Abstract：Foreign language online courses have developed rapidly in recent years, and it is imperative to clearly define learner-based course evaluation indexes to help improve online course quality. Based on Grounded Theory, this study selected user reviews of 30 foreign language courses on the iCourse platform, conducted a three-level coding of the quality-related aspects of the course being evaluated, and identified all the learner-based quality evaluation indexes. A total of five primary indicators (teacher, learning effectiveness, course content, course management and interaction, and technology and platform support) and 14 secondary indicators were included. The results showed that learners valued [teachers] and [course content], and they tended to evaluate courses by their perceived [learning effectiveness]. In addition, the study found that learners’ evaluations were influenced by the type of course being evaluated: they focused on [teacher] for basic language and skills courses, [teacher] and [course content] for literature and culture courses, and [learning effectiveness] for special-purpose courses.
Key words: foreign language online course; learner-based; evaluation indexes; Grounded Theory
