A comparative study of the effectiveness of online and conventional instructions on learners productive skills development

Abstract

In the current millennium, the integration of instructional technologies has become mandatory, especially when the focus of instruction is only on fluency and correct learning. English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers believe that students can achieve an adequate level of fluency and accuracy only if they speak and write English with less difficulty and more spontaneity. For this purpose, instructors ceaselessly seek versatile ways and approaches to enrich the teaching of four language skills (mainly the productive ones). Online sources provide both students and instructors with various ranges of software applications and platforms to actively involve in different class activities. This study aims to pinpoint the effectiveness of both online and conventional teaching on learners’ productive skills and to examine which mode of instruction leads to constructive output of EFL learners. Furthermore, this article considers teachers’ attitudes and learners’ perceptions on the use of online instruction in EFL classrooms. This research uses a qualitative approach by means of an interview and a questionnaire designated to 15 EFL teachers and 400 learners in a private university in Turkey. The results of this study reveal that both teachers and learners prefer having Hybrid instruction (the combination of both online and faceto-face models) in teaching and learning productive skills, so the findings of this research can assist EFL teachers, material designers and policy makers to include Hybrid education in their curricula