Exploring the Implementation of a Blended Learning Approach in Teaching an English Writing Course at a Bangladeshi University

Against the backdrop of problems in Bangladeshi higher education like seat crises and
session backlogs in public universities, high tuition fees in private universities, a lack of
student loans, and the negative perception of online education among people including
policymakers, teachers, parents, and students, it is assumed that blended learning can be
an effective mode of education for Bangladesh’s universities for a number of reasons
such as flexibility, enhanced learning outcomes, more teacher-student interaction, and
more student satisfaction in general. So, this study was conducted to investigate the
perceptions of students and teachers about both online and face-to-face education and
their experiences with blended learning. The research questions of this study centered
around issues like whether blended learning is appropriate as an alternative mode of
education in the 21st century, what were the experiences of teachers and students with
using blended learning in an English Writing Course at the undergraduate level and
whether blended learning could solve the problem of space, session backlog in the public
universities, reduce the cost of higher education and other problems of higher education
institutions of Bangladesh. This is a qualitative, in particular, case study. The data came
from interviews with 15 student participants doing the course and two teachers who
conducted the course, their discussions, and postings on online forums, such as Facebook,
Google Classroom, a Blog, student journals, and essay scores of 15 students. Data
collected from these sources were analyzed following the qualitative data analysis
method. The participants mentioned a number of advantages and disadvantages of both
face-to-face and online education in Bangladesh. Most of the participants in this study
opine that against the backdrop of the problems and challenges of both online and face-toface
education, the blended method can be an effective alternative mode of education for
the universities of Bangladesh. This method, they reported, offered them opportunities
such as more flexibility, increased learning through teacher and peer feedback, scope for
self-exploration, better and enhanced interaction, reduction in tuition fees and other costs
of education, easing of traffic jam, expansion of women education, an increase of
technological skills, and higher-order thinking. On the other hand, they mention a number
of challenges of blended method such as the digital divide, the lack of teacher training
and infrastructural barriers. This study can guide the policymakers, institution managers,
teachers and students in Bangladeshi higher education for the implementation of the
blended learning method as a way to improve the quality of higher education even in the
face of infrastructural and resource constraints in the universities.