A Research On Non-English Majors’Learning Attitudes Towards College English Courses In Emergency Remote Education

After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic,the global education model inevitably underwent changes,and emergency remote education(ERE)became the norm.In particular,for college English courses,traditional face-to-face teaching has shifted to a remote mode,posing challenges to the effectiveness of remote language learning.However,there is a lack of research on college students’ attitudes towards remote college English courses and their influencing factors,especially in emergency situations.Based on the ABC theory(Affect-Behavior-Cognition)of learning attitude,this study from the learners’ perspective investigated non-English majors’ learning attitudes towards college English courses in ERE,and explored the influencing factors.Using the modified remote learning attitude questionnaire adapted from previous research,the study surveyed 591 non-English majors from various institutions in a northeastern province of China.Descriptive statistics methods,Mann-Whitney U tests,Kruskal-Wallis tests,Spearman correlation tests,and grounded theory were employed to analyze the data.The results show that,overall and in the five dimensions,students’ attitudes towards emergency remote college English courses are at a low level of positive attitude.Four types of factors that affect students’ learning attitudes are personal factors,teacher factors,equipment factors,and environmental factors.At the same time,speaking is the language skill most limited in remote courses.In terms of personal factors,males score higher than females,while students from developed areas exhibit more positive attitudes than those from rural areas.Students who used mobile Internet have better learning attitudes than those who used WIFI.Prior remote English learning experience leads to a more positive attitude.However,the frequency of Internet use is found to be inversely proportional to learning attitude,meaning that students who used the Internet more frequently hold more negative learning attitudes.Among the teacher factors,students’ attitudes are influenced by teachers’ information literacy and online teaching methods.Specifically,higher levels of teachers’ information literacy are associated with more positive attitudes among students.In terms of homework,students who spent an additional hour and a half on average studying English each day exhibit the most positive attitudes.The device factor emerges as a significant concern for students,who struggled with Internet latency and network overhead.However,students appreciate the playback function.In the dimension of teacher-student interaction,students’ attitudes show a weak positive trend but score the lowest among the five dimensions,which are deeply influenced by device and teacher factors.Notably,oral language is the most restricted skill in remote English learning.Among environmental factors,students who studied at school show more positive attitudes towards learning than those who studied at home.Additionally,students who had independent study space report more positive attitudes towards remote English learning.Based on the research findings,this study proposed some teaching suggestions to improve English education in universities.Firstly,in terms of infrastructure,providers should strive to ensure the smoothness of the network and reduce mobile network expenses.Secondly,universities should focus on cultivating teachers’ information literacy,and teachers should also appropriately transform online teaching methods,actively push online language materials,and act as supervisors as much as possible.Finally,with regard to language skills,oral communication should be given special attention online.Relevant institutions can also adhere to a learner-centered approach,providing students with oral practice software that meets their learning needs.These suggestions can help evaluate the quality of remote language learning in ERE,and also assist universities and relevant platforms in making more adequate preparations for internet-based remote language education,in order to meet the needs of students.In summary,this study aimed to explore the learning attitudes of non-English majors towards college English courses in ERE,and identify potential influencing factors through questionnaire survey and data analysis.The study results identified factors in four aspects: personal,teacher,equipment,and environmental factors,and provided teaching suggestions to enhance English education in universities.The research findings have significant implications for advancing the integration of technology and language education in education theories,as well as promoting the development of China’s ERE system.