Investigating EFL Learners Perception Towards Online Learning: The Case of Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Covid-19 significantly threatened the global education system and caused school and university authorities to seek an alternative for continuing education during the pandemic. This study investigated the perceptions of English university students to online language education and the factors causing these learners to take positive or negative attitudes toward online instruction in Kurdistan Region (KR) of Iraq. To these goals, a questionnaire was distributed among 120 university EFL learners to probe their attitudes toward online learning. A series of semi-structured interviews were performed to investigate factors shaping participants’ perceptions about English online teaching. Results showed that Kurdistan university EFL students took negative attitudes to online classes, as they believed that online education could not enhance their English language performance. Factors such as low level of engagement, teacher bias, technical problems, and teacher or/and student lack of digital literacy propelled learners to have negative attitudes toward English online instruction in KR. Contrastively, participants found online education pleasant since it saved time, help them join classes anywhere, and encouraged them to meet their missing friends during pandemic. This investigation provides some pedagogical implications for improving the quality of online teaching in EFL contexts.