The Effects of Blended Learning on Chinese Undergraduate EFL Students' Reading Achievement And Engagement

Abstract

The present study aimed to examine the effects of blended learning on Chinese undergraduate EFL students’ reading achievement and engagement. To achieve the objectives, a quasi-experimental research was carried out. It involved 82 junior EFL participants who were divided into a control group and an experimental group in a Chinese university. Only the experimental group was taught with blended learning in EFL reading activities, whereas the control group retained the conventional F2F EFL reading instruction. Both groups received the Reading Comprehension Test (RCT) and the Higher Education Student Engagement Scale (HESES) test during pre- and post-tests. After a twelve-week treatment in the experimental group, independent sample t-test and ANCOVA analyses were utilized to compare the pre- and post-test results of both groups. According to the findings of the study, blended learning showed a significant positive effect on Chinese undergraduate EFL students’ reading achievement and the overall student engagement in which students’ academic engagement, cognitive engagement, social engagement with teachers, and social engagement with peers presented more effective results in blended learning than that in conventional learning, although students’ affective engagement indicated no statistically meaningful difference. Therefore, blended learning as a popular learning normality in the digital era can be adopted in EFL reading class for optimizing EFL reading comprehension and activating student engagement in a sustainable manner.