HYBRID CLASSROOM IN THE NEW NORMAL LIFE: LEARNERS’ PERCEPTIONS AND LEARNING EXPERIENCES

Аннотация

The study aims at exploring the perceptions and experiences of the undergraduate EFL learners regarding hybrid classroom. Applying qualitative approach, the research was conducted at a private university in Bangladesh. Using the concept of ‘self-exclusion’ in the hybrid classroom, the study analyzed the interview data of twenty EFL students. Findings show that though there are some opportunities of hybrid education, majority of the learners do not aspire to go back to the hybrid classes. They prefer pure on-line mode for the emergency period than the hybrid mode. Learners perceive that hybrid mode limits the exposure of the teachers to both on-line and face-to-face communication. However, the learners acknowledged that hybrid education enables digital technology and is beneficial to some extent. Nevertheless, despite having some positive aspects, the learners experienced the hybrid mode as ‘exclusionary’ which creates anxiety and marginalize them while attending on-line mode of hybrid classes. Hence, at the end, the study suggested minimizing the challenges of hybrid classes by ensuring the engagement of all the learners through classroom participation and focusing on the technological accessibility. The study also indicated the necessity of further in-depth analysis of hybrid learning in higher education for future direction. KEYWORDS Hybrid classroom, on-line mode, face-to-face mode, self-exclusion, anxiety, marginalization, communication, technology. Volume 03 Issue 08-2022 5 CURRENT RESEARCH JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGICAL SCIENCES (ISSN –2767-3758) VOLUME 03 ISSUE 08 Pages: 05-11 SJIF IMPACT FACTOR (2021: 5. 823) (2022: 6. 041) OCLC – 1242423883 METADATA IF – 6.925 Publisher: Master Journals