Research on English Major Students' Acceptance of Xuexitong Software in Blended Teaching Context: Insights from Technology Acceptance Model

With the “digital turn” in higher education system, blended teaching has widely been adopted as one of highly favored teaching patterns for educators. In this context, Professional Competency Standards for University Foreign Language Teachers in China highly suggests the inclusion of the latest information technology in English major classrooms. Thus, it is of great significance to examine English major students’ acceptance toward modern teaching technology, so as to provide further pedagogical implication for broader digital transformation in English major programs in China. Drawing on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) proposed by Davis, the present study investigated a total of 489 English major participants from a university in Shandong province, China and quantitatively analyzed both their overall acceptance toward Xuexitong, a newly emergent but widely used technology in China, and the relationships among different variables (online technology self-efficacy, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, attitudes toward use, and intention to use) by using SPSS and AMOS. Descriptive analysis result indicates the overall high-level acceptance of Xuexitong despite relatively low perceived usefulness and intention to use. Findings of structural equation modeling (SEM) suggest that the external variable “online technology self-efficacy” demonstrates indirect impact through perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward use on English major students’ intention to use. And all the mediating factors indicate significant influence. Therefore, in the context of blended teaching, the digital literacy of English major students matters a lot to their actual learning effects.