Challenges of Online Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an English as a Foreign Language Context: A Process Tracing Approach
The prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has affected educational systems around the world and has forced education systems to shift to online learning. The present study was motivated to explore the challenges (common technology-driven and content-specific challenges) facing an English as a foreign language teacher throughout an online English course in Iran. The main participant of this study was a female teacher, with 17 years of experience in teaching English to children, teenagers, and adults. To this aim, a process-tracing approach was employed in an online English class with 10 female students, all teenagers, to unravel the causal mechanisms involved in the beginning, middle and end of the English course. The results showed that the greatest challenges throughout the course especially in initial and mid sessions were caused by deficient technological resources. The two other causal categories, human and content resources, were at their peak early in the course and then reduced significantly by the end. The most troublesome challenges the teacher faced were platform limitations, internet connection and human resources’ unpreparedness for online education. Though the teacher’s as well as most students’ technological knowledge and media literacy showed an increase by the end of the course, some students’ slow adaptation challenged the teacher until the end. As for the content-based challenges, teaching vocabulary and speaking was considered the most challenging one due to lack of teacher’s physical contact with students.
Figure 1
The is a timely study with an innovative method to trace the causes of challenges foreign language teachers face in their online courses during COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study have given deep insights into the current concerns of these teachers in the current critical conditions. Also, the procedures provided in the method section can be followed by other researchers for the exploration of relevant concepts with a dynamic nature. It should be noted that the use of process tracing has been recently introduced in our field by Hiver and Al-Hoorie (2019): Hiver, P., & Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2019). Research methods for complexity theory in applied linguistics. Multilingual Matters.
Interesting findings and an innovative method! The study reveals the underpinning causes for the challenges we as teachers of English language encounter in our online classes. They are so common with my own teaching experiences these days.
Posted 11 Jan, 2021
On 03 Jan, 2021
On 03 Jan, 2021
On 03 Jan, 2021
On 29 Dec, 2020
Challenges of Online Teaching During the COVID-19 Pandemic in an English as a Foreign Language Context: A Process Tracing Approach
Posted 11 Jan, 2021
On 03 Jan, 2021
On 03 Jan, 2021
On 03 Jan, 2021
On 29 Dec, 2020
The prevalence of COVID-19 pandemic worldwide has affected educational systems around the world and has forced education systems to shift to online learning. The present study was motivated to explore the challenges (common technology-driven and content-specific challenges) facing an English as a foreign language teacher throughout an online English course in Iran. The main participant of this study was a female teacher, with 17 years of experience in teaching English to children, teenagers, and adults. To this aim, a process-tracing approach was employed in an online English class with 10 female students, all teenagers, to unravel the causal mechanisms involved in the beginning, middle and end of the English course. The results showed that the greatest challenges throughout the course especially in initial and mid sessions were caused by deficient technological resources. The two other causal categories, human and content resources, were at their peak early in the course and then reduced significantly by the end. The most troublesome challenges the teacher faced were platform limitations, internet connection and human resources’ unpreparedness for online education. Though the teacher’s as well as most students’ technological knowledge and media literacy showed an increase by the end of the course, some students’ slow adaptation challenged the teacher until the end. As for the content-based challenges, teaching vocabulary and speaking was considered the most challenging one due to lack of teacher’s physical contact with students.
Figure 1
The is a timely study with an innovative method to trace the causes of challenges foreign language teachers face in their online courses during COVID-19 pandemic. The findings of the study have given deep insights into the current concerns of these teachers in the current critical conditions. Also, the procedures provided in the method section can be followed by other researchers for the exploration of relevant concepts with a dynamic nature. It should be noted that the use of process tracing has been recently introduced in our field by Hiver and Al-Hoorie (2019): Hiver, P., & Al-Hoorie, A. H. (2019). Research methods for complexity theory in applied linguistics. Multilingual Matters.
Interesting findings and an innovative method! The study reveals the underpinning causes for the challenges we as teachers of English language encounter in our online classes. They are so common with my own teaching experiences these days.