To Zoom or not to Zoom: Japanese and Ukrainian students’ attitudes towards online language learning

This paper reports on research that aimed to provide initial insight into how university students in two different countries, Japan and Ukraine, coped with greater use of videoconferencing software and whether this resulted in any issues surrounding their online privacy. To facilitate learning under the COVID-19 pandemic, instructors and learners had to speedily adapt to a ‘new normal’ of intense videoconferencing online learning. However, did this rapid implementation of online learning negatively impact students’ privacy? The findings presented in this reflective paper suggest that despite initial concerns, students who participated in the research exhibited low-level concerns regarding the impact of videoconferencing software on their online privacy. Although, students’ privacy concerns did grow when presented with long-term or permanent use of online learning as an integral part of a language learning structure.