I am going to analyse an e-learning practice applied at a polytechnic college for English teaching and describe its roles. Firstly, we can look at a brief introduction about the program. The whole learning program content is adapted from the first three levels of the Top Notch series (https://www.pearson.com/english/catalogue/general-english/top-notch-2nd-edition.html?tab=in-more-detail) on a platform called CMS (https://cms.poly.edu.vn/login?next=/dashboard). Each course content is divided into 10 online lessons. Students are required to complete certain online lesson(s) before joining an offline class to practice and apply what they have learnt. They can manage their own learning schedule for the online learning as long as they can be fully prepared for offline meetings in class. However, these lessons mainly aim at providing vocabulary and grammar knowledge so they carry the features of didactic pedagogy.

Direct instructional guidance: in order to deliver knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, the instructors employ a conventional approach in their videos. They introduce the learning outcomes at the beginning and summarize by some quick quizzes at the end. The interaction occurs between a teacher and a large number of students.

A focus on cognition: the videos and quizzes are designed with a strong emphasis on long-term memory. Although students can retake the quizzes as many times as they wish, they are supposed to memorize the knowledge given in the videos.

Individual approach to learners: e-learning focuses on individual learners because they can learn at their own pace.

Also, the quizzes and exams require learners to demonstrate that they can learn the knowledge by heart. This reflects pedagogy of mimesis or knowledge replication.

In terms of time and place flexibility, this program enables learners to escape from the four walls of a traditional classroom some time. however, due to time and resource limitations, this e-learning program cannot include other features of authentic or transformative pedagogy. The program is considered a component that helps learners build their vocabulary and grammar foundation so that they are well-prepared for communicative tasks conducted in class later.