As a part of my research project to study the impact of reflections in learning, I did my pre-survey at the first of this semester. The survey is consisted with; 1) self-rated proficiency of Korean (general and each skills), 2) attitude toward online mode of learning Korean, and 3) Strategy inventory of language learning.
Here, I hope to share the results of the second part of the survey, the attitude toward online mode of learning at the beginning of semester.
Eight 5-scaled questions about the potential impact from online mode in general and on each skill/area were asked, “How does the online mode of course will impact improving Korean?” and the responses given were “Extremely positive (5)/ Somewhat positive/ Neither positive nor negative/ Somewhat negative/ Extremely negative (1)”. 44 students out of 57 students in 4000 module replied to the questions.
The responses were quite surprising, as it shows positive tendency on the impact. “3” means ‘no impact’ in general, while higher scores than “3” in all the areas indicate positive attitude. The students expected ‘Listening’ is be the most positively impacted by the online mode of learning, while ‘Enjoyment’ was the least positively impacted.
Table 1. The mean of students’ attitude toward the online mode
Area | Mean |
General | 3.00 |
Accuracy | 3.11 |
Vocabulary | 3.55 |
Comprehension | 3.27 |
Writing | 3.09 |
Listening | 3.70 |
Speaking | 3.14 |
Enjoyment | 3.07 |
There are also number of students are extremely positive about the online mode of learning, particularly in ‘Writing’.
Table 2. Number of students for each response
Area | Extremely positive | Somewhat positive | Neither positive nor negative | Somewhat negative |
General | 0 | 15 | 14 | 15 |
Accuracy | 1 | 14 | 18 | 11 |
Vocabulary | 5 | 15 | 23 | 1 |
Comprehension | 2 | 18 | 14 | 10 |
Writing | 2 | 12 | 18 | 12 |
Listening | 9 | 18 | 12 | 5 |
Speaking | 3 | 17 | 7 | 17 |
Enjoyment | 2 | 14 | 13 | 15 |
However, there are 34% students feels somewhat negative on the impact of online learning in general, and around 40% of student in ‘Speaking’. Effective delivery of the lesson is one key to support those students, but it is equally important to support the students’ attitude to learning, particularly in this pandemic situation. The studies have shown that learner’s attitude is strongly influential in learning outcome. Under the compulsory online mode of course this semester, I plan to spend some time to help students see the value of the online mode and the way of maximise the benefit of this learning mode.
At the end of semester, the same set of survey will be given to the students to understand how this perception is changed.