| The remarkable advancement of technology,the Internet,and mass media have enabled the integration of offline and online learning,leading to the increasing use of blended learning in tertiary foreign language education.Currently,many colleges and universities in China are actively promoting blended learning in foreign language teaching reforms,developing a wide variety of MOOCs and Micro-courses as well as foreign language learning platforms and apps,all of which are contributing to the widespread adoption of blended teaching in foreign language education.Learning engagement has been considered a critical factor that may predict academic outcomes.It is also an essential criterion for measuring and evaluating the quality of education.By focusing on student engagement,educators can not only monitor the learning process but also predict the learning outcomes to some extent.So far,research on student engagement has mainly focused on task and classroom contexts,with limited attention devoted to student engagement in blended learning.This thesis aims to examine the engagement of non-English major college students in blended learning and explore salient factors that may affect student engagement.To frame the investigation,the study draws upon Philp and Duchesne’s(2016)four-dimensional framework of learning engagement,which encompasses behavioral,cognitive,emotional,and social dimensions.Two research questions guide this study:(1)To what extent are Chinese university EFL students engaged in blended learning?(2)What factors affect Chinese university EFL students’ engagement in blended learning?This study utilizes a qualitative case study design,employing semi-structured interviews as the primary research tool,and supplemented by collection of relevant materials.The data mainly involves two parts: data of student engagement in the face-to-face classroom and data of student engagement in the online learning component of blended learning.Comprehensive analysis of the collected data sheds light on university EFL students’ engagement with blended learning from the behavioral,cognitive,emotional,and social dimensions,and reveal the prominent factors that may affect the students’ engagement in blended learning.These factors can be divided into student,teacher,and environment factors.It is found that on the whole,blended learning has the potential to enhance student engagement due to the combined advantages of classroom learning and online learning.But an in-depth analysis of the data shows that student engagement in the online component and classroom component of blended learning varies across different engagement dimensions due to the complex influence of various learner,teacher,and contextual factors.Among them,factors that may hinder learner engagement are worth special attention,such as unsatisfactory design and lack of supervision in the online component,and inadequate coordination between online learning and offline classroom learning.Finally,the current research puts forward suggestions and strategies to improve student engagement with blended learning.It is hoped that these suggestions can offer implications for educators of higher education about how to design effective blended courses. |
