Blended electronic learning (e-learning) has become a very common learning environment worldwide. This study investigates the effect of the use of this environment on the academic performance of female Saudi students of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in English phonetics and on their attitudes towards the Internet-assisted language learning and teaching. Participants in this study are 140 randomly selected female senior college students majoring in English (to be future English teachers) at the English Department, College of Education, at King Khalid University, in Abha. The participants were divided into two equal groups (70 students in each group)—control and experimental—and were pre- and post-tested. The treatment includes an online component, which was delivered on a Blackboard learning system. For the students in the experimental group, all of their lectures are presented online, including those face-to-face sessions. Course e-mail and discussion boards are used, for the discussion and to allow contact with the experimental group. A questionnaire was also given to the experimental group students to test the effect of the blended e-learning environment on their attitudes towards Internet-assisted language learning and teaching. Data was analysed using SPSS-16. The Mean score gain of the experimental group in post-testing was significantly higher than that for the pre-test. This was attributed to the use of blended e-learning. Further, the blended e-learning environment had a positive effect on female Saudi EFL students’ attitudes towards Internet-assisted language learning and teaching. Thus, implementing blended e-learning in EFL teaching and learning can be recommended as beneficial.
The effect of a blended e-learning environment on EFL students’ academic performance, and attitudes towards Internet-assisted language learning and teaching
المجلد الأول
العدد الأول
مجلة العلوم الإنسانية
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