Abstract
The recent health emergency has changed the teaching mode globally, with traditional classroom teaching shifting to online platforms. This created challenges for both foreign/second language teachers and learners. Some recent studies investigated the challenges brought by online teaching from the teachers’ perspective; however, little is known about how students perceive the effectiveness of online language learning based on their experiences. Therefore, this study surveyed 252 Chinese students who took online EFL courses during the pandemic through an online survey platform. Survey questions include 75 statements regarding EFL learner’s perceived experience in taking online EFL courses, such as learning platforms, teaching and assessment methods, interaction mode, classroom management, and the effectiveness of online courses. Students rated each statement on a 5-point Likert Scale. Open-ended questions further targeted students’ suggestions to improve the quality of online language courses. Results from analysis of variance, factor analysis, and multiple linear regression analysis showed that students perceived the interactional opportunity and learning outcome as the most important factors in their online EFL learning experiences. Students generally showed a positive attitude toward their online language learning experiences and a high level of participation in synchronized online EFL courses. They further suggested a mixture of traditional and online class as an ideal teaching model for EFL learning, especially in the face of public crisis. Findings from this study may shed light on language curriculum design, language teacher education, and educational technology.
Highlights
1.1 BackgroundThe recent COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous challenges worldwide (Adedoyin & Soykan, 2020; Almazova, Krylova, Rubtsova, & Odinokaya, 2020; Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020; Sepúlveda-Escobar & Morrison, 2020), especially in the field of education
Descriptive statistics are presented first to show the overall situation of EFL learning in China during the pandemic, including the learning platforms used by Chinese EFL instructors, delivery mode, teaching and assessment methods of EFL courses, as well as students’ self-reported engagement in online EFL courses, followed by results of analysis of variance and multiple regression to identify the influencing factors of students’ perceived online learning experiences
Learning resources on MOOCs were seldom used for online learning by EFL teachers in China (7.16%)
Summary
1.1 BackgroundThe recent COVID-19 pandemic has created enormous challenges worldwide (Adedoyin & Soykan, 2020; Almazova, Krylova, Rubtsova, & Odinokaya, 2020; Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020; Sepúlveda-Escobar & Morrison, 2020), especially in the field of education. Despite the increasing popularity of online learning and computer-assisted learning in the past two decades, the traditional classroom teaching still prevails in higher education and is favored by students (e.g., Lowenthal, Bauer, & Chen, 2015; Tichavsky, Hunt, Driscoll, & Jicha, 2015) and teachers (e.g., McNair-Crews, 2015). The delivery of online courses is relatively easier and less constrained by time and physical space, teachers and students still face great challenges to move all the courses and communication online. This may be caused by a number of reasons, such as the inequitable access to computers, laptops or smartphones in education, the unbalanced access to internet, and teachers’ general lack of digital technology literacy over the world. Online teaching requires teachers to provide a variety of teaching materials, adopt different classroom management methods, modify the teaching processes and interaction mode, and achieve the same level elt.ccsenet.org
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