Abstract:

Prior to the 2020 COVID emergency period, most language programmes in technology more advanced countries were delivered in a variety of blended-learning modes. The emergency period ushered in a move to the remote delivery and with it a wealth of technological, methodological, and organisational innovation that has been described in detail in publications such as "The world universities’ response to COVID-19: remote online language teaching" (Radic, Atabekova, Freddi and Schmied: 2021). We are now entering a post-COVID emergency period facing the reality that there is no going back to the "old" normal. In this paper, we will look at the implications of the changes that occurred both in language teaching/learning as well as in general communication and how these are shaping the way we conduct our daily professional and social business. Within this context we will then discuss the role of the new hybrid communication and teaching paradigm, where we use the term ‘hybrid’ in the sense given to the term by more recent scholars such as Beatty (2019) and Lederman (2020), who use the term ‘hybrid-flexible’ or ‘HyFlex’ to describe a pedagogical situation where some students are attending the class and are in a face-to-face teaching situation whereas others choose, or are compelled by, e.g. health considerations, to follow the lesson remotely, online. We will conclude by outlining the implications of such shifts on teaching methodology, the resources used, as well as teacher training and support.

References:
[1] Beatty, B. (2019), Hybrid-Flexible course design: implementing student-directed hybrid classes. EdTech Books. https://edtechbooks.org/hyflex
[2] Lederman, D. (2020). The HyFlex option for instruction if campuses open this fall. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/digital-learning/article/2020/05/13/one-option-delivering-instruction-if-campuses-open-fall-hyflex
[3] Radić, N., Atabekova, A., Freddi, M., & J. Schmied (Eds). (2021). The world universities’ response to COVID-19: remote online language teaching. Research-publishing.net. https://doi.org/10.14705/rpnet.2021.52.9782490057924

Keywords:

Language-teaching, blended, remote, hybrid, communication, methodology, resources, training.