Blended learning as an academic writing intervention programme for first year students’ academic writing

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore blended learning as an intervention process for first year’s students’ academic writing. The 21st century foci on technology and the unprecedented 2020 academic year, presented an ideal opportunity for the use of digital platforms as a space for students to learn, particularly those students who might be struggling with academic writing and who would appreciate not being publicly exposed to the stigma of struggling in a class or in the lecture room. With blended learning, most students are not restricted to the classroom nor the university timetable. This is because the uploaded content on the digital spaces gives these students the freedom to learn according to their individual needs. The students are also at liberty to learn at their own paces or at the pace of their peers in class. The aim of the blended learning writing intervention is to ensure that students are able to write texts independently in the topics they define themselves. Needless to say, that by using suitable guidance and the skills gained through their engagement and interactions with the face to face and digital space. The study is framed theoretically in the Community of Inquiry based on Bourdieu’s structural constructivism theory and Lauillard (2013) six steps of blended learning. These six steps include: acquisition, inquiry, discussion, collaboration, practise and production. The study is premised and conducted through a qualitative Interprevist paradigm that involves a population of 32 people. Using a purposive sampling of 30 first year English Home Language students and 2 Intermediate Phase Language Lecturers were selected. The data was collected through document analysis, blended learning process and semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis informed the analytical tool for the investigation. This study is of paramount value, because it would inform and assist the teaching of academic writing through blended learning.