INTRODUCTION

This book has brought together a number of chapters by different authors, all concerned, in one way or another, with good practice in blended learning (BL). At the time of writing, the field is still, relatively speaking, wide open, with no definitive theory, methodology or practice that could be said to form the ‘canon’ or rulebook of BL. This means that there are potentially as many ways of approaching and realising BL programmes as there are curriculum designers, materials writers, teachers and researchers who have entered the field.

This book, therefore, cannot be said to be more than exploratory, in the sense that the discipline of BL itself remains somewhat exploratory. That is not to say that successful BL programmes have not been designed and rolled out; clearly they have, as case studies reported in this book and reports elsewhere testify (e.g., Hsu and Sheu, 2008 ; Graham, 2013). But rapid change and progress in all aspects of the allied technology means that the situation is very fluid. This is one of the reasons why the book has tried to avoid detailed technical descriptions of tools used which might quickly become outdated and has, instead, tried to address the arguments and challenges surrounding BL in the second language context. The chapters seek to offer practical advice concerning integration of BL and solutions which can be implemented through a variety of different tools, with both theoretical and practical considerations discussed throughout the volume.

This final chapter looks back and summarises what the previous chapters tell us, considers briefly how our preoccupations concerning BL align with or should differ from BL programmes in the educational world beyond second language learning and speculates on where things might go in the future. We embark upon this chapter having constantly in mind Thornbury's Chapter 2, where he stresses the need for a proper, grounded scrutiny of BL and its technologies. Thornbury asserts that technology-driven learning cannot call upon the many years of past experience and tried-and-tested reliability that face-to-face pedagogy can claim in terms of fitness for purpose.