Literature Review
There had been many studies that delve into this topic such as the study of Busch [6] on pre-service teachers’ beliefs about language learning , purpose and goals of the online PhD studies of Lee [7], the constraints of the online learning environment of Symeonides [8] and exploring English language learning and teaching by Musa [9] from a Malaysian perspective. However, there had been limited literature on the experiences of pre-service teachers taking up foreign language through an online modality especially during covid-19 pandemic. This paper focused on how Filipino students dealt with their online learning studies of foreign language offered by one university in Indonesia, primarily on the way they perceive online learning, their lived experiences of the online learning phenomenon, their foreign language and cultural appreciation and their evaluation of the online course.
In the context of learning a foreign language, it is not entirely strange to Filipinos in which the Philippines having been occupied by Spanish, American and Japanese in the past. Merchants, traders and migrants from nearby Southeast Asian countries have also been in and out of the country bringing with them their own culture and using their language as they interact with Filipinos. Moreover, Filipinos have learned foreign languages as part of their formal schooling in the university. In the paper of Gonzales [10], it studied the motivational orientation in foreign language learning among Filipinos. The participants of this study were 150 students who were studying foreign languages such as Chinese, Japanese, French and Spanish from three universities in Metro Manila. Results show that younger learners’ motivational orientation is towards cultural understanding, cultural integration and self-satisfaction [10].
In the Philippines, Filipino is spoken by at least 84% of the population, English and its local variety called Filipino English or Philippine English is spoken by 56% while Spanish is just spoken only by few families of Spanish descent and local dialects numbered to around 120 [11]. Foreign embassies sponsored the teaching of foreign languages while universities and colleges have infused foreign language studies as elective courses of major subjects in Foreign Language Studies. For Bahasa Indonesia, no study had been undertaken on the experiences of Filipino students learning this language even though these two countries are just neighbours. Indonesia is the Philippines’ biggest and closest neighbour in which they have many things in common: climate, geography, race, language and culture [12].
Learning a foreign language breaks down barriers of socialization and opens door of opportunities for Internationalization especially during this time of pandemic. The offering of a free online course of Bahasa Indonesia and Culture by one university in Indonesia is a strategy yet a timely opportunity for Internationalization at home of one university in the Philippines being a recipient of this program [13]. Student-participants can benefit from the enjoyment of speaking a new language and at the same time, learning Indonesian culture plus the virtual tours in Indonesia through the power of internet technology.
Objectives of the Study
Answers to the following research questions were sought in this study.
  1. What is the experience of pre-service students in the online learning of a foreign language?
  2. How do the participants perceive the quality of online education from their experiences?
  3. What are the positive and negative aspects of their online learning experience?
  4. What are the constraints and challenges they have encountered?
  5. How the participants evaluated the online course offered?
  6. How do these perceptions can help advance internationalization program?