VIEWS OF FRESHMEN STUDENTS ON FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSES DELIVERED VIA E-LEARNING

With the increasing number of foreign language courses via e-learning in higher education institutions, it is important to investigate whether the quality of e-learning is up to the standard. This study aimed at finding out the views of freshmen students on foreign language courses delivered via e-learning and revealing whether there were any statistically significant differences between students’ views in terms of age, gender, time spent on using e-learning system and the faculty they studied at. This research was designed using the survey model. The sample of the research consisted of 478 freshmen students who were studying at four faculties and one vocational college in a state university in Turkey. The research data were collected through a scale, proposing a sixdimensional assessment of e-learning systems, which was developed by Ozkan and Koseler (2009) and tested for its reliability by the researchers. Data were analyzed using frequencies, mean, standard deviation, independent samples t-test and one-way Anova. The results indicated that the students’ views on foreign language courses delivered via e-learning were negative with an ‘overall’ part mean score of 2,14 (Std=1,17). Also, the students disagreed ‘learners’ perspective’ dimension (x=2,24) and partially agreed ‘instructor attitudes’, ‘system quality’, ‘information content quality’, ‘service quality’ and ‘supportive issues’ dimensions. Furthermore, it was revealed that there were no significant correlations between students’ views and age and the time spent on using elearning. However, statistically significant differences were found between students’ views and gender and the faculty students were studying at (p<0.05). The e-learning system should be developed in order for students to have valuable e-learning experiences and benefit from e-learning more.