Impacts of Synchronous and Asynchronous English Learning Modes on Translation Quality Amidst the Challenges of the Covid-19 Era
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Abstract
The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a profound transformation in the landscape of language education, necessitating a shift from traditional face-to-face classrooms to online learning. This mixed-method study aimed at achieving two objectives: firstly, to investigate the impact of synchronous and asynchronous online learning modes on translation quality, and secondly, to explore the learners’ perceived benefits and challenges through a repeated-measure design. Twenty-two Thai EFL learners were stratified into two groups: an Asynchronous-Synchronous group (ASG) and a Synchronous-Asynchronous group (SAG). The ASG started with the asynchronous mode of learning and switched to a synchronous learning mode via Zoom, while the ASG received the same instruction, but in the reverse sequence. Both groups received a pre-test, a Time1 post-test after completing the first mode of learning, and a Time2 post-test after the last week of the study, as well as a questionnaire. The findings revealed that both learning modes had exhibited comparable effects on translation quality. Contrary to their actual performance, the questionnaire responses indicated a slight preference among learners for the synchronous mode over the asynchronous mode, but there had not been a significant difference. Notably, the learners’ perceptions of online learning had not aligned with their academic achievements. Despite expressing a belief that both online learning modes had fallen short of the effectiveness of traditional face-to-face classrooms, the learners expressed a preference for continuing their studies online.
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