INVESTIGATING ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ON THE DESIGN OF ONLINE COURSES

Abstract

The study aims to examine EFL students’ perceptions on the effectiveness of online course design. This paper employs a mixed-method research design using both quantitative and qualitative approaches. More specifically, a questionnaire for 83 English- majors and a follow-up interview for 10 students were undertaken at HCMC University of Technology and Education. The data were then analyzed using the SPSS 20.0 software to calculate mean scores of the surveyed items. The findings disclosed that some online course features such as course structure, assessment and technology tools were found to be efficient and most students had positive attitudes towards teachers’ online course design. Moreover, some shortcomings of the course plan were identified. The study also points out some practical suggestions from the students’ viewpoints which can be used to guide online course design for instructors to improve the online teaching quality in the future.