidd, 2010). Creating learning tasks which allow students to communicate in their own time, to use technical dictionaries or online translators and to remove the pressure of performing in front of one’s classmates are some of the most effective online techniques for lowering stress. Online exercises, which permit unlimited attempts, offer hints and immediate feedback, are an example of formative tasks in which the students are empowered to make their own decisions about their learning. However, in the future “Online learning will continue to grow in importance for adult learners. The challenge for educators is to learn how to provide a positive “social” environment using an electronic medium” (Cercone, 2008, p.152) and we must be open to change if and when it benefits our adult learners.

Population of the Study

The blended learning course was offered to those students studying a Master’s degree in either Constitutional or Fiscal Law who did not pass the English entrance exam offered before the beginning of their Master’s degree. At the beginning of the Legal English course there were 26 students (17 students from Fiscal Law and 9 students from Constitutional Law), all of whom were invited to take the course in the blended learning mode. Of these students only 12 Fiscal Law students and 8 Constitutional Law students signed up to take the course. The group consisted of 9 females and 11 males whose ages ranged from 23 to 55. The majority of the students had not studied English for at least several or more years. Most of the students were computer literate, however, two of the older students were found to have almost no experience with using the Internet. Only seventeen students filled out the survey (see Appendix 1) at the end of the course, as two students dropped out of in the middle of the course because of work commitments and one student declined to respond to the survey.

Course Design

The students in the Legal English course are on the whole professionals, although there are a few recent graduates from our university Law School. Their levels of English ranged from true beginners to intermediate level. We believed that for the blended learning course “to be feasible, the students’ computer literacy skills would have to be developed” (De Beer and Mason, 2009, p.219). Therefore the students were given two sessions in the computer center with their F2F teacher/tutor. During the first session the tutor evaluated the students’ computer skills and explained how to enter the Moodle platform. The second session was to explain how each of the activities such as Hot Potatoes, forums, case studies, glossaries and quizzes worked. An extracurricular session was also given for the students who had experienced difficulties in the first two sessions either because of their language skills or their computer skills. The majority of the students had previously stated that they were not interested in a traditional Basic English course as they preferred to study English for specific purposes in the area of law. Therefore we designed a blended learning course to cover the sixty hours within a thirty week schedule, which would allow students to decide where and when they would study and how much time they would dedicate to each of the activities. Furthermore, all of the tasks on the Moodle platform were related to legal issues and based on authentic legal issues related to Constitutional and Fiscal Law.  

Method

We chose to carry out a survey study which “determines and describes the way things are” (Gay and Airasian, 2003, p.277) and designed a survey (see Appendix 1) using Likert items and closed questions. The survey was applied online to the students at the end of the blended learning course by means of Lime Survey software. The students were asked to complete the survey in the computer center of the university during the last F2F session of the course. However, those students who were not able to attend the last session were offered the option of completing the survey online at a time and place of their choosing. Each student was asked to fill in a consent form (see Appendix 2) and only the information of the students who accepted to be a part of this study is included in the results.

The survey consisted of six sections and a total of 21 questions. The first section was concerned with how students viewed their computer skills at the beginning of the course and whether they had taken an online course previously or not. The second section dealt with the relevance of the materials in relation to their profession and whether they found online or F2F classes more useful. The third section was made up of five questions dealing with time constraints. The questions were designed to check the students’ perceptions of working asynchronously, having the freedom to choose when and how long to work on the platform, meeting deadlines and receiving immediate feedback. The fourth section was more focused on linguistic aspects verifying if the instructions were clear and whether the material was sufficient and appropriate to their needs. The fifth section checked specifically if the students preferred to solve case studies online or in a F2F class and how the students felt about the type of feedback they had received during the course. The sixth section was concerned with the students’ perceptions after finishing the course and their suggestions for how this course could be improved.       

Results

The results of the survey showed that the students perceived that a blended learning course in Legal English was of use in overcoming the problems of relevance and time constraints previously faced by Master’s degree students. In the next section we will show the results of six sections.

Computer Skills

The majority of the students (82.35%) felt they were competent in the use of technology and only three students had a very basic knowledge of computers.

However, only one student acknowledged having taken a BL course and the majority of students (94.12%) had not taken this type of course previously.

Relevance

The students’ opinions about the relevance of the legal cases ranged from regular to very relevant and refer to Questions 3-5.

All of the students stated that the solution of legal cases online was useful.

However, a large number of students (67.71%) stated that they preferred the F2F classes rather than the online classes.

Time Constraints

The third section of the survey dealt with time issues (Questions 6-10). In regard to timing all of the students agreed that the use of the blended learning course in Legal English gave them the freedom to choose their own learning schedule.

The students also answered that they did not find it too difficult to organize their time, although their F2F teacher did not agree as some of them had to be constantly reminded to finish the online activities.

Moreover, a lot of the students admitted that they left the online work until the last minute.

All of the students liked the fact that they received immediate feedback online and felt that it was useful.

Finally the majority of the students (94.11%) appreciated being able to choose how much time they spent on each task.

Linguistic Abilitiesin English

Concerning the fourth section, all of the students agreed that the online component allowed them to study at their own rhythm and according to their level of English.

The following section dealt with the design and running of the online part of the course. All of the students felt that the instructions and the description of the course on the first day of class were clear.

The answers also show that the students believed that the material used on the platform was both useful and relevant to their needs.

Course Content

Nevertheless, the majority of the students would have preferred to solve the case studies in the F2F classroom based upon the results of Questions 14 and 15.

Most of the students found the online evaluation and feedback either excellent or very good; however, two students were less satisfied with the online method of evaluation and feedback.

End of Course

Questions 16-21 refer to the section of the end of the course.  In spite of the fact that many students chose the option of F2F classes over online classes all of them felt that the online classes had had a positive effect on their learning.

Almost all of the students felt that taking the Blended Learning Course in Legal English online had been an excellent or a very good experience.

The majority of the students stated that they would recommend a blended learning course in Legal English to future generations.

None of the students filled in the response to the next question.

However, a lot of the students felt there was room for improvement in the course.

They suggested adding more grammar exercises, general and legal vocabulary and more legal case studies (see Appendix 3). Some students wanted more audiovisual material and texts focusing on legal matters, whereas only a few students asked for more group activities and F2F classes and only one student asked for clearer instructions.

Findings

The survey was designed to take into account that “Similar to the formative feedback surveys, you can use a closing survey to find out what students feel about specific aspects of your online teaching or their overall experience” (Kelly, 2008, p.386).The survey was useful in identifying some aspects which the students liked or disliked about a blended learning course in Legal English and it was interesting to note that many students tended to be overly positive about what they felt the benefits of taking a blended learning course were. However, a careful analysis of their answers shows that in reality there were certain areas in which the students might have preferred to study in a traditional F2F class. This is one of the drawbacks in relying on surveys and the researchers felt it would be advisable to have a follow up study in which after applying the survey and analyzing the answers structured or semi-structured interviews could be held either with individual students or with the group to clear up any doubts or anomalies. 

As a reflection, almost all of the students finished the blended learning course in Legal English, which was an improvement over the previous course in which the same teacher was aware that eight students out of her group of 25 had dropped out of the course. The survey shows that the students felt that the course overcame the problems of scheduling and it is true that the course was completed in the prescribed time period of thirty weeks, whereas previous courses had taken up to fifty weeks to finish. During the course the teacher became aware that very few students were able to organize their time efficiently and the majority tended to leave everything until the last minute, however they noted in the survey that the online course enabled them to organize their time more efficiently. The discrepancy in the students’ perception of how they organized their time and the reality as shown by the records could be due to cultural factors. In previous F2F classes the students had had similar problems with time management.

 As for overcoming the problems faced due to the different language levels of the students, the weaker students made use of the unlimited attempts they were given for each exercise, whereas the more advanced students normally only made one attempt. It was interesting to note that the students who had lower levels of English at the beginning of the blended learning course finished with higher grades than the students who had demonstrated a better command of English at the start of the course. This may have been because the online tasks permitted unlimited attempts and the weaker students often repeated an exercise until they had a perfect score, while the more capable students tended to attempt each exercise one time and were satisfied with a passing score (80% or more). Another unexpected benefit was the increased participation of weaker students in the F2F sessions. In the F2F sessions, the weaker students often corrected other students or were able to explain and use what they had learned in a variety of contexts, whereas the more advanced students seemed to find it more difficult to apply what they had learned out of its original context.

Concerning the content of the course, the students were satisfied with the legal terminology and content although some of them mentioned that they preferred to work on case studies in the classroom. Some of the students during their F2F class mentioned to their teacher that they had difficulties understanding the instructions which were in English.

We also noticed that it was very hard to get students to participate in collaborative tasks online. This may be due to the difficulties faced by students who do not have sufficient English to understand instructions and to participate in an online dialogue. Some of the students asked for more texts and case studies in the survey.

Furthermore we found in the results of the survey that students asked for more basic grammar and vocabulary exercises. This was unexpected as one of the reasons for designing the blended learning course was because the students had asked for more Legal English and had said that they did not want to study Basic English grammar in their F2F classes. Harrington (2010) mentions that “Within the large body of literature on the intersection of technology and language learning, research on the effects of hybrid delivery on ESL/EFL students is minimal” (p.2). This may be the reason why many ESP (English for Specific Purposes) students may find it easier to practice drill style grammar and vocabulary activities online individually rather than participate in collaborative activities.

This investigation was carried out with a small group of students, but it demonstrates that although a lot has been written about using blended learning in the classroom, there is a dearth of literature about using blended learning in ESP classes and especially for students with a basic level of English. Many of the suggestions about fomenting group work and promoting collaborative peer interaction (Mesh, 2010) were impossible to implement due to the students disparate levels of English.

Suggestions and Recommendations

Liang and Bonk (2009) assure us that “Language instructors benefit from a wealth of learning and communication strategies added to their arsenal. Their students benefit from a more personally empowering and scaffolded learning curriculum” (p.27). Blended learning can be a challenge for students learning a foreign language however by making use of new technologies and changing our pedagogical approach, teachers of Legal English can offer students the opportunity to become more autonomous language learners, capable of using their new language in authentic legal situations.

After analyzing the results of the survey we found that on the whole a blended learning course in Legal English is able to overcome the time constraints faced by many of our students and that it does permit slower learners to study at their own pace. However, it was difficult to judge whether the students had learned more English or not. In the classroom the teacher noted that the weaker students who had spent more time online and who had made several attempts at each of the online tasks began to participate more in the classroom. Nevertheless, the more proficient students tended to act as leaders or guides in all of the collaborative tasks.

During the investigation we became aware that little research has been done in the area of blended learning in ESP. Most of the literature (Mesh, 2010;Moore, 2009, Precel et al., 2009; Sethey, 2008; Sharma and Barrett, 2007) discusses the advantages of using blended learning courses but not enough research has been done about the effectiveness of a blended learning course for students with few or no second language skills (Harrington, 2010). Therefore our first recommendation would be that more research should be carried out as “There is not one adult learning theory that successfully applies to all adult learning environments. The majority of theories were developed twenty years ago for adults learning in traditional settings” (Frey and Alman, 2003, p. 8). Next an analysis should be made of the different needs and capabilities of ESP adult learners with the aim of verifying if a blended learning course would need to be adapted to their needs or if it is a viable option for this type of student. We also believe that more research needs to be carried out to verify the optimum online teaching method for professional adults, who are at the same time basic learners of a foreign language. We would strongly recommend that more research on how collaborative tasks could be successfully incorporated for students who are basic level language learners. Our goal would be to ensure that weaker students participate in a meaningful learning experience rather than just copy the examples posted by their more linguistically capable classmates which unfortunately is one of the drawbacks of our online course at present.  

Note:

We would like to thank Angelica Morales for the translation.

References

Note: The references are temporarily in separate downloadable file.