The blended learning experiences of Malaysian Islamic based public university students in an English language course

Abstract

Today’s learners are anticipated to be independent, proactive, and prolific with the advent of technology where they can access the information at their fingertips anytime and anywhere. However, the students from the religious schooling system are unable to utilise their digital tools for the sake of language learning and they are very much into teacher-centred learning. The conventional method is believed to have led to passiveness among students as they are not required to interact and use the English Language. This has contributed to the difficulty of learning the English language at the university. Thus, this study aims to unveil the real experiences of Islamic-based university students who learned the English language via a blended approach at the university. This study bridges the gap in literature on the lack of study of study looking at Islamic-based university students experiences learning English language via blended approach. This is a multiple case study with the research design used is qualitative in nature. A total of twelve sojourners were selected through purposive sampling. The data were gathered through a series of interviews and document analysis. Through the computer-aided qualitative data analysis software Nvivo, patterns were identified through a process of data familiarisation, data coding, and theme development. In developing the themes for this study, the practice of Cohen’s Kappa was implemented, where the value obtained is 0.982 which is considered an almost perfect agreement. The main finding of language learning strategies used is the participants’ applied various strategies both inside and outside the classroom to learn the language. Their nature as digital native learners also indicated that they fully utilized the technological tools in their learning. The three phases that all participants experienced are the early phase (difficult), the implementation phase (adaptation) and the final phase (transformation). Although they went through the same phases, the presage stage of their learning experience made the shaping process differ from one another. The participants experienced various challenges in their English language learning experience via a blended approach namely their nature, environmental shock and institutional. Six factors have contributed to the successes of the participants which are learners, lecturers/teachers, peers, family, institution and environment. The participants gained many achievements that they considered to have positive experiences in their learning journey, were able to adapt themselves to the new approach, and new learning environment and utilized technology for language learning. They also felt that they have a good time learning English both inside and outside the classroom, enjoyed both online and offline sessions, and progressed positively. The findings of this study have given an impact to the Islamic-based university students in learning the language via blended approach. The approach is not only helped these Islamic-based university students to learn the language in a more interesting yet meaningful way, but at the same time change their mind and perception about learning the language. Based on the findings emerged from this study, there were implications on theories, research and methodology, and pedagogy. Despite the fact that the conclusions of this study cannot be generalised, it does provide insight of how Islamic-based university students learn English course and their real-life experiences studying the language in the context of Malaysia's religious-based tertiary institutions.