Gender Perceptions of Benefits and Challenges of Online Learning in Malaysian ESL Classrooms during COVID-19

The current study aims to investigate students’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in ESL classrooms and how gender differences influence their perceptions. Participants were 60 undergraduate students from a private university in Perak, Malaysia, who enrolled in English language courses taken during the shift to online learning at the institution. The study utilizes a quantitative approach where data were collected using an adapted questionnaire in the form of Google Form. Data collected were analysed with independent samples t-test using the SPSS software. Overall, the majority of the students agreed that the implementation of online learning posed challenges for them. The students, however, showed unbiased opinions towards the benefits of the online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms. Based on the analysis, the study found that gender differences do not influence the students’ perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning. The findings indicated that students do face difficulties in learning online and that there is a need for the lecturers to improve the teaching practices and strategies for online learning. The institution management is also recommended to * Corresponding author, email: assaiqeli@fbk.upsi.edu.my Citation in APA style: Ramli, K., Assaiqeli, A., Mostafa, N. A., & Singh, C. K. S. (2022). Gender perceptions of benefits and challenges of online learning in Malaysian ESL classroom during COVID19. Studies in English Language and Education, 9(2), 613-631. Received March 1, 2021; Revised October 20, 2021; Accepted April 16, 2022; Published Online May 23, 2022 https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v9i2.21067 K. Ramli, A. Assaiqeli, N. A. Mostafa & C. K. S. Singh, Gender perceptions of benefits and challenges of online learning in Malaysian ESL classroom during COVID-19 | 614 provide better resources and technical support for effective online learning.

Abstract
The current study aims to investigate students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in ESL classrooms and how gender differences influence their perceptions. Participants were 60 undergraduate students from a private university in Perak, Malaysia, who enrolled in English language courses taken during the shift to online learning at the institution. The study utilizes a quantitative approach where data were collected using an adapted questionnaire in the form of Google Form. Data collected were analysed with independent samples t-test using the SPSS software. Overall, the majority of the students agreed that the implementation of online learning posed challenges for them. The students, however, showed unbiased opinions towards the benefits of the online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms. Based on the analysis, the study found that gender differences do not influence the students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning. The findings indicated that students do face difficulties in learning online and that there is a need for the lecturers to improve the teaching practices and strategies for online learning. The institution management is also recommended to INTRODUCTION There has been a major shift from the traditional to the online classroom since early 2020 due to the outbreak of COVID-19. This solution is currently promoted by most academic institutions due to the crisis (UNESCO, 2020). The traditional classes are now conducted virtually in order to continuously provide knowledge to the students and minimize disruption to the academic calendar. In Malaysia, with the closure of public and private educational institutions since March of 2020, the teaching and learning sessions have been conducted through online platforms, and later in May, the Higher Education Ministry announced that online university lectures are to continue until the end of the year (Landau, 2020).
Online learning is the experience of using different devices in synchronous or asynchronous environments where students can learn remotely and communicate with teachers and other students (Singh & Thurman, 2019). Many studies have been conducted to identify the perceptions pertaining to the benefits and challenges of its implementation in the classroom. However, Imsa-ard (2020) emphasized that studies conducted to understand the learner's perceptions of online learning's sudden implementation due to the crisis are found to be scarce. Hence, this study aims to revisit the learner's views on the benefits and challenges of the online learning implementation with the focus on the English as a Second Language classroom setting in a private university. The study through such an aim also seeks to shed light on the role of the virtual or online instructional environment in the development of interaction, viewed by researchers as the genesis of language learning (Assaiqeli, 2019).
Numerous studies have been conducted to explore the perceptions regarding the implementation of online learning in their institutions during the outbreak of COVID-19. In a study conducted by Nambiar (2020), to investigate the teachers' and students' perceptions of online learning in India during the pandemic of COVID-19, the researcher found that a majority of the respondents from both groups agreed that they prefer the classroom teaching mode over online learning mode.
In a study conducted by Minghat et al. (2020), regarding the Indonesian and Malaysian students' perceptions of online learning throughout COVID-19, the researchers found that respondents were mostly neutral about the implementation of online learning in their institutions. However, their findings also showed that the respondents perceived online learning to be passive, difficult in terms of instructions, and did not increase their motivation. Kumar and Tiwari (2021) also conducted a study to understand the students' perceptions regarding online learning in Punjab during COVID-19. The results of their study showed that most of the students accepted online education during the pandemic but did not prefer the learning mode as an alternative to traditional classroom learning. Their findings also revealed that there was no significant difference in the perceptions between genders.
Meanwhile, a majority of respondents had positive perceptions of online learning in a study conducted by Mad et al. (2020). In understanding the Malaysian UiTM students' perceptions of online learning implementation during the pandemic, their findings showed that the students preferred the hybrid learning mode, embedding the online learning into the traditional classroom setting. In another study by Baharum et al. (2021), to investigate perceptions of Malaysian students from private and public universities on online learning compared to face-to-face classrooms, the researchers found that most of the respondents preferred the traditional classroom learning over online learning. The findings of their study showed that the respondents perceived the traditional classroom to be more effective.
Although numerous studies have been conducted to investigate students' perceptions of the implementation of online learning during the pandemic (Baharum et al., 2021;Kumar & Tiwari, 2021;Mad et al., 2020;Minghat et al., 2020;Nambiar, 2020), limited research focused on ESL classrooms and the difference in perceptions between genders especially in Malaysia. Hence, this study aims to fill the existing gap and provide recommendations based on the findings.
The general purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of students towards the benefits and challenges of implementing online learning in ESL classrooms while the specific purpose of the study is to understand how gender differences are related to the students' perceptions. In order to meet the purposes of this study, the following questions were addressed: 1) What are students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom? 2) Is there a significant difference in male and female students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom? Based on the research question, 'what are students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom?', the following hypotheses were constructed: H0: There are no significant different perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom. H1: There are significant different perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom. In addition, based on the research question, 'is there a significant difference between male and female students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom?', the following hypotheses were constructed: H0: There is no significant difference between male and female students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom. H1: There is a significant difference between male and female students' perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom.

LITERATURE REVIEW
This section reviews previous literature in relation to the benefits and challenges of online learning as well as the influence of gender differences on perceptions.

Students' Gender and Perceptions of Online Learning
Understanding one's perception of a phenomenon may help to provide valuable insights. Perception is the man's core means of cognitive engagement with the environment and it could be elicited based on experience (Efron, 1969;Rojabi, 2020). Understanding students' opinions are very beneficial in educational research. According to Kulal and Nayak (2020), in the education system, students' views are what really matter. Without the students' acceptance of online education, it may not be sustainable in the future educational scene. Hence, it is important to acquire the students' perception of the implementation of online learning. Many factors can influence an individual's perception, including demographic variables such as age, gender, and race. According to Nielsen et al. (2017), gender diversity might help researchers in learning new things by diversifying their perspectives, interests, and study fields. Murphrey and Arnold (2012) stated that in order to design efficient online course delivery techniques, it is important to first study students' demographics and how they use Internet-based technology. In a study by Lim (2004), it was found that in terms of gender disparities in computer use, female students managed the learning process using computers and the Internet significantly better than male students. In another related study, Murphrey and Arnold (2012) also suggested that technology can have a beneficial influence on participants' perceptions dependent on their gender and categorization. This shows that demographic variables do provide insight into the phenomenon being studied.
Regarding the demographic variables that influence perceptions of online learning, many previous studies have also been conducted to find gender differences in views of online learning. Tsokova et al. (2017) conducted a study to investigate the influence of gender, age, specialty, and previous e-learning experience on the opinions of healthcare students about online learning. From the students' perceptions, they found that students of different genders have different views of online learning and female students were more likely to accept the implementation.
A study by Mahawar and Nandedkar (2019), however, showed no significant effect made by gender on the perceived effectiveness of e-learning. Both male and female students were equally comfortable with online learning and had no gender biases toward online learning. A study by Rafiq et al. (2020), found a contradicting opinion from a study conducted in Pakistan in which male students showed more positive attitudes toward e-learning as compared to female students.

Benefits of Online Learning
Studies on the implementation of online learning in recent years have shown that the new culture is perceived to be useful for schools as well as higher education institutions. Technology is an important component of online learning and the aid of technology is one of the benefits of online learning, which was also highlighted by Baxter (2020) and Gillett-Swan (2020). Educators and learners use technology mainly to communicate, provide instructions and make two-way feedback since there is a limitation to face-to-face communication. Hence, the use of technology offers the opportunity for students to engage in the language in order to communicate (Baxter, 2020;Gillett-Swan, 2020). For example, students are able to learn how to write proper emails to lecturers with proper and correct language use.
The development of the Internet also turns out to be helpful for students. Tareen and Haand (2020) reported that students perceived online learning as having the ability to promote student participation in class since they are able to actively engage themselves with teachers and other students, for example, through forums. The Internet also allows teachers and students to share content through Learning Management System (LMS) or messaging applications as well as communicate with each other despite the geographical distance between them (Mathew & Ebelelloanya, 2016).
With the Internet as well, online learning is made convenient to conduct research and have access to the latest information. Students are also more encouraged to do research online since they have accessibility during class (Paudel, 2020). Another feature of online learning in higher education is the use of LMS software. In a study conducted by Allo (2020), LMS software was perceived to be helpful for students to learn beyond the traditional model of the face-to-face classroom. Mustafa and Yaakub (2021) carried out a study to investigate the effectiveness of using WhatsApp in teaching Bahasa Melayu to a group of foreign students in one of the selected public universities in Malaysia. The course was taught during the recent global pandemic COVID-19. Data were collected using an experimental research design. The main purpose of the study was to look into how the students learned effectively through WhatsApp as an online learning platform. The findings revealed that students favoured learning language skills through WhatsApp as it provided them more opportunities to interact with peers and exchange ideas.
Al-Rasul (2020) developed an electronic program to teach the voices of the Arabic language to a group of non-Arabic speakers. The researcher incorporated oral audio as one of the initial steps considered significant in teaching the Arabic language. The electronic program was developed with the hope to assist non-Arabic speakers to identify and distinguish the vocabulary, sounds, and structures of the language to enable the speakers to recognize the same voices and comprehend what they hear. This study highlights the importance of using modern technologies and media in instruction and the application of this to learn listening skills. The findings showed that educators have to pay attention to several factors when it comes to the teaching of the Arabic language, namely the electronic and technical features in teaching language skills. Singh et al. (2020) carried out a study to investigate the ESL teachers' strategies to teach the English language during the movement control order that was enforced in April 2020. The researchers employed a case study design for data collection purposes. Data were collected from eight ESL teachers voluntarily. The findings revealed that the ESL teachers used Telegram, WhatsApp, Google classroom, and Zoom to ensure the teaching and learning process was carried out as planned. The teachers made use of various learning apps including Quizziz, Padlet, and Kahoot to ensure mastery of learning at the end of the teaching session. The teachers reported that they faced other issues while teaching, including getting students to participate through the apps used, students' attitude and their lack of cooperation to take part actively in discussion, and students' inability to access audio materials shared during the teaching and learning process.
Teachers and educators, today, can employ numerous teaching and learning strategies by integrating technology and also a social network to ensure instruction takes place as planned. The integration of ICT into teaching and learning allows teachers, educators, and students to communicate and collaborate (Alaa et al., 2019;Goyak et al., 2021;Shukor, 2015;Singh et al., 2020). Shukor (2015) carried out a study to explore the views of tertiary students on the impact of Facebook as a collaborative writing tool in one selected public university in Malaysia. Their study employed a quasi-experimental research design and 33 participants participated in the study. The findings revealed that a majority of the students showed moderately high mean scores for the use of Facebook for collaborative writing activities.
According to Prensky (2001), teachers and educators should keep abreast with the latest development in ICT and how they can infuse ICT into the teaching and learning process. This is supported by McLoughlin and Lee (2010) on how the advancement in technology today could assist educators to be creative in terms of offering students more space for an interactive and stimulating experience.
Learning online also opens up the opportunity for students to make use of online tools to facilitate learning. Various websites, software, and applications have been developed to help with different skills including writing. With tools such as Google Translate and Grammar Checker, students are able to improve their writing skills rather than solely being dependent on classroom instructions (Bailey & Lee, 2020;Dahmash, 2020). Other benefits highlighted in previous literature include the costefficiency of online learning, its convenience in relation to their circumstances, the promotion of student autonomy and self-directed learning, and the ability to have more freedom (Baxter, 2020;Dahmash, 2020;Paudel, 2020).
Mastery learning by Benjamin Bloom (1986) is a theory relevant to online learning. According to Abakpa and Iji (2011), this theory emphasizes that although the students are provided with different learning environments, they could achieve the same level of academic performance. This theory supports the implementation of online learning in which students are able to learn at their own pace (Bergman & Sams, 2012;Eppard & Rochdi, 2017). Hence, mastery learning provides the opportunities needed for students to learn at their own pace and according to their own needs in the online classroom.

Challenges of Online Learning
Although there are benefits as perceived in previous studies, the conduct of online learning also poses challenges for students, educators, and institutions. According to Dhawan (2020), the challenges of implementing online learning in the classroom range from issues for learners, and educators, to content (Dhawan, 2020). While the use of the Internet and technologies provide convenience for students in learning, it is also viewed to have posed a number of challenges in online learning. Without the availability of reliable Internet connection, students are limited to access to finding information online. A similar issue is also the technical glitches of the communication devices. Not only are the students sometimes unable to participate in online classes, but also they are unable to retrieve any files containing notes and exercises shared by friends and teachers (Allo, 2020;Baxter, 2020;Dahmash, 2020;Mathew & Ebelelloanya, 2016;Paudel, 2020).
Corresponding to the importance of having a reliable Internet connection and decent technologies, students from low-income families may struggle to afford an Internet connection and the required technologies for online learning (Allo, 2020;Mathew & Ebelelloanya, 2016). They need to be able to afford mobile Internet data to join online classes as they may not have an Internet subscription for their home. Students also need to have decent technologies such as communication devices to communicate and work on their tasks and assessments for effective learning. Another aspect that was perceived as a challenge of online learning is also one of the benefitsthe LMS software (Gillett-Swan, 2017). Certain LMSs have limitations which lead to ineffective communication of instructions from teachers to students. One of the limitations was highlighted in the study by Allo (2020) where students perceived that it was difficult to understand written instructions in LMS if not accompanied by the audio version.
The implementation of online learning also posed a few other challenges reported by Allo (2020), including the limitations on the materials used by the lecturers as not all learning resources could be adapted for online learning and are easy to be used by students. The study also found that the clarity of instructions was a problem for the students while another study by Tareen and Haand (2020) found that students perceived that there was a lack of precise feedback and support from the lecturers. In the studies conducted by Bailey and Lee (2020) and Baxter (2020), it was found that students' participation in online learning was fewer as opposed to the findings by Tareen and Haand (2020) and the class time was greatly reduced where lesser syllabus contents could be delivered.
A few other challenges in the implementation of online learning include the difficulties faced by the students due to the lack of necessary skills for online learning, especially in terms of time management and ICT (Paudel, 2020;Sornasekaran et al., 2020). These skills are very important in online learning as students need to balance their time to finish their tasks at home by themselves. The ICT skills are necessary to be able to access the Internet, and the technological devices are needed to communicate and complete the tasks. With the integration of the Internet and communication devices, while at the same time staying at home, students tend to become distracted and have no interest. (Bailey & Lee, 2020;Dahmash, 2020;Tareen & Haand, 2020). As opposed to learning in class, at home the teachers are unable to determine whether the students are focusing on the class or playing with their friends or mobile phones instead.

METHODS
This section provides a brief description of the research approach and the participants involved in this study. The details of the instrument and procedures on how the data were collected and analysed are also provided.

Research Design
This research was conducted using a quantitative approach. The study employed a descriptive survey research design. According to Creswell and Creswell (2018), a survey is a research design that describes trends, attitudes, or opinions numerically or quantitatively, which represents a population based on a study of a sample from the population through the use of a questionnaire or structured interviews as instruments to collect the data. The results of the study on a sample will be useful to generalize to a population (Fowler, 2008). A survey research design produces descriptions of the trends, attitudes, and opinions of a population quantitatively (Creswell & Creswell, 2018). Hence, this study adopted the survey research design in order to identify the opinions of private university students through the use of a questionnaire -one of the most commonly-used instruments in this design.

Participants
The study participants were 60 students who took English courses at a private university in Perak, Malaysia, consisting of 41 females (68.3%) and 19 males (31.7%). The majority of the samples are from the age group of 18 to 20 years old (86.8%) and the rest are from the age group of 21 to 23 years old (10%), and 24 years old and above (3.3%). The students were from different faculties and in different years of study at the university. They were studying through online classes for one whole semester for 14 weeks. The reason for choosing the students who were taking English courses was to conform to the purpose of this study which is to identify their perceptions within the setting of ESL classrooms. Hence, it is relevant for this study to sample the participants from this population of existing students. This sampling method is known as the purposive sampling method which is the intentional choice of a participant because of the qualities that the participants possess, that meet the entry requirements for the study. Researchers are the ones who decide on what needs to be identified and find participants who are able and willing to provide required information based on knowledge or experience for this sampling method (Etikan et al., 2016).

Instrument
The instrument used to collect the data to answer the research questions was an adapted questionnaire. The questionnaire was developed based on the findings reported by Tareen and Haand (2020). The items were modified according to the objectives of the study. The items in the questionnaire were originally focused on the perceptions of the postgraduates in a public university. Hence, several terms in the items were changed to focus on gathering undergraduates' perceptions. The items in the questionnaire were divided into three sections. The first section is the Demographical Data of the samples which consists of five items. The second section which is the Benefits of Online Learning consists of eight items and the last section, the Challenges of Online Learning, consists of nine items. In addition to the demographic information presented, the survey elements were considered using a fivepoint Likert scale, with 1 representing 'strongly disagree' to 5 representing 'strongly agree'.

Data Collection
As the Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia was still enforced when this study was conducted, data collection was only possible using an online platform. Hence, the questionnaire was adapted into a Google Form and arranged following the divided sections stated previously. The distribution of the link to the questionnaire was assisted by English lecturers through the WhatsApp application. The Google Form was open for responses for three weeks before it was closed when it reached 60 respondents. The collected data was extracted using Google Sheet and downloaded into digital storage in the researcher's laptop before analysis was conducted using the SPSS software.

Data Analysis
The data collected were analysed using the IBM Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) v.26. The students' general perceptions of the benefits and challenges of online learning were presented through percentages of responses. The items in the questionnaire were ranked based on the percentages of the agreement for both domains. Students' levels of agreement were calculated by adding the percentages of responses for 'agreed' and 'strongly agreed' while the disagreement levels were based on the total percentages of 'disagreed' and 'strongly disagreed' responses.
According to Sullivan and Artino (2013), on an ordinal scale, as produced by survey data, responses can either be rated or ranked but the distance between responses is not measurable. However, based on compiled evidence in a study by Norman (2010) as cited in Sullivan and Artino (2013), parametric tests can also be used to analyse ordinal data from the Likert scale and that parametric tests, in general, are more robust than the nonparametric test. Rickards et al. (2012) suggested grouping the items into one survey scale to assess a particular construct of interest based on the total score or mean score. Hence, for this study, the items under the constructs of benefits and challenges were grouped into survey scales and the responses were totalled to get the score. Then, a parametric test of independent samples t-test was administered using the total scores of the two domains to compare means between the female and male students.

Benefits of Online Learning Implementation
Students' perceptions of the benefits of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom were described with percentages in Table 1. The benefits were ranked from the most reported to the least reported based on the total percentage of agreement that was calculated by adding the percentages of 'agree' and 'strongly agree' responses.
From Table 1, overall, the majority of the students had neutral positions on the benefits of online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms showing that they neither agreed nor disagreed with all of the statements. The most reported benefit of online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms was that it is very convenient while the least agreed benefit was that online learning promotes better understanding compared to physical classroom learning. In terms of the level of agreement towards the benefits of online learning, Item 1 with the statement that online learning is very convenient showed the highest agreement (28.3%) in comparison to disagreement (21.7%). This was followed by Item 2 with a percentage of students who agreed and strongly agreed at 23.4% on the statement of online learning enables them to accomplish tasks more easily compared to classroom learning. The next item for high agreement level was Item 6 on the statement that online learning improves their performance academically in which the percentage of students who reported agreement (23.4%) towards the statement was lower than those who reported disagreement (28.3%).
From the results, Item 7 reported 23.3% of students' agreement compared to 18.4% who disagreed that online learning facilitated them with their different learning needs. An equivalent percentage of agreement and disagreement (23.3%) was reported for Item 8 stating that online learning improved their learning process. The survey data also shows that only 18.3% of the students agreed that there was more participation of students in online learning than in classroom learning, and only 16.6% reported that they agreed online learning promotes better interaction and communication. The least agreed benefit of online learning implementation was Item 5 where only 8.4% of the samples reported their agreement in comparison to 41.6% who reported disagreement.

Challenges of Online Learning Implementation
Students' perceptions of the challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms were described with percentages in Table 2. Similarly, the challenges were ranked from the most reported to the least reported based on the total percentage of agreement that was calculated by adding the percentages of 'agree' and 'strongly agree' responses. The students reported the highest percentage of agreement (65%) on Item 2 where they found online learning is difficult for them as lecturers' instructions are unclear. Item 4 with the statement that online learning is difficult for those who need assistance in learning from the lecturer recorded the second-highest percentage of agreement (63.4%).
Most of the students also reported a high agreement level (58.4%) on Item 8 stating that online learning is a challenge due to students' tendency not to participate in the learning process. Concerning the demotivating effect of online learning for Item 5, the survey recorded 58.3% of agreement. About 55% of the students also reported on Item 3 that they were demotivated by online learning as they were uncertain about the criteria of the assessment.
For Item 1, a majority of the students reported with a high agreement level (56.7%) that they preferred classroom learning situations. This was followed by Item 7 where students reported agreement (55%) on the statement that they were unable to retain the information learned online. Item 9 recorded that a majority of the students agreed and strongly agreed (50%) with the statement that online learning is difficult as there tends to be a single-student-domination.
The least reported challenge of online learning implementation was Item 6 where only 43.3% agreed and strongly agreed that online learning is difficult because of the off-topic posts in the discussion compared to that 10% who disagreed. The students, however, mostly (46.7%) reported that they were not positively or negatively affected by the off-topic posts in the online discussion which often took place on the LMS platform.

Gender Differences
An independent samples t-test was administered to identify whether female and male students showed a statistically significant difference in their responses to the items in the instrument. Table 3 shows the summary of the independent t-test for the benefits and challenges of online learning between genders. The result of the test showed that there was no significant difference in the responses on the benefits of online learning implementation between female and male students (t = .509, p = .613). Similarly, the test indicated that the responses to the challenges of online learning implementation were not significantly different between female and male students (t = .302, p = .763).

Benefits of Online Learning Implementation
Overall, the majority of the students had neutral positions on the benefits of online learning implementation in the ESL classroom showing that they neither agreed nor disagreed with all of the statements. The most reported benefit of online learning implementation in ESL classrooms was that it is very convenient while the least agreed benefit was that online learning promotes better understanding compared to physical classroom learning.
From the results in Table 1, Item 1 recorded the highest agreement level showing that one greatest features of online learning is that it is very convenient for students. Learning online allows students to easily access all the latest information (Mathew & Ebelelloanya, 2016). The students' perceptions of the convenience of online learning may also be influenced by the current situation of the country due to COVID-19, as it is safer to have physical distances and this is corresponding to the study by Dahmash (2020) where the students reported that the implementation of online learning is relevant to their circumstances during the pandemic outbreak.
Students also believed that they could accomplish more tasks easily in classroom learning. This shows how online learning benefited students with the availability of online learning tools such as Grammarly and Google Translate to assist them in completing the task better especially in writing (Bailey & Lee, 2020). In previous literature, online learning is perceived to help improve students' academic performance in terms of learning motivation, achievement, and engagement (Mandasari, 2020). This is contradicting the findings of this study, stating that more students believed their academic performance did not improve while learning online.
Another benefit of online learning based on this study is that it caters to individual learning. Similar to the traditional classroom, students are different in terms of their learning needs, in which some might need more time with their learning pace. With online learning, these needs could be fulfilled and this is supported in a study by Bailey and Lee (2020) in which, students can get extra time to prepare for answers in online classes compared to the traditional classroom setting. This helped the students to complete the tasks and participate in activities better throughout online learning.
The students also showed agreement that online learning improved their learning process. Throughout the implementation of online learning at the institution, content sharing of learning materials and assessments were made available using the university LMS software which is really helpful for the students' learning process. This is supported by Allo (2020) in which students believed that online learners could be fully supported with the online learning system tools such as LMS software.
The survey data also reported the students' agreement that there was more participation of students in online learning than in classroom learning but only a few agreed that online learning promotes better interaction. These findings are in contradiction with the study by Mathew and Ebelelloanya (2016) who stated that the major benefits of using technology in online learning included better interaction and students' engagement.
The least agreed benefit of online learning implementation was Item 5. This shows that students did not find online learning beneficial to improve their understanding compared to classroom learning. However, this is in contrast with the previous studies where the researchers found that online learning was perceived as beneficial as students can search for information while learning online whereas they did not have the chance to do so in a traditional classroom setting (Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020;Paudel, 2020). The responses for this item could be explained by the instructions' clarity issue discussed in the challenges perceived by the students.

Challenges of Online Learning Implementation
Overall, the majority of the students showed agreement on the challenges of online learning implementation in the ESL classrooms based on the statements. The most reported challenge of online learning was the issue concerning the clarity of lecturers' instructions while the least reported challenge was the off-topic postings in the online discussion.
Item 2 reported the highest percentage of agreement showing that unclear instructions by the lecturers were the main challenge of learning online in the ESL classroom. This could apply when students were given tasks or assignments to be completed at home. Without clear instructions from the lecturers, students find it difficult to complete the tasks successfully. This is supported in the study conducted by Allo (2020) in which students stated that they were hoping that explanations would be provided before the assignments and materials were given to them. Another challenge of online learning based on this study is that there is a limitation in getting lecturers to assist students in need. Item 4 recorded the second highest percentage of agreement showing that online learning limits the assistance given by the lecturers to those who needed them. This finding is supported by Tareen and Haand (2020) in which students had difficulties getting assistance from the lecturers as there was a lack of precise feedback and support from the lecturers for their learning process.
Students also face the challenge of the tendency not to participate in the learning process. This tendency may be the result of technical issues on the part of both the students and lecturers as well as the attitudes of the students (Allo, 2020;Baxter, 2020;Dahmash, 2020). The analysis also shows that students felt demotivated to learn when there was no formality in the teaching process. In the classroom setting, they could see the lecturers teaching in front. However, at home, since there was no lecturer to supervise them, they tended to feel demotivated to learn and easily get distracted (Bailey & Lee, 2020). The students also reported that they were demotivated by online learning as they were uncertain about the criteria of the assessment and this finding is in line with the study by Paudel (2020) where it was a challenge for the students in finding the learning path themselves.
A majority of the students reported that they preferred classroom learning situations, indicating online learning was not favourable. According to Baxter (2020), class time is greatly reduced in online learning due to circumstances. This could lead to ineffective delivery of lessons and less participation in class. The students also perceived that online learning was challenging for them to retain information. The findings of the study by Allo (2020) showed that it was difficult for the students to learn online when the lecturers implemented materials and instructions that were complicated to use. Materials that do not match the students' learning needs are considered as not suitable to be used (Rahmadani et al., 2019). This shows that students can retain information better in a physical classroom setting where instructions and materials are much more comprehensible.
Item 9 recorded that the majority of the students reported agreement on the statement showing that their learning was affected as they may not get enough opportunities to participate in online discussion when there was a single student who dominated the online learning. This is in line with the study by Tareen and Haand (2020) where it was found that the lack of interaction among the students made them more reserved since they did not know each other.
The least reported challenge of online learning implementation was Item 6 where the students perceived that they were not positively or negatively affected by the offtopic posts in the online discussion which often took place on the LMS platform. Students are most probably not affected since they are not fond of the use of LMS due to the lack of necessary features (Gillett-Swan, 2017).

Gender Differences
Overall, there was no significant difference between female and male students' perceptions of the implementation of online learning. This shows that both male and female students have neutral perceptions of the benefits of online learning but mostly agreed on the challenges of online learning. This finding is in line with the study by Mahawar and Nandedkar (2019) which revealed that there were no gender biases towards online learning among the two genders although in an earlier study by Tsokova et al. (2017) female students were more positive on the implementation of online learning in the classroom. This corresponds to the findings by Apriani et al. (2022), where female students in Indonesia favourably viewed online or ICT use in language learning as more advantageous to them in terms of competence, knowledge, and motivational enhancement, despite the fact that male students were more skilled in ICT literacy. However, the recent study by Rafiq et al. (2020) found that male students had more positive opinions on online learning indicating that the male students adapted better to changes in the learning environment.

Pedagogical Implications
The findings of the study shed light on some pedagogical implications for the lecturers as well as the management of institutions. First of all, it is important for the lecturers to improve the teaching practices, for example, better clarity of instructions and guidance in completing online tasks or assignments. Lecturers should also consider applying teaching strategies that provide an opportunity for all students to engage with the lecturers, other students, and the learning materials to promote participation, interaction, and a better understanding of the lessons.
It is also important for the lecturers to adapt to students' different learning needs when opting for suitable strategies to be used in online learning. On the other hand, the management of the institutions should upgrade the quality of the learning management system platform to provide greater accessibility for learning materials, ease of communication, and better students' engagement. Improved technical support should also be taken into account for both lecturers and students to minimize the differences between virtual and physical classroom learning.

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, the implementation of online learning could benefit the students in so many ways. The greatest feature according to students' perceptions of online learning was its convenience in accessibility to the latest information. The least perceived benefit of online learning was that it promoted better understanding compared with the face-to-face classroom setting. On the other hand, the greatest challenge of online learning was the issue of clarity in the instructions given by lecturers and the least concern for online learning among the students is the off-topic postings in online discussions. The gender factor also did not influence the students' perceptions of online learning.
However, this study has its own limitations which should be addressed. It is recommended for future studies to integrate qualitative analysis to further understand the reasons behind the students' opinions. Other than that, there is also a need to consider external factors such as the pedagogical factor as well as the students' experience with online learning. Furthermore, the current study only investigates the students' perceptions of online learning in ESL classrooms. However, extensive research needs to be conducted for classrooms in different fields. The data collected for this study was only limited to quantitative data; hence, future researchers should include the qualitative approach in future studies for in-depth analyses and discussions.


The effect of social media on the development of students’ affective variables

The use of social media is incomparably on the rise among students, influenced by the globalized forms of communication and the post-pandemic rush to use multiple social media platforms for education in different fields of study. Though social media has created tremendous chances for sharing ideas and emotions, the kind of social support it provides might fail to meet students’ emotional needs, or the alleged positive effects might be short-lasting. In recent years, several studies have been conducted to explore the potential effects of social media on students’ affective traits, such as stress, anxiety, depression, and so on. The present paper reviews the findings of the exemplary published works of research to shed light on the positive and negative potential effects of the massive use of social media on students’ emotional well-being. This review can be insightful for teachers who tend to take the potential psychological effects of social media for granted. They may want to know more about the actual effects of the over-reliance on and the excessive (and actually obsessive) use of social media on students’ developing certain images of self and certain emotions which are not necessarily positive. There will be implications for pre- and in-service teacher training and professional development programs and all those involved in student affairs.

Introduction
Social media has turned into an essential element of individuals' lives including students in today's world of communication. Its use is growing significantly more than ever before especially in the post-pandemic era, marked by a great revolution happening to the educational systems. Recent investigations of using social media show that approximately 3 billion individuals worldwide are now communicating via social media (Iwamoto and Chun, 2020). This growing population of social media users is spending more and more time on social network groupings, as facts and figures show that individuals spend 2 h a day, on average, on a variety of social media applications, exchanging pictures and messages, updating status, tweeting, favoring, and commenting on many updated socially shared information (Abbott, 2017).
Researchers have begun to investigate the psychological effects of using social media on students' lives. Chukwuere and Chukwuere (2017) maintained that social media platforms can be considered the most important source of changing individuals' mood, because when someone is passively using a social media platform seemingly with no special purpose, s/he can finally feel that his/her mood has changed as a function of the nature of content overviewed. Therefore, positive and negative moods can easily be transferred among the population using social media networks (Chukwuere and Chukwuere, 2017). This may become increasingly important as students are seen to be using social media platforms more than before and social networking is becoming an integral aspect of their lives. As described by Iwamoto and Chun (2020), when students are affected by social media posts, especially due to the increasing reliance on social media use in life, they may be encouraged to begin comparing themselves to others or develop great unrealistic expectations of themselves or others, which can have several affective consequences.
Considering the increasing influence of social media on education, the present paper aims to focus on the affective variables such as depression, stress, and anxiety, and how social media can possibly increase or decrease these emotions in student life. The exemplary works of research on this topic in recent years will be reviewed here, hoping to shed light on the positive and negative effects of these ever-growing influential platforms on the psychology of students.

Significance of the study
Though social media, as the name suggests, is expected to keep people connected, probably this social connection is only superficial, and not adequately deep and meaningful to help individuals feel emotionally attached to others. The psychological effects of social media on student life need to be studied in more depth to see whether social media really acts as a social support for students and whether students can use social media to cope with negative emotions and develop positive feelings or not. In other words, knowledge of the potential effects of the growing use of social media on students' emotional well-being can bridge the gap between the alleged promises of social media and what it actually has to offer to students in terms of self-concept, selfrespect, social role, and coping strategies (for stress, anxiety, etc.).

Exemplary general literature on psychological effects of social media
Before getting down to the effects of social media on students' emotional well-being, some exemplary works of research in recent years on the topic among general populations are reviewed. For one, Aalbers et al. (2018) reported that individuals who spent more time passively working with social media suffered from more intense levels of hopelessness, loneliness, depression, and perceived inferiority. For another, Tang et al. (2013) observed that the procedures of sharing information, commenting, showing likes and dislikes, posting messages, and doing other common activities on social media are correlated with higher stress. Similarly, Ley et al. (2014) described that people who spend 2 h, on average, on social media applications will face many tragic news, posts, and stories which can raise the total intensity of their stress. This stressprovoking effect of social media has been also pinpointed by Weng and Menczer (2015), who contended that social media becomes a main source of stress because people often share all kinds of posts, comments, and stories ranging from politics and economics, to personal and social affairs. According to Iwamoto and Chun (2020), anxiety and depression are the negative emotions that an individual may develop when some source of stress is present. In other words, when social media sources become stress-inducing, there are high chances that anxiety and depression also develop. Charoensukmongkol (2018) reckoned that the mental health and well-being of the global population can be at a great risk through the uncontrolled massive use of social media. These researchers also showed that social media sources can exert negative affective impacts on teenagers, as they can induce more envy and social comparison. According to Fleck and Johnson-Migalski (2015), though social media, at first, plays the role of a stress-coping strategy, when individuals continue to see stressful conditions (probably experienced and shared by others in media), they begin to develop stress through the passage of time. Chukwuere and Chukwuere (2017) maintained that social media platforms continue to be the major source of changing mood among general populations. For example, someone might be passively using a social media sphere, and s/he may finally find him/herself with a changed mood depending on the nature of the content faced. Then, this good or bad mood is easily shared with others in a flash through the social media. Finally, as Alahmar (2016) described, social media exposes people especially the young generation to new exciting activities and events that may attract them and keep them engaged in different media contexts for hours just passing their time. It usually leads to reduced productivity, reduced academic achievement, and addiction to constant media use (Alahmar, 2016).
The number of studies on the potential psychological effects of social media on people in general is higher than those selectively addressed here. For further insights into this issue, some other suggested works of research include Chang (2012), Sriwilai andCharoensukmongkol (2016), andZareen et al. (2016). Now, we move to the studies that more specifically explored the effects of social media on students' affective states.

Review of the affective influences of social media on students
Vygotsky's mediational theory (see Fernyhough, 2008) can be regarded as a main theoretical background for the support of social media on learners' affective states. Based on this theory, social media can play the role of a mediational means between learners and the real environment. Learners' understanding of this environment can be mediated by the image shaped via social media. This image can be either close to or different from the reality. In the case of the former, learners can develop their selfimage and self-esteem. In the case of the latter, learners might develop unrealistic expectations of themselves by comparing themselves to others. As it will be reviewed below among the affective variables increased or decreased in students under the influence of the massive use of social media are anxiety, stress, depression, distress, rumination, and self-esteem. These effects have been explored more among school students in the age range of 13-18 than university students (above 18), but some studies were investigated among college students as well. Exemplary works of research on these affective variables are reviewed here.
In a cross-sectional study, O'Dea and Campbell (2011) explored the impact of online interactions of social networks on the psychological distress of adolescent students. These researchers found a negative correlation between the time spent on social networking and mental distress. Dumitrache et al. (2012) explored the relations between depression and the identity associated with the use of the popular social media, the Facebook. This study showed significant associations between depression and the number of identity-related information pieces shared on this social network. Neira and Barber (2014) explored the relationship between students' social media use and depressed mood at teenage. No significant correlation was found between these two variables. In the same year, Tsitsika et al. (2014) explored the associations between excessive use of social media and internalizing emotions. These researchers found a positive correlation between more than 2-h a day use of social media and anxiety and depression. Hanprathet et al. (2015) reported a statistically significant positive correlation between addiction to Facebook and depression among about a thousand high school students in wealthy populations of Thailand and warned against this psychological threat. Sampasa-Kanyinga and Lewis (2015) examined the relationship between social media use and psychological distress. These researchers found that the use of social media for more than 2 h a day was correlated with a higher intensity of psychological distress. Banjanin et al. (2015) tested the relationship between too much use of social networking and depression, yet found no statistically significant correlation between these two variables. Frison and Eggermont (2016) examined the relationships between different forms of Facebook use, perceived social support of social media, and male and female students' depressed mood. These researchers found a positive association between the passive use of the Facebook and depression and also between the active use of the social media and depression. Furthermore, the perceived social support of the social media was found to mediate this association. Besides, gender was found as the other factor to mediate this relationship. Vernon et al. (2017) explored change in negative investment in social networking in relation to change in depression and externalizing behavior. These researchers found that increased investment in social media predicted higher depression in adolescent students, which was a function of the effect of higher levels of disrupted sleep. Barry et al. (2017) explored the associations between the use of social media by adolescents and their psychosocial adjustment. Social media activity showed to be positively and moderately associated with depression and anxiety. Another investigation was focused on secondary school students in China conducted by Li et al. (2017). The findings showed a mediating role of insomnia on the significant correlation between depression and addiction to social media. In the same year, Yan et al. (2017) aimed to explore the time spent on social networks and its correlation with anxiety among middle school students. They found a significant positive correlation between more than 2-h use of social networks and the intensity of anxiety.
Also in China, Wang et al. (2018) showed that addiction to social networking sites was correlated positively with depression, and this correlation was mediated by rumination. These researchers also found that this mediating effect was moderated by self-esteem. It means that the effect of addiction on depression was compounded by low self-esteem through rumination. In another work of research, Drouin et al. (2018) showed that though social media is expected to act as a form of social support for the majority of university students, it can adversely affect students' mental well-being, especially for those who already have high levels of anxiety and depression. In their research, the social media resources were found to be stressinducing for half of the participants, all university students. The higher education population was also studied by Iwamoto and Chun (2020). These researchers investigated the emotional effects of social media in higher education and found that the socially supportive role of social media was overshadowed in the long run in university students' lives and, instead, fed into their perceived depression, anxiety, and stress. Keles et al. (2020) provided a systematic review of the effect of social media on young and teenage students' depression, psychological distress, and anxiety. They found that depression acted as the most frequent affective variable measured. The Frontiers in Psychology 03 frontiersin.org most salient risk factors of psychological distress, anxiety, and depression based on the systematic review were activities such as repeated checking for messages, personal investment, the time spent on social media, and problematic or addictive use. Similarly, Mathewson (2020) investigated the effect of using social media on college students' mental health. The participants stated the experience of anxiety, depression, and suicidality (thoughts of suicide or attempts to suicide). The findings showed that the types and frequency of using social media and the students' perceived mental health were significantly correlated with each other.

Discussion
The body of research on the effect of social media on students' affective and emotional states has led to mixed results. The existing literature shows that there are some positive and some negative affective impacts. Yet, it seems that the latter is pre-dominant. Mathewson (2020) attributed these divergent positive and negative effects to the different theoretical frameworks adopted in different studies and also the different contexts (different countries with whole different educational systems). According to Fredrickson's broaden-and-build theory of positive emotions (Fredrickson, 2001), the mental repertoires of learners can be built and broadened by how they feel. For instance, some external stimuli might provoke negative emotions such as anxiety and depression in learners. Having experienced these negative emotions, students might repeatedly check their messages on social media or get addicted to them. As a result, their cognitive repertoire and mental capacity might become limited and they might lose their concentration during their learning process. On the other hand, it should be noted that by feeling positive, learners might take full advantage of the affordances of the social media and; thus, be able to follow their learning goals strategically. This point should be highlighted that the link between the use of social media and affective states is bi-directional. Therefore, strategic use of social media or its addictive use by students can direct them toward either positive experiences like enjoyment or negative ones such as anxiety and depression. Also, these mixed positive and negative effects are similar to the findings of several other relevant studies on general populations' psychological and emotional health. A number of studies (with general research populations not necessarily students) showed that social networks have facilitated the way of staying in touch with family and friends living far away as well as an increased social support (Zhang, 2017). Given the positive and negative emotional effects of social media, social media can either scaffold the emotional repertoire of students, which can develop positive emotions in learners, or induce negative provokers in them, based on which learners might feel negative emotions such as anxiety and depression. However, admittedly, social media has also generated a domain that encourages the act of comparing lives, and striving for approval; therefore, it establishes and internalizes unrealistic perceptions (Virden et al., 2014;Radovic et al., 2017).
It should be mentioned that the susceptibility of affective variables to social media should be interpreted from a dynamic lens. This means that the ecology of the social media can make changes in the emotional experiences of learners. More specifically, students' affective variables might self-organize into different states under the influence of social media. As for the positive correlation found in many studies between the use of social media and such negative effects as anxiety, depression, and stress, it can be hypothesized that this correlation is induced by the continuous comparison the individual makes and the perception that others are doing better than him/her influenced by the posts that appear on social media. Using social media can play a major role in university students' psychological well-being than expected. Though most of these studies were correlational, and correlation is not the same as causation, as the studies show that the number of participants experiencing these negative emotions under the influence of social media is significantly high, more extensive research is highly suggested to explore causal effects (Mathewson, 2020).
As the review of exemplary studies showed, some believed that social media increased comparisons that students made between themselves and others. This finding ratifies the relevance of the Interpretation Comparison Model (Stapel and Koomen, 2000;Stapel, 2007) and Festinger's (1954) Social Comparison Theory. Concerning the negative effects of social media on students' psychology, it can be argued that individuals may fail to understand that the content presented in social media is usually changed to only represent the attractive aspects of people's lives, showing an unrealistic image of things. We can add that this argument also supports the relevance of the Social Comparison Theory and the Interpretation Comparison Model (Stapel and Koomen, 2000;Stapel, 2007), because social media sets standards that students think they should compare themselves with. A constant observation of how other students or peers are showing their instances of achievement leads to higher self-evaluation (Stapel and Koomen, 2000). It is conjectured that the ubiquitous role of social media in student life establishes unrealistic expectations and promotes continuous comparison as also pinpointed in the Interpretation Comparison Model (Stapel and Koomen, 2000;Stapel, 2007).

Implications of the study
The use of social media is ever increasing among students, both at school and university, which is partly because of the promises of technological advances in communication services and partly because of the increased use of social networks for educational purposes in recent years after the pandemic. This consistent use of social media is not expected to leave students' Frontiers in Psychology 04 frontiersin.org psychological, affective and emotional states untouched. Thus, it is necessary to know how the growing usage of social networks is associated with students' affective health on different aspects. Therefore, we found it useful to summarize the research findings in recent years in this respect. If those somehow in charge of student affairs in educational settings are aware of the potential positive or negative effects of social media usage on students, they can better understand the complexities of students' needs and are better capable of meeting them. Psychological counseling programs can be initiated at schools or universities to check upon the latest state of students' mental and emotional health influenced by the pervasive use of social media. The counselors can be made aware of the potential adverse effects of social networking and can adapt the content of their inquiries accordingly. Knowledge of the potential reasons for student anxiety, depression, and stress can help school or university counselors to find individualized coping strategies when they diagnose any symptom of distress in students influenced by an excessive use of social networking. Admittedly, it is neither possible to discard the use of social media in today's academic life, nor to keep students' use of social networks fully controlled. Certainly, the educational space in today's world cannot do without the social media, which has turned into an integral part of everybody's life. Yet, probably students need to be instructed on how to take advantage of the media and to be the least affected negatively by its occasional superficial and unrepresentative content. Compensatory programs might be needed at schools or universities to encourage students to avoid making unrealistic and impartial comparisons of themselves and the flamboyant images of others displayed on social media. Students can be taught to develop self-appreciation and self-care while continuing to use the media to their benefit.
The teachers' role as well as the curriculum developers' role are becoming more important than ever, as they can significantly help to moderate the adverse effects of the pervasive social media use on students' mental and emotional health. The kind of groupings formed for instructional purposes, for example, in social media can be done with greater care by teachers to make sure that the members of the groups are homogeneous and the tasks and activities shared in the groups are quite relevant and realistic. The teachers cannot always be in a full control of students' use of social media, and the other fact is that students do not always and only use social media for educational purposes. They spend more time on social media for communicating with friends or strangers or possibly they just passively receive the content produced out of any educational scope just for entertainment. This uncontrolled and unrealistic content may give them a false image of life events and can threaten their mental and emotional health. Thus, teachers can try to make students aware of the potential hazards of investing too much of their time on following pages or people that publish false and misleading information about their personal or social identities. As students, logically expected, spend more time with their teachers than counselors, they may be better and more receptive to the advice given by the former than the latter.
Teachers may not be in full control of their students' use of social media, but they have always played an active role in motivating or demotivating students to take particular measures in their academic lives. If teachers are informed of the recent research findings about the potential effects of massively using social media on students, they may find ways to reduce students' distraction or confusion in class due to the excessive or over-reliant use of these networks. Educators may more often be mesmerized by the promises of technology-, computer-and mobile-assisted learning. They may tend to encourage the use of social media hoping to benefit students' social and interpersonal skills, self-confidence, stress-managing and the like. Yet, they may be unaware of the potential adverse effects on students' emotional wellbeing and, thus, may find the review of the recent relevant research findings insightful. Also, teachers can mediate between learners and social media to manipulate the time learners spend on social media. Research has mainly indicated that students' emotional experiences are mainly dependent on teachers' pedagogical approach. They should refrain learners from excessive use of, or overreliance on, social media. Raising learners' awareness of this fact that individuals should develop their own path of development for learning, and not build their development based on unrealistic comparison of their competences with those of others, can help them consider positive values for their activities on social media and, thus, experience positive emotions.
At higher education, students' needs are more life-like. For example, their employment-seeking spirits might lead them to create accounts in many social networks, hoping for a better future. However, membership in many of these networks may end in the mere waste of the time that could otherwise be spent on actual on-campus cooperative projects. Universities can provide more on-campus resources both for research and work experience purposes from which the students can benefit more than the cyberspace that can be tricky on many occasions. Two main theories underlying some negative emotions like boredom and anxiety are overstimulation and under-stimulation. Thus, what learners feel out of their involvement in social media might be directed toward negative emotions due to the stimulating environment of social media. This stimulating environment makes learners rely too much, and spend too much time, on social media or use them obsessively. As a result, they might feel anxious or depressed. Given the ubiquity of social media, these negative emotions can be replaced with positive emotions if learners become aware of the psychological effects of social media. Regarding the affordances of social media for learners, they can take advantage of the potential affordances of these media such as improving their literacy, broadening their communication skills, or enhancing their distance learning opportunities.

Conclusion
A review of the research findings on the relationship between social media and students' affective traits revealed both positive and negative findings. Yet, the instances of the latter were more salient and the negative psychological symptoms such as depression, anxiety, and stress have been far from negligible. These findings were discussed in relation to some more relevant theories such as the social comparison theory, which predicted that most of the potential issues with the young generation's excessive use of social media were induced by the unfair comparisons they made between their own lives and the unrealistic portrayal of others' on social media. Teachers, education policymakers, curriculum developers, and all those in charge of the student affairs at schools and universities should be made aware of the psychological effects of the pervasive use of social media on students, and the potential threats.
It should be reminded that the alleged socially supportive and communicative promises of the prevalent use of social networking in student life might not be fully realized in practice. Students may lose self-appreciation and gratitude when they compare their current state of life with the snapshots of others' or peers'. A depressed or stressed-out mood can follow. Students at schools or universities need to learn self-worth to resist the adverse effects of the superficial support they receive from social media. Along this way, they should be assisted by the family and those in charge at schools or universities, most importantly the teachers. As already suggested, counseling programs might help with raising students' awareness of the potential psychological threats of social media to their health. Considering the ubiquity of social media in everybody' life including student life worldwide, it seems that more coping and compensatory strategies should be contrived to moderate the adverse psychological effects of the pervasive use of social media on students. Also, the affective influences of social media should not be generalized but they need to be interpreted from an ecological or contextual perspective. This means that learners might have different emotions at different times or different contexts while being involved in social media. More specifically, given the stative approach to learners' emotions, what learners emotionally experience in their application of social media can be bound to their intrapersonal and interpersonal experiences. This means that the same learner at different time points might go through different emotions Also, learners' emotional states as a result of their engagement in social media cannot be necessarily generalized to all learners in a class.
As the majority of studies on the psychological effects of social media on student life have been conducted on school students than in higher education, it seems it is too soon to make any conclusive remark on this population exclusively. Probably, in future, further studies of the psychological complexities of students at higher education and a better knowledge of their needs can pave the way for making more insightful conclusions about the effects of social media on their affective states.

Suggestions for further research
The majority of studies on the potential effects of social media usage on students' psychological well-being are either quantitative or qualitative in type, each with many limitations. Presumably, mixed approaches in near future can better provide a comprehensive assessment of these potential associations. Moreover, most studies on this topic have been crosssectional in type. There is a significant dearth of longitudinal investigation on the effect of social media on developing positive or negative emotions in students. This seems to be essential as different affective factors such as anxiety, stress, self-esteem, and the like have a developmental nature. Traditional research methods with single-shot designs for data collection fail to capture the nuances of changes in these affective variables. It can be expected that more longitudinal studies in future can show how the continuous use of social media can affect the fluctuations of any of these affective variables during the different academic courses students pass at school or university.
As already raised in some works of research reviewed, the different patterns of impacts of social media on student life depend largely on the educational context. Thus, the same research designs with the same academic grade students and even the same age groups can lead to different findings concerning the effects of social media on student psychology in different countries. In other words, the potential positive and negative effects of popular social media like Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, etc., on students' affective conditions can differ across different educational settings in different host countries. Thus, significantly more research is needed in different contexts and cultures to compare the results.
There is also a need for further research on the higher education students and how their affective conditions are positively and negatively affected by the prevalent use of social media. University students' psychological needs might be different from other academic grades and, thus, the patterns of changes that the overall use of social networking can create in their emotions can be also different. Their main reasons for using social media might be different from school students as well, which need to be investigated more thoroughly. The sorts of interventions needed to moderate the potential negative Finally, there are hopes that considering the everincreasing popularity of social networking in education, the potential psychological effects of social media on teachers be explored as well. Though teacher psychology has only recently been considered for research, the literature has provided profound insights into teachers developing stress, motivation, self-esteem, and many other emotions. In today's world driven by global communications in the cyberspace, teachers like everyone else are affecting and being affected by social networking. The comparison theory can hold true for teachers too. Thus, similar threats (of social media) to self-esteem and self-worth can be there for teachers too besides students, which are worth investigating qualitatively and quantitatively.
Probably a new line of research can be initiated to explore the co-development of teacher and learner psychological traits under the influence of social media use in longitudinal studies. These will certainly entail sophisticated research methods to be capable of unraveling the nuances of variation in these traits and their mutual effects, for example, stress, motivation, and self-esteem. If these are incorporated within mixed-approach works of research, more comprehensive and better insightful findings can be expected to emerge. Correlational studies need to be followed by causal studies in educational settings. As many conditions of the educational settings do not allow for having control groups or randomization, probably, experimental studies do not help with this. Innovative research methods, case studies or else, can be used to further explore the causal relations among the different features of social media use and the development of different affective variables in teachers or learners. Examples of such innovative research methods can be process tracing, qualitative comparative analysis, and longitudinal latent factor modeling (for a more comprehensive view, see Hiver and Al-Hoorie, 2019).


Effects of Motorcycle Accidents on Household

Purpose: World Health Organization reports that more than 1.2 million people die every year due to road transport related traffic accidents. In Kenya approximately one in every five death is due to road traffic accidents. In Vihiga County, motorcycles are the leading cause of accidents with victims increasing from 140 in 2008 to 338 in 2018. Therefore, the purpose of this paper was to analyze motorcycle accident effects on household livelihood in Vihiga County, Kenya. Methodology: The study was modeled around the system theory. A descriptive research design was adopted with a target population of 140 respondents who were the victims of the road traffic accident were involved using the census technique. Data collection was done using questionnaires and interviews. Validity test was by construct validity while reliability test involved the use of Cronbach’ alpha. Data was analyzed into frequencies, cumulative frequencies and percentages using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS version 16). The study findings indicated that motorcycle accidents have an effect on livelihoods because families find it difficult accessing basic needs after their bread winner is involved in a road accident. There is an association between motorcycle accidents and access to food with chi-square of 4.487 and p-value of 0.016. Unique contribution to practice and policy: The study recommends that the government should train all riders to impart them with skills that will help reduce accidents and also revise the driving school curriculum in order to seal loopholes that see unqualified motorcycle riders on the road. National the Hamisi motorcycle accidents and ensure their fees is paid to avoid the high school dropout cases. The government to incorporate NGOs offering humanitarian services to consider including families of victims of motorcycle accidents in their feeding program to ensure they access food. Finally, public campaign to be carried out to sensitize the motorcycle riders on importance of subscribing to NHIF so as to be able to access treatment in case of an accident.

INTRODUCTION
Road transport plays a key role in the economic growth of a country by integrating various sectors in the economy Silas et al. (2011). Over the recent years the use of motorcycle has increased as a mode of road transport for commercial or public transport in Africa as a relatively recent phenomenon (Ismail & Abdelmageed. 2010). Motorcycles are preferred by people as means of public transport given their ability to travel on poor roads. For example, due to increased commercial demand it is estimated that the number of motorcycles in Kenya increased from 3,759 units in 20053,759 units in to 91,151 in 20093,759 units in Matheka et al.( 2015. The commercial motorcycle service growth has led to an increase in road accidents, difficulty in traffic management, serious noise and increase in local air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions (Kumar, 2011).
Globally, road traffic accidents (RTAs) the ninth leading cause of death with predictions indicating that by the year 2030 it will be the fifth leading cause of death (Ismail & Abdelmageed, 2010). According to the World Health Organization (WHO) report (2009), many people were found to die from road traffic accidents than malaria in the world. The reports further estimate that 1.2 million deaths are due to road related traffic accidents and the injuries obtained from this are estimated to be between 10 and 15 million people per year all over the world. Motorcyclists are reported to account for over 16 times of Killed & Serious Injury (KSI) rate in the UK per million vehicle kilometers, (WHO, 2009). It further informs that although motorcyclists make up less than 1% of vehicle traffic; their riders suffer 14% of total deaths and serious injuries especially on Britain's roads.
In Africa, more than one in five deaths occur on Nigerian roads and six other countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Democratic Republic of Congo which contribute to 64 percent of the regions road deaths (Respicious et al., 2016) .While Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia have the lowest road fatality rates in the region, South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria have high fatality rates and high death rates. In 2002, for instance, injuries that incurred from road traffic accidents were the 9th leading cause of disability-adjusted life years lost representing 2.5 percent of the burden of disease worldwide or more than 38 million disability adjusted life years lost (WHO, 2009 Various studies examining the effects of road accidents and necessary intervention have been conducted world over .For example, Bachani et al. (2012) in Australia, Bishai et al. (2006) in India, Matheka et al. (2015), Manyara (2016) and Abdulgafoor et al. (2012) in Kenya among others. These studies established injury, death, overall economic costs to the country as the major effects of road traffic accidents while road safety promotion, installation of speed governors in passenger service vehicles in Kenya, use of child safety seats were identified as road safety interventions. However, it should be noted that studies focused on overall economic effect to the country and not livelihoods of victims and their families while interventions were mainly focused on curbing motor vehicle accidents. Therefore, the effect of motorcycle accidents to households and interventions curbing motorcycle accidents remain unknown. This justifies the need to establish the effects on livelihoods and interventions to curb motorcycle accidents in Vihiga County, Kenya, thus the need for the study. The Purpose of the study is to analyze the effects of motorcycle accidents on household livelihoods in Vihiga county, Kenya.

Objectives of the study.
i) To find out the effects of motorcycle accidents on household livelihoods Vihiga County, Kenya.
ii) To generate injury types associated with motorcycle accidents in Vihiga County, Kenya. The county is located in the lake basin region with an average altitude between 1500m and 1800m above sea level. The average annual rainfall for the county is between 1800mm and 2000mm with an average temperature of 24 degrees Celsius. Its terrain is hilly sloping from east to west and it has some forest cover. Agriculture is the main activity of the county with some crop and livestock keeping practice. Most of the household engage in crop farming (Vihiga, 2015). According to the Vihiga county integrated plan of 2018, the total road network in the county is 1058.2km with tarmac surface covering a length of 157km, gravel surface 373.7km and earth surface 483km (Vihiga, 2018). The main mode of transport in the area is motorcycle. The residents find the use of motorcycle to be the fastest and convenient form compared to other modes of transport. Vihiga county was selected purposively because the data was accessed with ease.

Sampling technique and sample size determination
The total number of accident victims recorded was 149 .The study adopted a census technique where all the 140 victims that had been registered by the traffic police during the study period were interviewed. The households of the 9 deceased victims were excluded from the study because the study aimed at getting first-hand information from the victims themselves.

Data Collection Methods and Procedures
Both secondary and primary data was used in the study. The primary data was collected using a face to face interview with the victims to establish the effect that the motorcycle accidents have had on their livelihood. Questionnaires were also used to supplement the information collected using interview. Secondary data was obtained from the Vihiga County Traffic Department record for the accidents that occurred between the years 2014-2019. To do this, random spatial distribution model was used for this study. This is because motorcycle accidents can occur anywhere and thus not possible to use an even distribution. Structured questionnaires were used in establishing household income status. Secondary data was used from the police database in the county to establish status of the accidents and mapping of the areas where the accident occurred. Motorcycle accident victims were the main informant in this study mainly because they were the ones who could give their first-hand experience. In this group there were 140 victims who were interviewed. The victims were all selected upon inquiring about where they lived which was mainly guided by the police records and the process took approximately three weeks. The interview was only done after the victims gave their consent. For victims who were illiterate, the interview questions were interpreted for their understanding. All accident victims were considered.

Data Analysis Procedures
Data collected was analyzed using SPSS software version 16. Descriptive statistics were done such as mean, mode, median standard deviation, frequency, percentages and presented in the form of tables to depict the demographic characteristics of the respondents. The descriptive statistics also helped to understand whether the data was normally distributed. Graphs were also generated to demonstrate clearly the trend of road traffic accidents in Vihiga County. Inferential statistics was done using correlation to determine the relationship between motorcycle accidents and household livelihood.

Effects of Motorcycle Accidents on Household Livelihood
The main objective of this study was to analyze the effect of motorcycle accidents on household livelihood in Vihiga County, Kenya. This objective sought to investigate the effect of motorcycle accidents on household livelihood in Vihiga County, Kenya Results in Table 2 show the physical condition of the accident victims, 90 (70%) of them had temporal disability .There were 45 (26.4%) of the victims who had permanent disability while 5 (3.6%) had fully recovered.

Source: Researcher's compilation (2019)
An interview with the nurses revealed that most of the casualties that they received as a result of motorcycle accident were because they did not wear protective gear. The interview results were complemented by the findings of Thomson et al, (2002) that indicated that the risk of head injury in riders who used helmets was reduced by 85 percent compared to those who did not use a helmet. Therefore, if riders and their passengers use helmets then the injuries that occur in the county due to motorcycle accidents will not be severe. The study concurs with the findings of Bachani, et al. (2012) that relatives of accident victims were left to suffer by seeking alternative means to cater for family needs because their loved one could not continue providing for them, with some of their children permanently dropping out of school or suffering from malnutrition as a result of inadequate food, or having poor clothing and shelter. Table 3 show the effect of motorcycle accidents on access to basic needs (food, clothing, shelter and education) after their loved one got involved in motorcycle accident. From the study 23 (16.4%) had difficulties for a short period but managed to go back to their original status to obtain basic needs. On the other hand, 113(80.7%) of the victims had difficulty in accessing food most of the time when their loved one was involved in an accident. Only 4 (2.9%) did not find any difficulty in accessing basic needs. When a household member is involved in an accident, most of the money earned is spend on their treatment and in case of death the money is spend on funeral expenses. Therefore, the money that was meant for basic needs was spent on treatment of the accident victims. The difficulty in accessing basic needs because of the accidents describes clearly how a household is affected economically thus answering the main objective. Aeron- Thomas et al (2004) in their study discovered that increasing road traffic accidents also affected the livelihood of a household because road traffic injuries also imply important distributional consequences on household income. Not at all-obtained basic need with no difficulty 4 2.9

Results in
Total 140 100.0

Researcher's compilation (2019)
The results in Table 4. further show the association between accessing basic needs and motorcycle accidents. The Pearson's correlation between motorcycle accident and access to basic needs was 0.039 indicating that there exist a positive relationship between motorcycle accidents and household livelihood which are measured by the ability to access basic needs in a household. This results show that there is a significant relationship between motorcycle accidents and household livelihood. The study finding are similar to those of Aeron et al., (2010) who established that increasing road traffic accidents also affect the economy at different levels. For instance, "in agricultural villages" around the world, the poorest people are those who cannot work due to some long-term disability or injury that are sustained from accidents caused by motorcycles and other vehicles.   The second objective of the study was to examine the cost associated with Motorcycle accidents depending on the types of injuries incurred in the accidents as indicated in household who are victims to road traffic accident face financial crisis due to spending funds in search for medical services. Thus the findings of this study concur with their findings.

CONCLUSION
The study concluded that motorcycle accidents have an effect on household livelihoods. For instance, physical conditions of the accident victims determined whether the victim would continue to provide for the family and most of the victims had obtained temporal injury (70%) and permanent disability (26.4%). Therefore, this means that their working condition was affected permanently or temporarily and thus interrupted the household income hence affecting their livelihood. Furthermore, the money used for treatment affected the household income negatively since the treatment for most of the accident victims was expensive making some of the households to end up suffering and finding it difficult to meet their basic needs.
Furthermore, the study concluded that there was an association between motorcycle accidents and access to basic needs of household having victim of motorcycle accident. The study concluded that there exists a significant relationship between motorcycle accidents and household livelihood. 90 of the victims had temporal disability representing 70%. 45 of the victims had permanent disability representing 26.4% while 5 (3.6%) had fully recovered. From this it is clear that many of the victims could not continue with their daily jobs because of the injuries they sustained with only a handful getting full recovery.
The study concluded that the household livelihood of road traffic accident victims was affected after occurrence of Motorcycle accident First of all, it was clear that the productive age (between 25 and 34 years) was the most affected in motorcycle accidents. The youths who were just starting out in life by providing their family's needs with the income they got from their motorcycle business. When the accidents occurred, then these youths were not able to work becoming a burden to the household especially in cases where the victim was the bread winner. Another effect was the high cost of treating the victims. The household had to divert its income to meet the medical bills during the treatment. The cost increased further if the victims needed constant care after the accident, forcing their caregivers to stop working in order to care for the injured. The study concluded that the Motorcycle accidents occurred in steep road surfaces on latitude of 34 0 and longitude of between 35 0 and 45 0 .
After an analysis of motorcycle accident effects on household livelihood in Vihiga County in Kenya the following are the study recommendations; 1. National Transport and Safety Authority to make known to the public black spot areas especially in Hamisi sub county and ensure safety measures are taken to stop motorcycle accidents.
2. Traffic police department to reinforce traffic rules especially on the use of helmets as most of the accidents that were fatal were as a result of riding without helmets.
3. Ministry of education through the constituency development fund committee to identify children from families with victims of motorcycle accidents and ensure their fees is paid to avoid the high school dropout cases.