Iranian EFL Learners' Parents' Attitudes towards Online English Language Learning during COVID-19

Abstract

Parents’ attitudes toward online language learning have vital effects on students’ educational engagement and promote the implementation and engagement of more efficient online teaching practices. The present study aimed to explore the attitudes of Iranian EFL learners' parents toward online language learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data were collected through an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. One thousand two hundred parents participated in the study. The questions covered four themes: their opinions about online learning, their children’s health, tuition costs, and academic performance. Results obtained indicate that the parents had no experience with online classes before the pandemic. Moreover, findings suggest that despite the fact that a large number of the parents perceived online classes as a mechanism to diminish the spread of COVID-19. they also thought that long and deliberate exposure to online classes and learning environments may have affected the children´s mental and physical health. Furthermore, most parents argued that course tuition, as well as the cost of internet devices and services, made online learning more expensive than traditional classes. The findings of this study can be used by Iranian educational policymakers and stakeholders to enhance online learning.