Blended Learning in International Trade Course (Bilingual): Teaching Design and Implementation

Abstract

In the digital era, the integration of modern information technology and education has brought new opportunities to the development of international trade teaching in vocational colleges. Teachers can make full use of multi-media to create blended learning environment which has the advantages of both online information resources and offline face-to-face learning. Taking the module of International Trade Course (bilingual) in a vocational college in Guangzhou as an example, the teacher is expected to use a blended learning approach that can help students build an active, effective and interactive learning process. The method used in this research is classroom action research. In this research, both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques are used in two classes, which aim at tracking the improvement of students' skill in both language competence and international trade skills and describing the class climate and interaction between the teacher and students when blended learning is successfully applied. The research findings show that the blended learning has realized the complementary advantages of both online courses and traditional face-to-face ones. It has greatly enhanced students' interest, motivation and participation level in international business learning through the motivation from activities and assessment on online platforms and elaborate offline organization from the teacher. Also, the class climate has positive improvement among the teacher and students.