INTEGRATING BLENDED LEARNING IN PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHER EDUCATION: ENHANCING PROFESSIONAL SPEECH COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Abstract

In evaluating the technological advantages of blended learning (BL), the active utilisation of the flipped model is based on the inversion of traditional teaching methods. It is argued that the content field of BL is viewed as an interactive space that serves as a catalyst for educational synergy, promoting holistic interaction between students, teachers and curriculum in a structure that covers a repertoire of synchronous and asynchronous learning modes that can be configured in such varieties as synchronous-individual, synchronous-group, asynchronous-individual, asynchronous-synchronous (asynchronous-group). The model of flipped learning, involving the presentation of material outside the educational institution and determining practical cooperation in and out of the classroom, is one of the leading forms of developing professionally focused speech communicative competence of pre-service English teachers. Professionally focused speech competence (PFSC) suggests that the speech competence is tailored towards a professional context. It implies that the student has developed their speech skills with a particular focus on their professional field in the discipline «Practice of Speaking and Writing in English». The segments of BL are outlined, based on the preparatory, advanced, main and final stages.