This paper contributes to best practices in designing an online Arabic - as a foreign language (AFL) - course with particular focus on the feasibility of Blackboards' CourseSites as a platform for an asynchronous online Arabic course. A... more
This paper contributes to best practices in designing an online Arabic - as a foreign language (AFL) - course with particular focus on the feasibility of Blackboards' CourseSites as a platform for an asynchronous online Arabic course. A qualitative research design is carried out to find out to which extent does CourseSites (https://www.coursesites.com/) as a virtual learning environment (VLE) facilitate the employment of best practices in online language learning, what are the gaps, and what technical aspects of this platform have affected the learning process. Ten grade-nine students joined this pilot project course for beginners level [Arabic (I)] and answered an email questionnaire. Thematically-coded responses showed that easy access to asynchronous peer discussions was the factor that most facilitated learning, while factors that slowed down or hindered learning were consecutively: audio not working, long loading time and system glitches. Results will help inform the decision-making by highlighting guidelines for choosing the VLE that corresponds to learners’ needs and preferences, in our case will help the school decide whether to improve the course design within the same VLE or rather search for a better VLE to upload the course.
