Prospective English language teachers’ perceptions of online and face-to-face education on knowledge, skills, and competencies

Abstract

The present study, which was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to investigate college students' opinions regarding online and face-to-face education. The study, which is based on an explanatory sequential mixed-method approach included quantitative and qualitative data. The data were collected from 85 prospective English language teachers enrolled in a teacher-training program at a government university in Turkey. They were ranged in age from 18 to 47. The participants responded to an online two-part questionnaire. In the first part, the participants provided socio-demographic information regarding their gender and age. In the second part, they stated their previous experiences about online education, how they accessed their courses, and their frequency of participation in the courses. Additionally, they expressed their opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of both online and face-to-face learning as well as the effects of both learning platforms on their educational knowledge, skills, and social competencies. A thematic analysis approach was also used in the form of semi-structured interviews to explain the quantitative results. Interviews were conducted with six participants. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the quantitative data. According to the results, the participants favored online lessons because of their accessibility even after their regular scheduled time but disfavored the lessons due to the fact that they had to look at a screen for a long time, had technical problems such as Internet connection, insufficient interaction with the course instructor and classmates. Moreover, the participants reported that they benefited more from face-to-face learning than online learning in terms of gaining new knowledge, skills, and competencies. To solve the issues that arise in online education, they suggested prolonging the duration of the exams but shortening the duration of the lessons due to connection problems.