Aleph
Volume 10, Numéro 4, Pages 99-116
2023-09-29

Online Learning And Gender Differences In The Algerian Academic Context The Case Of Lmd Students Of The English Department, Faculty Of Letters And Languages, M’hamed Bougara University Of Boumerdes

Authors : Damouche Ouahiba . Achili Nora .

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak's rapid global spread has had a significant impact on teaching and learning practices all over the world. A global quarantine was put in place to stop the virus from spreading, and new teaching approaches emerged to deal with the situation. In that manner, the pandemic has forced a change away from traditional face-to-face teaching towards remote learning at Algerian universities by creating the Moodle platform to assist teachers and students in teaching and learning, respectively. The present study explored the perceived efficiency of online learning in Algerian EFL students` education by taking the participants` gender into account. To that end, 38 students attending the Second undergraduate year, Master 1 and 2 classes at the English Department of M’hamed Bougara University of Boumerdes answered a ten-question online questionnaire. The findings revealed the benefits of remote learning, in terms of time and content flexibility, along with the disadvantages in terms of students' difficulty comprehending course content without the help of the teachers. At the level of gender, no significant differences were noted, with the findings highlighting both genders` use of online courses for the same reasons of flexibility, on the one hand, and a tendency to favour the face-to-face mode, on the other.

Keywords

Online learning ; Algerian EFL students ; Gender differences ; Online education