scholarly journals Blended Learning in a University EFL Writing Course: Description and Evaluation

Author(s):  
Meihua Liu
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Vu Phi Ho Pham ◽  
Thi Kim Loan Bui

Writing is a challenging and demanding skill for EFL learners in Vietnam. Teaching writing skills at Vietnamese universities is problematic since different approaches to writing have not been implemented effectively. Mainly, a genre-based approach to writing has not yet been implemented in EFL writing classrooms successfully. This paper investigates how the genre-based writing approach has been taught and learned at Van Lang University. The study mentions some critical notions of systemic functional linguistics, genre-based writing approach, and the importance and effects of genre-based approach to writing. 128 students turned in their midterm essays in week 5 of the 10-week writing course. These 128 expository essays were analyzed and synthesized using Microsoft Excel to calculate the differences in move-step structure. The findings indicated that the students had difficulty following the fixed move-step structure, and they also faced challenges of lexico-grammatical usage for the expository. Hence, the study suggests some implications for applying a genre-based approach to writing for EFL teachers and students and suggests further research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 576 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammed Abdullah Alharbi

The present study aims to investigate the difficulties faced by 74 English as a foreign language (EFL) undergraduate students in developing a well-written paragraph in academic writing by designing a writing course based on the students’ voices. The self-report survey (5-point Likert scale) was used as the pre- and post-questionnaire, and pre- and the post-tests task was used to track students’ writing improvement before and after taking a writing course. Pre-questionnaire and pre-tests showed that participants had difficulties in using the mechanics of writing (punctuation, spelling, grammar, topic sentences, and supporting sentences). The majority of the students’ responses in the post-survey shows that they believed their writing improved and encountered fewer difficulties in writing as compared to their views in the pre-questionnaire. The result of the post-tests indicates improvements in students’ writing samples. The study concludes that EFL writing courses should be designed on the basis of challenges faced by the students in order to get the best outcome from the course.


2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 216-226
Author(s):  
Anggri Muhtia ◽  
Suparno Suparno ◽  
Sumardi Sumardi

The emergence of online learning offers the opportunities that are not possessed by the traditional face-to-face learning environment. Combining the strengths of the online learning and face-to-face learning, known as blended learning, is believed to enhance the quality of learning. Different subjects may have different designs of blended learning because there is no specific formula for the best practices of blended learning. This paper reports a study investigating the implementation of blended learning in a paragraph writing course. The purposes were to investigate the blended learning activities carried out in the paragraph writing course and to find out the extent to which it affected students’ writing paragraph performance. The participants of this case study, who were selected purposively, involved one lecturer and six students of a paragraph writing class. The techniques for collecting data included interviews, observations, and document analysis, and the data were analyzed using Miles and Huberman’s interactive model. Ten blended learning activities, including five activities in face-to-face settings and five activities online, were identified in the course. The students’ paragraph writing performance seen from the result of final test was satisfying, indicating that the use of blended learning had a positive effect on students’ writing performance.


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anggri Muhtia ◽  
Nur Arifah Drajati

The application of blogs in English teaching and learning, especially in writing, has gained considerable attention. It combines learning activities with advanced Internet technologies and virtual social interaction. Assigning students to write online (blogging) outside classroom hours would enable students to learn in authentic social contexts and allow them to get exposed to authentic learning materials. The purpose of this study was to improve students’ writing skill through incorporating blogging activity into an EFL writing course. The blogging activity was carried out on a social network website that provides a blog section in addition to many features. The members of the website (which is part of an English learning activity) can post their writing and give comments on each other’s blog posts. In this study, mixed methods were applied in action research that integrated qualitative and quantitative data. The qualitative data were collected using observations and interviews, while the quantitative data were from test scores. The work was developed through two cycles. The findings showed that there was an improvement in students’ writing skill and students’ perceptions towards blogging were positive.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 50-67
Author(s):  
Tina Pingting Tsai ◽  
Lendy Chaoyu Lin ◽  
Jyhojong Lin

In e-learning, the flip blended learning model is used to provide students with learning contents inside/outside classrooms. It encourages students to preview these contents outside classrooms before the lesson. Then, various learning activities are taken inside classrooms in the lesson. An important issue about its success is the effectiveness of the preview because it affects the subsequent learning activities in the lesson. Further, for an ePUB3 ebook-based learning model, ePUB3 ebooks are used and hence embedded ePUB3 track and test functions can be used for tracking the preview accesses on these eBooks and examining the preview outcomes. As such, the preview effectiveness can be captured by checking these accesses and their relationships with the test outcomes for making adequate actions on subsequent lesson activities. In this paper, the authors explore such an effectiveness study on the preview of learning contents via ePUB3 track and test functions. For illustration, this study is applied to a script writing course and respective discussions are presented for showing its usefulness.


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