L2 Learner’s Perspectives of How Personal and Instructional Factors Inf luence Achievement in Online-incorporated Environment

Abstract

This study aims to identify how participants in online-incorporated English learning perceive interaction between achievement and factors of learning and personality. Using grounded theory analysis, this study attempts to generate a theoretical model depicting how the factors work with the L2 learners situated in the learning setting. A total of 231 college freshmen participated in online and offline EFL learning programs for the duration of one semester. In addition, all respondents completed a survey questionnaire on their learning experiences. In the investigation of the differences between low- and high-proficiency groups, audio-taped interviews with 20 selected students, 10 from each group, have revealed differences not only in the types of personal and instructional factors, but also, more importantly, in the interrelationship between these factors in each group’s learning model. These models effectively explained the statistically significant differences in four questionnaire items, such as online learning and contributions of offline class sections to their L2 achievement. These findings entail L2 practitioners’ shared understandings of their students’ perspectives of learning in the specific L2 learning context.