Impact of learning English writing skills online and in class in junior secondary level: A comparative study

Abstract

Face-to-face learning has long been considered as the most efficient way to acquire knowledge and complete academic tasks to some extent. However, online learning emerged as a significant alternative during the Covid-19 Pandemic, when on the one hand, the entire world was looking for a method to deal with the crisis. The present paper aimed to determine how impactful online and offline learning is at the Junior Secondary Level for students' ability to write in English. The paper is based on qualitative research method. All the data has been collected by interviewing participants and analyzed through thematic analysis. The researcher interviewed 18 participants-15 students-3 teachers. All the participants are from junior secondary level of Bengali medium school. The questions asked to the participants were open ended and mainly about the advantages, disadvantages, challenges, impact of online and in person learning. The finding reveal that students and teachers prefer learning English writing skills in person class because offline learning provides the facilities of direct communication, proper feedback system, fulfilling students and teachers satisfaction and so on. On the other hand, the effect of online learning is dismal because students and teachers find it difficult to adjust with the online learning mode.