Factors Contributing to Success in Blended Learning - The Case of Language Teaching and Training in Academic and Professional Contexts;

Towards an effective blended online mentoring model for language practitionersThe study assesses the effectiveness of mentor-mentee relationships formed online between more experienced and less experienced language practitioners as an alternative to conventional face-to-face mentoring. Traditionally, mentoring relationships were formed fairly informally inhouse in publishing houses and communications bureaus/departments, when less experienced practitioners were able to engage in on-the-job learning from more experienced and knowledgeable colleagues. With downsizing in these sectors came outsourcing, and many experienced staff were forced into a freelance existence as a way of earning a living, and this removed the foundation of traditional mentorships. To whom could newcomers to language practice, or those with some experience in need of lifelong learning experiences, now turn to hone their skills and knowledge, and also to obtain feedback on their work as language practitioners?With corporates having shed this responsibility, the onus has fallen onto professional associations of language practitioners such as text editors, proofreaders, translators and indexers to contribute to the professionalisation of their subsectors by setting mentoring schemes. With practitioners on both sides of this relationship now freelance and often geographically dispersed, the traditional fact-to-face mentoring relationship has become the exception rather than the rule; indeed, some schemes are now pairing mentees with mentors anywhere in the world. This research will entail case studies of a number of mentoring relationships that are having to be maintained online; it will investigate, in particular, what the strengths and weaknesses of blended online learning experiences are, with a view to helping both individuals and professional associations engage in more effective, productive and meaningful mentorships. Also, the various schemes in existence are looking for recommendations for the standardisation of their regulations and modi operandi which this research findings will contribute to. Subjects for the research will be drawn from Australia, Canada, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Keywords:LANGUAGE MULTIMEDIA, LINGUISTICS

Disciplines:Language studies, Linguistics, Literary studies, Theory and methodology of linguistics, Other languages and literary studies