Understanding the roles of video cameras in online English courses: A qualitative inquiry into students and foreign lecturers’ conceptions

Abstract

Turning video cameras on or off during synchronous online learning has been a topic of attention lately. Whether teachers should urge students to turn on their cameras or let them switch them on or off is a matter of dispute, but it has yet to be decided due to a lack of empirical data. To contribute, this study specifically explored EFL students’ and foreign English lecturers’ perspectives on the benefits of cameras on or off during online English classes based on their recent academic year teaching and learning English online. A qualitative survey with a phenomenological descriptive approach was employed. The thematic analysis results identified students’ and lecturers’ converging perspectives that the camera on improves student learning engagement, student-student and student-teacher relationships, and classroom atmosphere. Yet, they acknowledged that the camera off has equally important benefits, such as maintaining one’s privacy or comfort, reducing learning anxiety, enabling better concentration, and fostering a readiness to speak English. This study further elaborates on the pedagogical implications of the findings for online English learning.