| Online foreign language course offerings have grown exponentially in secondary and post-secondary schools during the last two decades. Although numerous instruments and surveys exist to assess readiness for a student to take online courses, insufficient research has dealt with the particularities of learning a foreign language online. This study was designed to ascertain the attributes that determine readiness for the online foreign language student. In addition, questions used in the Educational Success Prediction Instrument 2nd Version, ESPRI V-2, an instrument created to test online readiness for secondary students, were presented to the participants to determine if the instrument would be efficient to evaluate online foreign language readiness. Those surveyed and interviewed were online instructors of foreign language who: taught the foreign language at least two years; taught foreign language at least six months online; and were willing to participate. Data were gathered via a 25 question Google Survey, as condensed by John Siko (2014), which included four open ended questions pertaining to foreign language instructors' experience and opinions as well as one to assess their willingness to participate in an interview. The results led to verification of the appropriateness of four attributes used in the ESPRI V-2: achievement and self-esteem beliefs (motivation), responsibility/risk-taking, technology skills and access, and organization and self-regulation (learner autonomy). In addition, a sub-component of motivation, or having a concrete motive for learning the foreign language, was found to be an indicator for online FL readiness. |
