An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents
This study investigates the role of self-efficacy in an asynchronous online English course enriched with interactive features. Self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic achievement in conventional classrooms. However, when learning happens in an online environment, the students’ learning achie...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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International Forum of Educational Technology & Society
2023-10-01
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| Series: | Educational Technology & Society |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.j-ets.net/collection/published-issues/26_4#h.jdvfbvcl65l9 |
| _version_ | 1827787771978186752 |
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| author | Yu-Ching Tseng Mei-Rong Alice Chen Yi-Hsuan Lin |
| author_facet | Yu-Ching Tseng Mei-Rong Alice Chen Yi-Hsuan Lin |
| author_sort | Yu-Ching Tseng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This study investigates the role of self-efficacy in an asynchronous online English course enriched with interactive features. Self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic achievement in conventional classrooms. However, when learning happens in an online environment, the students’ learning achievement is also affected by their psychological perceptions of online learning. In this study, the relationship between self-efficacy and affective factors (i.e., learner autonomy, learner–content interaction, and perceptions toward transactional distance) was investigated. The aims of this study were to identify the influence of different levels of self-efficacy on these factors and to explore their relationships in an online EFL course. In total, 286 students were administered the questionnaires before and after the curriculum to probe their self-perception of these affective variables. When asynchronous interactive learning materials came into play, learners with different levels of self-efficacy make statistically different learning achievements. The statistically significant differences were also found between the student’s self-efficacy level, their learner autonomy, and their perception toward the interactive contents. However, the difference was not significant between self-efficacy and transactional distance. The cost of asynchronous learning is an increasing transactional distance due to the lack of instructor-learner interaction. This study suggests that interactive content triggered an opposite effect by making the instructor’s role invisible rather than absent. A good online course must balance the student’s self-determined learning and flexibility with the course structure. Interactive learning content can keep the balance between developing learner autonomy and fostering engagement by dissolving the teacher’s role into interactive course material. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:53:45Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d2043402fd80457abf55a47ea8377d00 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1176-3647 1436-4522 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-11T16:53:45Z |
| publishDate | 2023-10-01 |
| publisher | International Forum of Educational Technology & Society |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Educational Technology & Society |
| spelling | doaj.art-d2043402fd80457abf55a47ea8377d002023-10-20T23:43:47ZengInternational Forum of Educational Technology & SocietyEducational Technology & Society1176-36471436-45222023-10-01264113https://doi.org/10.30191/ETS.202310_26(4).0001An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive ContentsYu-Ching Tseng0Mei-Rong Alice Chen1Yi-Hsuan Lin2Department of English, Tamkang University, TaiwanDepartment of English Language and Literature, Soochow University, TaiwanDepartment of English Language and Literature, Chinese Culture University, TaiwanThis study investigates the role of self-efficacy in an asynchronous online English course enriched with interactive features. Self-efficacy is a strong predictor of academic achievement in conventional classrooms. However, when learning happens in an online environment, the students’ learning achievement is also affected by their psychological perceptions of online learning. In this study, the relationship between self-efficacy and affective factors (i.e., learner autonomy, learner–content interaction, and perceptions toward transactional distance) was investigated. The aims of this study were to identify the influence of different levels of self-efficacy on these factors and to explore their relationships in an online EFL course. In total, 286 students were administered the questionnaires before and after the curriculum to probe their self-perception of these affective variables. When asynchronous interactive learning materials came into play, learners with different levels of self-efficacy make statistically different learning achievements. The statistically significant differences were also found between the student’s self-efficacy level, their learner autonomy, and their perception toward the interactive contents. However, the difference was not significant between self-efficacy and transactional distance. The cost of asynchronous learning is an increasing transactional distance due to the lack of instructor-learner interaction. This study suggests that interactive content triggered an opposite effect by making the instructor’s role invisible rather than absent. A good online course must balance the student’s self-determined learning and flexibility with the course structure. Interactive learning content can keep the balance between developing learner autonomy and fostering engagement by dissolving the teacher’s role into interactive course material.https://www.j-ets.net/collection/published-issues/26_4#h.jdvfbvcl65l9self-efficacyasynchronous learninglearner perceptionstransactional distanceinteractive contents |
| spellingShingle | Yu-Ching Tseng Mei-Rong Alice Chen Yi-Hsuan Lin An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents Educational Technology & Society self-efficacy asynchronous learning learner perceptions transactional distance interactive contents |
| title | An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents |
| title_full | An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents |
| title_fullStr | An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents |
| title_full_unstemmed | An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents |
| title_short | An Investigation of the Effects of EFL Students’ Self-efficacy in an Asynchronous Online Course with Interactive Contents |
| title_sort | investigation of the effects of efl students self efficacy in an asynchronous online course with interactive contents |
| topic | self-efficacy asynchronous learning learner perceptions transactional distance interactive contents |
| url | https://www.j-ets.net/collection/published-issues/26_4#h.jdvfbvcl65l9 |
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