ABSTRACT
This study looks into learners' perceptions and emotions of a distance learning course in a Malaysian university, during the first stage of the COVID-19 emergency, from March to June 2020. Lecturers of French and Italian (as foreign languages) courses conducted this study during the pandemic. Descriptive statistical analysis highlights that learners were able to maintain high motivation, appreciated the course structure/design and the online interpersonal interactions with lecturers and fellow-students, while they were on average moderately satisfied with the online course as a whole. The study also underlines the influence of emergency remote teaching (ERT) on students' psychological and emotional well-being, which affected learners' perceptions and task value. Findings show that negative and positive emotions were inversely correlated. As a consequence of this study, course design has been improved to allow for more interaction (through videoconferencing break-out rooms, for example) and foster student-independent learning. In blended learning in the future, interaction should play a major role by offering a supportive environment, thus lowering the feeling of anxiety some students perceive. More flexibility, for example, in setting deadlines, is also needed to lower the feeling of frustration caused by network problems.
