Abstract:
As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the period of ‘New Normal’ learning was
commenced. The brief transition from traditional classroom learning to online
learning mode was new to many Sri Lankan students. The new learning space
becomes disembodied virtual, not actual. Even if online learning creates more
opportunities to continue active learning, it sometimes negatively influences the
learners’ performance and learning outcomes. This study aims exploring and
investigating the challenges confronted by Sri Lankan secondary school learners in
learning English as a Second Language (ESL) online. The objective of this study is
to evaluate the learners’ new experiences in online learning and to reevaluate the
methods of teaching online. An online survey-based questionnaire was designed to
collect data from 60 Sri Lankan secondary school ESL learners (from government
and non-government schools). The qualitative and quantitative approaches were used
to analyze the data. It is found that the students encountered challenges related to
technical, academic and communication aspects of online learning. Further, the
results demonstrated that these challenges heavily influence students’ ‘new normal’
learning and most of the students are not satisfied to continue with online learning.
The study offers implications to investigate the solutions to minimize the challenges
that Sri Lankan ESL learners may face in learning English on digital platforms.
