Investigating a Blended Learning Environment: Contribution of Attitude, Interaction, and Quality of Teaching to Satisfac
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Investigating a Blended Learning Environment: Contribution of Attitude, Interaction, and Quality of Teaching to Satisfaction of Graduate Students of TEFL Mahboubeh Taghizadeh1
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Fatemeh Hajhosseini1
Ó The Author(s) 2020
Abstract The level of learner satisfaction, according to Chen and Yao (J Educ Res 4(7):1667-1671, 2016), has a main role in measuring the effectiveness of blended learning, which is influenced by various factors. The purpose of this study was thus twofold: (a) to explore graduate students’ attitudes, interaction patterns, and satisfaction with blended learning technology and (b) to investigate the extent to which attitude, interaction, and quality of teaching contributed to satisfaction. The participants of this study were 140 graduate students of TEFL at the e-learning campus of Iran University of Science and Technology. The instruments were four types of questionnaire on learner satisfaction, attitude, interaction types, and quality of teaching. The results of quantitative and qualitative analysis revealed learners’ positive attitudes towards blended learning technology. The instructor was also successful in teaching theoretical and practical concepts of TEFL, guiding online discussion through giving constructive feedback, and motivating learners to do more online learning. Learner–-instructor interaction was also found to be the most frequent type of interaction. The results of multiple regression analysis also revealed that contribution of quality of teaching to satisfaction was higher than that of interaction and attitude, implying the significance of training online teachers to enhance their knowledge, skills, and strategies required for online teaching.
& Mahboubeh Taghizadeh [email protected] Fatemeh Hajhosseini [email protected] 1
Department of Foreign Languages, Iran University of Science and Technology, Hengam Street, Resalat Square, Tehran, Iran
Keywords Attitude Blended learning Interaction Quality of teaching Satisfaction
Introduction Blended learning, according to Kvavik (2005), is an innovative method for learners, making learning and teaching process more comfortable and attractive and is in accordance with learners’ needs for the 21st century. Blended learning is referred to as a combination of online and face-to-face instruction (Graham 2006), and it is argued that learners can learn easily through this method (Teclehaimanot and Lamb 2005; Wetzel et al. 2014), because this method is supported by the theory of experiential learning (Seaman et al. 2017). Sharma (2010) asserts that blended learning attempts to generate a harmonious balance between face-to-face interaction and online access to knowledge by considering teachers’ and learners’ attitudes and aptitudes. Willging and Johnson (2009) note that the main factor influencing online courses is learner satisfaction, which is the amount of learner’s attitude and feelings about all advantages of blended learning classrooms (Wu et al. 2010). According to Chang and Fisher (2003), learner
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