In this study, a survey is conducted to examine learners' perceptions and satisfaction towards blended learning environments designed around the transactional and transformational approaches of learning theories in a blended course in the College of Arts & Sciences, Al-Namas, the University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia. The study aims to evaluate students' perceptions and preferences towards the three components of a blended learning environment: multimedia learning materials, assessment, and interactive activities. A mixed-method of research design is used to collect the data. Quantitative data is collected in the form of 12 Likert items in which 22 Saudi students are asked to evaluate their learning experiences in three categories of the blended learning environment. These categories are multimedia learning materials, assessment, and interactive activities in a blended course on Blackboard, a virtual learning platform used by the University of Bisha to support on-line learning. The researcher's observation is used to decode, and explain the responses of the participants qualitatively. The result reveals that learners prefer illustrated text materials to video, plain text and audio materials, flexible assessments to non-flexible assessment, and embedded communication tools like WhatsApp, blogging, wikis, collaborative activities, and discussion forum.

Undergraduate learners learning English in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia often complain that they face problems in understanding audios played in their listening skills' classroom. Audio materials are recorded by native English speakers at a speedy pace with challenging linguistic or content input in unfamiliar or less familiar contexts or situations. As it is observed in classes of listening skills, listening materials are more focused on teaching test instead of teaching listening acquisition. Teachers play the audios, students do a variety of exercises and activities (fill-in-theblanks, multiple-choice, short writing questions, matching and pronunciation practice), and conclude the lesson with 'right/wrong' feedbacks or shift to teaching another skill. In both cases, listening lessons provide insufficient internalization of comprehensible input. The present study explored perceptions of Saudi English as a Foreign Language (EFL) undergraduates and EFL teachers towards the use of 'Listening Transcript' (LT) in lessons of listening skills. It investigates if LT help students in overcoming the difficulties that they face in bottom-up processing and topdown processing and what EFL teachers think about the pedagogical value of LT and ways of using it in the lessons of listening skills. It is a mixed method of research. It employs survey to collect quantitative data in the form of a 15-item questionnaire of 60 female Saudi undergraduates and a semi-structured interview of 10 EFL teachers in King Khalid University (KKU), Abha, Saudi Arabia to gather qualitative data. The result of the study shows that LT plays a more decisive role in developing bottom-up skills like identifying segmental suprasegmental features of speech, recognizing words, recalling information, relating with real life, selecting words, restating and explaining the content than developing top-down skills (high order skills) like distinguishing information, comparing and contrasting, judging, and formulating your learning. The study finds there is a need for designing strategies to use LT more creatively and powerfully.

No abstract

In this study, a survey is conducted to examine learners’ perceptions and satisfaction towards blended learning environments designed around the transactional and transformational approaches of learning theories in a blended course in the College of Arts & Sciences, Al-Namas, the University of Bisha, Saudi Arabia. The study aims to evaluate students’ perceptions and preferences towards the three components of a blended learning environment: multimedia learning materials, assessment, and interactive activities. A mixed-method of research design is used to collect the data. Quantitative data is collected in the form of 12 Likert items in which 22 Saudi students are asked to evaluate their learning experiences in three categories of the blended learning environment. These categories are multimedia learning materials, assessment, and interactive activities in a blended course on Blackboard, a virtual learning platform used by the University of Bisha to support on-line learning. The researcher’s observation is used to decode, and explain the responses of the participants qualitatively. The result reveals that learners prefer illustrated text materials to video, plain text and audio materials, flexible assessments to non-flexible assessment, and embedded communication tools like WhatsApp, blogging, wikis, collaborative activities, and discussion forum.