The impact of blended learning on medical students' engagement and achievement with English language terminology: a case study of teachers’ and students' self-efficacy and attitudes at Jazan University Saudi Arabia

Over the last decade, blended learning (BL) strategies that focused on the combination of traditional face-to face learning and the incorporation of technology have started to become more popular and captured the attention of researchers. Many researchers have looked into the effectiveness of BL and have conducted an increasing number of studies that examine the impact of BL on teaching and learning. There has yet to be a case study that evaluated the effectiveness of BL on teaching English medical terminology to Saudi Arabian students. The research worked to determine the effectiveness of BL on the experimental group that used in-person lectures and two technological tools (WhatsApp and Jazan Jump Blackboard) to develop the vocabulary of male learners preparing to specialize in medical fields. Their learning was compared to the controlled group that only learned using face-to-face methods and a single technological tool (Blackboard). The current research explored the impact of using different types of BL on student engagement, self-efficacy, and self-learning regulation beliefs along with feelings of anxiety and attitudes in both the controlled and experimental groups. The research examined various aspects of English medical terminology teacher behaviours regarding their teaching experience and prior use of tools such as WhatsApp and Jazan Jump Blackboard, their preferred teaching methods, attitudes about technology, beliefs about constructivism, and digital self-efficacy knowledge. The current study used four sources to collect information, a pre-test and post-test, surveys, and interviews. The outcomes of the pre- and post-tests revealed that integrating face-to-face teaching with WhatsApp and Jazan Jump Blackboard can positively impact student achievement. The data gained from surveys and the analysis of the data showed that teaching, cognitive, and social presence in a hybrid environment impacted student engagement positively based on the results of the experimental group. Students were generally more self-regulated, capable, and experienced moderate anxiety when using WhatsApp and Jazan Jump compared to medical students in a traditional classroom. Teachers reported low to moderate skill levels regarding WhatsApp and Jazan Jump. Using BL with various technological tools results in positive learning outcomes for students that can motivate teachers of all technological skill backgrounds to embrace new learning strategies and technology into the classroom.