Arab Educational Information Network

This paper aims to investigate the potential effect of the Online Learning (OL) mode on Omani General Foundation Programs (GFP) students' English language skills performance. Numeric data related to the learning achievement of the GFP students (tests and assignment scores) was collected to explore the hypothetical differences between the two modes of learning. Five students were selected randomly to conduct the focused group interview. The difference in favour of any mode of learning is considered as a sign of the effectiveness of that model. Independent Samples t-test was used to analyze the data and the study found that although emergent unplanned strategies and policies to employ online learning in the University of Technology and Applied Sciences (UTAS), there is a statistically significant difference between the English language achievement of the GFP students who studied through OL was higher than those who had studied Face-to-Face (F2F) before the COVID-19 outbreak. As the difference was in favor of the OL group and statistically significant (p=0.002 at alpha=0.05 level), the study concluded that OL students appear to have outperformed their F2F counterparts and that, based on these findings, OL is an effective method of teaching/learning. The study offers a discussion of these findings. (As Provided)