During the COVID-19 pandemic, the online learning of foreign languages at higher education level has represented a way to adapt to the restrictions imposed worldwide. The aim of the present article is to analyse university students’ behaviours, emotions and perceptions associated to online foreign language learning during the pandemic and their correlates by using a mixed approach. The research used the Foreign Language Enjoyment (FLE) scale and tools developed by the authors, focusing on task value, self-perceived foreign language proficiency, stressors and responses in online foreign language learning during the pandemic. Some of the results, such as the negative association between anxiety and FLE, are consistent with those revealed in studies conducted in normal times. Other results are novel, such as the protective role of retrospective enjoyment in trying times or the higher level of enjoyment with lower-achieving students. Reference is made to students’ preferences for certain online resources during the pandemic (e.g., preference for PowerPoint presentations) and to their opinions regarding the use of entirely or partially online foreign language teaching in the post-COVID period. The quantitative results are fostered by the respondents’ voices in the qualitative research. The consequences of these results are discussed with respect to the teacher-student relationship in the online environment and to the implications for sustainable online foreign language learning.

Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly impacted students' learning experiences, the present research aims to reveal some of the challenges brought to online foreign language classes in higher education and showed a pattern of relationship exists between individual and contextual factors, and students' behaviours during these classes. The study was conducted in a university where foreign languages (FLs) are a compulsory part of the curriculum at the undergraduate level. The authors analysed individual differences, such as personality traits, FL learning motivation, out-of-class language learning, perceived usefulness of elearning platform resources, self-perceived FL proficiency, and FL grade as independent variables, and also measured FL enjoyment, FL anxiety, stressors that exist and coping behaviours as mediators. The integration of above-mentioned factors in the analysis of online learning can contribute to a better understanding of the learning process in this environment, to enhance students' positive behaviours, diminish the negative ones, and improve learning outcomes.