Thinh Hoang

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic since the last days of 2019 has led to school closure worldwide and forced institutions at all levels to move to online or distance learning. This study was conducted to explore university students’ readiness to such a sudden situational shift to online learning. We surveyed 1304 online-learning students in a higher education institution in Vietnam. Through exploratory factor analyses, we identified three dimensions of online learning readiness (OLR): online learning motivation, online learning self-efficacy beliefs, and online self-directed learning. We then conducted multiple regression analyses to investigate the predictive power of different students’ individual characteristics and perceptions on OLR, and the impacts of the three OLR dimensions on students’ intention to use online learning (IU). Our results suggested that students’ perceived facilitating conditions and their online learning experience were the significant predictors of OLR. Furthermore, online learning motivation was the construct that exerted the strongest influence on IU, compared to other OLR constructs. The study highlights the need for improving facilitating conditions to support students’ OLR. It also suggests enhancing the usefulness and enjoyment that students perceive from online learning to improve their willingness to use this learning channel.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible effects of conducting regular collaborative activities via Google Docs on English academic writing skills. Utilising a mixed methods design, this study was conducted with 24 Vietnamese high school students who participated in a fully online English as a foreign language (EFL) course in academic writing. The pre- and post-test results indicated that the students’ overall academic writing skills were significantly improved over the course. Regarding individual aspects of academic writing, there were significant improvements in the areas of task response and lexical resources, while the areas of cohesion and coherence and grammatical range and accuracy did not witness significant improvements. Further analysis of semi-structured interviews with these students revealed that they valued the usefulness of Google Docs-based collaboration in enhancing their English academic writing skills, however they held mixed opinions about the enjoyment of collaborating on the platform. This study also revealed a number of challenges experienced by this group of students when they used Google Docs in online collaboration. Implications and suggestions for future studies are discussed.

Teacher self-efficacy beliefs (TSE) are recognised as a key component of successful learning and teaching. However, this construct seems to be under-investigated in the field of language teaching. This systematic review aims to examine the state of English as a foreign language (EFL) TSE research published from 2002 to 2017. Twenty seven studies were included and reviewed in terms of (i) contexts, (ii) participants, (iii) focus, (iv) methodology, and (v) main findings. Results show that a quantitative approach was dominant among the reviewed studies, the majority of which took practicing teachers as their participants. Most of the studies were carried out in Middle Eastern countries, and there was a paucity of TSE research in other EFL contexts. TSE research in the area mainly focused on the influence of different factors on TSE, and correlations between TSE and teacher behaviours and emotion. However, there was a lack of evidence for the impact of EFL teacher self-efficacy on learner outcomes. The review also shows the dearth of TSE scales or research that examines EFL specific teaching tasks. Finally, the review provides some outline of directions for future EFL teacher self-efficacy research.