İngilizce öğretiminde bir öğrenme yönetim sisteminin harmanlanmış öğrenme bağlamında kullanılmasına yönelik öğrenci ve okutman algıları (Fırat Üniversitesi örneği)

The use of computers in language teaching has a history of over 50 years dating back to 1950s. Since then, there has been a common belief that computers have great potential for education. The role of computers in language teaching has changed significantly as a result of the developments in computer technologies and new approaches to the nature of language teaching. In particular, the invention of the internet has become a cornerstone which turned computers an extensive tool for communication. The internet fulfills three main functions in language learning: the internet as a source of authentic materials, as a place for authentic communication and as a collection of tools. Nowadays, web-based systems, called Learning Management Systems, have been an important part of this collection of tools. Learning Management Systems are considered to be one of the most influential web tools which are specificially designed for educational purposes, allowing the users to see course content such as documents, audio and videos, to use communication tools like discussion forums and chat, and to monitor learners' progress. In consideration of these, this study aims to investigate Turkish EFL students' and their instructors' perceptions of using a learning management system (MyELT) in a blended learning context. MyELT is a learning managament system which was specifically developed for language learming. The study was conducted at Fırat University School of Foreign Languages in 2014-2015 academic year. The participants were 129 Turkish students, studying at English Preparatory Class Programme, and 4 instructors with Turkish origins. In order to collect data, a close – ended questionnaire including 19 items was used. Semi-structured interviews, including 3 open-ended questions, were conducted with the instructors. While the quantitative data were analysed by means of SPSS, the qualitative data were analysed through content analysis. The results indicated that the students generally had positive percepitons about the practicality of MyELT though they were not quite positive about its usefulness. The findings showed no significant difference between male and female students' perceptions and between students who had easy and limited access to the internet. Similarly, no significant correlation was found between students' perceptions and their average grade scores. Although the instructors believed in the pedagogical value of the MyELT, they regarded it unsuccessful in their own context due to a number of reasons such as students' lack of required ICT skills and some technical failures.