Students' Perceptions of Online Foreign Language Learning during the Corona Virus

Abstract

University closure was one of the repercussions of the COVID-19 epidemic. As a consequence, a shift to online education was mandated to concurrently sustain the learning process in the country and maintain public safety. This study aims at examining university students’ perceptions of online FLL by pointing out the factors that would succeed or hinder the online FLL process, and also by assessing the influence of teacher mediation on online FLL. The study followed a mixed-method technique to design and answer the research questions: (a) What are the factors that enable online FLL to succeed at the university level? (b) What are the factors that hinder online FLL at the university level? To what extent does teacher mediation influence the success or failure of online FLL at the university level? Data was collected via two sources (surveys and focus group interviews) in which two hundred twenty-six students from both the department of English Language and Literature and the department of English Language and Translation at two private universities participated in this study. First, the findings revealed three factors that would influence the success or failure of online FLL: student motivation, engagement, and rapport building. Second, the findings also highlighted the influence of teachers’ mediation in online FLL. Finally, the findings of this study offered several implications for the theory "Learning Communities," faculty members, curricula designers, and policymakers.