University student perceptions of English language study changes: reactions to remote emergency teaching during the COVID-19 emergency

Abstract The implementation of emergency remote teaching (ERT) in many institutions has led to radical changes in both teaching and studying approaches in Higher Education institutions worldwide. This pilot study examines the changes in study strategies from the first to the second term in the 2019–2020 academic year in the Foreign Languages and Literatures Department at the University of Verona. A survey was conducted with a group of 19 language students, all of whom studied English as a foreign language. They completed a questionnaire, which consisted of both closed and open-ended questions, as part of a mixed methods study of their perceptions of ways in which their learning strategies had changed from the first to the second term. They were also asked to identify which elements of the ERT experience they considered effective. The aim of the study was primarily to examine the changing strategies with an eye to determining elements to be integrated into our pedagogical approach in the future: to establish which factors had been positive and where the problems lay. This paper focuses mainly on the findings from the qualitative analysis of the open-ended questions section of the questionnaire, which underline the changes that came about as a consequence of the emergency. Whilst many strategies remained the same, a positive evaluation of the blending of asynchronous online resources with synchronous online lessons held in video-conferencing contexts also emerged. A partially mixed message, however, was noted. This was because, despite their endorsement of social interaction when studying in groups during streamed lessons, a preference for “studying alone” to prepare for their exams was also highlighted by participants.