EFL college students’ perceptions on the use of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools in e-language learning: A survey study at English Education Department UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung

Teachers and students employ synchronous and asynchronous communication tools to support an e-language learning environment available any time and from any location. Furthermore, utilizing these communication tools in the language learning process affects students’ perceptions, which is significant in assessing the learning process’s efficacy. Thus, this survey study firstly is aimed to discover students’ majority perception on synchronous communication tool usage. Secondly, it seeks to ascertain students’ majority perception on asynchronous communication tool usage. Lastly, it investigates the most preferred communication tools in e-language learning. This study included English Education Department students at UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung from 2018 to 2021. The study’s sample was determined using proportionate stratified random sampling using the Slovin Formula. Based on the calculation, 237 students participated in the research. This study collected data from a closed-ended Google Form questionnaire adapted and modified from Perveen (2016), which included three indicators: students’ awareness and activeness, perceptions of advantages and disadvantages, and preferences for synchronous and asynchronous communication tools. In addition, an interview was used to support the findings of the third research question. Three important results were discovered regarding the perception theory (Gregory, 1980) and data analysis employing assessment norms (Sudijono, 2018). First, 52,32% of students have positive perceptions on synchronous communication tool usage. Second, 54,43% of students positively perceived asynchronous communication tool usage. Third, 38,40% of students have positive perceptions and prefer synchronous communication tool usage. In contrast, 54,43% of students negatively perceived and did not prefer asynchronous communication tool usage. Furthermore, students’ preferences for using both communication tools are influenced by their benefits and limitations. Hence, the study proposes that lecturers should increase the usage of synchronous communication tools in English online learning