The study looked into how COVID-19 affected the digital competence of a group of preservice teacher education students at a higher education institution in the Sultanate of Oman. The paper examined students' digital profile in five areas namely information and data literacy, communication and collaboration, digital content creation, safety and problem solving. Data from 32 undergraduate students was collected by utilizing DigComp, a European Commission digital skills selfassessment tool and findings from a survey. The digital competence framework measures the set of skills, knowledge and attitudes that describes what it means to be digitally competent. These skills are important for students to be effective global citizens in the 21 st century. The results of the study revealed that the majority of the students scored Level 3 (Intermediate) in their self-assessment competency test score. The majority of the students perceived that their digital competence improved significantly as the result of online learning which was accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The rationale of this investigation is that it helps educators understand the students' level of digital competence and the students' perspectives on ICT skills. In turn, it informs us the ways to monitor the students' digital progress and the next steps in developing their digital competency.

A limited number of studies have investigated the factors that influence academic success and failure from the perspectives of both students and lecturers of English as a foreign language (EFL). The present study utilizes a complexity theory framework to uncover academic success and failure factors from the perspectives of Saudi EFL learners and lecturers in a public university context. The sample consisted of 64 EFL lecturers and 219 EFL students who completed the success and failure questionnaires adapted from Killen’s study. Descriptive statistics and exploratory factor analysis were used to analyse the data. The results support the complexity theory perspective, where teachers and students are unique systems, each with their own attitudes, beliefs, and influences, shaped through interactions with other systems. Lecturers’ and students’ perceptions of success and failure factors differed significantly. Lecturers mostly attributed student success to their pedagogical practices, while students mostly attributed success to their positive dispositions, emotions, and attitudes. On the other hand, lecturers largely attributed student failure to student-related factors, while students attributed their failure to negative teacher traits and pedagogy. These results are in line with the concept of self-serving bias. Furthermore, students placed more emphasis on the role of their ecological context in their success and failure than teachers did. The results of this study may help inform teachers and language programs to provide conducive learning environments for EFL students to maximize their chances of success.