Exploring Relationships Between Learners’ Internet Self-efficacy, Online Self-Regulation, and Interaction during Online Learning amid COVID-19 in Vietnam

Abstract

Internet self-efficacy and self-regulation/autonomy have proven to play essential roles in online learning, especially during the compulsory closure of educational institutions due to Covid-19 all over the world. This study was conducted in an attempt to explore the inter-relationships among three constructs: Internet self-efficacy, online self-regulation, and interaction during the emergency online learning amid Covid-19 in Vietnam. A partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to mine the data collected from over two thousand undergraduate students at a Vietnamese university. Research results indicated that Internet self-efficacy was a significant predictor of learner autonomy directly and indirectly through learner–content, learner–instructor, and learner-learner interactions. The study findings also revealed significant differences between learners of language and non-language majors, between those with a prior online learning experience and those without in the relationships among the constructs mentioned above. However, gender did not have any impact on the relationships. The study findings provide new insights and useful implications for teachers and students in promoting learners’ Internet self-efficacy, self-regulation, and online interaction in the context of oriental cultures where students tend to rely on their teachers in both traditional and online learning.