Abstract
In consequence of Coronavirus, which emerged at the end of 2019 in Wuhan, China, education sector has been affected like many others. In this regard, in Turkey, which does not differ from other countries, there has been an urgent transition to distance education in primary, secondary and higher education. Mainstream schools have implemented the distance education model for approximately one and a half years (2020-2021). This study investigates how faculty of theology students experience this process. The aim of the study is to identify the deficiencies in the implementation of the distance education model, which is thought to be on the agenda of the universities and faculties of theology in the coming years, and to develop solutions for these deficiencies. The study was carried out with the case study design, one of the qualitative research designs. The study group consists of 23 students studying at Pamukkale University Faculty of Theology. To identify the students, criterion sampling was used, which is one of the purposeful sampling types, and as a criterion it was determined the students should have received distance Arabic prep class. In the study groups, focus group interviews and face-to-face interviews were conducted with the students to collect data. In these interviews, the following questions were asked to the participants in the semi-structured interview form developed by the researchers: What do you think about distance language teaching, what are the positive and negative aspects of this process? Can you compare distance education and face-to-face education in terms of efficiency? In your opinion, what kind of measures should be taken to improve distance language teaching studies? What are the differences between attending live classes and learning on any internet channel? Do you think you have any problems in usage of tools and methods? Can you compare Arabic prep class and undergraduate education within the framework of distance education? The interviews with the study group were transferred from the audio recording to the written form, and then the data were coded. As a result of this coding, five themes were obtained as “distance prep class”, “distance undergraduate”, “face-to-face education”, “comparisons” and “recommendations”. In the conclusion part, suggestions have been developed within the framework of the findings obtained.