Blended Learning Option for C2LM at the University of Verona Language Centre

The C2LM English Language course at the University of Verona CLA has been developed for language students, who have completed the first 3-year phase of their degree courses and are now continuing to specialize in tourism, international commerce, linguistics or literature. The aim of this English language course is to develop learner writing and speaking in an academic register with reference to learners' specific study fields. Students attending this course, therefore, have slightly different areas of interest and expertise, so this must be taken into account when choosing content. The course consists of 100 hours of English of which 50 hours are usually programmed for the first term and focus on improving the level of the students’ General English, as many students will only recently have completed the General English C1 course at that stage. In the second semester the focus, however, shifts to Academic English and in particular on writing and oral presentation skills in preparation for the final test which is a written discussion in academic English of an article related to the student's field and an oral presentation of the main ideas in this discussion. The reasons behind the choice to blend students’ learning is twofold. The first is pragmatic: in order to cater for large numbers of non resident or working students, an online component to the course was introduced. Secondly the main aim is to empower learners and to help them towards autonomy by providing strategies they can later apply to their own independent study. This presentation aims to show some of the work being done on writing and reading in an integrated skills approach and the feedback methods adopted in the digital classroom space.