When online learning and cultural values intersect: Indonesian EFL students' voices

Jarjani Usman
Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Indonesia
Zamzami Zainuddin
Universiti Malaya, Malaysia
Teuku Zulfikar
Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Indonesia
Dorine Lugendo
Maseno University, Kenya
Zulkarnaini
Universitas Abulyatama, Indonesia
Yusri Yusuf
Universitas Syiah Kuala, Indonesia

During the COVID-19 pandemic, all lecturers had to replace their physical classroom teaching mode with online learning, albeit with challenges experienced by students and lecturers. Drawing upon Hofstede's cultural dimensions theory, this study attempted to unearth Indonesian students' learning culture by analysing written reflections on their learning experiences. Twenty EFL (English as a foreign language) students enrolled in the English Academic Writing courses at an Islamic university in Indonesia, wrote a reflective essay on their online learning experiences with various platforms, such as Google Classroom, Google Meet, Canvas, Moodle, and some other online learning platforms. Content analysis was used to analyse the students' reflective writing essays. Results show that the students' voices bring to the fore several learning issues from online learning experiences. These include: the lecturers' dominant use of WhatsApp as an instruction tool, unclear explanations, assigning students too many assignments, and the abandonment of lecturer feedback on works submitted by students. Noteworthy, whether the students liked or disliked the online learning experience, they accepted how the lecturers treated them in the online teaching and learning process. The findings indicated that the students avoided conflicts, showed high respect to their superiors, and used indirect disagreement in the online learning contexts. The findings suggest that the 'small culture' of online learning in higher education is governed by a strong influence of 'large culture' in Indonesia
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Authors: Dr Jarjani Usman (corresponding author) is a senior lecturer at Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. His degrees are PhD in education (Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University, Australia; MS (Texas A&M University, USA; and MSc in educational technology (Universiteit Twente, The Netherlands. His research interests concern educational linguistics, curriculum, and culture. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3312-5825 Email: jarjani@ar-raniry.ac.id Dr Zamzami Zainuddin is a senior lecturer in the Department of Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Faculty of Education, University of Malaya, Malaysia. He completed his PhD in information and technology studies in education at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. His research has been on designing context-specific, technology-enhanced pedagogical instruction for different education levels, institutions, and in pandemic circumstances, especially Covid-19. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4851-4102 Email: zamzami@um.edu.my Prof. Dr Teuku Zulfikar MEd is a senior lecturer at Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, Indonesia. He completed his PhD in the Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia; MEd from Ohio State University, USA; and MEd from Monash University, Australia. His current research interests are in sociology of education, sociolinguistics, and culture. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6160-2855 Email: tzulfikar@ar-raniry.ac.id Dr Dorine Lugendo is a senior teaching staff member at Maseno University, Kenya. She completed her PhD at Newcastle University, UK. Her masters degree in educational technology is from Universiteit Twente, The Netherlands. Her current research interests are in education, curriculum, and English language teaching. Email: dorinelugendo@gmail.com Zulkarnaini MA is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, University of Abulyatama, Aceh, Indonesia. He is currently undertaking a doctorate in the Postgraduate Program of Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, Banda Aceh, after completing his Masters program at Institute Pertanian Bogor, Depok, Indonesia. Email: zulkarnaini.pfis@abulyatama.ac.id Dr Yusri Yusuf MPd is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Teacher Training, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Indonesia, since 1986. He has a Bachelor degree in Indonesian language and literature education (Universitas Syiah Kuala, 1985), a masters degree (IKIP Language Studies, 1991) and a PhD (Universitas Islam Negeri Ar-Raniry, 2020). He is now Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Indonesian Institute of Cultural Arts in Aceh. His research interests are in education, linguistics, and local wisdom. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2876-0987 Email: yusri_yusuf@unsyiah.ac.id Please cite as: Usman, J., Zainuddin, Z., Zulfikar, T., Lugendo, D., Zulkarnaini & Yusuf, Y. (2022). When online learning and cultural values intersect: Indonesian EFL students' voices. Issues in Educational Research, 32(3), 1196-1212. http://www.iier.org.au/iier32/usman.pdf