The Effects of Online Learning Attitude and Engagement on MFL Learners’ Performance during COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has significantly affected various activities worldwide, including education, leading to a major crisis of transferring all institutions to online learning via various educational platforms. When this happens, countless issues have arisen as everybody is adapting to the transitional phase of the traditional classroom to online teaching and learning. In Islamic Science University of Malaysia (USIM) all students are expected to use the online platform offered by the institution such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom to continue their studies. The purpose of this research is to assess students' early experiences with these new platforms. It also investigates the relationship between students' engagement and attitudes of remote learning and their course performance, especially in foreign language learning. Students' attitudes towards Mandarin as a foreign language by using e-learning, engagement with platforms, and performance with online courses are analyzed quantitatively using the statistical program for the social sciences (SPSS). Although the findings indicate that distance learning is still in its early stages, most students' positive attitudes and willingness to participate in distance learning classes in the post-COVID19 pandemic indicate that e-learning platforms in higher education institutions have a bright future. Some guidelines to inspire foreign language learners to engage in and enjoy learning foreign languages online are by preparing a course with comprehensible texts, audio-visual resources, and a proper level of difficulties.