Evidence from a blended remote learning intervention in Greek small rural primary schools

Abstract

The present research evaluates the impact of a blended remote learning intervention on the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) attainment of 8-12-year-old children living in rural parts of Greece who, contrary to their urban counterparts, have no access to English language instruction in their schools. Rooted in a sociocultural understanding of development and the idea that subject matter and academic learning cannot be separated from activities such as social identification, co-construction of understanding and identity development, the present intervention was fundamentally centred around three key concepts: collaborative enquiry, authenticity, and self-paced mastery. Drawing on findings from the quantitative strand of an embedded mixed methods intervention design, the study reveals positive benefits from participation in the blended distance learning intervention with respect to children's vocabulary and grammar knowledge as well as their aural comprehension skills. Moreover, findings indicate that, in the case of small multigrade schools in Greece, a blended distance learning approach is likely to be effective at raising EFL attainment at a comparable cost level to that of faceto-face programmes. The study thereby contributes to an emerging body of international research on pedagogically and financially viable implementations of blended distance learning involving primary learners in resource-poor settings.

Meaningful ICT integration into deprived rural communities’ multigrade classrooms

“…Even so, the issue of ICT significance in dialogue with the local context is almost nonexistent. Instead, in the literature, the relation is done through curriculum flexibility and student autonomy (learners empowerment), underlying their importance in developing a customized and effective ICT integration (Chauca et al, 2021;Lymperis, 2021;Niemi et al, 2013). The relation to local context still needs to be developed in any case.…”

“…In the reviewed studies, adaptations are strikingly considered exclusively a technical or interactional process restricted to the classroom setting, dissociated from broader historical and cultural processes (du Plessis & Subramanien, 2021; Sasota et al, 2021). In these cases, localized factors are the physical disposition of classrooms, material furniture conditions, and particular teachers' experiences (Lymperis, 2021).…”

7th Virtual International Conference on Education, Innovation and ICT

“…Por tanto, los recursos y materiales digitales también han de contemplar la multigraduación y permitir atender a esta diversidad (Lymperis, 2021). Es preciso poner atención a las nuevas modalidades de aprendizaje semipresencial y también al uso de los recursos digitales abiertos para posibilitar mejoras en los aprendizajes en estos territorios y, sobre todo, favorecer el uso y la difusión de estos recursos para ayudar al profesorado del aula multigrado y a las escuelas con difícil acceso que han de superar el aislamiento o incluso problemas como la despoblación que podrían significar su cierre y conllevar, además, implicaciones en los contextos en los que se encuentran.…”