Abstract
<p style="text-align:justify">Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Pandemic changed education conditions worldwide forcing all the parties involved to adapt to a new system. This study aimed to collect information related to the effects of teaching English online on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students’ achievement. Data were collected from EFL teachers and students enrolled in three different Ecuadorian Universities (Technical University of Ambato, Higher Polytechnic School of Chimborazo, and University of Cuenca) from five different levels: A1, A2, B1, B1+, and B2. This preliminary paper reports the results of 480 students regarding four major sections: pedagogical practice and assessment, learning outcomes, affective factors and perceptions of students about the advantages and disadvantages of online learning during the pandemic COVID-19; considering the Hierarchy of online learning needs of Justin Shewell. An online survey questionnaire with 17 questions and a 5-point Likert scale was applied. The Cronbach's Alpha test presented 0.84 and 0.73 level of reliability. The Kolmogorov Smirnov’s statistic and, the Kendall's Tau_b tests, and the Levene's test for homogeneity of variances were performed with the SPSS statistical program. The results made evident that online learning affects academic achievement in EFL students during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was confirmed after analyzing four main areas: pedagogical practices and assessment, learning outcomes, affective factors and students’ perceptions about the advantages and disadvantages of online learning. The importance of online learning was highlighted since it has been understood as a tool to face the emergency produced by the COVID-19 pandemic.</p>
Highlights
The worldwide pandemic has changed people's lifestyles, habits, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors
The sudden change to online learning has caused positive and negative effects in the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom. This fact led us to seek answers for the following research questions: 1) To what extend does online learning affect pedagogical practices and assessment in EFL students? 2) To what extend does online learning affect learning outcomes in EFL students? 3) To what extend does online learning impact affective factors in EFL students? 4) What are the perceptions of students about the advantages and disadvantages of online learning during the pandemic
The mean accounted for 3,10, which corresponds to a neutral position in the Likert scale. When it comes to affective factors, students were asked about their experience with online learning during the pandemic, which might have led them to thinking about their safety; almost 37 % disagree with the statement: I prefer to study English with online classes rather than face-to-face classes, while only 18% of them agreed
Summary
The worldwide pandemic has changed people's lifestyles, habits, beliefs, feelings, and behaviors. According to the report Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) by Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ECLAC-UNESCO, 2020), until July 2020, Ecuador was one of the only four countries in Latin America (Bahamas, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panamá) offering live-classes online (ECLAC-UNESCO, 2020). Teachers have had to innovate themselves and learn what they have not learned in years. Many changes needed to be done to the conventional way of teaching concerning goals, philosophy, teacher and students’ roles, resources, learning environment and assessment. Online learning has undoubtedly been a challenge, and crucial issues such as creating knowledge, participation, and a favorable environment have been found in this modality
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