Correlational Study of Factors Affecting Students' Perceived Engagement in Task-Based Learning Under Blended English Learning Environment

Abstract

This article focuses on the discussion on the use of blended learning that deals with tasks assigned for blended learning. In EFL blended learning, tasks will be assigned to the learners. However, the effectiveness of the use of tasks might not serve the purpose. Hence the study in this article has evaluated students' perceived engagement in the tasks designed for blended learning from the perspective of timeliness of task, richness of task, accuracy of task and adaptability of task. The research was conducted in four universities in Shandong Province, China. A course in English was offered during Spring 2022 using a combination of traditional and online instructional design with task-based teaching method. For every class, the teachers assigned learning tasks online and offline. That's to say, the tasks were assigned to the students before class, on class and after class. The students' completion of the tasks was evaluated and given feedback by the teachers. A questionnaire was administered at the end of the semester to solicit feedback from the students. Totally 255 questionnaires were collected and SPSS was used to process the data. The results of the study show that there's a correlational relationship between timeliness of task, richness of task, accuracy of task as well as adaptability of task and the students' perceived engagement. The study stresses the requirements for elaborately-designed tasks with the quality of timeliness, richness, accuracy and adaptability. At the same time, timely feedback on the completion of tasks and practical assessment methods to measure students' attributes facilitate the effectiveness of blended learning. Student engagement and learner autonomy also benefit from the blended learning course. The significant correlation findings of these four factors on engagement show that these factors have to be taken care of in order to ensure positive engagement on tasks assigned in blended learning environment.