Hoda Divsar - Assistant Professor of TEFL Department of TEFL and English Literature, Payame Noor University (PNU), Iran

The quality of online web- based learning in higher education has received a growing concern during the past several years. Whereas numerous studies have focused on the perceptions of faculty and administrators, there has been a paucity of research on EFL learners’ perceptions as well as satisfaction toward the quality of online education. This study applied qualitative research to investigate the perceptions as well as the satisfaction of EFL learners from two universities regarding the quality of online education based on their own online learning experiences. Interviews and observations were conducted with students. Encouraging and undesirable experiences of students were examined. Factors contributed to those experiences were also identified. The findings of this research revealed that flexibility, time management, cost-effectiveness, electronic research availability, ease of joining to the class, and well-designed class were among the EFL learners’ positive experiences. The negative experiences were caused by lack of face-to face interaction, lack of direct correspondence with instructors, delayed feedback from instructors, unavailable technical support from instructors, lack of self-regulation and self-motivation, the sense of isolation, monotonous instructional methods, and poorlydesigned course content. The findings can be beneficial to the university instructors to understand the students’ perceptions on the web-based online courses and eventually develop their online instructional practices.

Electronic web-based Education, EFL Learners, Perception