Interactions in blended English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom: A comparative study of online and face to face EFL teaching at a Saudi University

Abstract

This study addresses the gap in understanding blended learning in the context of teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Higher Education by examining what kind and how interactional patterns are maintained or disrupted, how learners participate, and how teachers adjust their practices to sustain engagement. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a rapid transition to online and blended learning in Higher Education. While this shift has brought new opportunities for flexibility, technological integration, and learner autonomy, it has also introduced pressing challenges related to classroom interaction, student engagement, infrastructure, and pedagogical adaptations. Previous studies have provided useful insights into learner perceptions, outcomes, and technological affordances in blended and online EFL contexts (Alamer & Al Khateeb, 2023; Almosa, 2021; Hampel & Stickler, 2012; Lim, Morris & Kupritz, 2006; Tao & Zou, 2023). However, relatively few have examined real-time classroom interactions across both environments. Most of these studies relied on self-reported data or post-hoc evaluations, without analysing how meaning-making, turn-taking, and participation unfold through classroom discourse in situated practice. This represents a substantial gap, especially given the centrality of interaction to second language acquisition (Walsh, 2011). The gap extends to how previous studies mostly treated online and face-to-face classrooms as isolated domains rather than interconnected components of a blended environment without examining and comparing how teachers and learners use the available modalities and transition between modalities, and how they adapt their interactional practices across different contexts. This study aims to fulfil this gap by analysing and comparing classroom interactions in both online and face to face EFL teaching contexts. Such analysis and comparisons are vital because they allow us to better understand how participants exploit the affordances and constraints of each setting, what inter-actions they perform and how. This can indicate what is gained and what is missed in each modality, which, in turn, can better inform pedagogical practice of blended EFL teaching and learning. To investigate what kind and how classroom inter-actions are performed by teachers and students in a blended English as a Foreign Language (EFL), the study uses classroom interaction data drawn from both face-to-face and online lessons from EFL classes at Saudi University. The study explores the influence of blended environments on participation structures, discourse management, and the use of digital and embodied tools for meaning-making. The study is guided by four research questions that examine (1) the mediated inter-actions occurring in the classroom, (2) how classroom management inter-actions are performed in online and face-to-face settings, (3) what interactional practices are unique to the physical classroom and the functions they serve, and (4) what actions and digital tools are specific to the online classroom and how they facilitate or constrain interactions. The analysis draws on Mediated Discourse Analysis (MDA) as an overarching conceptual framework (Jones & Norris, 2005) and on Conversation Analysis (CA) as an analytical tool (Seedhouse, 2004; Walsh, 2011) to uncover both the structural patterns and micro-level interactional features of classroom discourse. Data sources include audio recordings of six lessons (three online and three face-to-face), field notes, and interviews with the teacher and three students. Findings show that while the Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF) pattern dominated interactions in both environments, non-IRF sequences such as spontaneous peer support or student-initiated turns were over three times more frequent in the face-to-face setting. These interactions were often facilitated by embodied resources such as gaze, gesture, and physical proximity. In contrast, online classes were marked by more linear and controlled turn-taking, due in part to technological constraints and limited access to visual cues. The teacher in the online environment compensated for these limitations through “extra language labour,” a construct developed in this study to describe the expanded verbal and procedural work required to sustain interactions in the absence of embodied cues. This included repetition, individualized prompting, strategic code-switching, and the use of supplementary platforms like WhatsApp and Kahoot!. The study also identifies distinctive functions of inter-actions occurring uniquely in each environment. In face-to-face settings, social talk, spontaneous negotiation, and informal exchanges supported student engagement and building of rapport. In the online context, digital tools played a central role in task management and interactions though often at the expense of extended interaction. The teacher’s adaptive strategies such as s using Kahoot! to increase engagement and encourage students to collaborate via WhatsApp groups reflect the expanded communicative demands required to maintain interactions and pedagogic coherence. The thesis contributes to research on practices of blended learning by offering a comparative, multimodal, interaction-focused account of classroom practices in both online and face to face settings. It proposes that successful blended instruction depends on teachers’ ability to adapt discourse strategies to suit different environments and integrate diverse mediational means. The findings have implications for teacher training, highlighting the need for pedagogical support that goes beyond tool usage to include interactional competence across settings. Ultimately, this study reframes blended teaching as a communicative endeavour shaped by contextual, material, and relational resources, offering a grounded model for discourse-aware instructional design in EFL contexts.