University students’ perspectives on online English language learning: Implications for Ecuadorian educators

Abstract

Online education has mainly been at the core of discussions after Latin America’s Covid-19 sanitary crisis started in March 2020. Teachers and institutions have explored different ways to face what is now called “the new normal”. This study aims to identify the perspectives of Ecuadorian university students on online English language learning in order to inform the design of strategies that allow improvements in the teaching process. This quantitative study was carried out at a university in Ecuador and encompassed 4.936 participants from different majors. An online questionnaire was administered for data collection and analyzed through the application of neural networks. The results showed that students perceive learning English online positively and that their greatest strengths are in listening and writing, while their difficulties lie in developing their reading and speaking abilities. This suggests that more attention should be given to the development of reading and speaking strategies in an attempt to fill the gap that students indicated while answering the questionnaire. Some directions in that regard are given in the conclusion.