Distance Teaching in Higher Education: The Impact of Online Teaching of an English Content-Based Course on Motivation and Learning Quality

In Algeria, higher education has gone online under the 19-Covid pandemic since 2019. However, after a five-year experience with remote digital learning student outcomes are far below standards of achievement. This article presents the results of a quasi-experimental study conducted in 2023 after five academic years of experience with distance teaching. It compares the effects of both onsite and online teaching of a content-based English course (Cognitive Psychology) on students’ achievement and motivation. The study involved 249 undergraduate third-year English students and three teachers of Cognitive Psychology from the Department of English, Algiers 2 University. A mixed method was used in the study, the first consists of a post-test design that compares two semestrial exams’ scores through a t-test (SPSS 27), and the second is a questionnaire administered to teachers and students. The findings indicate that while most students view online teaching favorably they and most of the teachers recognize that conventional classroom learning is more likely to trigger their motivation in the process of learning/teaching and more effective in enhancing learning quality than digital distance learning; however, the paired samples t-test revealed no significant difference between the two teaching modes in terms of students’ achievement with a strong correlation between the scores in the two semesters’ exams and a negligible size effect. Besides, results indicate a low achievement of students following the two instructional formats which informs that students took no advantage of the flexibility they were offered in a hybrid environment. The findings imply that the teaching mode cannot impact motivation and learning quality as long as students lack the motivation to learn synchronically online or physically in class.