Teaching Spanish as a foreign language typically relies on in-person activities due to the ambiance requirement of the language-learning experience. However, the sudden onset of the COVID-19 pandemic forced universities to transition abruptly to virtual instruction without prior preparation. In Vietnam, universities remained closed for a year, requiring all courses to be rapidly adapted to online formats.

This paper presents a multiple case study of emergency-transitioned Spanish courses at two universities in Vietnam. It aims to evaluate the effectiveness of virtual instruction compared to traditional in-person teaching, drawing on feedback from both students and professors. Data were collected through questionnaires and observations, with students assessing the clarity of virtual courses and professors evaluating student's knowledge acquisition.

Several factors were examined, including the professor’s age, as well as the gender of both professors and students.

The study examines three student groups (freshmen, juniors, and seniors) over the 2019-2022 academic years, and three professor age groups (25-35, 35-45, and 45+). Key findings include that professors aged 35-45 years demonstrated the best teaching performance, while professors aged 25-35 and 45+ faced challenges in ensuring clarity. There were no significant differences in knowledge acquisition among the three student groups. There also was no significant difference in performance outcomes between the two gender groups of professors.. However, notable differences were observed in teaching methods and acquired competencies. Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) proved most effective for student comprehension, and grammar acquisition outperformed pronunciation skills.

These findings provide insights into the impact of virtual teaching on Spanish language acquisition and the challenges faced in adapting to a virtual learning environment.

Keywords: Spanish, virtual class, pandemic.