Views of the Students Learning Turkish as a Foreign Language on Distance Education during the COVID-19 Pandemic

This study examines the views of international students learning Turkish as a foreign language (TFL)through distance education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study is qualitative by nature and employed the case study method. The study group consisted of 31 nationals from different countries who had to take preparatory TFL courses in order to qualify as undergraduate students at the faculty of Engineering of the Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University during the 2019-2020 academic year. A semi-structured interview form was used to determine the views of the participating foreign students on distance education during the pandemic. The results showed a decline in the expected language levels of the students due to technology and education-related problems they experienced during their distance learning process. While the students expressed the positive aspects of distance education as protection from the virus, recording of the classes which allowed repeated viewing, gaining experience, and saving time; the negative aspects expressed by the students were lack of previous experience in distance education, feelings of isolation, and having trouble asking for clarification when a teaching point was not understood during classes. More than half of the students stated that their motivation had increased during distance education and that they reported improvement in all their language skills but speaking. While the TFL students expressed positive opinions about online exams stating that they experienced less exam stress and did not have to go to school to take them, they also mentioned negative aspects of those exams such as technical problems they experienced while taking the exams and a high likelihood of cheating. Suggestions were made by the researcher based on the findings.