Vol. 1 No. 2 (2021): July 2021

Welcome to the second issue of ELECTRUM Volume 1.

In this issue, the writers share a common theme addressing the issue of blended learning in English language teaching. Blended learning is viewed as combining traditional classroom learning and online learning. This has been chosen as the theme of this volume because the teaching and learning processes in the past year have been conducted almost entirely through blended learning model due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This unprecedented pandemic has raised a lot of questions among English teachers and lecturers, especially regarding whether or not what they do can guarantee good results. Theoretically, blended learning is meant to empower teachers in carrying out their duties, to increase effectiveness in the sense that they can reach their teaching goals more easily and in a shorter time, to give teachers more flexibility in designing the strategies with the help of technologies, to create environments for the students to experience more personal learning and to be able to provide learning experiences that can cater various learning styles. In order to come to terms with these challenging issues, the five writers in this volumes have tried to make sense of their teaching experiences by reflecting on what they did in their blended learning by utilizing the cloud- based teaching materials accessible during the research.

Aziza Restu Febrianto provides an insight into what he did in teaching writing by optimizing the use of Google CLassroom as an integrated learning system in teaching writing. Along the same line, Afi Normawati also reports her experiences in implementing Blended Learning in the teaching of reading. Allvian I. F. Susanto specifically reports the difficulties he faced in Blended Learning when he tried to use the authentic news item texts in his listening class. Barans I. Palangan did an exploratory study in order to find out whether or not the Internet provides useful and relevant teaching materials to help teach lexicogrammar for his students. The fifth article by Daud Jiwandono presents his experiences in involving his students in developing teaching materials for his listening classes.

These five studies may represent the kinds of concerns language teachers have nowadays due to the fact that they do not have much choice but to adopt Blended Learning regardless of their readiness and their skills in harnessing information technology. Whatever the situation, these drastic and sudden changes have brought language teachers to a new frontier with no chance to look and take a step back. It is hoped that this volume will motivate language teachers to look far beyond the here and now to prepare themselves for the unpredictable changes in the disruption era.

Best regards,

Helena I. R. Agustien Editor in Chief