Online foreign language learning at the tertiary level: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic caused a recourse to online teaching in many parts of the world, and for several disciplines, including foreign language learning. Although quite an amount of research has been conducted on Online Foreign Language Learning (OFLL), issues relating to OFLL in philology programs have received relatively little attention. Furthermore, differences in students’ experiences according to the foreign language of study remain under-researched. The current paper addresses this gap using both quantitative and qualitative methods. A survey was conducted among one thousand, one hundred and five [1,105] (former) students of an African university. The researchers examined the new methods applied in the teaching of Arabic, Chinese, French, Kiswahili, Russian, and Spanish as foreign languages at the research setting during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study investigated the challenges encountered by participants, participants’ perceptions of OFLL, and its impact on their performance. The findings showed that challenges encountered by participants included issues such as inadequate physical interaction in the foreign language and problems with internet connectivity. However, the findings also suggest that OFLL has certain advantages such as the reduction of anxiety and the increase of foreign language enjoyment among learners. These findings suggest that OFLL has some benefits which foreign language institutions should make good use of even beyond times of crisis. Measures to achieve this include the usage of efficient online learning management software and the provision of digital training programs for students and teachers.