For many adults the benefit of learning a foreign language online is much to do with convenience. There’s an obvious advantage with it being accessible from wherever you are, but there are other benefits we might be missing too.
Learning online doesn’t make it better or worse than in-person, but just different. That’s why this article is not about comparing them, but about highlighting why more and more people are choosing online over in-person.
The time we spent at home during the pandemic made us realise we can have a lot more time on our hands if we work and learn from home, and many of the benefits of learning a foreign language online are more about the way we learn than about the way it saves us time or makes things easier for us.
Perseverance
Rescheduling missed lessons and getting extra help from your teacher can be easier online, but the truth is that most students don’t even need that. They attend lessons more regularly, as going to class simply requires a device with internet connection. We have students who connect from work, from their hotel room or of course from home (sometimes sitting on the sofa, sipping a glass of Rioja). There are less excuses to miss a lesson and so there is more perseverance.
Predisposition
Students attending an in-person course are sometimes less predisposed to taking advantage of extra online resources and the benefits technology can bring. Whereas students learning online have already embraced the technology and additional resources, which might include games, apps, PowerPoints, self-correcting activities, videos, tables, summaries… In fact all sorts of elements that make the way someone learns easier and faster.
And best of all, students are already predisposed to using these resources to improve their Spanish. This helps with immersion, building interest towards language culture and boosting confidence through more vocabulary, expressions, grammatical structures, etc. Isn’t that amazing?
The study zone
When you decide to study online, you probably have a place where you sit and connect your computer and disconnect from the rest of the world. This is your study zone and it is better than any comfort zone in the world. You will be adapting it during your learning experience: getting books, dictionaries, posters with verbs conjugations or vocabulary about something specific that will be constantly changing during the following months to help you be the star of the of the class. It is a place of noise cancellation and zero distractions. It is your Templo de Español. Doing homework is even exciting this time around!
But what are the barriers?
There are not many barriers when studying a foreign language online, but here are a few:
Disruption
Students and teachers can sometimes have issues with connectivity; people forget they’re on mute or not muting themselves when their dog barks. Or their partner puts the kettle on, or a neighbour comes to borrow some tea. Babies crying, TV in the background – all you can imagine and more can happen in a two-hour lesson. If you don’t feel like getting used to this then online may just not be for you.
The fear of speaking with someone without a screen
In the summer of 2021 people in the UK were able to travel again and many of my students who had been learning for a year already, realised they were scared of speaking with a native without the comfort of a screen, or a dictionary one click away, or their notes in front of them. Suddenly they realised that in real life you don’t have as many resources and you need to work harder to express yourself. This is something you need to accept before you start learning online from the comfort of your living room.
Screens, screens, screens
If you spend 8 hours a day in front of a computer and in your break you watch social media on your phone and then you get home and watch Netflix, you may be overdoing your screen time. So spending some extra hours a week in front of the computer to learn a language might not sound very appealing. If that was me, I would definitely prefer learning in-person, seeing people face to face and ignoring my phone. That would feel more like disconnecting than anything else.
In conclusion, learning a foreign language online has great benefits and some important barriers as well, but it is clear that online courses are here to stay. In a bustling world that is more digital than ever, choosing to study online just makes a lot of sense.