EFL Learners’ Perception about Integrating Blended Learning in ELT

Abstract

The study highlights English a Foreign Language (EFL) learners' perceptions about integrating Blended Learning (BL) to facilitate them completing their foundation year English courses at a Saudi university. The focus of the study was to investigate "the EFL learners' perception about integrating blended learning in their English Language Teaching (ELT) process". For this purpose, a survey was constructed in three subsections investigating the learners' viewpoints about BL as a platform: a) to improve learners' interaction, b) to increase their interests, and c) to provide autonomous learning. A mixed approach was adopted for the study to be conducted in one of the largest universities in Saudi Arabia. The participants (n=120) taken as sample were studying intensive English courses at four different levels as per the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) during their first year at university. The data was collected by using the designed survey consisting sixteen closed and an open-ended question to investigate the learners' perceptions in depth. The results indicate an overall positive attitude of the learners towards BL integration. ANOVA analysis of the variables shows insignificant effect of the 'level of computer proficiency' and the 'level of learners' language skills' on their perceptions. The results conclude that the learners' perceptions are found in favour of BL. Thus, it is recommended to integrate BL to increase the learners' interest, interaction, and autonomy.

‘I Couldn’t Join the Session’: Benefits and Challenges of Blended Learning amid COVID-19 from EFL Students

“…Similar results were found by Alsowayegh et al (2019) who reported that students were motivated to search other social media accounts, and was also found by Al Bataineh et al (2019) who reported that blended learning improved students' digital skills. This result was also confirmed by other researchers (Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Hamad, 2017) who found that students were motivated to learn independently. Implementation of blended learning to deliver English classes fitted well with students' circumstances.…”

“…It also proves that online tests have had a positive impact on improving the students' punctuation, spelling and grammar skills. This result adds to the string of findings that blended learning supports EFL students' language skills (Al Bataineh et al, 2019;Alsowayegh et al, 2019;Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Gulnaz et al, 2020) and the finding of Al-Qahtani (2019) who reported that virtaul classes enhanced the language learners' communicative skills. This result also corresponds with the result from Alowedi (2020), who found that blended learning provides additional learning opportunities to EFL students.…”

“…Participants in the previous studies employed blended learning via a single platform. For example, Blackboard was used by Alsowayegh et al (2019), Alowedi (2020) and Hamad (2017), whereas Moodle was used by Al Bataineh et al (2019) and the Cambridge Learning Management System was used by Gulnaz et al (2020), and the two studies did not mention the name of the platform (Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Ja'ashan, 2020). However, the participants in the current study used two platforms Blackboard Collaborate Ultra and Zoom, and five reported the use of Microsoft Teams once.…”

“…The classic view of blended learning pedagogy is shared by many EFL scholars (Al Bataineh, Banikalef, & Albashtawi, 2019;Alsowayegh, Bardesi, Garba, & Sipra, 2019;Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Gulnaz, Althomali, & Alzeer, 2020). These scholars view blended learning as describing situations in which students meet their instructors in a face-to-face setting as well as engaging in activities posted online, such as online test, tasks and assignments.…”

“…Mixed methods was also used by Bukhari and Basaffar (2019) when targeting students at King Abdulaziz University, although the authors did not mention the name of the e-learning platform. They investigated the effectiveness of integrating blended learning in intensive English courses on motivation, interaction and autonomy among female EFL students.…”