Examining of preparatory and first-year students’ online learning readiness and presence in English language courses

Year 2024, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 17 - 33, 31.01.2024

Fırat Keskin , Sevda Küçük

https://doi.org/10.31681/jetol.1302551

Abstract

This study aims to investigate university students' readiness and presence towards online teaching in the context of various variables. The study is designed as survey research, one of the quantitative models. The sample of the study consists of 318 preparatory and first-year university students studying at a university in the Eastern Anatolian Region of Turkey. The data were obtained using the "Readiness for Online Learning Scale" and "The Community of Inquiry Model " scale. Descriptive statistics and inferential were used in the analysis of the data. As a result of the study, it was revealed that university students' readiness levels for online learning and their social, cognitive and teaching presence were high. In addition, it was determined that university students' readiness levels and perceptions of presence differ statistically according to age, gender, education level, monthly income of the family and connection device. The implications were discussed in terms of theoretical insights and administration for online learning.

Keywords

Online learning, Readiness, Presence, University students

References

• Adedoyin, O. B., & Soykan, E. (2023). Covid-19 pandemic and online learning: the challenges and opportunities. Interactive Learning Environments, 31(2), 863-875.
• Aksoy, D. A., Bingöl, İ., & Bozkurt, A. (2022). Inquiry community theory. E. Kurşun, S. Yıldırım, & S. Karaman (Eds), Open and Distance Learning Theories (pp. 209-243). Nobel.
• Alabay, S. (2021). Students' views on learning French online with Microsoft teams® during Covid-19 pandemic. African Educational Research Journal, 9(2), 333-338.
• Alsancak Sırakaya, D., & Yurdugül, H. (2016). Investigation of pre-service teachers' online learning readiness levels: The case of Ahi Evran University. Journal of Ahi Evran University Kırşehir Faculty of Education 17(1), 185-200.
• Alshammari, R., Parkes, M., Adlington, R. (2018). Factors İnfluencing Saudi Arabian preparatory year students’ skills and attitudes in the use of mobile devices in learning English as a foreign language. International Journal of Research Studies in Educational Technology, 1(7). https://doi.org/10.5861/ijrset.2018.3002
• Aristovnik, A., Keržič, D., Ravšelj, D., Tomaževič, N., & Umek, L. (2020). Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on life of higher education students: A global perspective. Sustainability, 12(20), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12208438
• Brown, R. (1973). Development of the first language in the human species. American Psychologist, 28(2), 97.
• Bulu, S. T. (2012). Place presence, social presence, co-presence, and satisfaction in virtual worlds. Computers & Education, 58(1), 154-161.
• Çaycı, B. (2013). The effect of information and communication technologies on television watching habits today: OTT TV. II. in International Symposium on Language and Communication: Exploring Novelties (pp. 1649-1660).
• Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences (Revised Ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
• Dada, D. (2006). E‐Readiness for developing countries: Moving the focus from the environment to the users. The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, 27(1), 1-14.
• Daspit, J. J., & D’Souza, D. E. (2012). Using the community of inquiry framework to introduce wiki environments in blended-learning pedagogies: Evidence from a business capstone course. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(4), 666-683.
• Demir Kaymak, Z., & Horzum, M. B. (2013). Relationship between online learning readiness, structure, and interaction of online learning students. Educational Sciences: Theory and Practice, 13(3), 1792-1797.
• Efe, E. Bek, Y., & Şahin, M. (2000). Statistical Methods II. TC Kahramanmaraş Sütçü İmam University Rectorate Publication, (10).
• Encarnacion, R. F. E., Galang, A. A. D., & Hallar, B. J. A. (2021). The impact and effectiveness of e learning on teaching and learning. Online Submission, 5(1), 383-397.
• Ferri, F., Grifoni, P., & Guzzo, T. (2020). Online learning and emergency remote teaching: Opportunities and challenges in emergency situations. Societies, 10(4), 86.
• Filiz, O. & Kurt, A. A. (2022). The effect of preservice teachers’ experiences in a flipped course on digital competencies related to educational technology and innovativeness. Journal of Educational Technology & Online Learning, 5(3), 655-675.
• Fraenkel, J. R., Wallen, N. E., & Hyun, H. H. (2012). How to design and evaluate research in education (Vol. 7, p. 429). New York: McGraw-hill.
• Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (1999). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.
• Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2001). Critical thinking, cognitive presence, and computer conferencing in distance education. American Journal of Distance Education, 15(1), 7-23.
• Garrison, D. R., Cleveland-Innes, M., & Fung, T. S. (2010). Exploring causal relationships among teaching, cognitive and social presence: Student perceptions of the community of inquiry framework. The Internet and Higher Education, 13(1-2), 31-36.
• Gerçek, C., Köseoğlu, P., Yılmaz, M., & Soran, H. (2006). Investigation of teacher candidates' attitudes towards computer use in terms of various variables. Journal of Hacettepe University Faculty of Education, 30(30), 130-139.
• Guo, P., Saab, N., Wu, L., & Admiraal, W. (2021). The Community of Inquiry perspective on students’ social presence, cognitive presence, and academic performance in online project‐based learning. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 37(5), 1479-1493.
• Horzum, M. B. (2017). Interaction, structure, social presence, and satisfaction in online learning. Eurasia Journal of Mathematics, Science and Technology Education, 11(3), 505-512.
• Horzum, M. B. (2015). Online learning students perceptions of the community of inquiry based on learning outcomes and demographic variables. Croatian Journal of Education: Hrvatski časopis za odgoj i obrazovanje, 17(2), 535-567.
• Horzum, M. B., & Uyanik, G. K. (2015). An item response theory analysis of the Community of Inquiry Scale. International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning, 16(2), 206-226.
• Hung, M.-L. (2016). Teacher readiness for online learning: Scale development and teacher perceptions. Computers & Education, 94, 120-133.
• Hung, M.-L., Chou, C., Chen, C.-H., & Own, Z.-Y. (2010). Learner readiness for online learning: Scale development and student perceptions. Computers & Education, 55(3), 1080-1090.
• İlhan, M. & Çetin, B. (2013). Validity and reliability study of the Turkish form of online learning readiness scale (ELLS). Educational Technology Theory and Practice, 3 (2), 72-101.
• Jiang, H., Islam, A. Y. M. A., Gu, X., & Spector, J. M. (2021). Online learning satisfaction in higher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: A regional comparison between Eastern and Western Chinese universities. Education and Information Technologies, 26, 6747–6769. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-021-10519-x
• Karasar, N. (2007). Scientific research method: concepts, principles, techniques. Nobel Publication Distribution.
• Khatoony, S., & Nezhadmehr, M. (2020). EFL teachers’ challenges in integration of technology for online classrooms during Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Iran. Asian Journal of English Language and Pedagogy, 8(2), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.37134/ajelp.vol8.2.7.2020
• Kerem, A. Y., & DAĞHAN, G. (2022). A case study of student views on a transformed learning environment supported by the inquiry community model. Educational Technology Theory and Practice, 12(1), 221-260.
• Kılıç, S., Horzum, M. B., & Çakıroğlu, Ü. (2016). Determination of students' perceptions of instructional, social and cognitive heresy in online simultaneous learning environments. Turkish Journal of Computer and Mathematics Education, 7(2), 350-364.
• Kırmacı, Ö. Aydıner Çakırel, Ö. & Aslan, B. (2022). A research on online distance education experiences of campus students. International Journal of Computers in Education, 5 (1), 14-30. DOI: 10.5281
• Kohnke, L., & Moorhouse, B. L. (2022). Facilitating synchronous online language learning through Zoom. RELC Journal, 53(1), 296–301. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033688220937235
• Kucuk, S., & Richardson, J. (2019). A structural equation model of predictors of online learners’ engagement and satisfaction. Online Learning, 23(2).
• Lee, K., Fanguy, M., Lu, X. S., & Bligh, B. (2021). Student learning during COVID-19: It was not as bad as we feared. Distance Education, 42(1), 164–172
• Lee, Y. and Ting, S. (2021). A comparative assessment of online learning readiness for first year and final year engineering undergraduates. Journal of Cognitive Sciences and Human Development, 1(7), 86-105. https://doi.org/10.33736/jcshd.3051.2021
• Linjawi, A. I., & Alfadda, L. S. (2018). Students’ perception, attitudes, and readiness toward online learning in dental education in Saudi Arabia: A cohort study. Advances in Medical Education and Practice, 9, 855.
• Lockee, B. B. (2021). Online education in the post-COVID era. Nature Electronics, 4(1), 5-6.
• Mackey, K. R., & Freyberg, D. L. (2010). The effect of social presence on affective and cognitive learning in an international engineering course taught via distance learning. Journal of Engineering Education, 99(1), 23-34.
• Marino, K., & Reddick, K. (2013). Teaching and learning: instructor social presence in the online classroom. EdMedia+ Innovate Learning, 846-855.
• Martin, F., Stamper, B., & Flowers, C. (2020). Examining student perception of readiness for online learning: importance and confidence. Online Learning, 24(2), 38-58.
• Moore, R. L., & Miller, C. N. (2022). Fostering cognitive presence in online courses: a systematic review (2008-2020). Online Learning, 26(1).
• Naidu, S. (2006). E-learning: A guidebook of principles, procedures and practices. Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA).
• Olpak, Y.Z., & Kiliç Çakmak, E. (2018). Examining the reliability and validity of a Turkish version
• of the community of inquiry survey. Online Learning, 22(1), 147-161.
• doi:10.24059/olj.v22i1.990
• Uçar, A. & Sarıtepeci, M. (2022). How can student engagement be improved in Massive Open Online
• Courses? Instructional Technology and Lifelong Learning, 3 (2), 176-206. DOI: 10.52911/itall.1194260
• Peng, H., Tsai, C.-C., & Wu, Y.-T. (2006). University students’ self‐efficacy and their attitudes toward the Internet: The role of students’ perceptions of the Internet. Educational Studies, 32(1), 73-86.
• Rafique, G. M., Mahmood, K., Warraich, N. F., & Rehman, S. U. (2021). Readiness for online learning during Covid-19 pandemic: A survey of Pakistani students. The Journal of Academic Librarianship, 47(3), 102346.
• Reinhardt, J. (2022). Everyday technology-mediatized language learning: New opportunities and challenges. Foreign Language Learning in the Digital Age, 67-78.
• Reio, T. G., & Davis, W. (2005). Age and gender differences in self-directed learning readiness: A developmental perspective. International Journal of Self-Directed Learning, 2(1), 40-49.
• Reisoğlu, I., Topu, B., Yılmaz, R., Karakuş Yılmaz, T., & Göktaş, Y. (2017). 3D virtual learning environments in education: A meta-review. Asia Pacific Education Review, 18(1), 81-100.
• Robb, C. A., & Sutton, J. (2014). The importance of social presence and motivation in distance learning. The Journal of Technology, Management, and Applied Engineering, 30(2).
• Rosser-Majors, M. L., Rebeor, S., McMahon, C., Wilson, A., Stubbs, S. L., Harper, Y., & Sliwinski, L. (2022). Improving retention factors and student success online utilizing the community of inquiry framework’s instructor presence model. Online Learning, 26(2).
• Sevim-Cirak, N., Erol, O. & Baser-Gulsoy, V. G. (2023). Examination of the correlation between e-learning readiness and achievement goal orientation of college students. Journal of Educational Technology & Online Learning, 6(1), 184-201.
• Simsek, I., Kucuk, S., Biber, S. K., & Can, T. (2021). Online learning satisfaction in higher education amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Asian Journal of Distance Education, 16(1), 247-261.
• Smith, P. J., Murphy, K. L., & Mahoney, S. E. (2003). Towards identifying factors underlying readiness for online learning: An exploratory study. Distance Education, 24(1), 57-67.
• Sung, E., & Mayer, R. E. (2012). Five facets of social presence in online distance education. Computers in Human Behavior, 28(5), 1738-1747.
• Tabachnick, B. G., Fidell, L. S., & Ullman, J. B. (2007). Using multivariate statistics (Vol. 5, pp. 481-498). Boston, MA: Pearson.
• Tang, Y. M., Chen, P. C., Law, K. M., Wu, C. H., Lau, Y. Y., Guan, J., ... & Ho, G. T. (2021). Comparative analysis of Student's live online learning readiness during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in the higher education sector. Computers & Education, 168, 104211.
• Tanık Önal, N. & Önal, N. (2023). Online learning and teaching experiences of preservice science teachers during Covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Educational Technology & Online Learning, 6(2), 295-314.
• Tayeh, Q. (2021). The role of undergraduate students’ satisfaction in the transition to online education in light of teaching and social presence. Multicultural Education, 7(1), 104-113.
• Telli, S. G., & Altun, D. (2020). Coronavirus and the irrepressible rise of online education. Journal of University Research, 3(1), 25-34.
• Tseng, J.-J., Chai, C. S., Tan, L., & Park, M. (2022). A critical review of research on technological pedagogical and content knowledge (TPACK) in language teaching. Computer Assisted Language Learning, 35(4), 948-971.
• Wallace, T. S. (2021). Remote Learning in the Time of Crisis: The Perceptions of Elementary Teachers in Developing Social Presence, Cognitive Presence and Teaching Presence (Order No. 28315786). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2494896154). https://www.proquest.com/dissertations-theses/remote-learning-time-crisis-perceptions/docview/2494896154/se-2
• Wang, D. C., Jeng, Y. L., Chiang, C. M., & Huang, Y. M. (2022). Exploring the cohesion of classroom community from the perspectives of social presence and social capital. Journal of Computing in Higher Education, 34(1), 39-59.
• Wei, H. C., & Chou, C. (2020). Online learning performance and satisfaction: do perceptions and readiness matter ? Distance Education, 41(1), 48-69.
• Yakar, L., & Yakar, Z. Y. (2021). Examining the attitudes of education faculty students towards distance
• education and their readiness for e learning. Mersin University Journal of Faculty of Education, 17(1), 1-21.