TY  - JOUR
T1  - EFFECTIVENESS OF VIRTUAL VS. NON-VIRTUAL TEACHING IN IMPROVING READING COMPREHENSION OF IRANIAN UNDERGRADUATE EFL STUDENTS
AU  - Akbarı, Javad
AU  - Heıdarı Tabrızı, Hossein
AU  - Chalak, Azizeh
PY  - 2021
DA  - April
DO  - 10.17718/tojde.907585
JF  - Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education
JO  - TOJDE
PB  - Anadolu University
WT  - DergiPark
SN  - 1302-6488
SP  - 272
EP  - 283
VL  - 22
IS  - 2
LA  - en
AB  - Virtual learning, in particular, has been defined as any system of education and instruction that brings togetherparticipants who are separated by geographical distances or time. Notably, in virtual learning environmentinteractive telecommunications systems are utilized to connect learners, resources, and instructors.Accordingly, the present study sought to investigate the significant effect of virtual teaching on improvingreading comprehension of undergraduate EFL university students. To this end, from the population ofstudents majoring in English translation, at Islamic Azad University, Isfahan, Iran, one control group, onevirtual class, and one blended group were selected, each consisting of thirty participants. Subsequently, thevirtual group was exposed to web-based technologies throughout the entire term while the students in thecontrol group were taught through traditional method. Moreover, the instructor in the blended group usedboth traditional and innovative methods. The results of the t- test revealed that the group which was taughtthrough web-based technologies during the term progressed substantially in comparison with the other twogroups. Moreover, there appeared to be a significant difference between the pretest and posttest in the virtualgroup. Evidently, the results of the present study may have practical implications for EFL teachers, onlineinstructors, distance education programmers, materials developers, and syllable designers.
KW  - Blended learning
KW  - geographical distance
KW  - reading comprehension
KW  - virtual learning
KW  - web-based technologies
CR  - Archambault, L., & Crippen, K. (2009). K-12 distance education at work: Who’s teaching online across the
United States? Journal of Research on Technology in Education, 41(4), 363-391.
CR  - Atai, M. R., & Dashtestani, R. (2013). Iranian EAP stakeholders’ attitudes towards using the Internet in
EAP courses for civil engineering students: Promises and challenges. Computer Assisted Language
Learning, 26(1), 21–38.
CR  - Chirimbu, S., Tafazoli, D. (2013). Technology & media: Applications in lg classroom (TEFL, TESL &
TESOL). Professional Communication and Translation Studies, 6(1-2).
CR  - Driscoll, M. (2002). “Blended learning: Let’s get beyond the hype.” Learning and Training Innovations Newline.
Retrieved May 06, 2012, from http://www07.ibm.com/services/pdf/blended_learning.pdf.
UR  - https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.907585
L1  - https://dergipark.org.tr/en/download/article-file/1676764
ER  -