earticle

영어

Shortly after the decision among campuses was made to move online due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Korean tertiary students demanded tuition refunds, citing fees paid did not equate to levels of education received. Considering the numerous concerns involved in switching from traditional to online classes, student dissatisfaction with online classes may not solely be with what students have deemed ‘poor lecture quality’. It is probable that a number of student factors are playing strong roles in overall satisfaction. Korean universities place high value on i) satisfaction, semesterly students offer opinions on classes through completion of teacher evaluations, and ii) EMI, one of the indices assessing global competitiveness on the Jungang-Ilbo university ranking. This study examined English as the Medium of Instruction (EMI) distance learners’ perspectives of satisfaction. While there have been a number of studies on L1 and EFL/ESL online classes, research on EMI distance learning in Korea, and even EMI distance learning classes, is yet uncommon. Results indicated instructional strategy use was higher among students with prior EMI experience, and instructional strategy use and satisfaction differed among specialty disciplines. Analysis of the effects of factors on satisfaction revealed academic integration, academic conscientiousness, and instructional strategy mediated the link between distance learner class engagement and satisfaction. Interestingly, academic conscientiousness was inversely associated with instructional strategy and engagement did not directly influence instruction strategy use. Results suggest simplification might increase efficiency, and this combined with academic conscientiousness and academic integration, which increase when students are engaged, increases EMI distance learning satisfaction.