THE CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS TOWARDS HIGH-QUALIFIED ENGLISH STUDIES PROGRAM STUDENTS EXPERIENCED ONLINE LEARNING AMIDST CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC - A CASE AT CAN THO UNIVERSITY, VIETNAM

The pandemic of the COVID-19 forced the Vietnamese government to adjust its policies for the entire educational institution from conventional classrooms to virtual learning against the contagious pandemic. The study aims at examining the challenges faced by students and proposing several solutions from a High-Qualified English studies program during online learning amid Coronavirus. The researcher used quantitative and qualitative methods by using a questionnaire and conducting an interview via the Zoom application. Participants consist of one hundred sixty students from a High-Qualified English studies program, and ten interviewees who are fourth-year students at the School of Foreign Languages, Can Tho University. Findings show that the percentage of participants disclosed desirable viewpoints of the conventional classrooms compared to the virtual classrooms. In addition, students were highly contended with feedback and the clarity of teachers for tough questions and using sufficient resources. In contrast, participants claimed that they witnessed the considerable challenges and assumed that Zoom and Microsoft Teams were the two applications hindering students’ access. Noticeably, students encountered several five main challenges. Specifically, the difficulties in technology and connectivity students using incompatible devices and weak internet coverage. In terms of the economic problems, they had to buy high degree of data packages. Also, the psychological issues related to the considerable decrease in motivation, interaction, distractions, or shying of turning on their camera, and health issues in terms of eye strains and headaches while implementing online learning in the long run. However, participants revealed a positive learning attitude towards their online learning process by proposing diverse solutions regarding enhancing the interaction among teachers and students, being fully equipped in literacy skills, and using diverse video conferencing platforms. Also, teachers can reduce learning time by giving break time to avoid several physical issues such as eyes training, and headaches. Also, teachers can create tremendous workshops or seminars sharing where students can share their virtual learning experiences and manipulate diverse digital applications. Moreover, teachers can design vivid videos and diverse content materials which attract learners' attention. This study hopes to help students gain a positive outlook on the importance of online learning, and help teachers understand students' perceptions during their online learning process. Finally, the researcher gives several recommendations for further research.  Article visualizations: