Student satisfaction with an online and a face-to-face Business English course in a higher education context

Abstract

Over the last decade, online learning has grown to become an important part of higher education. However, despite the considerable volume of research in this area, many educators are still concerned about how online learning can be used in an effective way. This paper presents the results of research which set out to evaluate the efficacy of an online Business English course in higher education. The key findings of a comparison of student satisfaction in an online vs. face-to-face Business English course are discussed and the questions of how much the online learning environment benefits the student and what factors affect students’ satisfaction with the course are addressed. The results indicate that there are significant differences in student satisfaction levels between online and face-to-face learning of English as a foreign language. Students taking the face-to-face course were generally more satisfied with the course on several dimensions than their online counterparts.

Keywords:

• Student satisfaction
• online course
• face-to-face course
• foreign language learning
• Business English
• higher education