DIFFICULTIES IN LEARNING BASIC ENGLISH LANGUAGE SKILLS FACED DURING E-LEARNING AS PERCEIVED BY 101 STUDENTS AND AN-NAJAH NATIONAL UNIVERSITY LANGUAGE CENTER TEACERS
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Date
2022-10-12
Authors
Islam Mohammad Arif Bani Oudi
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Abstract
This study has researched into the difficulties that faced students in learning the basic English language skills during e-learning in terms of their perceptions towards e-learning and the types of these difficulties. The study also sought to understand An-Najah National University Language Center teachers` perceptions towards e-learning and the difficulties they faced while teaching during e-learning in terms of its effectiveness during COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, the study examined the effect of the variables of gender, academic major and year of study on students` perceptions. It also examined the effect of gender and years of experience on teachers` perceptions. To these ends of the study, the researcher developed two questionnaires: one for students and one for teachers. The former consisted of eight domains: students` attitudes towards e-learning, administrative difficulties, technological difficulties, personal difficulties, difficulties in practicing the speaking skill, difficulties in practicing the listening skill, difficulties in practicing the reading skill and difficulties in practicing the writing skill. The latter consisted of three domains: teachers` attitudes towards e-learning, difficulties in teaching English language skills and the difficulties that faced students. The student questionnaire was administered to 140 male and female students who studied English 101 online while the teacher questionnaire was administered to 30 male and female English teachers at An-Najah National University’s Language Center. All the 140 students completed the questionnaire while 15 teachers completed the instrument sample of the study.
The results of this descriptive study revealed that students and teachers had a mediocre/ underwhelming perception towards e-learning in light of Covid-19 pandemic. The results also revealed a number of personal, technological and administrative difficulties that hindered successful learning of the English language skills. The technological difficulties were the major cause behind poor effectiveness of e-learning in learning English language skills. Furthermore, the results showed that the difficulties in practicing the listening skill ranked first, followed by speaking, writing and reading due to the poor infrastructure problems such as power outages and lack of internet services. Additionally, no statistically significant differences were found at α=0.05 in the difficulties that faced students during e-learning which could be due to gender, academic major and year of study variables. There were also no statistically significant differences in the difficulties that faced teachers during e-learning which could be attributed to gender and years of experience.
In light of these findings, the researcher recommends enriching Palestinian teachers and students with knowledge on how to use educational technology hardware and software. She also recommends organizing training programs/ and workshops for teachers and students to overcome e-learning phobia and make students` environment suitable for e-learning before starting using it.
Keywords: Difficulties in learning; English language skills; E-Learning.