The Experiences of Preparatory School Students With Online Language Classes and Tools

Introduction

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically and unexpectedly reshaped life in most aspects. Educational institutions are probably among the most affected by the pandemic. Many countries, including Turkey where this study was originated, took action to minimize the negative effects of the pandemic. The existing phenomenon has given a striking rise to online distance learning, which until the pandemic has often been criticized and underrated. In this sense, the main purpose of this paper is to scrutinize the online English language teaching and learning practices and online language learning tools employed in preparatory schools of foreign languages in a state university in Turkey in the fall term of the 2020-2021 academic year. Although students had experienced online learning in the last term of their high school when the pandemic broke out, there were many new challenges in the fall term. The main difficulties that the students have faced for two terms as a result of the coronavirus includes a lack of familiarity with the learning materials (the course book, online workbook, the online learning platform), and a lack of physical and immediate interaction with their instructors and classmates. Owing to these obstacles; not only the instructors but also the students have confronted unprecedented effects on their language learning journey.

As language learning is based on communication and interaction, this study will mainly focus on how synchronous and asynchronous online language learning process affect language learners, what students think about online language classes and tools, and what they suggest in order to improve the language teaching. Therefore, in an attempt to reveal the way online language learning process has affected the learners; the researchers designed a qualitative study in which the following three domains are highlighted: a) self-reported effects of synchronous online language learning on students’ interactional ability, b) the attitudes of the participants toward synchronous and asynchronous online language learning and tools, c) the challenges the participants have faced. By doing so, the researchers aimed to reach a better understanding of learners’ reactions to online language instruction in order to make suggestions for improving online language teaching practices through practical and suitable teaching tools and further enhance the lifelong learning process.