Innovation in Language Learning

This paper is a case study presenting experience based on reflections of introducing project based learning (PBL) in a Bulgarian class of 8 grade students, studying English language intensively. The case study focuses onto the potential of project based instruction and blended learning which form a distinctive cross point in regards to their mutual desirability for building 21^st century skills in the classroom, such as: communication, collaboration, critical thinking and last, but not least creativity. The blended approach that has been exploited is a flipped classroom that was used to supplement, asynchronously, the brick-and-mortar (classroom) instruction, because PBL is not a wide spread teaching method in Bulgarian schools. Flipping the classroom was essential in allowing the teacher to have some of the content shifted towards the virtual classroom, and thus freeing more time for in-class learning and building of the above mentioned core skills. The pedagogical intervention was complimented by cyber-ethnography, which is a tool to reflect on the virtual space – in our case the flipped classroom built through the online educational platform Edmodo. The case study reveals interesting findings on how blended project based learning could not only enhance learning and motivation, but also contribute to improving the psychological climate in class and help cease bullying.

Keywords: project based learning, blended learning, flipped classroom, 21^st century student skills, cyber-ethnography