EFL Pre-service Teachers’ Satisfaction of Online English Learning and Their Academic Achievements

The transformation of face-to-face classrooms into online classes during the Pandemic Covid 19 has impacted ELT activities. One of which is the students' satisfaction with the new format of learning. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between English Foreign Learning (EFL) Pre-service Teachers’ satisfaction with online English learning and their academic performance. A quantitative study with a correlational design was adopted to investigate the issue. A convenience sample strategy was used to recruit 132 EFL pre-service teachers from a private university in Yogyakarta. An online survey was administered to garner the data as well as students’ GPAs were used as another criteria. The Kendall's Tau correlation value (-value) of this study was 0.023, with a significance value of 0.704 (0.704>0.05). It suggests that the alternative hypothesis has been ruled out. Consequently, the research revealed that there was a statistically insignificant correlation between the level of satisfaction of EFL Pre-service Teachers' experience with online English learning and their academic performance. Even so, teachers and institutions are expected to still maintain the quality of online learning for their students.


Introduction
Online English learning can be conducted synchronously or asynchronously.Both rely on internet technology to facilitate interactive communication between students and teachers, regardless of their location (Faize & Nawaz, 2020).Meanwhile, prior to the pandemic, several colleges used online learning systems (LMS) to help their students study.During the pandemic, the government's distant learning policy makes the asynchronous teaching and Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 2023 learning process using LMS even more successful.This rule is important for all educational levels, particularly those who have never utilized online learning previously (Padmo et al., 2020).However, not all teachers at any level were prepared to perform online learning, which produces a number of difficulties.They include a lack of online learning approaches as well as supporting resources such as computers and internet access.In response to the urgency, preparation and implementation were pushed back (Surahman, 2020).Consequently, teachers and students were confronted with several extraordinary and startling scenarios.As a result, online education appears to be a reaction to this problem.Internet teaching has been utilized in various fields for a considerable period, indicating that it is not a new instructional approach.Nevertheless, the utilization of online learning materials remains problematic across all educational levels, including K-12 and higher education (Whelan & Eileen, 2018).According to students, the main barriers to online learning are a lack of social and technological concerns, as well as the complexity of grasping instructional objectives (Dhawan, 2020).Other challenges include teachers' incapacity to deliver and manage students' synchronous or asynchronous meetings, as well as develop realistic online evaluation methodologies as part of the transition from traditional meetings to online platforms (Cochran, 2015).Other challenges may have a big impact on pupils' views.Boredom, disengagement with learning materials, diminished learning process efficacy, and dissatisfaction are all possible effects of a lack of direct connection and physical experience in online learning (Suryani & Sugianingrat, 2021).
On the other hand, students' satisfaction is a reliable indicator of online learning quality (Basith et al., 2020).Satisfaction assessment provides valuable data for improving the academic environment (Hanaysha et al., 2011).Service quality in education is evaluated through students' ratings of the services they receive.Students' satisfaction is contingent upon the degree to which the level of support offered corresponds with their initial anticipations.However, their level of satisfaction increases significantly when the service surpasses their initial expectations.Furthermore, students experience immense joy when they receive more assistance than they had anticipated.To maximize the value of online education programs, faculty in charge of online learning design and development should include student pleasure (Andersen, 2013).
Therefore, the role of teachers is equally important (Malik & Mubeen, 2009).The comfort of students in an online setting is contingent upon the promptness of teacher responses, which is primarily influenced by the teacher's attitude towards online learning.Assessing students' satisfaction can be utilized as an assessment of the efficiency of an online English learning environment.Furthermore, one of the most important factors in predicting academic progress is students' satisfaction (Pham et al., 2018).Poorly designed courses, monitoring mechanisms, and online education style may lead to low academic accomplishment and disinterest in this format (Woodworth et al., 2015).Previous investigations revealed a gap in the researchers' expertise, as stated by the researchers.In addition, no previous research has investigated whether or not there is a connection between the level of satisfaction experienced by students and the grade point average (GPA) at which they have achieved academic success.Even while Basith et al. (2020) and Andersen (2013) have stated that there may be a connection between students' satisfaction and academic accomplishment, additional empirical evidence is required to show this association in a statistically significant way.Online learning has gained enormous attention during the pandemic, and most institutions focused on training teachers to use the online learning platform.Therefore, everybody took online learning for granted without giving too much attention to its inadequacy.Unfortunately, students' satisfaction did not receive as much attention, although it is generally agreed that it is closely related to academic achievement.Therefore, empirical research needs to be conducted to investigate students' satisfaction and its relationship with their academic achievements.

Pre-service Teachers' Satisfaction
In academic settings, satisfaction refers to the degree of contentment experienced by students with various college-related issues such as teaching quality, course accessibility, and classroom management.According to Martirosyan et al. (2014), academic satisfaction pertains to the evaluation of students' contentment with the educational resources and services offered by the institution.Pre-service teachers' satisfaction is a transient sentiment that arises from evaluating students' learning experiences (Elliott & Healy, 2001).Pre-service teachers' satisfaction can also convey a biased evaluation of how well a learning environment aids their academic accomplishments (Osman et al., 2017).It is also a brief-period behavior resulted from an assessment of students' academic involvement, essential services, and resources (Weerasinghe & Fernando, 2017).Pre-service teachers' satisfaction is commonly affiliated with processes, university staff, procedures, and institutional support.Numerous scientific studies have emphasized the importance of students' conceptions of their educational process in deciding students' satisfaction (Pedro et al., 2018).Pre-service teachers tend to give satisfactory scores to courses and teachers.It happens if they presume their teachers communicate effectively, promote their learning, manage courses efficiently, actively engage in pre-service teachers' performance and development, respect students, and appropriately evaluate students' work (Gray & DiLoreto, 2016).Therefore, it may be argued that satisfaction, specifically among pre-service teachers, is a reaction to the institutional resources provided to them during the learning process which can be categorized as high, medium, or low satisfaction.

Pre-service Teachers' Satisfaction with Online English Learning
Along with the advancement of technology in distance learning and the emergence of digital teaching systems, pre-service teachers' satisfaction with online learning requires to be assessed.Furthermore, satisfaction with online learning is quite multifaceted.It comprises numerous aspects, such as communication, students' involvement in online conversations, technology assistance, flexibility, responsibility, teachers' pedagogical knowledge, and response; all facets shape students' satisfaction (Elshami et al., 2021).
Online learning satisfaction encompasses various elements, in particular online English learning, including learning objectives, pre-service teachers' evaluation and assessment, educational resources and materials, learner interactions (involving teachers, students, and content), and course technology (Aman, 2009).The online learning environment, the university support throughout the COVID-19 disease, the online schooling method, and the platforms used heavily contribute to students' satisfaction (Almusharraf & Khahro, 2020).Students' satisfaction is a reliable indicator of online learning quality (Basith et al., 2020).Student performance substantially improved in online learning than traditional learning, as Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 2023 evidenced by greater course completion rates, satisfaction, and motivation beyond their learning process (Bernard et al., 2014).
The key issues affecting online ESP learning during COVID-19 are also connected to technological, intellectual, and communication issues.Research by Ryan and Poole (2019) investigated the power of online learning settings on students' satisfaction, engagement, recollection, and retention.The data uncovered that the use of online learning progressively impacted pre-service satisfaction in learning, as observed from the improvement of students' satisfaction at the end of the measurement.In short, the satisfaction of pre-service teachers with online learning is a multifaceted construct influenced by factors such as communication, technology assistance, flexibility, responsibility, teachers' pedagogical knowledge, and response.

Academic Achievement
Academic achievement is an excellent indicator of students' satisfaction during teaching and learning.Academic achievement is the level of development undertaken by students in areas such as knowledge, skills, attitudes, and values over a period under the teacher's guidance and relying on their prior experiences (Tian & Sun, 2018).Academic achievement is the outcome of performance that demonstrates the extent to which an individual has talented explicit academic objectives that have become the target of activities in the educational environment, particularly in schools, campuses, and universities (Crede et al., 2015).
Academic achievement and accountability can assess a person's learning outcomes.Learning outcomes will be influenced by the education system's goals and mission.It was grounded by the outcomes found by Cazan (2012), who discovered that specific dimensions of satisfaction and the learning process of students have an impact on their academic performance.However, it is important to note that not all dimensions exhibited a positive influence found in her research.It implies that learning outcomes can extend beyond cognitive assessments to include performance interventions.It is reasonable to conclude that the student's academic performance results from a learning process in which students have been involved for one year or semester (GPA) (Wildan, 2013).Academic achievement is something that students would like to achieve within a particular time frame in an academic institution, such as a school, college, or university (Benazir & Fauzia, 2013).Academic accomplishment among students is required to generate high-quality graduate students who will serve as good leaders and workers for the country, completely accountable for the country's social and economic progress.(Dhaqane & Afrah, 2016).Thus, it can be inferred that academic achievement can be used as the controlling point of what students have learned.

Review of Previous Studies
To date, some scholars have already conducted a study on pre-service teachers' satisfaction and learning environment.Dhawane and Afrah (2016) conducted a study to evaluate the relationship between students' satisfaction and academic achievement and other factors that affect academic performance.The results showed that a high Pearson association was revealed between students' satisfaction and academic success.Khan and Iqbal (2016) also investigated the relationship through a study.The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between students' satisfaction and academic performance among distance learners.The study found no correlation between students' satisfaction and academic performance.The study recommends increasing interactions between student-teachers and student-students, as well as organizing orientation seminars for distance learning programs in online learning.Then, Yekefallah et al. (2021) examined the causes that impact students' satisfaction in e-learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.The study conducted in Iran involved 200 university students and found that they were dissatisfied with online learning for various reasons, such as feedback, flexibility, workload, and assessment.After that, Asvheniuk et al. ( 2021) researched the students' satisfaction in ESP classes from three departments of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.The result revealed that students are primarily satisfied with online ESP classes.
Furthermore, the researchers noticed a gap in some parts given by four previous research.Even though the prior research tries to determine students' satisfaction and its factor in online learning, very few have discussed students' satisfaction with online learning and its relation towards students' academic achievement in the Indonesian contexts.Indeed, finding to what extent the interconnection of the two variables can take the benefits by having crucial aspects to evaluate their online learning.Therefore, this study is conducted to provide broad and specific views on the interconnection of online learning academic achievement with students' satisfaction under correlational study.This current research, further, formulates the research under three research questions which presented below: 1. How is the level of satisfaction among EFL pre-service teachers regarding online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic?2. How is the level of academic achievement among EFL pre-service teachers?3. How is the correlation between EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction with online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic and their academic achievement?
The hypothesis that guides the current research is that students' satisfaction in online learning has a strong correlation with the students' achievement.

Research Design
The researchers chose a quantitative methodology to determine the relationship between students' satisfaction and academic achievement.Furthermore, this present study utilized a correlational design to gather the data.This study utilized an exploratory design to focus on measuring two variables and evaluating the statistical relationship between them rather than seeking to establish a cause-and-effect relationship.Seeram (2019) stated that to measure to what extent of the relation or connection between two variables, a correlational study needs to be established.As outlined by Gurler (2015), correlational research seeks to establish correlations between variables rather than customize independent variables within an experimental context.The study was conducted at a private university in Yogyakarta, which implemented synchronous and asynchronous online learning methods, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.Additionally, the choice of this setting was established on its convenient accessibility and practicality.

Participants
Convenience sampling was used as a sampling technique in this research.The population for this study was 198 batch 2019 EFL pre-service teachers of the English department at a private university in Yogyakarta.They were chosen as the representative of EFL pre-service teachers since they experienced both online and offline learning.Also, the feasibility aspect was also Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 2023 derived the reason of choosing this sampling.The researchers chose a confidence level of 95% and a confidence interval of 3% set by (Cohen et al. 2011) in determining the number of participants.Hence, if the total population of EFL pre-service teachers of batch 2019 is 198, the minimum sample obtained would be 132 students.In the end, this study was participated by 147 students.

Instruments
Two instruments were used for this study: a questionnaire and a documents containing students' GPAs.The questionnaire comprised three sections: their satisfaction with the online learning environment, school support, and perception of effective online learning approaches and media.Above all, those three aspects were used to find out their satisfaction with the online learning held by the department that would be used to respond first research question.The questionnaire was adapted from Norah and Khahro (2020)'s research "Students' Satisfaction with Online Learning Experiences during the COVID-19 Pandemic".
Further, the researchers employed descriptive statistics to elucidate the level of satisfaction among students regarding online English learning.The satisfaction index developed by Fitriana et al. (2014) was used to categorize the results and determine the level of students' satisfaction based on the questionnaire data.The level of students' satisfaction was divided into 5 categories; not satisfied, slightly satisfied, satisfied enough, satisfied, and very satisfied.As for the document, a document that consisted of students' GPA was used.It was obtained by asking the faculties member.

Data Analysis Procedures
Descriptive statistics was used to answer the first and second research questions.For the third research question, the researchers checked the normality of the data before assessing the correlation between the two variables.The normality of the instruments was determined using a one-sample Kolmogorov-Smirnov test as the prerequisite assumption of having a parametric test.Parametric statistical approaches require a normal population distribution and its parameters (means and standard deviations) (Hoskin, 2012).The data exhibited a normal distribution for magnitude values greater than 0.05.Data were considered nonnormally distributed when the significance value was less than 0.05 (0.05).The normality test confirmed that the data distribution was not normally distributed.The research data presented in the table indicated a significant value of 0.074.The observed value of 0.074, in this case, exceeded the threshold of 0.05 (0.074>0.05), indicating that the data obtained in the current study were within the expected range.The observed GPA value of 0.00 was found to be statistically insignificant, as it was smaller than the predetermined significance level of 0.05 (0.00>0.05).The analysis revealed that the GPA data did not follow a normal distribution.Knowing the result of not normally distributed data, the researchers conducted data screening to recheck the data.The result of data screening from the questionnaire showed that there was no missing data.It indicated that all the respondents answered the statements provided in the questionnaire.As for the GPA document, the result also indicated that no missing data was found during data screening analysis.Due to the nonnormal distribution of the GPA data, the researchers decided to utilize Kendall's Tau Correlation.The Kendall's Tau Correlation coefficient (τ) was employed to evaluate the degree of interdependence between the two variables.Kendall's Tau is a nonparametric statistical measure used to assess the strength and direction of correlation between variables, without relying on assumptions about the data's underlying distribution (Puka, 2011).Kendall's Tau is a statistical measure used to evaluate the level of correlation between two ordinal variables.

EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction with online English learning
This section examines the satisfaction of EFL pre-service teachers with the online English learning provided by the university.In the initial section of the questionnaire, the researchers examined the satisfaction of EFL pre-service teachers with the online English learning environment during the pandemic.All points scored below the average mean of 2.61, indicating a level of satisfaction that is not sufficient.The section's mean score was 3.68, with a standard deviation of 0.664.During the pandemic, the students voiced their contentment with the environment provided by online learning.
Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 2023 The second section analyzed the students' satisfaction with the faculty assistance related to online English learning throughout the disease.None of the points reached the average mean under (3.40/Satisfied Enough).The mean score of this part was 3.85, while the standard deviation score was 0.699.All students appeared to be "satisfied" with the institution's assistance, e.g., IT problems, online class login problems, academic guidance, bridging events, and social and mental counseling.The third section recommended the most valuable online English learning techniques and programs.EFL pre-service teachers strongly preferred the blended learning classrooms (4.01/ Satisfied) rather than only online classes (2.80/ Satisfied Enough) or face-to-face (3.20/ Satisfied Enough).While for the most effective online platforms, they were more satisfied with Microsoft Teams (3.99/ Satisfied).The average score for the segment was 3.55, while the standard deviation was 0.601.This suggests that the students are pleased with the online English classes as well as the methods utilized for delivering the lectures and assessing their comprehension of the material.The descriptive statistical analysis of the 20 questionnaire points was presented above.The greatest score was 5.00, and the smallest score was 2.05.The mean of EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction scores was 3.68, while the standard deviation score was 0.565.According to the statistics, it appears that the majority of them completed the pandemic feeling satisfied with their progress in online English courses.The inference is that students had a positive experience overall with the online English learning environment, the support they received from the university, as well as the methods and media that were utilized throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.

EFL pre-service teachers' Academic Achievement
The researcher measured students' academic achievement utilizing their Grade Point Average (GPA).The descriptive statistical analysis was employed to discover 132 EFL preservice teachers' academic achievement levels.The table is shown below.The table above shows that the highest GPA was 3.98, while the lowest was 1.10.The mean score of the EFL pre-service teachers' GPA was 3.38, and the standard deviation score was 0.588.Therefore, the result showed that the student's GPA was categorized as "high/ very satisfactory" according to the university GPA classification.

The correlation between EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction with online English learning towards their academic achievement
The current investigation seeks to examine the potential relationship between EFL preservice teachers ' satisfaction with online English learning and their academic performance as measured by their GPA.The test aimed to confirm the hypothesis of the study.Given the non-normal distribution of the GPA data, the researchers opted to employ Kendall's Tau Correlation.The correlation result is as follows.: Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 2023 According to the table above, there were 132 total samples (N) in the center of the two variables, Kendall's correlation value (-value) was 0.023, and the significant value (-value) was 0.704.The hypothesis testing was evaluated by considering the significance level.Cohen et al. (2011) found a statistically significant relationship between the statistics when the p-value was less than 0.05.The obtained result indicated that the p-value was 0.704, which exceeded the threshold of 0.05 (0.704 > 0.05).The study's findings indicated that the alternative hypothesis was rejected.No significant correlation was found between EFL preservice teachers' satisfaction with online English learning and their academic achievement.

Discussion
The study showed that EFL pre-service teachers were content with the university's online learning platform.Various factors influence pre-service teachers' satisfaction, such as the quality of institutional services, extracurricular activities, and non-academic support services that affect students' well-being in online learning.This finding aligns with the findings of Tan et al. (2016).The study found that the interaction component, particularly the activities in online learning, has a significant impact on students' satisfaction, as determined by the three factors that were examined.Gopal et al. (2021) also conducted a study with similar results.
Their study aimed to identify the independent variables associated with online learning.The study found that the learning design significantly impacts students' satisfaction, teacher quality, teacher feedback, and students' prospects.In addition, Almusharraf and Khahro (2020) discovered that post-secondary students in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) expressed satisfaction with online learning platforms and experiences amid the COVID-19 pandemic.This aligns with previous research that considered factors such as the institution and non-educational services.They discovered that institutional assistance made students feel more at ease when a technical issue occurred during online sessions.Also, providing online self-improvement seminars throughout the epidemic had raised student happiness in online classrooms.With this in mind, this current research, to some extent, has enriched the discussion of providing non-educational services for students.Varying online learning activities (Nguyen, 2017) and providing technical service (Berry, 2019) are essential to maintaining students' satisfaction throughout online learning.
The second finding relates to the EFL pre-service teachers' first choice for online learning.The current research found that they preferred to have blended learning.In this sense, students preferred to have half of the online and offline learning for their learning process.Even though online learning, at the time of data collection, had been conducted for over two years, still, students chose to have face-to-face meetings.It is reasonable, given that Albiladi and Alshareef (2019) discovered that blended learning might be utilized successfully to strengthen language abilities, improve the English learning environment, and increase students' willingness study the language.In addition, Qindah (2018) discovered that integrating learning, e.g., online and face-to-face meetings, may increase students' grammatical competency.The preference for choosing blended learning as a learning model in English learning has also been a favorable learning model in English learning in higher education (Okaz, 2015;Torrisi-Steele & Drew, 2013).By underlying the findings above, most EFL pre-service teachers in this current research preferred blended learning as the best learning mode.
The final finding pertains to the relationship between EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction with online English learning and their academic Achievement.This study observed no statistically significant correlation between their satisfaction with online English learning and their academic achievement amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.The findings align with Khan and Iqbal's (2016) study on the correlation between pre-service teachers' satisfaction and academic performance in an online educational context.The study findings indicate a lack of statistically significant correlation between EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction and academic achievement.Dhaqane and Afrah (2016) discovered a noteworthy association between students' satisfaction and academic achievement.
Upon this finding, the researchers noticed that several factors may appear as the underlying aspects to which why this current research found no relationship.It is possible that cultural differences in students' levels of satisfaction are responsible for determining learning methodologies (Zhu, 2012).For instance, the EFL pre-service students participating in the current research did not have experiences of fully online learning.The lack of these experiences may have contributed to taking the online learning for granted, especially when online learning took place during the pandemic.Had they had the online learning experiences in a non-pandemic era, the data may have yielded different results.Also, their satisfaction could have been due to earlier aspects such as service performance, university performance, relationships, and university standing (Mustafa et al., 2012) prior to the pandemic.The degree to which a student found the services they were receiving to be both enjoyable and beneficial was used as a measuring stick for the level at which they were satisfied.In short, their satisfaction was influenced by several factors, including interaction with teachers and the structure of classes, and it plays a role in students' continued participation, which later would influence their satisfaction and learning outcomes.

Conclusion
One crucial aspect that is always involved and influenced in the teaching and learning process is students.Pre-service teachers perform an essential role in seeing the success of the delivery of knowledge by teachers.Teachers should pay attention not only to what is given to students but also to how students feel during the teaching and learning activity itself.The pre-service teachers' level of satisfaction has become the primary topic for researchers in a competitive Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 8(2), 2023 learning environment due to its strong influence on student academic achievement, which can indirectly be used to measure an educational institution's learning success.
The overall findings showed that EFL pre-service teachers' satisfaction had a mean value of 3.68, categorized as "satisfied".In addition, the student's GPA got a mean value of 3.38, categorized as "good."Lastly, the significant value was found to be 0.704, indicating that the alternative hypothesis was declined.Thus, there was no relation between each variable.From the findings, it can be said that there is no clear correlation between pre-service teachers' satisfaction with their GPA as the parameters of their achievement.
However, although there is no correlation between the two variables, paying attention to the pre-service teachers' satisfaction during online learning is strongly needed.Their satisfaction will significantly impact other aspects outside of academic achievement.Future researchers may look into the same topics using a larger number of participants with more diverse academic backgrounds.Besides, Different data analyses can lead to more enriching and engaging discussions, contributing to the development of knowledge.

Table 1 .
The Result of The Normality Test

Table 3 .
Section 2 Results (EFL pre-service teachers ' satisfaction with the faculty's assistance related to online

Table 4 .
Section 3 Results (EFL pre-service teachers' perceptions of the most effective online English learning techniques and media)

Table 5 .
Descriptive statistics result of the questionnaire

Table 6 .
Descriptive statistics result of the students' GPA

Table 7 .
The Result of Hypothesis Test