Face-To-Face Versus Online Learning: First-Year Students’ Experiences of Academic Writing

Abstract

Encountering challenges in academic writing is inevitable for first-year students who are yet to become familiar with the writing patterns and structure. Students often struggle with the change; online learning and its advantages have not fully materialised due to the disruptions, familiarity, resistance, and problems associated with technology. The purpose of the study was to examine first-year students’ experience with the face-to-face learning model and blended learning model at TVET College in Western Cape South Africa.The study employed a mixed-method approach to collect data from the research participants. The online questionnaire was adopted as the instrument of data collection for the quantitative data and 185 participants completed the questionnaire. An interview schedule guide was the instrument of data collection for the qualitative data and twelve (12) students voluntarily participated in the semi-structured interviews. Findings from both the quantitative data and qualitative data revealed that mere technology is not as effective since integrating it into teaching approaches and providing students with interactive activities and collaboration can enhance their academic performance. Face-to-face contact remains a vital part of teaching and learning, and this conclusion emphasises that blended learning is a novel and valuable way to reach students, underscoring the combination of both face-to-face and online learning. This article makes an important contribution to higher education (HE) and learning models by examining the first-year students’ experience of learning models at a South African Technical and Vocational Education and Technology (TVET) college in the Western Cape. Keywords: Blended Learning Applications, Distance Education, English Second Language, Face-to-face, First-year Students, Writing, Online learning.