Li Zhiyong, Dai Zonglin, Li Jiaying, Guan Pengju
School of Foreign Languages, Tianjin University of Commerce, 409 The Glorious Road, Beichen District, Tianjin, China.
Tianjin Chengjian University, 26, Jinjing Road, Xiqing District, Tianjin, China.
Acta Psychol (Amst). 2025 Mar;253:104772. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104772. Epub 2025 Jan 31.
To deliver high-quality courses across various instructional environments, instructors must consider variations in learner engagement. However, limited attention has been paid to whether online and in-person teaching approaches differ in terms of their effects on learner engagement in language learning environments. To fill this void, we aim to investigate the differences in overall and three specific types of engagement between online and in-person classrooms. The study is based on 168 learners in China who attended online and in-person English as a foreign language (EFL) course, respectively, across two semesters. This research utilized the mixed methods approach, involving the quantitative and qualitive strands. Firstly, t-tests revealed that, although participants positively rated their engagement in online and in-person courses, they evaluated online instruction less favorable in terms of overall engagement, emotional engagement, and cognitive engagement compared to in-person instruction. They also reported similar levels of behavioral engagement. Secondly, an open survey and interviews revealed these differences were primarily caused by the limited interaction, learners' insufficient digital skills, their lack of self-regulation, and instructors' inadequate technological pedagogical content knowledge online, while the flexibility of online learning likely compromised the behavioral engagement difference. We discussed the findings in light of self-determination theory (SDT), drawing pedagogical implications for language teaching and policymaking for delivery of engaging offline, online, and hybrid language programs in the future.
为了在各种教学环境中提供高质量的课程，教师必须考虑学习者参与度的差异。然而，对于在线教学方法和面对面教学方法在语言学习环境中对学习者参与度的影响方面是否存在差异，人们关注较少。为了填补这一空白，我们旨在研究在线课堂和面对面课堂在总体参与度以及三种特定类型的参与度方面的差异。该研究基于中国的168名学习者，他们在两个学期中分别参加了在线和面对面的外语（EFL）英语课程。本研究采用了混合方法，包括定量和定性两个方面。首先，t检验显示，尽管参与者对他们在在线课程和面对面课程中的参与度给予了积极评价，但与面对面教学相比，他们在总体参与度、情感参与度和认知参与度方面对在线教学的评价较低。他们还报告了相似水平的行为参与度。其次，一项开放式调查和访谈显示，这些差异主要是由互动有限、学习者数字技能不足、缺乏自我调节以及教师在线技术教学内容知识不足造成的，而在线学习的灵活性可能削弱了行为参与度方面的差异。我们根据自我决定理论（SDT）讨论了研究结果，为未来开展引人入胜的线下、在线和混合语言课程的语言教学和政策制定提供了教学启示。
