Engaging foreign language students via hybrid learning

Abstract

Our article aims to encourage foreign language teachers at higher education institutions in Mexico to implement hybrid learning in their classrooms in order to increase learner engagement with the foreign language and to provide more opportunities to practice the target language outside the classroom. We begin by defining hybrid or blended learning and some of its advantages, distinguishing this mixed method from the flipped classroom. We then discuss and exemplify in greater detail which tools we have chosen to support the online component of our classes and how we have implemented them. We conclude our article with a brief discussion of three concrete challenges we faced during the implementation process and how we resolved them reaching our conclusion that the implementation of hybrid learning needs to be well planned if it is to support the language learning process of our students.