Blended learning is an educational model which makes use of both traditional face-to-face classroom settings and online learning environment. This approach provides more freedom to adjust the learning process according to learner needs and can be effectively used in providing feedback to students. Formative feedback is an ongoing process which makes learners reflect on their own work and evaluate their learning. Providing formative feedback on students’ drafts in teaching writing increases their confidence and develop better writing practices. In this talk, we will discuss how effectively blended learning techniques can be used in providing formative feedback to learners in writing tasks and thereby increase learner autonomy and improve critical thinking skills, and creativity. We will demonstrate how online tools can be used in providing formative feedback on writing and also discuss how teachers can encourage peer feedback using various online tools.

This paper aims to identify an effective technique in deploying English songs in teaching English pronunciation in EFL classrooms in Long An province (Mekong delta region in the south of Vietnam). High school students find it challenging to pronounce many English words. To enhance students’ production of the various sounds and supra-segmental features of English, the researchers used English songs as a supportive technique in EFL classrooms. Using an intuitive-imitative approach the steps of planning, acting, revising and reflecting in the classrooms was recycled. To collect data 120 students were invited to respond to surveys and 30 were interviewed to share their perceptions and thoughts regarding their English pronunciation improvement if any. Thematic analysis and statistical analysis were used for each type of data collection. The main findings suggest that learning English pronunciation with English songs is effective. Mainly, students improve rhythm and gain accuracy in pronunciation of the tonic unit of the utterance, which helps them speak confidently to some extent.

Being able to communicate about emotions supports the ability to understand oneself and others, which is essential to effective collaboration. However, talking about emotions can be difficult for anyone, and this is especially true for those speaking in a foreign language. The use of folktales, fairytales, and fables in the EFL classroom can help these students talk about emotions in the following ways. First, discussion about feelings can be prompted by the analysis of the experiences of the characters in the story and students’ own related experiences. Second, noticing the language of these stories provides lexical and grammatical structures students can use to communicate about emotions. Because stories are enjoyable and memorable, both these processes are reinforced. The presenter will use a Pecha Kucha presentation to demonstrate how he incorporates stories in the classroom to aid students in achieving the aforementioned benefits.

This study was to designed to assess the key cultural differences in teaching between Korean and “western” teachers, and to analyze why these differences might exist. A questionnaire was given to 35 Korean and 36 Non-Korean teachers to find where significant differences between teaching methods, approaches and pedagogies exist. After this, follow up interviews were undertaken. The most significant data finding was the emphasis that Korean teachers place on testing and memorization compared to the Non-Korean cohort. This study also showed a key difference in the way Korean and non-Korean teachers viewed and used verbal immediacy and lesson planning. Finally, the qualitative data from the study showed a strong preference on the part of Korean teachers to move away from more traditional aspects of the Korean classroom environment towards a more processed based approach in which creative and critical thinking could be enabled.