Saudi EFL Instructors’ and Students’ Perspectives Towards Virtual Learning During COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic and the sudden transition from face-to-face to virtual learning have given rise to various challenges and obstacles in teaching contexts all over the world. This paper explores the impact of this unexpected transition in the teaching and learning process based on English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ and learners’ experiences at a Saudi university. This research employed a mixed methods approach. Four male and female EFL teachers were involved in addition to thirty-six students from a preparatory year program. The key findings of the study revealed that there were three major challenges encountered in the use of virtual classroom applications during the pandemic, including crucially a lack of technology and Internet connection, having large numbers of students in a virtual learning classroom, and lack of student and teacher interaction when using virtual learning classes. Although Saudi EFL students and teachers viewed the virtual learning classes in a positive light during the pandemic period, they reported that in the post-pandemic period and over the long term, they would prefer traditional face-to-face teaching.