Lessons Learnt from Emergency Online Face-to-Face when Back on Campus from Transactional Distance Theory Perspective

Abstract

Abstract In language learning, e-learning is often contrasted to on-campus face-to-face (F2F) in what is known as media studies. This approach ignores the fact that most university courses are already blended, with synchronous element accounting for approximately 1/3 of the student’s workload, with the other 2/3 being asynchronous and delivered mostly online. Focusing on the synchronous part only allows us to compare the two distinct modes of its delivery: on campus and by videoconferencing, with its corresponding effects on the rest of the course. This single-case study is conducted with a group of first-year university studying a foreign language for translators and interpreters via videoconferencing in the first semester and on campus in the second semester. The research design is cross-sectional with data proceeding from course statistics and a final questionnaire. The conceptual framework is based on Transactional Distance Theory by Moore and Zone of Proximal Development Theory by Vygotsky. Our students regarded class dialogue in online F2F as being maintained though affected by technology issues additional to those present in on-campus F2F communication. Moreover, students valued positively the fact of having more time available for study, they improved their autonomy and reported feeling more comfortable when had classes online. The traditional universities after the pandemic face a new technological panorama, with students happy to socialize on campus but already conscious of existing alternatives to on-campus teaching. Deeper research into class dialogue, on-campus, online and mixed, is urgently needed for the universities to decide whether they should adopt these alternatives.