Résumé:
The outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 and the sudden shift from traditional face-to-face
learning to the adoption of e-learning have created a literature gap in both learning and teaching
processes, as this new approach has never been essentially used before in the educational
process. Accordingly, the current study aims to explore the relationship between e-learning
difficulties and learners’ self-reliance during COVID-19. Moreover, this research study seeks to
explore e- learning difficulties and its effectiveness, as a new method, in developing learners'
self- reliance. Correspondingly, the research questions attempt to fill the gap of the present study.
The first question seeks to discover e-learning difficulties and its effects on the development of
learners’ self-reliance during the outbreak. Therefore, the statistics show that there are serious
difficulties such as, the lack of the Internet and training that prevent the development of self-
reliance. The second question searches to know the nature of the relationship between e-learning
and student self-reliance. Correspondingly, the majority of the answers show that the lack of
students’ awareness prohibits them from enhancing their self- reliance. However, the last
question strives to unravel the effectiveness of e-learning as a new method to develop learners’
self-reliance. Indeed, the findings reveal that this method would be very beneficial if good
training and enough practice existed. Moreover, two hypotheses have been formulated; the first
assumption proposes that e-learning difficulties hinder the development of learners’ self-reliance,
which is proved. The second assumption suggests that the more learners embrace distance
learning, the more self-reliant and independent they become, and it is disproved. Furthermore, a
mixed method approach is followed with convergent parallel design for data analysis. The
sample consists of 105 second year students and 10 teachers of English department at Larbi
Tébessi University –Tébessa. Thus, a semi-structured questionnaire is designed for students,
while a semi-structured interview is conducted with teachers. Hence, the data obtained is
analyzed statistically using the parametric statistical technique for the questionnaire, and the
thematic content approach for the interview.
