Working on the further research

We believe the collaborative action research has initiated to discover the usefulness of blended learning environments for very young children, so it is crucial to continue with this trend in future research, both quantitative and qualitative ways. More studies are needed in order to determine the long lasting effects and effectiveness of technology tools in the acquisition of English language in terms of every skill.

The created blended course provided very young learners with a variety in terms of input, even though they were not expected to write at this stage, it would be interesting to know about how they start to perceive the differences between the sound and spelling of some of the lexis in the stories, games and nursery songs. In short, the effects on literacy using technology tools developing a blended course.

It is vital to bear in mind that this project is challenging since blended learning is a pedagogical strategy that is not frequently used with very young learners. We can say that it is something new and innovative in the educational environments with preschoolers. So, the implementation on blended environments with children demands different skills from the teacher researcher, for instance, the creativity.

Finally, teachers-researchers ought to acknowledge that in “action research, the task is not finished when the project ends; the participants continue to review, evaluate, and improve practices” (Elliot, 1991 cited in Bell, 1999, 8). Definitely, we could realize that the process we experienced as a researchers was a significant experience which allow us to understand better Carr and Kemmis’s (1986, cited in Burns, 1999) broad definition about action research: “It is simply a form of self-reflective inquiry undertaken by participant in social situations in order to improve the rationality and justice of their own practices” (p.153). With this research project, we hope that some of our colleagues will become aware of the need to be updated not only in technology resources but also with innovative methodologies and strategies. We look forward to encouraging very young learners to deal with new learning environments and to use technological tools to enhance students’ progress in the second language acquisition, in addition to helping their professional growth.