I. INTRODUCTION
II. LITERATURE REVIEW
1. Theoretical Framework: Collaborative Learning (CL) & Blended Learning (BL)
2. BL Research Prior to the Pandemic Era
3. BL Research During the Pandemic Era
4. BL Research Aimed at the Post-Pandemic Era
III. METHODS
1. Setting and Participants
2. Procedures and Individual Tasks
3. Data Collection and Analysis
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
1. Low-Level Students’ Reported Enjoyment Level Immediately Following Synchronous/Asynchronous BL Activities
1) General/Enjoyment Completing the Synchronous/Asynchronous BL Activities
2) Students’ Perceptions of Greater Enjoyment/Satisfaction Between Synchronous and Asynchronous Activities
2. Low-Level Students’ Perceived Pros and Cons of Synchronous/Asynchronous BL Activities
1) Students’ Perceived Pros and Cons Toward Synchronous Zoom BL Activities
2) Students’ Perceived Pros and Cons Toward Asynchronous DB BL Activities
During posting my opinions and questions, I make my postings myself. So I can improve my thinking skills and my English words and verbs. And sharing my mind with my partner make me more closed with him. (s6)
When using zoom, there was a time limit of 1 hour, so even in the middle of recording, I had to turn it back on and start from the beginning, but this time, I think I was able to do it more comfortably because there was no such limit. And there was no time limit, so I could think more deeply and share opinions. It’s just my opinion, but zoom was a way of talking to each other, so I think my speaking ability is improved more than posting videos and communicating in writing like this time. And it is a big difference to communicate with each other face to face, and I thought this part was a little lacking during this activity. But it was not bad because we talked a lot in class. (s12)
I had a discussion with my main partner and other teams. It was good to exchange comments and feedback on each other’s topics and do assignments. It was best to be able to share various thoughts and opinions of people. In this process, I liked that I could express my opinion in English easily. I could write many different English expressions because I expressed what I wanted to say in English. I realized that my reading skills have improved through this activity. (s31)
If I use an asynchronous discussion board, I can’t answer when I want to. In other words, when my partner posts the video on the bulletin board, I have to write an answer after that. Because I’m available, but if my partner doesn’t upload the video at that time, I have to wait in the meantime. (s26)
To be honest, I try to speak English somehow when I talk with Zoom or in class. However, while chatting online, I try to write English and if I feel too awkward, I think I use a translator. (s80)
I think it was difficult to improve my English-speaking ability because it was a conversation on the Internet, not a direct conversation. The actual English conversation is to listen and speak right away because if you use the chat window, you think and speak without talking right away. In addition, it was regrettable that the dialogue window was greatly influenced by the other party. (s76)
Due to the large number of people, there were many cases where the opinions that I thought about overlapped when writing comments, and it was a little difficult because there were many comments that had to be posted. (s4)
3. Low-Level Students’ Preference Towards Synchronous/Asynchronous BL Activities and Perceived Personal Skill Improvements
1) Students’ Reported Difficulty Level and Self-Reported Improvement Comparing Asynchronous to Synchronous BL Activities
2) Students’ Perceived Overall Satisfaction Level and Individual Self-Improvement Throughout the EFL Course
4. Low-Level Students’ Perceived Strengths and Weaknesses of Synchronous/Asynchronous BL Activities
1) Perceived Strengths and Weaknesses of Synchronous and Asynchronous BL Activities
First, the advantage of team activities through zoom meetings is immediate feedback. Rather than team activities using the discussion board, I could immediately express my opinion and expect a response to it. However, the disadvantage is that we have to meet online at a set time and do team activities, so if a team member does not keep time, it will cause damage to everyone. (s26)
Zoom and DB have opposite strengths and weaknesses. The biggest advantage of zooming is that we don’t spend too much time. However, for people with beginner language skills, real-time communication can make it difficult to understand the contents of the conversation. On the other hand, DBs are understood by writing comments, so they can understand the details more delicately, but they have the disadvantage of taking that long. (s11)
Zoom meeting is good because I actually speak English. However, it seems that it did little to improve writing skills because it was written because it had to be written in real time. Conversely, discussion board meeting does not help improve speaking skills because it does not actually speak English. However, it was very helpful for my writing skills because I had a conversation with writing sentences. (s36)
2) Participant Suggestions for Future Use of Synchronous and Asynchronous BL Activities
The strength of Zoom meetings is that my speaking and listening skills improve. Online DB meetings cannot practice speaking and listening unless I post additional videos. However, if I add the process of talking about it after uploading a video like a task we did, online Discussion Board meetings, such as Zoom meetings, also seem to improve speaking and listening skills. (s12)
I think it’s good to proceed with all the courses in class. As the pandemic ends, meetings will be free, and through this, it will be free to gather in groups during class. Also, if student do some courses as homework, I think there are cases where the assignment cannot be done by a partner. Therefore, I think the whole process of the meeting should be conducted in class. (s13)
As in the class format that has been conducted so far, it would be good to conduct a book-oriented class in the face-to-face class, and to use the Zoom meeting or discussion board as a means to communicate in English mainly about the content learned from the book during face-to-face class. (s67) It would not be a bad idea to upload your opinion as a video on the DB and meet in face-to-face classes to share each other’s opinions on the video. Rather than writing each other’s opinions in the comments, I think talking with each other will help with conversation skills. For Zoom meetings, I liked it better to give a clear topic and write down work sheet. (s18)