ESL Students’ Online Learning Satisfaction in Malaysian Higher Education Institutions: Post-COVID-19 Review

The Covid-19 pandemic that spread to the worldwide in early 2020 has affected conventional educational delivery in most countries. With higher education institutions and universities across Malaysia turning to online learning during the pandemic, many universities and instructors started to concern about the quality of instruction of English learning. Most ESL students are grappling with the online environment and access to technology. Therefore, the survey aimed to examine the ESL students’ online learning satisfaction during the pandemic. A survey method was employed in this study. An online questionnaire was disseminated to the respondents. A total of 236 ESL students from several selected higher learning institutions participated and responded to the online questionnaires. Data was analysed statistically using SPSS version 28. The results revealed that the ESL students have discovered that online learning did not impede them from learning English. Conversely, learning through an online environment can increase positivity among students in language learning. Moreover, students have constructive feedback towards online learning. Hence, the students’ satisfaction towards online learning adoption is satisfactory. However, the problem of technological services needs to be resolved and improved for a better online learning environment. The empirical findings of the study may provide constructive insights for universities and policymakers in developing effective strategies to equip students for online learning and distance education.