Innovation in Language Learning
More Than a Decade Later: Revisiting Distance Learning of French as a Foreign Language after the Large-Scale Shift to Online Education
Panagiota Tsigara, University of Macedonia (Greece)
Vassiliki Theologou, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece)
Abstract
This paper revisits findings from a mixed-method study conducted between 2011 and 2015 with questionnaire data from 337 respondents in Greece and Germany on distance learning of French as a foreign language (FLE). At the time, distance language learning was still relatively limited, yet the findings already showed interest in this mode of learning, particularly because of flexibility, autonomy and practical considerations. They also revealed reservations concerning reduced interpersonal contact, the perceived effectiveness of distance learning and digital competences. These data were collected several years before the large-scale and, for a significant period, compulsory shift to online education during the COVID-19 pandemic. This shift substantially changed the context in which the original attitudes and reservations had been expressed, as online education was implemented on a much broader scale and involved learners who might not otherwise have chosen it. These developments provide a new context for revisiting the findings of the 2011–2015 study. The present paper returns to selected data from the original research and examines them in light of subsequent research on online foreign-language education and developments in digital education. It explores how the motivations and reservations recorded before the widespread experience of online education can be interpreted today and which of the issues identified in the original study remain relevant. Particular attention is paid to flexibility, interpersonal interaction, digital competences and the perceived effectiveness of distance language learning. Through this re-examination, the study seeks to clarify the significance of these pre-pandemic findings within a substantially changed educational context and to identify questions for further empirical investigation.
Keywords: French as a Foreign Language (FLE); distance language learning; online language education; COVID-19 pandemic; digital education
REFERENCES
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