The ongoing global COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented shifts in higher education worldwide, with some nations more adversely affected than others. Since the onset of the crisis, almost all education abruptly moved to ‘emergency remote teaching and learning’. While the United Arab Emirates has been praised for its swift and effective responses, unique cultural and linguistic dynamics in this region present additional challenges for teaching and learning. This article presents empirical data from a qualitative phenomenological case study investigating female Emirati university students’ (n = 69) perspectives on the use of video cameras and microphones in online classes. Students’ reflective writing and researcher observations in autumn 2020 revealed discomfort using video cameras and microphones due to a range of cultural and linguistic factors. Such factors include Islamic beliefs relating to modesty, home as a gendered space, noise considerations, concerns about privacy, struggles with language in their English-medium instruction university and fear of judgement from peers. Data are interpreted thematically using intersectionality together with Goffman’s theories of everyday interaction, stigma and relative deprivation, through which complexities of learner identities are explored. Practical suggestions are made on ways to adapt online learning to better suit the cultural and sociolinguistic realities of periphery and Global South contexts. It is argued that greater efforts need to be made toward inclusion of marginalized learners during the COVID-19 period.

持续的全球 COVID-19 大流行已导致全球高等教育发生了前所未有的转变，一些国家比其他国家受到的不利影响更大。自危机爆发以来，几乎所有的教育都突然转向“紧急远程教与学”。虽然阿拉伯联合酋长国因其迅速有效的反应而受到称赞，但该地区独特的文化和语言动态给教学和学习带来了额外的挑战。本文介绍了一项定性现象学案例研究的实证数据，该研究调查了阿联酋女大学生 ( n = 69) 关于在在线课程中使用摄像机和麦克风的观点。学生在 2020 年秋季的反思性写作和研究人员观察表明，由于一系列文化和语言因素，使用摄像机和麦克风时感到不适。这些因素包括与谦虚有关的伊斯兰信仰、家庭作为性别空间、噪音考虑、对隐私的担忧、在英语教学大学中与语言的斗争以及害怕来自同龄人的判断。使用交叉性以及戈夫曼关于日常互动、污名和相对剥夺的理论对数据进行主题解释，通过这些理论探索学习者身份的复杂性。就如何调整在线学习以更好地适应边缘和全球南方环境的文化和社会语言现实提出了实用建议。有人认为，在 COVID-19 期间，需要做出更大的努力来包容边缘化的学习者。