Online learning is not the next big thing, it is the now big thing.”
Roosty Tovar
Literature Review
Research
The diversity of students which we currently live with leads us to consider innovative educational practices that involve the multiple intelligences that are usually concentrated in a classroom. The learning stations or Station Rotation, are a teaching-learning strategy that arises from teachers' concern that traditional teaching models are based on the sole transmission of information from the teacher to the class, which feeds competition over cooperation and favors only “average” students. On the other hand, learning in stations promotes teamwork and collaboration around a certain topic that is developed through different activities which are distributed in different workstations. The teacher is no longer a transmitter of information, they're a guide for the different activities that the student has to carry out according to their possibilities, tastes and interests. These activities are carried out individually, in pairs, or in groups, as stipulated. There is a common theme for all stations, which is approached differently in each one.
Education and training in two languages simultaneously today, within a program compendium structured as Two Way Dual Language, has experienced significant changes over the last four years. Instead of learning about the structure of the target language, students learn and practice the language with the ultimate goal of effective communication (Partnership for 21st Century Skills, 2011). Haley, et al. (2013) emphasized the importance of language skills and cultural awareness in today's global society. To this end, bilingual teachers must provide an environment that helps students develop the speaking and writing skills they need to participate in authentic open communication situations. Traditional teaching and learning methods are inadequate to achieve the communicative objectives of today's world language learners (Isiguzel, 2014). If bilingual foreign language teachers want to help students achieve the goal of competent communication for the 21st century, it will be necessary to make use of new technologies and teaching and learning strategies, such as blended learning. As this literature review will show, research on blended learning reveals that this environment has a positive effect on student outcomes in virtually all content areas. The world's language diversity is no exception.
Blended Learning is precisely a mixed teaching experience in which the study takes place inside and outside the classroom and in which digital media is used to support the student. This allows a greater flexibility than in traditional methods, as well as greater involvement (active participation) of the students.
Within the Blended Learning options there are different configurations that work better in some scenarios or in others. Blended Learning has emerged as a new significant educational trend. Blended Learning has been defined to differentiate this modality of teaching and learning from the traditional way or online. By way of illustration, Bonk and Graham (2012) defined Blended Learning as the combination of traditional face-to-face instruction with computer-assisted instruction. Significantly, Blended Learning can be used in lieu of traditional or online learning, as it promotes a greater sense of engagement than traditional face-to-face or fully online teaching and learning methods (Tayebinik & Puteh, 2013). That is, blended learning allows for more learning opportunities that motivate students to participate inside and outside the classroom environment (Senffner and Kepler, (2015).
Blended learning takes many forms, but at its core it is a combination of a traditional teaching and learning approach and technology-enhanced learning. Although much of the research has focused on the blended learning environment in elementary and even secondary level programs, blended learning can be adapted to all grade levels. Graham (2006) explains that blended learning “combines face-to-face instruction with computer-mediated instruction.” Bataineh and Mayyas (2017) take Graham's ideas a step further when they include the Internet in their definition of blended learning. Lalima (2017) explains, “Blended learning .
incorporates direct instruction, indirect instruction, collaborative teaching, [and] computer-assisted individualized learning” (p. 131). Finally, as Watson (2008) explains, “…blended learning combines the online delivery of educational content with the best features of classroom interaction and live instruction to personalize learning, enable reflective reflection, and differentiate instruction from a student to another in a diverse group of students. .” Blended learning's combination of technology and face-to-face interaction allows for individualization, giving teachers the opportunity to focus on each student's specific needs.