Distance Education and E-learning: What Algerian Research Tell us about the Attitudes and Experiences of Teachers and Students?

The present study sheds light on the feasibility of virtual learning in teaching EFL to university students. It reviews a number of studies that addressed the topic in the Algerian educational context and builds upon their findings to reach meaningful conclusions. The design embodies a narrative review that relies on qualitative and quantitative data for analysing the applicability of distance education. The study aims to answer the following questions: “What are the attitudes of teachers and students on EFL virtual instruction in Algeria?” and “What are the difficulties and challenges faced by participants during EFL e-learning courses?”. The study is based on a synthesis of seven case studies at six different Algerian universities. The results indicated that the majority of the respondents held negative attitudes toward e-learning and relatively distance education. Likewise, most of the participants in the examined studies claimed they faced issues with the virtual mode of EFL pedagogy. The findings suggest the presence of a potential positive correlation between the encountered issues and the negative attitudes reported by participants in those studies. More profound research is still needed to gain a better understanding of how students' and teachers’ online experiences affect their perspectives on e-learning.