A Study on EFL Learners’ Perception of College General English Class Type in the COVID-19 Non-contact Era

Abstract

This study investigated 301 college students who attended mandatory online general English classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic for the purpose of examining their preferred online instruction type, as well as their perception regarding post-pandemic instruction type for general English. The order of the preferred online instruction is as follows: 1) fully pre-recorded videos, 2) blended classes, and 3) fully real-time videos. However, their preferences showed significant difference depending on their interest in English learning and their majors. With regard to the instruction type of post-pandemic general English, the order of the positive response is fully in-person instruction, blended classes, and fully on-line instruction, which also showed a significant difference depending on gender, year, major, and interest in English learning. Of course, since the data was gathered from a single instructor’s students, and thus are not generalizable, we might fairly expect that these results could be utilized as a basic reference point when it comes to the planning and designing of general English languages programs during and after the pandemic.