VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI PHUONG LINH STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE BLENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PROJECT AT A VOCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN HANOI (Nhận thức của sinh viên về sự tự chủ của người học trong môi trường BLENDED LEARNING: nghiên cứu khám phá tại một cơ sở dạy nghề tại Hà Nội) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Hanoi – 2023 VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES NGUYEN THI PHUONG LINH STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS OF LEARNER AUTONOMY IN THE BLENDED LEARNING ENVIRONMENT: AN EXPLORATORY RESEARCH PROJECT AT A VOCATIONAL INSTITUTION IN HANOI (Nhận thức của sinh viên về sự tự chủ của người học trong môi trường BLENDED LEARNING: nghiên cứu khám phá tại một cơ sở dạy nghề tại Hà Nội) M. MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS Major: English Language Teaching Methodology Code: 8140231.01 Supervisor: Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Ph.D Hanoi – 2023 DECLARATION I certify that except where due acknowledgement has been made, the work is that of the author solely; and the work has not been submitted in support of another degree or qualification from this or other university or institute of learning. The study in this thesis has been approved by Hanoi National University, College of Foreign Languages.
Hanoi, September, 2022 Nguyễn Thị Phương Linh Approved by SUPERVISOR (Signature and full name) Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa, Ph.D i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my supervisor, PhD. Hoang Thi Xuan Hoa for her excellent guidance, support and expertise throughout this research, especially her help with all the advice which she has given me. I would like to thank all the English lectures at FPT Polytechnic because of their warm and keen support. I would also like to thank my beloved students who helped me to complete this study.
Finally, my appreciation goes to my family for encouraging, motivating and supporting me during my education. This accomplishment would not have been possible without them. ii ABSTRACT The implementation of blended learning into EFL classes has been becoming a critical practice due to its advantages. Cost effectiveness, high productivity, flexibility are what can be seen from an organizational-level.
However, learner autonomy in blended courses is still in question. The main purpose of this study is to investigate students‟ perception of learner autonomy in blended learning environment and the factors affecting learner autonomy in the researched school. This study employed Sequential Explanatory Mixed methods which contained a quantitative survey phase (n = 244) followed by a qualitative interview phase (n = 11) and a researcher‟s observation. The result revealed that learners in the study possessed a moderate level of learner autonomy in the blended EFL courses.
The three factors related to blended learning (Flexibility, Interaction and Online material quality) were all found to have positive correlation with perceived learner autonomy. Among these variables, Flexibility was the most influential factor, followed by Interaction and lastly Online material quality. The interview phase and the observation phase helped suggest deeper understanding of some different aspects related to the students‟ autonomous behaviors. Based on the main findings, a number of recommendations have been proposed to improve the level of learner autonomy in the EFL blended courses.
iii TABLE OF CONTENTS DECLARATION .iii LIST OF TABLES. vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS. vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION. Rationale for the study.
Aims of the study. Key research questions. Scope of the study. Method of the study.
Significance of the study. Design of the study. 5 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW. Blended learning in ELT.
Learner autonomy in language classroom. Students‟ perception of Learner Autonomy in Blended learning environment. Autonomous behaviors in Blended learning environment. Factors related to Blended learning environment affecting students‟ perception of Autonomous Learning.
Gaps in the previous studies. 17 CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY. Data collection instruments. Data collection procedures.
31 CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION. The students‟ perception of Learner Autonomy in Blended learning environment. Factors related to Blended learning which affects Learner Autonomy. Discussion of main findings.
56 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS. Summary of main findings. Implication and Recommendation. Limitation and suggestions for further study .I APPENDIX A: Adaption of the Questionnaire items .I APPENDIX B: QUESTIONNAIRES IN ENGLISH.
II APPENDIX C: LIST OF SURVEY ITEM CODING .IV APPENDIX D: INTERVIEW QUESTIONS IN ENGLISH. V APPENDIX F: OBSERVATION GUIDELINES IN ENGLISH. XIV APPENDIX G: SAMPLE SCREEN SHOTS OF THE ONLINE COURSE. XVI v LIST OF TABLES Table 2.
Autonomous behaviors from previous studies. Participants‟ demographic information.2 Initial list of adopted survey questionnaire. List of adapted items for survey questionnaire. Cronbach‟s Alpha of each variants .5 KMO and Bartlett's Test of factors.
Frequency Statistics for Learner Autonomy. Descriptive Statistics of Learner Autonomy. Factor related to Blended learning which can affect Learner Autonomy 46 Table 4.4 Interaction Factor which can affect Learner Autonomy .5 Flexibility Factor which can affect Learner Autonomy.6 Online material quality factor which can affect Learner Autonomy. Correlation among observed variables.48 vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CMS Content management system EFL English as a Foreign Language ICT Information and Communications Technologies vii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.
Rationale for the study The integration of ICT in every aspect of life has dramatically changed the operational mechanism of the whole world. In education, the introduction of this integration into teaching and learning has resulted in the proliferation of computer- mediated education - known as e-learning with two most popular forms being online learning, making institutions of all across levels especially higher education change the way to conduct their training (Welsh et al., 2003) to take advantages of the advanced technologies as well as equip their learners with necessary skills to improve their future employability. On one hand, e-learning is reported to increase productivity, eliminate the time and geographical barriers, and improve the access flexibility. Yet e-learning possesses some undeniable shortcomings such as lack of social interaction and face-to-face contact, inadequate learning strategies, difficulties in adopting a technology system (Flood, 2002) and lack of self-learning skills (Huong, 2018).
Vietnam is a developing country with a young population. This demographic feature has granted this country many advantages as well as disadvantages in applying e-learning in education. Accordingly, the young population can guarantee a high level of internet self - efficacy which seems to be attractive and becoming a popular trend while developing economies cannot ensure a well-established infrastructure for all learners, especially learners in remote areas. Besides, Vietnam has a long tradition of Confucian in education, featuring the center of teachers and obedience.
Particularly, Vietnamese students show high teacher reliance and an authoritarian view of the teacher roles in the classroom (Le, 2013). These features are likely to become barriers to e-learning implementation where learner self- efficacy is vital and learning process is considered to take various forms, teacher‟s lecturing is just one of those. Fortunately, the employment of blended learning in EFL education programs is 1 considered an affirmative answer to the growth in enrollment, as English is one of the compulsory subjects in most Vietnamese higher education institutions, besides being an important component in increasing diversity of students‟ learning needs (Hoang, 2015). Taking the global trend in education, since 2000, the Vietnamese government has issued policies to promote the development of e-learning.
According to the forecast of Insight (2014), in the period 2013 - 2018 Vietnam has planned to become one of the top ten countries with the highest self-paced e- learning growth rates in the world as well as in the Asia region. In the language teaching field, learner autonomy has caught the attention of many researchers since it has been shown to foster effective learning for language (Ismail, 2016; Lander & Kuramoto, 2013; Phuong & Vo, 2019). However, in the literature, although some studies that have been conducted in non – western cultures reveal students‟ attitudes towards learning as passive, obedient and uncritical (Chan et al., 2002; Gamble et al., 2018; Palfreyman, 2003), others demonstrate that learner autonomy can be an achievable goal for these students (Dickinson, 1996; Hua et al., 2011; Littlewood, 1999; Nalipay et al. Therefore, rather than making general statements about students‟ behaviors related to their educational cultures, there is a need to explore different learning models suitable for learners‟ needs in promoting learner autonomy (Bitlis, 2011).
A number of researchers have developed approaches and methods that foster learner autonomy (Egel, 2009; Zeng, 2009). Similarly, in Vietnam, several attempts have also been made to investigate different methods to enhance autonomy among students (Ba, 2018; Kaur et al., 2017); yet, very few empirical studies have investigated a blended learning environment, which combines online and traditional learning methods, in relation to learner autonomy. Blended learning pedagogical practices have become a very common teaching method in this modern time (Wong et al. Higher learning autonomy is very important for students to learn effectively in the blended learning environment since it is shown to be a useful predictor of course success and final grade (Yen & Liu, 2 2009).
Whereas blended learning has been proven to promote autonomous learning (Sahni, 2019), in some other studies, this method shows no significant influence in inculcating learner autonomy among students (Wong et al. These have led to controversial opinions among teachers and scholars on whether and how students‟ autonomous practices are fostered in a blended learning environment. Additionally, the personal reason for conducting this study originates from the transformation of the learning and teaching model that has been applied at the research context from Fall 2021 academic year. As a result, the campus-based teaching time allocation has remarkably decreased whereas the students‟ self- studying time has increased more than threefold.
This adjustment required a lot of effort, especially from students. After one semester of implementation, a positive students‟ academic achievement was reported with the pass rate being greater and fail rate together with ineligibility rate being lower compared to prior teaching and learning model. However during the course, the researcher could observe students‟ high dependence on teachers, lack of motivation, which shows a low level of learner autonomy. In the study, the researcher would like to approach this issue to investigate factors related to the blended learning environment contributing to first year students‟ perceived learner autonomy during a blended course.
Aims of the study The usage of blended learning in higher education is continuously growing, raising concerns about its efficacy and reliability. Learner autonomy, which is considered as one significant indicator to the student‟s academic achievement. The study‟s goal is to investigate factors affecting learner autonomy in a blended course. Based on the framework proposed by Bitlis (2011), the study examined how students perceived the learner autonomy in a blended course as well as the factor related to blended learning environment affecting those perceptions.
A deeper investigation of students‟ experience relating to each aspect will also be carried out so as to provide an in-depth understanding about this matter. Key research questions This thesis focuses on answering the following research questions: - What are students‟ perceptions of learner autonomy in the blended learning environment? - What factors of the Blended learning environment affect the students‟ perceptions of learner autonomy? 1. Scope of the study With regard to the academic scope, this thesis directed attention to the students‟ perceptions of learner autonomy in the Blended learning environment as well as the factors of the Blended learning environment affect those perceptions. In terms of the social scope, the researcher was going to survey, interview as well as observe students studying blended courses at a Polytechnic College in Hanoi during a course in Spring 2022 academic year.
Method of the study The Triangular explanatory mixed method was applied as the backbone for this research.