The Effect of Blended Learning on Developing Saudi English Majors' Writing Skills

Abstract

Blended learning seems to be an emerging trend in education and has caught the interest of
many educators and researchers as a new approach to encourage students in their learning
process. Though blended learning has proven its success and efficiency in teaching and learning
of English writing skills in many ESL and EFL contexts, no attempts had been made to investigate
its effectiveness in teaching English writing skills in K.S.A. To fill in this gab, the current study
attempts to examine the impact of blended learning approach on improving Saudi EFL students’
English essay writing. Moreover, it examines Saudi students’ perceptiveness toward
implementing blended learning approach to develop English essay writing. Sixty participants
were selected out of sixty eight English majors based on their scores on a piloted proficiency
test. They were then randomly divided into two equal groups undergoing control and
experimental conditions. The experimental group was taught through the use of blended
learning approach whereas the control group was taught through traditional lecture method. To
achieve the study aims, the researcher adopted a mixed method research design so as to collect
qualitative and quantitative data. Data collection instruments were pre and post writing essays
tests, questionnaire, and interviews. Teaching experiment was conducted for ten weeks in
March-April 2017. The researcher used the following statistical methods to reach the results:
(Mean, Standard Deviation, and T-Test). The results of the independent-samples t-tests showed
that participants of the blended learning group significantly outperformed the control group in
their writing performance. The study findings also revealed that there were statistically
significant differences between the scores of the paired experimental group in the pre and post
achievement test in favour of the post-test. This improvement was ascribed to the use of
blended learning approach in teaching essay writing. Moreover, the analysis of the data
obtained from the questionnaires and interviews indicated that students in the experimental
group had positive perspectives towards the use of blended learning approach in teaching
English essay writing. Finally, the findings of the study hold a number of pedagogical
implications for EFL learners, language teachers, material developers, and those interested in
essay writing.