A Survey Study on EFL Teachers’ and Learners’ Perceptions of the Use of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in Teaching EFL in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Babaie Shalmani, Hamed; Mashhadi, Saeed

Volume 11, Issue 1 (3-2026) IJREE 2026, 11(1): 49-78 | Back to browse issues page

Mendeley

Zotero

RefWorks

Babaie Shalmani H, Mashhadi S. (2026). A Survey Study on EFL Teachers’ and Learners’ Perceptions of the Use of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in Teaching EFL in the Post-COVID-19 Era. IJREE. 11(1),
URL: http://ijreeonline.com/article-1-1044-en.html

A Survey Study on EFL Teachers’ and Learners’ Perceptions of the Use of Learning Management Systems (LMSs) in Teaching EFL in the Post-COVID-19 Era

Hamed Babaie Shalmani ^*

, Saeed Mashhadi

Department of English language and Lingustics, Ra.C., Islamic Azad University, Rasht, Iran

Abstract: (1311 Views)

Objective: Today, technology across all fields helps humans do things better. With the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation of social distancing policies, many countries sought to capitalize on the affordances of online education. Inspired by this, the present study aimed to survey the opinions of EFL teachers and students regarding the use of learning management systems (LMSs) for English instruction in the post-COVID-19 era.
Methods: In this research, using a questionnaire, the opinions of 70 EFL teachers and students who had experience with online education through LMSs regarding the potential utility of these systems were surveyed across three aspects: “user-friendliness”, “cognitive benefits”, and “affective benefits”. Data were collected through availability sampling and from the participants of three institutions (Azad University and two non-profit universities). Participants' opinions were analyzed in SPSS to identify specific perceptions and potential perceptual mismatches.
Results: Students held overall positive attitudes toward these systems, which increased the likelihood of communicating with teachers and solving problems outside the classroom. In contrast, they expressed their most negative views concerning the disconnection or slowness of the systems. The results also showed that there was no statistically significant difference in perceptions between teachers and students regarding the pros and cons of using LMSs.
Conclusion: The results show that participants generally believe that online education through LMSs is beneficial for them across three perspectives: user-friendliness, cognitive benefits, and affective benefits. The majority of participants believed that LMSs are beneficial to them because they create communication conditions outside class time between teachers and students, as well as the ability to save and replay classes, while both groups also have concerns. In return, technical problems such as internet slowness and disconnections were reported by almost all participants.

Keywords: EFL teachers’ perceptions, EFL learners’ perceptions, LMS, perceptual mismatch, post-COVID-19 era

Full-Text [PDF 896 kb] (460 Downloads)

Type of Study: Research | Subject: General

References

1. Al-Khalifa, H. S. (2010). A first step in evaluating the usability of JUSUR learningm management system. In the 3rd Annual Forum on e-Learning Excellence in the Middle East: Bringing Global Quality to a Local Context. February 1st-3rd, Dubai, U.A.E.

2. Bansal, S., & Pagidas, K. (2025). Strength of motivation and academic performance of medical students: a longitudinal study. BMC Medical Education, 25, Article 1154. [DOI:10.1186/s12909-025-07733-3]

3. Basilaia, G., & Kvavadze, D. (2020). Transition to online education in schools during the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in Georgia. Pedagogical Research, 5(4), 1-9. https://doi.org /10.29333/pr/7937 [DOI:10.29333/pr/7937]

4. Bright, K., & Vogler, J. S. (2024). Learning online vs. learning in person: A mixed methods approach to understanding how student preferences and perceptions have evolved since the pandemic. Online Learning, 28(4), 56 78. [DOI:10.24059/olj.v28i4.4565]

5. Butz, N. T., Stupnisky, R. H., & Pekrun, R. (2015). Students' emotions for achievement and technology use in synchronous hybrid graduate programs: A control-value approach. Research in Learning Technology, 23, Article 26097. [DOI:10.3402/rlt.v23.26097]

6. Chang, S.C., & Tung, F.C. (2008). An empirical investigation of students' behavioral intentions to use the online learning course websites. British Journal of Educational Technology, 39(1), 71-83. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ782731 [DOI:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2007.00742.x]

7. Connell, J. P., & Wellborn, J. G. (1991). Competence, autonomy, and relatedness: A motivational analysis of self-system processes. In M. R. Gunnar & L. A. Sroufe (Eds.), Self-processes and development (pp. 43-77). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

8. Crook, C. (2010). Motivation and the ecology of collaborative learning. In R. Joiner, K. Littleton, D. Faulkner, & D. Miell (Eds.) Rethinking collaborative learning. 161-178. Free Association Books: London.

9. Culbreth, D., & Martin, F. (2025). Exploring the role of synchrony in asynchronous, synchronous, and quasi-synchronous online learner engagement. Educational Technology Research & Development, 73, 2081-2111. [DOI:10.1007/s11423-025-10504-y]

10. Dashtestani, R. (2014). English as a foreign language: teachers' perspectives on implementing online instruction in the Iranian EFL context. Research in Learning Technology, 22, Article 20142. [DOI:10.3402/rlt.v22.20142]

11. DeVellis, R. F. (1991). Guidelines in scale development. In R. F. DeVellis, Scale development: Theory and applications (pp. 51-91). Sage Publications.

12. Doucet, A., Netolicky, D., Timmers, K., & Tuscano, F. J. (2020). Thinking about pedagogy in an unfolding pandemic: An independent report on approaches to distance learning during COVID-19 school closures. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. https://issuu.com/educationinternational/docs/2020_researchcovid-19_eng

13. Fredricks, J. A., Blumenfeld, P. C., & Paris, A. H. (2004). School engagement: Potential of the concept, state of the evidence. Review of Educational Research, 74(1), 59-109. [DOI:10.3102/00346543074001059]

14. Gopalan, V., Bakar, J. A. A., Zulkifli, A. N., Alwi, A., & Mat, R. C. (2017). A review of the motivation theories in learning. AIP Conference Proceedings, 1891, 020043. [DOI:10.1063/1.5005376]

15. Green, L. S., & Denton, B. (2012). Examination of factors impacting student satisfaction with a new learning management system. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 13(3), 189-197. https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/tojde/issue/16901/176183

16. Inversini, A., Botturi, L., & Triacca, L. (2006). Evaluating LMS usability for enhanced eLearning experience. In E. Pearson & P. Bohman (Eds.), Proceedings of the World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications (pp. 595-601). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.researchgate.net/publication/252615996_Evaluating_LMS_Usability_for_Enhanced_eLearning_Experience

17. Ivanovic, M., Klasnja-Milicevic, A., Ganzha, M., Badica, A., Paprzycki, M., & Badica, C. (2018). Usability and quality parameters for e-learning environments and systems. In Proceedings of the 8th Workshop on Software Quality Analysis, Monitoring, Improvement, and Applications (pp. 1-8). CEUR Workshop Proceedings. http://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2217/paperiva.pdf

18. Liaw, S. S. (2008). Investigating students' perceived satisfaction, behavioral intention, and effectiveness of e-learning: A case study of the Blackboard system. Computers & Education, 51(2), 864-873. [DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2007.09.005]

19. Lima, M. M., Brito, G. L., & Caldeira, E. B. (2019). Preference for moodle as a learning platform. International Journal of Learning and Teaching, 5(4), 301-305. [DOI:10.18178/ijlt.5.4.301-307]

20. Louwrens, N., & Hartnett, M. (2015). Student and teacher perceptions of online student engagement in an online middle school. Journal of Open, Flexible and Distance Learning, 19(1), 27-44. [DOI:10.61468/jofdl.v19i1.241]

21. Mabed, M., & Kohler, T. (2012). The impact of learning management system usage on cognitive and affective performance. In: Workshop Gemeinschaften in neuen Medien (GeNeMe), 2012.

22. McNamara, L. A., Berg, L., Butler, K., & Klein, L. (2017). Does this interface make my sensor look bad? Basic principles for designing usable, useful interfaces for sensor technology operators. In Ground/air multisensor interoperability, integration, and networking for persistent ISR VIII (Vol. 10190, pp. 132-140). SPIE. [DOI:10.1117/12.2266890]

23. Mokhtarzadeh, M. (2021). Investigating the relationship between engagement and achievement in Iranian online English classes in the COVID 19 era. International Journal of Research in English Education, 6(4), 75-90. [DOI:10.52547/ijree.6.4.75]

24. Monterde, R. B. H., Ramos, D. B. E., Francisco, K. J. A., & Lim, R. A. (2022). The viability of video conferencing applications in an online classroom through the lens of Technology Acceptance Model. International Journal of Research in English Education, 7(3). [DOI:10.52547/ijree.7.3.1]

25. Nielsen, J. (1992). Finding usability problems through heuristic evaluation. In Proceedings of the SIGCHI conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 373-380). [DOI:10.1145/142750.142834]

26. Nielsen, J. (2012). Usability 101: Introduction to usability. Retrieved from http://www.nngroup.com/articles/usability-101-introduction to usability

27. Paz, F., Paz, F. A., & Pow-Sang, J. A. (2016). Evaluation of usability heuristics for transactional websites: a comparative study. In Information technology: New generations (pp. 1063-1073). Springer, Cham. [DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-32467-8_92]

28. Pierotti, D. (2010). Heuristic Evaluation - A System Checklist. Retrieved from http://www.stcsig.org/usability/topics/articles/hechecklist.html

29. Potter, B. N., & Johnston, C. G. (2006). The effect of interactive online learning systems on student learning outcomes in accounting. Journal of Accounting Education, 24(1), 16-34. [DOI:10.1016/j.jaccedu.2006.04.003]

30. Safdari, S. (2022). Experiencing virtual online classes during the pandemic: Foregrounding Iranian EFL teachers' and learners' voices. International Journal of Research in English Education, 7(3), 46-57. [DOI:10.52547/ijree.7.3.46]

31. Schermeier, S., Deiglmayr, A., & Rummel, N. (2025). Small group collaboration in hybrid university learning: Comparing learners' perceived socio affective state in hybrid, face to face and remote collaboration. Computers & Education, 205, 104729. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2025.100656 [DOI:10.1016/j.compedu.2024.104729]

32. Septiani, A. P., Suwawi, D. D. J., & Herdiani, A. (2017). Interactive and collaborative platform implementation on the learning management system. In 2017 5th International Conference on Information and Communication Technology (ICoICT) (pp. 1-6). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICoICT.2017.8074714 [DOI:10.1109/ICoICT.2017.8074806]

33. Sethy, S. S. (2012). Students' expectations about their grades versus course expectations from them: Will the mismatch ensure quality

34. education? International Journal of Quality Assurance in Engineering and Technology Education, 2(4), 1-15. [DOI:10.4018/ijqaete.2012100101]

35. Simelane-Mnisi, S. (2023). Effectiveness of LMS digital tools used by the academics to foster students' engagement. Education Sciences, 13(10), 980. [DOI:10.3390/educsci13100980]

36. Subedi, S., Nayaju, S., Subedi, S., Shah, S. K., & Shah, J. M. (2020). Impact of e learning during the COVID 19 pandemic among nursing students and teachers of Nepal. International Journal of Science and Healthcare Research, 5(3), 68-76. https://ijshr.com/IJSHR_Vol.5_Issue.3_July2020/IJSHR0012.pdf

37. Tyng, C. M., Amin, H. U., Saad, M. N., & Malik, A. S. (2017). The influences of emotion on learning and memory. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, Article 1454. [DOI:10.3389/fpsyg.2017.01454]

38. Yasmin, F. D. (2023). Designing online English academic program at private universities in Bangladesh: Issues and challenges. International Journal of Research in English Education, 8(3), 31-59. https://dor.isc.ac/dor/20.1001.1.25384015.2023.8.3.3.3