Turkish students' perception of blended learning in EFL and higher education context

The technology has been integrated into the classroom environment and has introduced a rapid reform in education sector, especially at university setting. Blended learning (BL) is an example of these improvements in the approaches to education in higher education. Within this framework, this study basically aimed to explore the students' perception of blended learning in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and higher education context. It also attempted to investigate the students' views about both use and content of the BL components - traditional face-to-face learning and online learning platform. In addition, it tried to discover the opinions of the students as to the evaluation of BL exercises, and as to the advantages and disadvantages of BL to their English language learning. In this mixed-methods study, a 5-point Likert Scale questionnaire and eight open-ended interview questions were utilized as a tool of data gathering. In this research, 160 Turkish EFL beginner-level university students participated to reply the online questionnaire and interview questions; and the data from the questionnaire were analyzed with SPSS Software, and the data from the interview were analyzed through the Content Analysis. Both quantitative and qualitative findings of the study showed that students' perception of blended learning (BL) was generally neutral concerning the online learning platform use and content, traditional face-to-face learning practice and content, assessment of BL activities and tasks, and advantages and disadvantages of BL. Even though students partially agreed about the use of BL approach, they still favoured traditional face-to-face learning over online learning through learning management system (LMS) in blended instruction environment. Finally, some pedagogical implications for teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) as well as some recommendations for further research on the main topic were offered in brief.