A Comparison of Online Courses with Traditional Face-To-Face Courses in the English Language Teaching Ph.D Program regarding the Students’ Point of View

Yıl 2019, , 126 - 137, 30.09.2019

Nazli Ağgün Çelik

https://doi.org/10.29228/ijlet.24794

Öz

Anahtar Kelimeler

Online Ph.D. courses, learners’ perspectives, suggestions for improvement.

A Comparison of Online Courses with Traditional Face-To-Face Courses in the English Language Teaching Ph.D Program regarding the Students’ Point of View

Öz

As the number of online courses at the level of master’s and Ph.D. is increasing all over the world,
more studies are being conducted to find out whether these courses are as efficient as face-to-face
courses by focusing on their strengths and weaknesses and offering suggestions to improve the
overall experience of online learning. Motivated by the related literature, the current study aims to
research the experience of learners and their readiness level for online Ph.D. courses in the Turkish
context. To accomplish the aim of enriching the literature with detailed explanations of what is
actually going on in an online course, what the students’ perspectives and satisfaction factors of online
courses are in comparison to traditional face-to-face courses, five Ph.D. classmates were contacted.
These students had to attend all of the courses at the English Language Teaching Program in
Çukurova University from other cities, apart from one online course. Semi-structured interviews were
conducted to explore their experiences during the process of studying the online course, to compare it
with the rest of face-to-face courses, and to research its impact on their lives. Transcribed interview
data were processed with in-depth content analysis and recurring themes were grouped under similar
categories. The findings of the current research revealed the participants were satisfied with the online
course, thought online learning offers a rich and flexible setting of learning, and the outcomes of
online learning and the face-to face learning are almost the same. However, the quality of the online
course could be increased by advanced technological tools that enable a lively, authentic discussion.
Also, students may be offered orientation to gain the qualifications necessary for the foundation of a
doctoral program. More suggestions to improve the experience of online courses at Ph.D. level have
been offered in the discussion part of the study. The study is important in term of contributing to the
discussion on accomplishments of online courses at Ph.D. level.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Online Ph.D. courses, learners’ perspectives, suggestions for improvement.

Kaynakça

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• Brooks, M. C., Fyffe, D. J., Atkinson, R., McBeath, C., Jonas-Dwyer, D., & Phillips, R. (2005). Are we comfortable yet? Developing a community of practice with PhD students at the university of melbourne.