Challenges in online learning of English as a foreign language during the COVID-19 pandemic: Students' perspective at Ajman University, UAE

The purpose of this paper was to explore the challenges of online learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) during the spread of COVID-19 from the students' perspective at Ajman University, UAE. The study used the descriptive approach. A questionnaire consisting of 26-items was distributed to a random sample of (282) students from different colleges who were studying online English Language courses during the pandemic. SPSS software was used to analyze the collected data. The results of the study indicated that the perspective of Ajman University students regarding the challenges of online learning of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) during the COVID-19 pandemic came at a high level, with an overall arithmetic mean of 3.54 and a standard deviation of 0.84. Students' responses varied by gender (in favor of female students) and by academic year (in favor of first year students). Additionally, the student academic evaluation (SAE) variable did not show statistical significance. The findings show that a deeper understanding of instructors' perspectives and experiences regarding the challenges of online English language learning is required. Likewise, developing EFL skills also requires a blended learning approach. The study recommended more understanding of instructors' perspectives and experiences concerning online English language learning challenges. © 2023 AESS Publications. All Rights Reserved.

Teaching presence in students' WhatsApp groups: Affordances for language learning

With the recent COVID-19 pandemic and disruption of campus-based education, the use of mobile social networking applications to supplement formal education has attracted a great deal of attention. Teachers do have opportunities to join students' online groups to share, clarify, and exchange housekeeping information and course-related content with them. Teachers can, in particular, provide English as a foreign language (EFL) students with more sources of linguistic input, interaction, and feedback. Research investigating this potential, however, is still scarce in such contexts. The current study explores the likely affordances of teaching presence in students' WhatsApp groups for designing, facilitating, and guiding cognitive and social processes conducive to their language learning. A mixed-method design was employed to collect both quantitative and qualitative data and information from English-major undergraduates (N = 111) and faculty teachers (N = 8) who joined the same WhatsApp groups for one academic semester at a major university in Oman. Descriptive and thematic analyses of data from a survey with both closed-ended and open-ended questions and semi-structured interviews indicate that the shared WhatsApp groups functioned as small close-knit communities where students were able to constantly access teachers for their assistance, feedback, and clarification of content. Despite these merits, however, the participating faculty believed that the presence of teachers in WhatsApp groups might have consequences for students' tolerance of ambiguity, scaffolding, and autonomous language learning. The paper concludes by discussing several pedagogical implications and directions for future research.

The challenges that basic stage EFL students face in online listening comprehension from their teachers' perspectives in Jordan

This study explored the challenges that Basic Stage EFL students encountered in online listening comprehension from their teachers' perspectives during the Corona Virus pandemic. It included (161) EFL teachers from public schools in Jordan who were randomly selected from Marka Directorate of Education in Amman during the first semester of the academic year 2021/2022. A special questionnaire was developed for data collection. The results indicated that teachers regardless of their experience and gender confirmed a set of challenges that face EFL students in online listening comprehension. The results also revealed that the students' domain of these challenges received the highest mean score. Based on the study's results, the researcher proposed some recommendations to overcome online listening comprehension challenges. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Technium Social Sciences Journal is the property of Technium Press Constanta and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

An exploratory study of young EFL learners' aural and written receptive multi-word unit knowledge

While accounting for recent theoretical arguments regarding the modality-specific nature of lexical knowledge, this exploratory study sought to measure young EFL learners' aural receptive multi-word unit (MWU) knowledge and then to compare this to their written counterpart. A total of 120 sixth-grade Korean EFL learners participated in the study, completing aural and written receptive MWU tests that included the identical set of 40 MWUs, which were extracted from the Corpus of Contemporary American English. Both measured participants' meaning-recall knowledge, with the only difference being the mode of target MWU presentation. The results demonstrated that the participants had aural receptive knowledge of about one-third of all MWUs in the first four 500-word levels. They also showed that their aural receptive knowledge of the target MWUs was significantly smaller than their written counterpart. The analysis also indicated that the participants' incorrect recognition of aural forms of some MWUs may partially account for the relatively lower aural test scores. We conclude this paper by highlighting our findings' implications for research and teaching regarding aural MWU knowledge. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of System is the property of Pergamon Press - An Imprint of Elsevier Science and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Prolonged Online Learning: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Study on EFL Learners' Needs and Need Satisfaction

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, English programs were switched to online regardless of learners' wishes in several regions. In such a challenging circumstance, learners' needs should be specially attended to. Situated within the framework of Self-Determination Theory, the current study explores the fundamental needs of relatedness, competence, and autonomy of EFL (English as a foreign language) learners and the satisfaction of those needs in fully online learning. The study draws upon qualitative data collected from focus groups (seven students), and quantitative data collected from a survey (183 students). Findings indicate strong teacher support in fields other than autonomy and relatedness. Also, students were highly satisfied with both their technological and academic competence but were neither happy with the in-classroom communication nor provided space for autonomy. Based on the findings, implications to enhance learners' need satisfaction in prolonged post-pandemic online learning are discussed © 2023, International Journal of Emerging Technologies in Learning.All Rights Reserved.

Chinese EFL Teachers' Reflections of Online English Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study

To better understand English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' voices in online English teaching in China, a qualitative case study was carried out by analyzing semi-interviews, and in-depth data of six EFL teachers from a central Chinese university. With thematic analysis, seven themes emerged, including the choices of teaching platforms or Apps, the negative attitude, the preparation for online teaching, teaching design, teaching assessment, advantages, and challenges. Overall, the study contributed to the existing knowledge of online language teaching theoretically and practically by providing a Chinese contextual phenomenon of EFL teaching. © ICCE 2022.All rights reserved.

"COVID-19 is an Opportunity to Rediscover Ourselves": Reflections of a Novice EFL Teacher in Central America

This article presents a case study that examined the principles and practices of one novice English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher at a prominent English language institution in Central America. This qualitative study sought to contribute to the discussion of the perceived interdependent influences of EFL teachers' thoughts, identities, and behaviors through five stages of self-reflection in Farrell's framework for reflective practice. The EFL teacher engaged in conscious reflection to subject their beliefs to critical analysis and interpretation expressed through their philosophy, principles, theory, practice, and beyond practice. Overall, the findings confirm that reflections in all five stages are connected to several common themes, but simultaneously reveal a complex relationship between the teacher's stated principles and actual practice. The discussion explores potential reasons for convergence and divergence in teachers' beliefs and classroom actions, concluding that the results correlate with previous research in the field of language education and teacher reflection. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of RELC Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Language Teaching during a Pandemic: A Case Study of Zoom Use by a Secondary ESL Teacher in Hong Kong

This article reports a case study of an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in Hong Kong who conducted lessons via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on the factors influencing her technology integration in synchronous online teaching mode. Using data from classroom recordings, stimulated-recall and semi-structured interviews, this study uncovered how Zoom functioned as a substitute for face-to-face lessons. The findings revealed that although there were fewer interactions between the teacher and her students, teaching in synchronous online mode provided the teacher with opportunities to utilize certain online features to augment methods of checking student understanding. The study identified the teacher's pedagogical beliefs, the context and professional development as factors that influenced the level of technology integration in her Zoom classes. The study concludes that embracing process-oriented pedagogies may be necessary for a higher level of technology integration among ESL teachers who have adequate professional development opportunities and school support. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of RELC Journal is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Students' perceptions towards the application of peer assessment in a virtual English writing class

Writing skills are not easy to develop in English language learning, especially when online learning is being implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to improve students' writing skills, as well as increase students' autonomy, peer assessment is often adopted. The article presents findings of the research conducted in late 2021 on students' perceptions towards the use of peer assessment in an online English writing class in Vietnam. The research applied a mixed method model with a questionnaire and an interview as the instruments. The questionnaire has 18 items divided into 4 parts: students' personal information, students' attitudes towards peer assessment, advantages of peer assessment, and disadvantages of peer assessment. The participants were 97 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students who experienced one semester studying "Advanced Writing Skills” in online classes. The findings of the research revealed that students had negative attitudes towards the application of peer assessment to improve writing skills and they shared ideas of advantages and disadvantages of peer assessment. It is recommended that specific guidelines on how to do peer assessment with samples should be provided before teachers implement this teaching technique in class. In addition, in online classes, teachers need to be aware of making students familiar with peer assessment, as well as in the virtual environment. Practitioner Notes 1. Peer assessment can be applied as an effective method to develop students' writing skills in both offline and online situations. 2. To implement online peer assessment, practitioners should carefully design the activity with well-prepared peer assessment criteria and familiarise students with the way to do online peer assessment. 3. Technical issues and platforms used to conduct online peer assessment should be accounted for as an effective implementation of peer assessment. 4. Students' attitudes towards the application of peer assessment to develop writing skills may vary due to various factors like the organisation of the activity. 5. Whether peer assessment can develop students' soft skills like critical thinking and team work depends much on practitioners' ways of implementing the activity. © 2023, University of Wollongong. All rights reserved.

The impact of implementing strategies to teach writing skills in higher education

The English language has a crucial part in Ecuadorian students who daily have to deal with the four basic language skills in their English lessons, however, among the four skills, writing is considered as the most problematic to fulfill. Learners from higher education have shared their opinions and suggestions on how they are able to master this productive skill in their lessons and writing tasks. This study shows the pros and cons of how writing in EFL has been taught and learned by a group of learners whose English levels vary from basic to intermediate. Furthermore, some of the difficulties this group of learners had to face during the COVID-19 pandemic while learning English and applying new technological tools in their lessons made their learning more arduous, especially during their writing classes. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Alternative Perspectives in the Social Sciences is the property of Guild of Independent Scholars and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Using Electronic-Collaborative Mentoring in Higher Education-Bettering ELT Student Teaching Practice Processes

This study aims to improve English Language Teaching (ELT) student teachers' teaching practice process with comprehensive and diverse feedback from four different mentors (two national and two international) and to help them better prepare lesson plans and micro-teaching considering intercultural perspectives. Non-parametric tests were used to analyze quantitative data gathered from the scores of five lesson plans and micro-teachings. Qualitative data were obtained from the written feedback to lesson plans, oral feedback to micro teachings and interviews, and analyzed by content analysis. Results showed that mentees' lesson plan and micro teaching scores increased significantly over the semester and this was especially notable in mentees' first three lesson plans and micro teaching. All participants favoured the study activities and suggested that e-co mentoring should be implemented together with face-to-face mentoring in some periods.

Foreign language anxiety of an Ecuadorian polytechnic university's English undergraduate students during the COVID-19 pandemic

Purpose: This research aimed to identify the levels of stress students experience, the different sources that generate them and the relationship between the stress levels and the students' gender. Design/methodology/approach: A mixed-methods design was used, focusing on the quantitative stage. The qualitative section was designed to obtain supporting information. 86 Ecuadorian undergraduate polytechnic students enrolled in an English course took part in this study. Quantitative data are obtained using the Telecollaborative Foreign Language Anxiety Scale (T-FLAS), while online interviews supply insight from students. Findings: The present research identified four types of anxiety related to emergency remote teaching (ERT). Communication anxiety is one of them that has also been found in regular foreign language classes (Horowitz et al., 1986). However, the actual contribution is regarding the other three sources of ERT-related anxiety: Online interaction anxiety, ERT anxiety and technology anxiety. Also, it was identified that girls experience higher anixety levels than men do. Research limitations/implications: A limitation of this study is the T-FLAS, a tool that has not been widely used. However, as Fondo and Jacobetty (2020) reported, other papers have made use of this novel tool. Another limitation to this research is the number of participants;although it is not very small, it might not be considered large enough for generalization purposes. Also, this study was limited by its scope, which only looked at the relationship between the students' genders and anxiety levels. Practical implications: First, this researcher recommends that language departments use the survey at the beginning of each semester. That way, there will be a clear idea of the sources of anxiety students are experiencing, and measures can be taken to lower those anxiety-causing factors. Also, this study shows students experiencing a high level of anxiety when they are required to interact with their peers using a foreign language. Thus, supplying practice through guided discussions and role-plays should allow learners to reduce their anxiety levels and perform better during these kinds of exchanges in the short term. Social implications: Another issue reported by this study is the feelings of uneasiness when turning cameras on to do an exercise or taking quizzes and exams, as learners feel like their classmates and teachers are invading their homes. It is recommended that the Student Welfare Department of the educational institutions deal with this and other issues. They can design intervention, relaxation and yoga programs for students who are feeling anxious to help them lower those feeling and allow them to have better interactions in class during these times of remote learning. Originality/value: This paper's originality lies in the fact that it looks at anxiety from the point of view of the COVID-19 pandemic and the move it had to be made to the digital realm. It identifies three factors that are new and related 100% to emergency remote teaching–learning. It is also valuable as it is looking at data emerging for a South American country, as data are scarce from this continent and especially from Ecuador. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Pandemic and Post-Pandemic Effects on University Students' Behavioral Traits: How Community of Inquiry Can Support Instructional Design During Times of Changing Cognitive Habits

Recent investigations show how the pandemic has affected learners' behavioral traits. The results of three semi-structured surveys carried out in a major Italian university: 2020, 1st sem. (n=102);2022, 1st sem. (n=235);and 2022, 2nd sem. (n=61) under COVID-19 containment measures, manifest deviations in students' perceptions about social patterns, learning routines, and expectations. During the two-year emergency remote learning, students revealed a progressive downsize of social expectancy and increasing self-management behaviors in relation to a higher degree of independence. The Community of Inquiry principles were adopted to observe student motivation and self-direction in a Moodle-based learning environment. Conversely, the focus on English as a Foreign Language as the main subject represents an uncharted perspective in the research contexts around the Community of Inquiry. Future expansions may enlarge the sample to further education bodies and broaden the range of e-learning tools.

The effectiveness of using digital platforms to practice English during the COVID-19 crisis as perceived by Ecuadorian students

Purpose>This mixed-methods research aimed to investigate students' opinions on the effectiveness of using digital platforms to carry on their learning process.Design/methodology/approach>This is a mixed-methods research. One hundred students, registered in the last English course of their curriculum, took part in the investigation. They filled out a Likert-scale survey using the criteria for CALL evaluation. During the data analysis of the quantitative section of the research, a chi-square of 15.0672 and a p-value of 0.519719 were obtained, making this result not significant at p < 0.05. A Levene test of variance equality was performed on the resulting data to confirm the results. Personal interviews were carried out to triangulate the previous results.Findings>This study determined that Ecuadorian undergraduate students have a negative perception of the usefulness of using a digital class to learn English. These results have important implications for teachers who must work harder during these times of COVID-19 to attain students' attention.Research limitations/implications>This research is limited by its conception of qualitative methods. This limitation also opens the door for further studies. The quantitative and mixed methods studies are suggested to confirm the results obtained here.Practical implications>This study has practical implications for teachers and language center managers. They can use the information attained to adapt their teachings in order to improve these results. Managers will benefit from it as they can plan for teacher training considering the comments given by students.Social implications>The social implication of this study is that the students, through their comments, have implied the need of having some sort of socialization and ERT does not permit such.Originality/value>This paper has value as it closes the gap of information regarding the use of this new teaching modality attained from Latin American countries and more specifically from Ecuador.

Synchronous computer-mediated communication in English pronunciation teaching: A case study of Rovira i Virgili University

Remote learning has been in the spotlight since the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic, notably boosting the development of distance learning in the last two years;as universities were obliged to close worldwide and lecturers had to teach online during lockdown, the use of Synchronous Computer-Mediated Communication (SCMC) started to prevail. Pronunciation instruction was not an exception. Indeed, in-person lectures had used technology to support face-to-face (F2F) education by using videos and articles in class. However, educators had to adapt rapidly to teach through video -based platforms. Although much investigation has been conducted on Computer-Assisted Pronunciation Training (CAPT), and researchers currently show more and more interest in the use of new technologies within the pronunciation classroom, little research has been done regarding the teaching methodologies applied in teacher-guided online pronunciation instruction. Along these lines, this study examines English undergraduates' insights who took pronunciation courses remotely at Rovira i Virgili University during the COVID-19 crisis. Findings show that participants were highly satisfied with the adaptation of the course, rating all the activities and methods used above 4 on a scale of 5. Thus, pronunciation can be taught effectively via SCMC, although a larger sample is needed to reach more conclusive results.

Teaching English Pronunciation Online during the COVID-19 Crisis Outbreak

The abrupt emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic in spring 2020 forced tertiary professors to urgently adapt the face-to-face courses they were lecturing to emergency remote teaching. Researchers of different fields have started to investigate and share their thoughts on which are the best methodologies to guarantee a high-quality learning experience while coping with students' anxiety and teachers' lack of technical background. The present study examines the adaptation of an English pronunciation course at Rovira i Virgili university to the online setting imposed by the outbreak of the pandemic. The students who took the course were asked to fill in a satisfaction survey containing multiple choice, Likert scale and open questions on the different measures taken and the general progress of the course. Results show that students were higly satisfied with the adaptation of the course to the online context, and that the methods adopted and tools provided were useful and sufficient to continue with the adequate functioning of the course. Hence, this study is a sample of how to teach pronunciation remotely in particular, and how to successfully adapt a face-to-face university course to emergency remote teaching in general, guaranteeing students' learning and engagement.

EFL Teachers’ Practices and Challenges Towards Implementing Critical Thinking Skills Online During Covid-19 Pandemic

This study examined the extent to which EFL teachers at the University of Jeddah are aware of the importance of implementing critical thinking skills. It also investigated their practices of such skills while teaching remotely and discussed the current impediments that distract the effective application and acquisition of such skills by the Saudi learners. Data came from a teacher’s questionnaire and semi-structured interviews carried out online. The results found were congruent with other topic-related researches in some aspects and incongruent in some other aspects. As a matter of fact, the EFL teachers in this work believed in the importance of teaching critical thinking to their learners, however, their teaching practices do not reflect this belief. One of the important variables that distract the effective development of critical thinking is the learners’ disengagement. More and more researches need to be conducted to investigate the relationship between the aforementioned variables. © 2022 ACADEMY PUBLICATION.

Perceived Acceptance of Enacting Google Docs in an Online Collaborative EFL Writing Classroom

Despite a plethora of studies on the use of Web 2.0 technology in the English language teaching (ELT) landscape during the Covid-19 pandemic, few have examined the extent to which students accept the enactment of Google Docs (GD) for collaborative writing. To fill this void, grounded in Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory (Davis, 1989), this study aimed to examine students' perceived acceptance of GD enactment as a means of online collaborative English as a foreign language (EFL) writing practices. It sought to answer the following main research question: How did the students react to the enactment of Google Docs for collaborative writing in English during the Covid-19 pandemic in terms of Perceived Ease of Use (PEU), Perceived Usefulness (PU), Attitude towards Using (ATU), and Intention to Use (ITU)? The statistical evidence indicated that GD was user-friendly and useful for the students given the overall Mean score (M=6.0) and the significant effects of all the hypothetically tested variables, significantly influencing their behavior and intention to use the technology. The qualitative evidence showed that internet connection was their sole challenge and that more practical training on using GD would help them better operate it for such a pedagogical purpose. The study encapsulates the feasibility of enacting GD as a medium of online collaborative EFL writing practices in the age of the Covid-19 pandemic. Further research examining the acceptance of GD and other dependent variables, such as learning outcomes, engagement, motivation, and etc., in ELT context would be worthy of investigation.

Teaching and Learning English as a Foreign Language Speaking Skills through Blackboard during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has shifted English teaching to online platforms, such as Blackboard Collaborate, but whether online platforms affect the acquisition of core English language skills like speaking has yet to be studied extensively in the Saudi context. This study addressed and analyzed the perceptions of English as a foreign language instructors and students at the University of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia concerning the use of Blackboard Collaborate to develop speaking skills through an explanatory sequential mixed-method design. In the first phase, participants completed an online cross-sectional questionnaire for the quantitative approach. Data analysis revealed positive perceptions of speaking skill development through Blackboard Collaborate among both students and instructors. Female students and less experienced instructors reported more satisfaction with learning English through Blackboard Collaborate than male students and experienced instructors, respectively. In Phase 2, the researcher conducted in-person interviews with 10 instructors and 10 students, focusing on three areas: the Blackboard Collaborate user experience, instructors' and students' beliefs, and the challenges of and suggested improvements for Blackboard Collaborate. Instructors and students were fully aware of how to use the platform, and their motivation to use it was very high. This study further uncovered how Saudi students have shifted their learning style from passive to active learning following the student-centered approach. It also highlights the benefits Saudi women gained, as they were more comfortable practicing conversation through Blackboard Collaborate and the avoidance of cultural barriers. Studying the effects of culture on language learning through technology is a necessary direction for future