126 Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE ONLINE LISTENING COURSES DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC 1Salsabila Gita Nurani*, 2Utami Widiati 1Universitas Islam Malang, Indonesia 2Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic that has spread worldwide has recently changed many aspects of human life, including education. Since this pandemic requires every level of education to conduct the teaching and learning classes in online courses, all education aspects perceive the benefits and even the difficulties through this online course method. This study aimed at knowing the undergraduate students' perceptions about the online listening courses during the COVID-19 pandemic, focusing on the benefits and the difficulties of joining the courses. This survey study involved 74 undergraduate English students of a private university in Malang, Indonesia. An online questionnaire was distributed to the students via Google Form link, consisting of 30 statements with 4-scales of the Likert scale (strongly disagree, disagree, agree, strongly agree). All questionnaire items were valid at the .05 level and were highly reliable with a coefficient of .955. The average value of each item was then measured to reflect positive or negative perceptions. The findings showed that the students perceived positively not only to online listening courses' method but also the difficulties of the method. It means they agreed that online listening courses could be beneficial in this pandemic condition, but they also still have several difficulties joining it. Lastly, this research suggests further researchers use a mix-method research design in which they can include open-ended interviews to get deeper analysis. Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; English students; listening courses; online learning; perceptions ABSTRAK Pandemi COVID-19 yang merebak di seluruh dunia akhir-akhir ini telah mengubah banyak aspek kehidupan, termasuk pada pendidikan. Karena pandemi ini mengharuskan setiap jenjang pendidikan untuk mengadakan pembelajaran dan perkuliahan secara daring, semua aspek pendidikan merasakan manfaat atau pun kesulitan dalam metode pembelajaran daring ini. Oleh karena itu, penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui persepsi mahasiswa S1 Bahasa Inggris terhadap mata kuliah Listening (Menyimak) daring selama pandemi COVID-19, yang berfokus pada manfaat atau kesulitan mereka dalam mengikuti perkuliahan ini. Penelitian survei ini menyertakan 74 mahasiswa S1 Bahasa Inggris di suatu universitas swasta di Malang, Indonesia. Kuesioner daring disebarkan kepada mahasiswa melalui link Google Formulir yang berisi 30 item pernyataan dengan 4 skala Likert (sangat tidak setuju, tidak setuju, setuju, sangat setuju). Semua item kuesioner valid pada tingkat 0,05 dan sangat reliabel dengan koefisien sebesar 0,955. Nilai rata-rata setiap item kemudian diukur untuk mengetahui persepsi positif atau negatif. Temuan penelitian menunjukkan bahwa mahasiswa merespon positif terhadap mata kuliah Listening daring, tetapi mereka juga merespon positif terhadap kesulitan metode ini. Dengan demikian, dapat disimpulkan bahwa mahasiswa setuju jika mata kuliah Listening daring ini bermanfaat untuk digunakan selama masa pandemi, tetapi mereka juga masih memiliki kesulitan dalam mengikutinya. Terakhir, penelitian ini menyarankan peneliti selanjutnya untuk menggunakan desain penelitian metode campuran agar mereka dapat menggunakan wawancara terbuka kepada responden untuk mendapatkan analisis yang lebih dalam. Kata Kunci: mahasiswa S1 Bahasa Inggris; mata kuliah Listening; pembelajaran daring, pandemi COVID-19, persepsi E-ISSN: 2621-9158 P-ISSN:2356-0401 *Correspondence: gitanurani104@gmail.com Submitted: 24 May 2021 Approved: 29 June 2021 Published: 30 June 2021 Citation: Nurani, S. G. & Widiati, U. (2021). Students’ Perceptions about The Online Listening Courses during The Covid-19 Pandemic. Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics, 8(1), 126-139. Doi: 10.22219/celtic.v8i1.16607 Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index 127 INTRODUCTION The COVID-19 pandemic that has spread worldwide has recently changed many aspects of human life, including education. Indonesian minister of education establishes a distance learning policy using online media to prevent the spread of coronavirus. In this case, Schleicher (2020) has identified many impacts of COVID- 19 on education, including swelling financial spending on educational facilities, international student mobility which cannot be as free as before, losing instructional time in the school setting, difficulties measuring students' learning, the unpreparedness of digital learning support, confusion in determining how much the class size, and learning ineffectiveness to vocational school students. In Indonesia, the impacts of COVID-19 are also unavoidable. The Indonesian Minister of Education and Culture (Kemendikbud, 2020) states that teaching and learning activities during the pandemic cannot be carried out normally. Schools and educational institutions must be closed to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to Yarrow, Masood, and Afkar (2020), this pandemic led to school closures in Indonesia. Therefore, educational institutions have to do distance and online learning. Yarrow et al. (2020) agreed that distance education has negative effects on school participation. It requires new skills for both teachers and students so that exclusion and inequality increased. Here, appropriate action is needed to support teaching and learning. Since the government's regulation requires every level of education to conduct teaching and learning online, all aspects of educations perceived the benefits and even the difficulties of this method. Ritonga, Ritonga, Nurdianto, Kustati, Rehani, Lahmi, Yasmadi, and Pahri (2020) argued that online learning provides flexibility for both teachers and students since they can do the teaching and learning process anytime and anywhere. On the other hand, the difficulties usually found in online learning are that students cannot follow the teacher's explanation fluently and cannot focus on the material given, lousy internet connection, and power failure. It is in line with Agung, Surtikanti, and Quinones (2020) who stated that the major problem in the online learning process is the unavailability and unsustainability of internet connections. Furthermore, issues of advantages and disadvantages of online learning are also found in the language learning context, especially in listening courses. As known, listening courses are usually done offline in a silent and focused atmosphere. According to Asemota (2015), listening is a process that involves more than mere hearing of sounds and noises but including identifying, understanding, and interpreting the spoken languages. Likewise, Gilakjani and Ahmadi (2011) expressed that listening has an important role in communication. In learning the English context, it is a must for learners to get information and to understand the language. Therefore, learning to listen is essential to the English students and needs to be conducted in a focused class. If it is not conducted this way, problems may appear. For instance, Brunfaut and Révész (2015) stated that the difficulties of listening to English are based on the characteristics of listening tasks and the characteristics of the listeners. The characteristics of listening tasks are linguistic complexity, explicitness, speed of Salsabila Gita Nurani, Utami Widiati Students’ Perceptions about The Online Listening Courses during The Covid-19 Pandemic. 128 delivery, and responses. Besides, the characteristics of the listeners comprise working memory and listening anxiety. Moreover, Armiun, Rahmatian, Safa, and Shairi (2017) agreed that factors of listening difficulties are concentration difficulties, high rate of speech, failing to recognize words, fatigue due to the length of texts, failing to construct the general meaning, and ineffective listening strategies use. It indicates that learning listening is a complex process, meaning that the students need comfort and enjoyment to deal with it. For this reason, the students' perceptions about the online listening courses need to be measured to know whether they perceived the enjoyment or the difficulties of this new learning system. The findings of this study are expected to provide an overview for the listening teachers or lecturers to consider the appropriate methods or activities that can be suitable for the students. Literature Review In the education field, the Indonesian government made the regulation to conduct the teaching and learning processes from home, as the distance and online learning. It is in line with Anggraeni and Amalia (2020), who argued that the Indonesian government made the regulations to reduce the spread of the Covid-19, such as using masks, work from home, distance and online learning, and others. Many researchers have already done studies about online learning of listening English even before this COVID-19 pandemic appears. Cigdem, Ozturk, and Topcu (2016) surveyed vocational military college students' perceptions of web-based listening comprehension tests. Their study revealed that the students perceived positive attitudes towards this web-based listening method. Besides, they perceived low usefulness as the direct impact of their learning of listening. On the other hand, Amir and Kang (2018) reviewed some tools for developing students' listening English skills. They found that computer-assisted language learning (CALL) and the online resources-based listening program can help students gain their knowledge about the subject matter, accent the speaker, and make them easier to adjust the program based on their interest. However, their study was only reviewing some online learning tools that may positively affect developing students' listening skills. It had not been proved by examining students' perceptions about the effectiveness. The next research comes from Karthikeyan and Dinesh (2019), who conducted experimental research using the Internet and Computer Technology (ICT) to develop engineering students' listening skills. They combined offline and online ICT tools in their study: podcasts, YouTube, websites, computers, projectors, interactive whiteboards, and audio speakers. The results showed that the students' listening skills were developed by this method. However, this study was limited to engineering students and did not specify the students' perceptions of using the tools. Furthermore, Al-Shamsi, Al-Mekhlafi, Busaidi, and Hilal (2020) conducted quasi-experimental research about the effect of mobile learning on English listening skills and attitudes of EFL adult learners in a military training institute. The results showed that mobile learning has a significant effect on the students' listening skills. For the attitude toward the mobile learning of listening using Google Classroom, the participants generally have positive perceptions. Then, Al- Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index 129 Shamsi et al. (2020) stated that mobile learning would be impossible without an internet connection which means that internet connection was also a factor of successful online learning. However, this study was limited to the participants' gender that was all male. In the Indonesian context, the research about online learning in listening classes was rarely conducted. Yoestara and Putri (2019) reviewed some literature about improving EFL students' listening and speaking skills by using podcasts. The podcasts were in form of online and downloaded versions. After reviewing the literature, they concluded that podcasts could be beneficial in improving students' listening skills. Nevertheless, this research only reviewed a few pieces of literature and did not conduct actual research on the students. Next, Saputra (2018) organized action research to know the students' perception of extensive listening through online media, YouTube. The results showed that studying extensive online listening through YouTube could help to increase vocabulary and get new information. However, this study focused on listening through YouTube only and was not conducted in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the research about online listening courses needs to be developed based on today's pandemic condition to get the newest online listening research development result. The next study in the Indonesian context comes from Nurhayati (2020), who conducted mix-method research during the COVID-19 pandemic. Her study aimed at knowing students' perspectives about the use of phonology and online media to enhance their listening skills. The results showed that students agreed if online media used in listening courses gave many benefits for their learning. It also found the positive effects of using online media in teaching listening courses. However, this study was limited to third-semester English students, and the researcher realized that the results might be different if it was conducted on other semester students. In contrast, Susilowati (2020) found that online listening classes during the COVID-19 pandemic have several challenges for lecturers in applying suitable technological devices, preparing suitable materials, and applying suitable methods and strategies. As a limitation, this study was descriptive research from the lecturers' point of view. The important one is that the lecturer's guidance in teaching and learning is the key to the students' successful learning. The common and beneficial way to guide the students is by giving feedback. According to Aisyah and Wicaksono (2020), teacher feedback plays an important role in facilitating the learning process. As those studies mostly showed positive perceptions of online learning, other studies also proved that this online method has several challenges. According to Amstrong (2011), online learning is less academically rigorous than students' experiences in face-to-face education. The findings of his study showed that students need communication to shape their interest in learning. They perceive negative issues on the implementation of technology, and the learning environment shaped their approach to learning. Moreover, Fojtík (2018) mentioned some challenges of online or distance learning, among others, teachers and students may have no or less experience in online learning, online learning requires the students to be highly motivated and able to manage the time Salsabila Gita Nurani, Utami Widiati Students’ Perceptions about The Online Listening Courses during The Covid-19 Pandemic. 130 efficiently, complex preparations in teaching and study materials, and issues of bad internet connections. As there were issues of advantages and disadvantages of online listening classes, the present study aims to identify students' perceptions of online listening courses, including the benefits or the difficulties of online learning in listening courses. METHOD This study employed a survey research design involving undergraduate students of the English Education Department of one private university in Malang, Indonesia, who had already attended the online listening courses during the pandemic, starting from the online learning regulation on March 2020 to April 2021. The samples of this study were 74 students who responded to the questionnaire in Google Form. They were 23 students from the second semester, 19 students from the fourth semester, and 32 students from the sixth semester. The instrument used in this study was a questionnaire adapted from Al-Shamsi et al. (2020). The questionnaire inspired the researcher since it measured the use of mobile devices in learning to listen from various aspects, including students' perceived usefulness and self-management of learning and intention to use mobile learning. The researcher adapted their questionnaire to be more appropriate with the context of this study, measuring the use of online listening courses in English university students. Then, it was developed into 30 items of statements with 4 options on the Likert scale. Here, the researcher measured the students' issues and their perceptions about the difficulties and the role of the lecturer. The questionnaire items then were divided into four parts, namely perceptions on the courses (1-8), perceptions on the lecturer's role (9-14), perceptions on the benefits (15-22), and perceptions on the difficulties (23-30). Table 1. The Blueprint of the Questionnaire No. Indicators Sub- indicators Statement Statement number 1 Learning processes Satisfaction Promoting the desire to learn 1 Identifying topics or materials clearly 3 Understanding materials completely 4 Promoting critical thinking skills. 7 Promoting the need of developing listening skills 8 Perceiving the benefits 15 Preferring to join than the face-to-face class 20 Understand better than face-to-face learning 21 Having more difficulties in understanding the materials than in face-to-face learning 30 Interaction Having the opportunity to interact with other students 2 Easy to contact the lecturer 12 The lecturer provides online discussion forums 13 2 Technical Easiness Having enough time to listen 5 Downloading the materials 6 Accessing the materials or recordings 17 Reopening or repeating the materials or 18 Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index 131 recording Problems Often perceive the difficulties in online listening 23 Internet connection 24 Technical problems such as power failure and runs out of battery 25 Spending most of internet quota 26 Internet quota for education from government and/or campus cannot be used optimally 29 3 Supports Environment More comfortable than face-to-face classes 16 No interruption during the learning 19 Getting free internet quota for education from government and/or campus 22 Cannot focus to learn 27 Annoyed by the surrounding crowded 28 Lecturer’s strategies Providing virtual meetings 9 Explaining the materials before giving the tasks 10 Giving feedback in every lecture 11 Giving e-book and/or printed book related to the materials 14 The questionnaire was then translated into the Indonesian language to ensure that it was easy to understand by the respondents, which ranged from the beginner until the higher semester of English university students with different levels of English skills and abilities. First, the researcher measured the validity and the reliability of the questionnaire by trying it out. It was delivered by using Google Form, and the students who responded to this tryout were 32 English students of the same private university where this research was conducted. Then, the validity and reliability were assessed by using SPSS 20. Overall, the questionnaire items were all valid at the .05 level based on the Pearson correlation (r > r-table = .3494) and it also gained a very high reliability level with the coefficient of Cronbach alpha was .955 (r ≥ 0.80). After that, the questionnaire was delivered to the population via Google Form to collect the data. The 4-points Likert scale options were provided from very negative to very positive levels: (1) strongly disagree, (2) disagree, (3) agree, and (4) strongly agree. The higher the number that the students choose, the more they agree to the statement. Besides, the researcher used the average formula of Google Spreadsheet to analyze the data. The main finding was analyzed by the whole average score from the highest to the lowest result. The high score indicates the respondents' perceived agreement with the questionnaire item, whereas the low score implies that they disagree. Moreover, the questionnaire was also analyzed to explore their perceptions of each questionnaire item. The result of each item was then compared to the total of 4 scores on the scale. If the result is higher than 2, which is half of the 4 scales, it means the good perception of the item is high, and vice versa. Salsabila Gita Nurani, Utami Widiati Students’ Perceptions about The Online Listening Courses during The Covid-19 Pandemic. 132 FINDINGS 74 respondents answer all items in the questionnaire based on their perceptions and feelings. As mentioned in the method, the questionnaire had four parts: perceptions on the course(s), perceptions on the lecturer's role, perceptions on the benefits, and perceptions on the difficulties. The total mean scores of these parts are shown from the highest to the lowest in the table below. Table 2. Main Finding Part of the Questionnaire Total Average Score Perceptions on the Lecturer’s Role 3.06 Perceptions on the Course(s) 2.92 Perceptions on the Difficulties 2.77 Perceptions on the Benefits 2.62 Based on Table 2, the highest total average comes from students' perceptions of the lecturer's role. This section obtained 3.06 of the total average score, which was the highest score among other sections. It means the respondents positively perceived the lecturer's role when she/he teaches the online listening courses during this COVID-19 pandemic. The statements in this part consist of several ways that the lecturer(s) used to meet the students' learning needs, such as providing online discussion forums, feedback, virtual meetings, and are always approachable by the students. Besides, todays' listening lecturers may already be able to adapt to online learning techniques so that the students feel that their learning needs can be adequately met. The second total average score is the aspect of students' perceptions about the course(s). This part holds several statements about easiness, satisfaction, and interaction with the total average score is 2.92. It is considered a high score because it is more than 2.5 out of 4 on the Likert scale. Therefore, it means the students' thought about online listening courses during the COVID-19 pandemic was positive and showed that most students feel satisfied with this online listening courses method. The next highest total mean score that occupies the third place is 2.77 from students' perceptions on the difficulties. This score is higher than the total average score of students' perceived benefits (avg. = 2.62), which becomes the lowest total mean scores of this study. It indicates that the respondents feel more difficulties rather than the benefits of this online learning system. This is reinforced by their higher answers on the statements in the perceived difficulties section. However, although they experienced more complexities in the online listening courses, the total average score of their perceived benefits, which was higher than 2 from 4-scale, showed that they still agreed that the courses are valuable even though conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, further explanations about the findings of each part of the questionnaire are described in the following sections. Finding of the Perceptions on the Lecture’s Role The average results of the Perceptions on the Lecturer's Role are shown in the table below. Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index 133 Table 3. Average of Perceptions on the Lecturer’s Role Statement Item no. Average During the online listening course(s), the lecturer provides online discussion forums, chats, or other uses. 13 3.27 The lecturer gives an e-book or printed book related to the listening materials. 14 3.19 During the online listening course(s), the lecturer always gives feedback about the materials in every lecture. 11 3.12 During the online listening course(s), the lecturer explains the materials via an online platform or application before giving the tasks. 10 3.00 During the online listening course(s), the lecturer is approachable and can be contacted easily when I need help. 12 2.95 During the online listening course(s), the lecturer always provides virtual meeting which is easy to join. 9 2.85 Total 3.06 The lecturer's role is one of the main factors that can benefit the students from the courses. Thus, an investigation about their perceptions of the lecturer's role is also needed. Table 3 shows the students' perceptions of the lecturer's role during the online listening courses. Each statement in this part got above 2 scores of the 4-scales, with the average total score was 3.06, which means the respondents perceived the positive perceptions on the lecturer's role during online listening courses. The highest average comes from statement number 13 with a score of 3.27. It means many respondents agreed that the lecturer provides online discussion forums, chats, and others. This score was followed by item number 14 with an average score was 3.19, which said that the lecturer gives e-book or printed books related to the materials. These were several lecturer's strategies that were beneficial to make the lessons easier for the students. Besides, the lowest average comes from statement number 9 with a score of 2.85 which means that some respondents argued that the lecturer always provides virtual meeting which is easy to join. There were also statement number 12 with an average score of 2.95 above the lowest score. It describes that several respondents agree that the lecturer is approachable when they need him/her. Finding of the Perceptions on the Course(s) The average results of the Perceptions on the Course(s) are shown from the highest to the lowest average in the table below. Table 4. Average of Perceptions on the Course(s) Statement Item no. Average During the online listening course(s), I have enough time to listen to the recordings. 5 3.23 During the online listening course(s), I can download listening materials or recordings in every lecture easily. 6 3.18 Online listening course(s) promote my desire to learn. 1 3.15 Online listening course(s) meet my need to develop listening English skills. 8 3.01 Online listening course(s) promote my critical thinking skill development. 7 2.88 During the online listening course(s), I can identify the topic or material of the day clearly. 3 2.72 Salsabila Gita Nurani, Utami Widiati Students’ Perceptions about The Online Listening Courses during The Covid-19 Pandemic. 134 During the online listening course(s), I can understand the listening material completely. 4 2.62 During the online listening course(s), I have ample opportunities to interact with other students. 2 2.58 Total 2.92 The more students enjoy the courses, the more they absorb the knowledge. That is why their perceptions of the courses are essential to explore. Table 4 describes the students' perceptions of the online listening courses. All items in this part got above 2 scores of the 4-scales, with the average total score was 2.92. The highest average is from statement number 5, with an average score is 3.23. It means many respondents agree that they have enough time to listen to the recordings during the courses. It was followed by statement number 6, with an average score of 3.18. It indicates that the respondents feel the easiness of downloading the listening materials or recordings. On the other hand, the lowest average comes from statement number 2, with a score of 2.58, which means that only a few respondents felt that they did not have big opportunities to interact with other students. Before this lowest mean score, there was statement number 4, which got 2.62 on the average score. It determines the students' agreement with the statement that they could understand the listening materials completely. Moreover, the total average score which was higher than 2 scores of the 4-scales showed that the respondents' perceptions about the online listening courses were positive. Finding of the Perceptions on the Difficulties The average results of the Perceptions on the benefits are shown from the highest to the lowest average in the table below. Table 5. Perceptions on the Difficulties Statement Item no. Average During the online listening course(s), I cannot focus to learn or listen to the materials. 27 2.95 Internet quota for education from the government and/or from campus cannot be used optimally. 29 2.92 During the online listening course(s), I often feel annoyed by the crowd around me. 28 2.91 During the online listening course(s), I often have a problem with the internet connection. 24 2.82 I often perceive the difficulties of online listening course(s). 23 2.77 During the online listening course(s), I have more difficulties understanding the listening materials than during the face-to-face course(s). 30 2.72 During the online listening course(s), technical problems such as power failure, and runs out of battery may appear. 25 2.70 Online listening course(s) spend most of my internet quota. 26 2.35 Total 2.77 Students’ perceptions of the difficulties of the online listening courses is one of the aims of this study. Table 5 shows their perceptions of the difficulties of online listening courses. The main point can be seen as the average total of their Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index 135 perceived difficulties was higher than the average total of their perceived benefits. The highest average comes from statement number 27, with a score of 2.95. It means many respondents agree that they could not focus on learning or listening to the materials during online listening courses. It was followed by item number 29, with an average score of 2.92. It reveals that many students agree that they cannot optimally use the free internet quota from the government and/or campus. Other than that, the lowest average is from statement number 26 with a score of 2.35, which means that several respondents argued that online listening courses spent the most of their internet quota. There was also statement number 25 which gained 2.70 of the average score before the lowest score. It defines that the students usually have technical problems during the online listening courses. Moreover, all items in this part got above 2 scores of the 4-scales, with the average total score was 2.77, which means that the respondents' perceptions of the difficulties of online listening courses were positive. Finding of the Perceptions on the Benefits The average results of the Perceptions on the Benefits are shown from the highest to the lowest average in the table below. Table 6. Perceptions on the Benefits Statement Item no. Average I can reopen or repeat the materials or recordings anytime and anywhere. 18 3.05 Listening materials or recordings can be accessed easily. 17 2.95 I perceive the benefits of online listening course(s). 15 2.77 I get the internet quota for education from the government and/or from campus. 22 2.65 I prefer to join listening course(s) online than offline (face-to-face). 20 2.47 I feel more comfortable joining the listening course(s) online than offline (face-to-face). 16 2.38 I can follow the online listening course(s) seamlessly without any interruption. 19 2.38 I can understand better if I join listening course(s) online than via offline (face-to-face). 21 2.32 Total 2.62 The last aim of the study was to identify the students' perceived benefits during the online listening courses' processes. Table 6 describes the students' perceived benefits of this online learning method. The highest average comes from statement number 18, with a score of 3.05. Therefore, it can be concluded that many respondents agreed they can reopen or repeat the materials or recordings anytime and anywhere. This highest mean score is followed by item number 17, with a score of 2.95, which means that the students also agree that the listening materials or recording can be accessed easily. On the other hand, the lowest average comes from statement number 21 with a score of 2.32, which means that some respondents perceive that they could understand better when joining online listening courses than offline listening courses. Before this lowest score, there was item number 19, which got 2.38 in the average score. It describes the students' agreement that they can follow the online Salsabila Gita Nurani, Utami Widiati Students’ Perceptions about The Online Listening Courses during The Covid-19 Pandemic. 136 listening courses seamlessly. Furthermore, all items in this part got above 2 scores of the 4-scales, with the average total score was 2.62. This is the lowest total average score among other sections, but it still means that most respondents have positive thoughts on the benefits of online listening courses. DISCUSSION The discussion is started from the main finding section, which aimed to answer the research question about students' perceptions toward online listening courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this situation, the government made the regulations of conducting distance or online learning to reduce the spread of coronavirus (Anggraeni & Amalia, 2020). This study showed that the majority of the respondents felt that online listening courses were suitable and comfortable to join the teaching and learning process of listening in this pandemic era. This result is in line with Cigdem et al. (2016), whose research showed that the students perceived positive attitudes towards web-based listening comprehension tests because they perceived playfulness of this online method which is the most essential key of their behavioral intention. It is also in line with Karthikeyan and Dinesh (2019), who combined offline and online ICT tools in their research. Their results showed that the students' listening skills were developed by this method. Therefore, these results were appropriate with the result of the main finding where most respondents felt that the online learning process of the listening courses was suitable and comfortable to join. The results of the perceptions on the lecturer's role showed positive perceptions from the respondents. This finding is appropriate with Nurhayati's (2020) study, which stated that online media used in teaching listening were effective, efficient, and useful. Overall, the result of every item in this section was positive. One of the lecturer's strategies here was providing feedback on the listening lectures. It is in line with Aisyah and Wicaksono (2020), who argued that teacher feedback plays an important role in facilitating the learning process. It proves that the methods used by the lecturer in teaching online listening courses were beneficial for them. Other statements in this part also gained positive responses. It can be concluded that the lecturer here succeeds in making the suitable online learning method, strategy, and materials for the students. The lecturer also could apply the appropriate technological devices or applications in teaching listening online. In this case, the finding was not suitable with Susilowati (2020) who argued that the lecturers have several challenges in teaching listening online, especially in applying technological devices, systems, applications, or platforms in preparing suitable materials and in applying suitable methods and strategies in teaching an online listening class. However, todays' lecturers may already be better able to adapt to the changes in the current learning system to prepare suitable materials, methods, and strategies to teach listening online. The respondents' perceptions of the courses were also performed positively. The most significant average came from the statement that the students thought they have enough time to listen to the recordings. In contrast, the lowest score was from the statement that they have ample opportunities to interact with other students in the online listening courses. These can represent their perception that although listening classes were done online, they still enjoy the Celtic: A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching, Literature and Linguistics Vol. 8, No. 1, June 2021 http://ejournal.umm.ac.id/index.php/celtic/index 137 class. It is in line with Cigdem et al. (2016), who proved that the students enjoy the online listening method since it perceived playfulness for them. Besides, Saputra (2018) found that learning listening through online media was fun and can help students get new information. Other statements of this part also got all positive responses from the students. These were appropriate with Amir and Kang (2018), who argued that online listening programs could help students increase their knowledge of the subject matter. Moreover, Karthikeyan and Dinesh (2019) argued that online learning could develop students' listening skills and improve their critical and logical thinking skills. For the difficulties of online listening courses, which stand as the third place of the total average score, the respondents also perceived them positively. It means they also have difficulties in joining online listening courses. The finding of this study proved that the average total of student's difficulties was higher than the students' perceived benefits. It shows that although they enjoy the online learning process, they feel more difficulty when doing it. The students' difficulties were they cannot focus on learning or listening to the materials. Their statement supported that they felt annoyed by the crowd around them when they joined the online listening courses. Besides, they had technical issues when joining these online listening courses, such as lousy internet connection, power failure, and non- optimal use of the internet quota for education from the government and/or campus. It is in line with Fojtík (2018) who argued that technical issues might appear in the online teaching and learning process. Those problems showed that the students' difficulties need more attention from the teachers and lecturers. Thus, it supports the study from Amstrong (2011), who found that online learning could not fulfill the students' learning needs. Lastly, the perceptions on the benefits, which place as the lowest total average score, also received positive responses from the students. The total average score showed that the students get the benefits of online listening courses. The highest average was from the statement that they could reopen and repeat the materials or recordings anytime and anywhere. It is suitable with Yoestara and Putri (2019), who stated that online media in teaching listening could encourage students' self-regulated learning outside the classroom. The respondents also agreed that they feel more comfortable joining listening courses online than offline; the materials can be accessed easily. They can follow the courses seamlessly and understand better. Moreover, their positive perceptions toward the benefits showed their enjoyment of the courses. It proves that online listening courses did affect their learning progress. It is in line with Al-Shamsi et al. (2020), who found that mobile or online learning significantly affects students' listening skills. Furthermore, the respondents in this study perceived the benefits of online listening courses as same as the participants of their study, who believed that online learning was valuable to improve their listening abilities. CONCLUSION This research has identified undergraduate students' perceptions of the online listening courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. 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