Psychological Barriers of Vietnam High School Students in Online Learning Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Quantitative Study

Abstract

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has strongly influenced on education system in Vietnam. Schools' closure was one solution to prevent the spread of the virus that has forced these institutions to transition from traditional learning methods to online learning methods. This circumstance has brought many difficulties for high school students who have not been familiar with online learning methods before. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify some psychological barriers in online learning of Vietnam high school students. On the other hand, the study also found the relationship between these barriers. The differences in gender, areas, feelings and learning outcomes were determined in all three psychological barriers.  Data were collected online from high school students. The intent was to get about 310 responses, and 309 returned usable responses. Several analytical methods used to analyze the data include the descriptive statistical analysis method, the Spearman correlation analysis, and the one-way ANOVA. The results provided information on some psychological barriers with their correlation. The significant relationship among three psychological barriers: social interaction, technical skills, and learner motivation attributed the difficulties to Vietnam high school students in online learning, especially in the Covid-19 pandemic context. The differences in gender, areas, feelings and learning outcomes were considered the related factors in the online learning environment.  These findings could support further studies for researchers, education administrators, teachers, and related stakeholders such as parents, enterprises, and the community to propose solutions to issues affecting the high school students' learning effectiveness and outcomes.