Engaging Students through Blended Learning Activities to Augment Listening and Speaking

Abstract

Present study examines pedagogically the effect of blended learning activities to augment listening and speaking at tertiary level. Teachers provided content online that allowed measuring the students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, and content and examination. Using the tools online on Blackboard®, discussion on forums and listening activities, the teacher provided the blended learning activities. The three-step strategy (3SS) framework was adopted for language learning.It provided students strategies that generated, supported and manipulated the blended learning activities for learning in the face to face sessions. The study investigates how blended learning activities motivate the engagement of students, their satisfaction, the role of the teacher, content and assessment from the students' point of view. The study uses a population of 38 students from two sections of a listening and speaking class (control G1 n = 20 and blended G2 n = 18), a placement test, examination results and responses from a questionnaire as instruments for examining the effect of blended learning activities on the students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, content and examination. The results using descriptive statistics demonstrate positive effects of using blended learning activities in supporting the improvement of students' learning on listening and speaking at elementary level.e. In brief, using the evidence from the study reveals that exposing foundation year students to blended learning activities have positive effects on students' engagement, satisfaction, teacher's role, content and examination when learning English. The paper situated itself in the discussion of providing enriched language learning content online for supporting and measuring learning through the objective measurement of the content from the opinion of the students.

Designing an Arabic Speaking and Listening Skills E- Course: Resources, Activities and Students' Perceptions

“…Among the four language skills, speaking and listening received less attention in the existing literature than reading and writing. Some studies reported on the impact of blended learning activities on the augmentation of English listening and speaking skills in the Bangladeshi, Indonesian and Omani contexts (Rabbi, Zakaria and Tonmoy, 2017 ;Rahmawati, 2019;Pramila and Thomas 2019 ;Hussein Alsowayegh et al, 2019 ;Grgurovic 2011).…”

The Role of the Blackboard LMS in EFL Course Delivery During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Investigating Attitudes and Perceptions of Faculty and Students

“…EFL language instructors and their students in almost all schools in Saudi higher learning institutions are now using blended learning (BL) and virtual learning environments (VLEs) to deliver and teach e-courses over e-learning platforms to help promote teaching and learning, especially in foreign language education. Using these e-learning technologies has become widespread not only locally, but globally as well due to the rampant spread of COVID-19 pandemic (Al Thaqafi, 2020;Al-Qahtani, 2019;Altobaiti, 2020;Obaid, 2020;Alsowayegh, Bardesi, Garba, & Sipra, 2019;Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Gulnaz, Althomali, & Alzeer, 2020;Ja'ashan, 2020;Obaid, 2020). More specifically, BL and VLEs have been utilized in language learning and teaching environments over the past few decades.…”

Challenges Faced by EFL Teachers and Learners in Providing and Receiving Online Corrective Feedback on Writing Assignments

“…A number of studies have examined the usefulness of using technology in online and blended learning in Saudi universities. These studies have found that online learning has been an effective solution to continuing teaching and learning and has many advantages, including high level of accessibility, saving money, time, and effort, and class and lecture recording (Alsowayegh et al, 2019;Ali, 2017;Alowedi, 2020;Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Gulnaz et al, 2020). Ali (2017) found that using the Blackboard platform demotivated some language learners and motivated others, whereas Alfadda and Mahdi (2021) found a significant correlation between the use of Zoom by Saudi university students and their positive perception of technology's utility in EFL classrooms.…”

“…Madrasati and Blackboard are the two most prominent tools that have been used in Saudi Arabia in the wake of the pandemic and social distancing rules. A number of local researchers have undertaken the task of investigating the effectiveness and appropriateness of these tools in different institutions in Saudi Arabia, the findings of which indicate that online tools such as Blackboard have contributed significantly to the success of online education in the kingdom (Alsowayegh et al, 2019;Ali, 2017;Alowedi, 2020;Bukhari & Basaffar, 2019;Gulnaz et al, 2020). Although many studies have looked into the concept of teaching and learning online, there seems to be a lack of empirical evidence on the challenges and difficulties that EFL students and teachers encounter during writing lessons with a special focus on online corrective feedback.…”