"INVESTIGATING THE CHALLENGES AFFECTING THE LEARNING EFFECTIVENESS OF JUNIOR EFL PRE-SERVICE TEACHERS IN BLENDED LEARNING AT A MEKONG DELTA UNIVERSITY "

Abstract

"Blended learning has become a transformative force in English language education, providing unmatched flexibility, personalization, and engagement. However, while global research on its challenges is abundant, context-specific evidence from rural Vietnam, particularly the Mekong Delta, remains critically scarce. This study fills this critical gap by investigating the major challenges encountered by 60 junior EFL pre-service teachers (Cohort 49) at a Mekong Delta university. Drawing on the CoI framework, the research focuses on three predominant barriers: self-regulation challenges, technological literacy and competency challenges, and students’ psychological challenges, and quantitatively assesses their differential impact on five key indicators of learning effectiveness: academic performance, motivation, engagement, retention, and satisfaction. Using a quatitative design, the findings reveal that these three challenges significantly and negatively affect students’ learning effectiveness. The study therefore strongly underscores the urgent need for integrated digital literacy training, adaptive self-regulation scaffolding, and proactive mental health support to not only mitigate current obstacles but also empower pre-service teachers to thrive in blended and fully online settings, ultimately producing more resilient and technologically adept future educators for Vietnam’s rural classrooms."