Online Learning amidst Global Pandemic: EFL Students’ Challenges, Suggestions, and Needed Materials

Abstract

Covid-19 pandemic brings changes in many aspects of peoples’ lives throughout the world. The spread of Covid-19 in Indonesia affects the education system in this country. Face-to-face instructions are shifted into full online learnings from home. Despite this quite drastic change, the literature on students’ insights of this matter has still been silent. Thus, the present study elucidates 45 EFL students’ challenges, suggestions and needed materials during these online classes. Rely on qualitative data analysis from written responses and semi-structured interviews, the findings disclosed that these EFL students’ main challenges in attending online courses were the unsteady networks and the less direct interactions. These students mainly suggested the use of video conferencing applications such as zoom or Google meet, though some students chose assignments over those applications. The students also mentioned that they basically needed grammar related materials within the online classes. The findings bring forward the picture of full online learning condition during Covid-19 outbreak on EFL setting in Indonesia.

EFL Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions of Online Learning Applications during the COVID-19 Outbreak

“…Unfortunately, the connection was sometimes unstable, and it consumed a lot of internet quota. This contrasts with a study done by (Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2020), who mentioned the students' suggestion to use Zoom and Google Meet as a solution for the absence of student-teachers interaction. Besides, Kahoot was unfamiliar to both lecturers and students.…”

“…The interpreted data revealed that lecturers provided more than four online applications. It was contrary to the fact that the Head of the English Education Program had instructed all lecturers to provide one or two familiar and economical online learning applications since most students complained about the internet's problems such as the excess of quota and unstable internet access (Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2020). Besides, a few of them were unfamiliar to operate online learning applications at the beginning of online learning.…”

“…The global spread of the COVID-19 has changed all human activities, including the learning process (Basilaia & Kvavadze, 2020;Simamora, 2020), and it causes class suspension leading to the requirements of online learning (Moorhouse, 2020). As a result, the Minister of Education and Culture decided that teaching and learning processes and activities were implemented through elearning to reduce the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak and maintain the health of students, teachers, and educational staff (Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020;Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2020).…”

English language teaching and learning during Covid-19: A global perspective on the first year

“…Emergency online teaching of English also involves certain constraints, as the findings show. The sudden and unplanned transition to emergency remote teaching left all parties in education, including language teachers, students and their families, in a challenging situation (Hadianti & Arisandi, 2020) since online teaching necessitated access to a stable internet connection, an effective online platform or learning management system and access to smartphones, computers and desks that were reported to be lacking, hindering the effectiveness and efficiency of English language teaching during the pandemic (Almekhlafy, 2020;Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020;Huang et al, 2021;Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2020;Novikov, 2020;Rahman, 2020;Shahzad et al, 2020;Turchi et al, 2020). Apart from these, teachers and learners having insufficient knowledge about online teaching and learning, teachers' lack of control over online teaching platforms, and making use of less varied and engaging teaching activities or lack of direct interaction during the courses were among the most reported weaknesses of online teaching during the pandemic (Bailey & Lee, 2020;Huang et al, 2021;Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2020;Sepulveda-Escobar & Morrison, 2020;Shaaban, 2020).…”

“…Regarding English language teaching and learning through emergency online teaching, several research studies were conducted dealing with various aspects involving teachers, students, teaching practices, technological resources, teaching platforms, and the teaching of language skills from primary to university education (see, for example, Andriivna et al, 2020;Jones, 2020;Maican & Cocoradă, 2021;Nartiningrum & Nugroho, 2020;Russell, 2020;Sepulveda-Escobar & Morrison, 2020). In fact, not only for the existing situation of English language teaching during emergency online teaching but also for the occurrence of a crisis in the future necessitating a sudden shift to emergency teaching, the evidence and experience gathered from research studies may provide valuable insights into the nature of English language teaching in such periods.…”