Tabulación y análisis de la información

The topic of BLC has been discussed thoroughly (i.e., from different angles, including advantages, disadvantages, challenges, assessments, misconceptions, teachers’ and students’ perceptions, and its framework and design) by various types of specialists in different fields. In the L2 field, researchers and educators have also covered all of the aforementioned angles—with little to no elaboration on weaknesses and challenges—to determine what, when, where, how, and why BLC will contribute to better learning opportunities than the traditional learning context. In other words, BLC’s topics that authors discussed were, for instance, its description (Shaykina, 2015), interactions (Liang & Bonk, 2009), teachers and

49 students’ attitudes, perceptions, and experiences towards it (e.g., Adas & Abu Shmais, 2011; Al Zumor, Al Refaai, Bader Eddin, & Aziz Al-Rahman, 2013; Bijeikienė, Rašinskienė, & Zutkienė, 2011; Dashtestani, 2014; Gleason, 2013; Hong & Samimy, 2010; Kobayashi & Little, 2011), impact on reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and grammar (e.g., Al-Jarf, 2007b, 2013; Al-Shaer, 2013; Ban᷉ ados, 2006; Ghahari & Ameri-Golestan, 2014; Grgurović, 2011), teachers’ pedagogical knowledge (e.g., Badawi, 2009), and language proficiency (e.g., Obari, 2012; Obari & Lambacher, 2014).

Regarding the advantages, many researchers found that BLC has many positive sides for learning all language skills in general and writing skill in particular. For example, Marsh (2012) summarized the prospective strengths of the method for EFL learning by stating that it would provide an environment for the less stressful practice of L2 outside class, the flexibility to study anywhere at any time, and more personalized and individualized learning support and experience. BLC also accommodates a variety of learning styles, increases the engagement of students in learning, and aids students in improving their necessary and valuable updated learning skills (see also Klímová, 2008). Pardo-Gonzalez (2013) added that the context would make learners recognize the value of face-to-face teaching because when students are able to practice their language online, their self-confidence and “language ego” would most likely increase and lead them to use the language inside classrooms (p. 59). Aborisade (2013) maintained that since BLC allows the incorporation of various communication and

collaborative platforms and learning contexts, it would therefore aid students in establishing a sense of community and collaboration for sharing their experiences of learning, foster

reinforcement, and promote their accessibility of extra learning materials. Eventually, the learning experiences of such learners would be enhanced. Peachey (2013) stated that with the ability to teach part of the course online, BLC offers an opportunity to increase the time allotted for learning over a much greater timescale than would be possible with traditional classroom instruction alone. Such a feature is needed for a difficult skill such as writing. Eydelman (2013) particularly contended that BLC’s use of technologies has many advantages for writing skill in motivating L2 students to write and address a wide range of audiences, embellish their general ideas, and refine their texts by allowing different types of editing (peer-and-teacher corrections). For her, the context also supplies learners with additional channels to interact and collaborate more, share their learning experiences and the difficulties they encounter, and to communicate informally.

With the practical application of BLC, many L2 writing researchers reported positive effects on different aspects of writing skills and possibly on factors essential for L2 learning,

50 regardless of technology or instruments used. For example, Miyazoe and Anderson (2010) found that Japanese EFL learners’ writing ability in forums and wikis progressed in terms of distinguishing between styles of English writing. Yoon and Lee (2010) concluded that BLC in composition skills led to effective learning of written content, organization, structure, and mechanics. Roy (2012) emphasized that the analysis of website exercises might contribute to getting Japanese EFL learners involved in constructive writing practice and to an increase in critical thinking. Liu’s (2013) study showed that the application of BLC in the Chinese EFL context contributed to an increase of various types of interactions—student-to-student and student-to-teacher, development of learners’ motivation into becoming autonomous and independent learners, and development of writing ability—as well as a reduction of students’ anxiety in communication. Both Janfaza, Shahsavari, and Soori (2014), and Niazi and

Pourgharib (2013) found that emails exchanged between Persian EFL writing instructors and students in traditional classes resulted in the significant improvement of experimental groups in comparison to control groups. Also, Erkan (2013) concluded that Turkish EFL students’ email exchanges with foreign counterparts not only promote the formers’ writing self-

efficacy, but it also motivated them to have positive attitudes towards writing skill and classes (cf. Lin, 2002). Finally, Shih (2011) maintained that the application of peer assessment on posted EFL undergraduate students’ writing assignments on Facebook can be both effective and interesting for writing classes and therefore develops such learners’ composition ability.

Finally, the weaknesses and challenges of BLC are one of the relatively little-tapped into topics in the L2 field and unfortunately have never been addressed in terms of

composition skill, although many educational studies (e.g., Ocak, 2010) believed that they could emerge from the context reliance on different kinds of technologies. This means that the negative sides of BLC could potentially arise from faculties, teachers, students’ lack of

technical support, motivation and knowledge towards technologies, rigid school textbooks and curricula, and the large workload and timescale resulting from their incorporation (Ocak, 2010). Almost all of these weaknesses were also reported by Al Zumor et al. (2013) and Park and Son (2009) for EFL learners, while Bijeikienė et al. (2011) added the disadvantage of reducing face-to-face classes, a feature that is needed for guiding and assisting low-level learners. Alpala and Flórez (2011) maintained that EFL instructors will most likely encounter many challenges when implementing BLC with their students, such as adjusting the

incorporated textbooks and materials equally between the face-to-face and the virtual features of the course, conducting a permanent evaluation of the course, being creative and

51 resourceful, and focusing on the students’ learning processes, needs, expectations, and how to make them autonomous rather than emphasizing the importance of the technologies used.