Face-to-face or online learning: Students’ perspectives on blended learning in Indonesia

The implementation of and investigation on blended learning (BL) continues to grow and encouraged in many contexts of EFL teaching. This survey study attempts to enrich the discussion on students‟ perspective on the implementation of BL in the context of higher education. While previous studies commonly focus on a specific class of students and broadly divide the BL discussion as online and face to face modes, this study dig further into five situations of BL and involves wider and more heterogeneous participants. The respondents of this study were 75 students from three tertiary institutions in Indonesia. The data were collected utilizing a questionnaire which was adapted from and developed based on the Perception on Learning Environment Questionnaire (PLEQ) II to meet this present context of the study. Thematic analysis of five possible situations of blended learning resulted in the identification of the attributes that hinder and facilitate learning in the context of BL from the perspective of the students. This study indicated that students preferred and felt that they learned better in face to face session. The students acknowledged advantages but found online sessions more problematic. The study also confirms the self-regulatory attribute as a vital component in blended learning. The findings imply that blended learning, as opposed to blended teaching, requires careful tailoring to meet specific context and purpose of learning.