西 南 交 通 大 学 学 报
第 55 卷 第 6 期
2020 年 12 月
JOURNAL OF SOUTHWEST JIAOTONG UNIVERSITY
Vol. 55 No. 6
Dec. 2020
ISSN: 0258-2724 DOI：10.35741/issn.0258-2724.55.6.10
Research article Education
C
HALLENGES AND
S
OLUTIONS OF
T
EACHING
E
NGLISH AS A
F
OREIGN
L
ANGUAGE
O
NLINE
D
URING A
G
LOBAL
P
ANDEMIC
L
IKE
COVID-19:
S
AUDI
EFL
T
EACHERS
’
P
ERSPECTIVES
全球流行像新冠肺炎一样，对外英语教学的挑战和解决方案：沙
特 EFL 教师的观点
Mohammed Mahib ur Rahman
Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of English Language and Translation, Qassim University Qassim, K.S.A., Buraydah, Saudi Arabia, [email protected], [email protected]
Received: August 16, 2020 ▪ Review: September 23, 2020 ▪ Accepted: October 27, 2020 This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons
Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)
Abstract
COVID-19, the most catastrophic global pandemic of the 21st century, has caused unbelievable disruption in various sectors, such as education, business and commerce, and tourism. According to UNESCO, education has been so severely affected by the pandemic that over 60% of the world’s student population were deprived of it. As a result, the growth of online teaching has accelerated. The present study aims to explore the challenges of teaching English as a foreign language online during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and to assess whether the teachers are satisfied with online English language learning classes. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used with the help of a self-administered online questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among English as a foreign language faculty members of various universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using different online tools, such as email, WhatsApp groups, and Facebook. Fifty faculty members voluntarily participated. Analysis was carried out using SPSS 26. The findings revealed promising results that indicate that teaching English as a foreign language online can be very useful if proper training and orientation programs for teachers and students are implemented and online language learning platforms and tools are up to date.
Keywords: Pandemic, COVID-19, Online Teaching, English as a Foreign Language, Saudi Arabia
摘要 新冠肺炎是 21 世纪最严重的全球性大流行，已经在教育，商业和贸易以及旅游业等各个领
域造成了令人难以置信的破坏。据联合国教科文组织称，大流行对该国的教育造成了严重影响， 以致全世界 60％以上的学生被剥夺了这一流行病。结果，在线教学的增长加速了。本研究旨在探
讨在沙特阿拉伯发生新冠肺炎大流行期间在线英语作为外语教学的挑战，并评估教师是否对在线 英语学习课程感到满意。定性和定量方法都可以通过自我管理的在线调查问卷获得。问卷是通过 使用不同的在线工具（例如电子邮件，WhatsApp 组和脸书）以英语作为沙特阿拉伯王国各大学的 外语系教师分发的。五十名教师自愿参加。使用 SPSS 26 进行了分析。研究结果显示出令人鼓舞 的结果，这些结果表明，如果实施了针对教师和学生的适当培训和入门课程，并且在线语言学习 平台和工具是最新的，那么在线英语作为外语的教学将非常有用。 关键词: 大流行，新冠肺炎，在线教学，英语作为外语，沙特阿拉伯
I. I
NTRODUCTIONUNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay stated, “Never before have we witnessed educational disruption on such a large scale” [2]. COVID-19, the most catastrophic global pandemic of the 21st century, has caused unbelievable disruption in various sectors. In fact, the field of education has been so severely affected that, according to UNESCO [3], over 60% of the world’s student population were deprived of their education as a result of the pandemic. Governments around the world are still unclear about when regular classroom teaching will resume. As a result, there has been a significant surge in the usage of various online teaching and learning platforms [4]. Schools and universities are now conducting online teaching using all possible educational technology resources. This has made it technically challenging for teachers and students to accept this “new normal” academic environment [20]. The present study was carried out to explore the challenges of teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) online in Saudi Arabia during COVID-19 and to provide some possible paths toward effective online teaching.
II. R
ELATEDW
ORKS A. Is Online Teaching Effective?The move to online teaching is not a new phenomenon. Several recent studies reveal many advantages of online classes like ‘students have more control over their studies and have moreopportunities at their disposal for reflection. online students tend to be organized and are self-starters who can accomplish their work without close supervision’ [1], [2], [5], [6], [7], [8]. However, many studies have also highlighted various issues with the
effectiveness of online
teaching,communication, technology, time management, pedagogy, and assessment [9], [10], [11], [12].
In her research “E-Language Learning Program: Problems and Challenges,” Yuyun [6] identified students’ positive attitudes toward the e-language learning program. Moreover, Yuyun [6] found that the respondents preferred e-learning to face-to-face classroom learning. However, her study was limited to 14 respondents.
In another study, Gawad and Masaud [13] indicated several advantages and disadvantages of learning. The found e-learning to be efficient, effective, and less costly than in-class teaching. However, they also noted that e-learning has its disadvantages. Among them were “technological issues, employee acceptance, and lack of motivation from teachers and students.”
Khan [14] conducted an empirical study on the features of e-learning in EFL teaching in Saudi Arabia. His study samples were both teachers and students, and the results indicated that e-learning could be highly beneficial due to all of the resources available for online classes.
A similar study was carried out by Zakarneh [1] on “Effectiveness of E-learning Mode for Teaching the English Language in Arab Universities.” His study revealed that the participants favored English language e-learning and believed e-e-learning was the best way to gain English language proficiency. Zakarneh [1] categorized various online language learning tools using the following figure.
Figure 1. Categories of online language learning tools [1] Schmidt and Topaz [7] investigated students’ attitudes toward massive open online courses (MOOCs). They selected 84 students who were already enrolled in a MOOC. The responses revealed students’ positive attitudes toward the course and acquired tremendous technological and pedagogical knowledge in online courses. Besides, the study also suggested that MOOC can be a great source of help for teachers' professional development. Another study [8] consisted of 1364 students' samples on e-learning in the English classroom in Saudi Arabia showed that the majority of the respondents firmly believed that e-learning platforms play a significant role in strengthening the English language.
Dudeney and Hockly [5] emphasized that technology and language teaching go hand in hand. However, they also pointed out anxiety among many teachers in dealing with technology in language teaching, despite academic institutions' advanced educational equipment in language teaching.
Despite unprecedented growth in online English language teaching, EFL learners' desired goals have hardly been achieved due to the shortage of quality education, institutions, and tools. Many studies also discovered that several learners fail to participate successfully in online classes due to a lack of online learning skills [10]. 'While the number of programs and courses online continues to grow, the acceptance of this learning modality by faculty has been relatively constant' [9].
B. Challenges of Online Education during COVID-19
During this long pandemic duration, several critical studies were come up with regard to the myriad impact of Covid-19 on education [4], [15], [16], [17]. Their studies exhibited that
although the concept of an online class is not new, it has become quite challenging for teachers and students who had no earlier experience of online teaching and learning. Teachers and students had a little time to prepare for this sudden shift from regular face to face classes to online classes. At the initial stage of the online class, teachers were worried about using the kits and tools. One EFL teacher from Brasil felt:
“Would we have connectivity issues? Would our students?
How would the classes be delivered? Would all the students be able to attend the class?” [17].
Another research on ‘teachers’ perception of working and teaching online’ [18] discovered that only 32 percent of teachers felt competent to teach online. A few of the respondents replied:
“It is a survival instinct. You got to do what you got to do. Profession integrity you succeed or die trying. There was no transition. Just hit the road running.”
“It was quite a leap to the unknown. I participated right away in a couple of good online facilitation workshops and got some tools and eagerness to start experimenting.”
According to Harrison [12], there are several challenges regarding technology-based teaching during this pandemic. The most common of them are:
“Technology is isolating – learner interaction is limited, and dissimilar to the kind of ways that they will be required to use language in the real world.
Teachers are being deskilled, and the essence of teaching is being lost.
The rise of technology, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), will soon mean that teachers are made redundant.”
In addition, shifting from traditional classes to online mode raised several questions on other issues, like teachers’ capability of using educational technology, lack of proper infrastructure, and other resources [17], [19]. Sahu [17] has also raised questions “What about those students who do not have access to laptops and internet facilities at home? Is it possible to teach practical and labs, music, and art courses online? What will happen to those students whose courses cannot be taught online?”
Utama et al. [19] in their study on “medical students’ perspectives about distance learning during Covid-19 pandemic,” discovered several challenges, although the participants were excited about the online classes at the beginning. It was difficult for teachers to identify the students’ engagements. Furthermore, poor internet
connectivity and technological knowledge among the students and teachers were other challenging issues.
Bao [15] advocated that a successful online course needs to possess ‘an elaborate lesson plan design, teaching materials such as audio and video contents, and technical support teams.’ Nonetheless, the sudden shift to virtual or online teaching created chaos among the teachers and students for the lack of prior knowledge of online classes. In addition, due to a larger number of users at a time, the computer servers or educational tools get shut down. Hence she has also suggested the teachers be ready with plan B or plan C.
However, another research on the “method used in teaching English during the COVID-19 pandemic” by Fansury et al. [16] found digital content very helpful in teaching English during the pandemic. Different applications and online teaching tools like zoom, Google Meet, and others can be integrated with it, and teaching and learning become much more comfortable. Nonetheless, many students failed to attend online classes for poor internet connectivity or limited data during this pandemic.
III. O
BJECTIVES OF THES
TUDYThe present study has been carried out with two primary objectives:
1. To investigate the challenges of teaching English online during the Covid-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia.
2. To assess whether the teachers are satisfied with the online class.
IV. R
ESEARCHM
ETHODOLOGYThe present empirical study has been conducted on the teachers of three different Saudi Arabian universities (includes, Qassim, KKU, and Najran) in July 2020. The total strength of teachers for this study is 50 (25 males and 25 females). Further, a self-administered questionnaire has been prepared based on the already published literature and circulated among the teachers using electronic medium like; e-mail, Facebook, and Whatsapp groups. It is formulated
on the consideration of a total of 13 items, and out of these, 11 items are close-ended that has been ranked using a five-point Likert scaling system ranging from 1-strongly agree (SA), 2-agree (A), 3-neutral (N), to 5-strongly dis2-agree (SD). The items 12 and 13 were kept open-ended to get the teachers' opinions and suggestions on online teaching. Further, the items in the questionnaire have been divided into two parts. The first part consists of 2 items that aim to determine age, gender, and teachers' prior experiences of online teaching. The second part includes 11 items that aim to investigate the challenges of teaching English online and whether they are satisfied with online teaching. Further, the descriptive analysis of the data has been done using SPSS 26 software.
V. R
ESULTS OF THES
TUDY A. Quantitative Data Analysis andInterpretation
Table 1 above presents the total number of university faculty members who participated in the study and their gender demography. The Figure 2 represents teachers’ prior experience of an online class and their platforms for online classes.
Table 1.
Respondent’s gender demography
Gender Frequency Percentage (%)
Female 25 50.0
Male 25 50.0
Total 50 100.0
Figure 2. Prior experience of online class
Table 2.
Teachers’ responses against each item Questions
(Items)
SA A N D SD
No. % No. % No. % No. % No. % 1. Do you think national pandemic
like Covid19 can effect online teaching also?
6 12.0 15 30.0 5 10.0 22 44.0 2 4.0
2. Do you have enough computer knowledge and IT skills to conduct your online lectures?
3. Do you prefer to have training on conducting online lectures?
31 62.0 10 20.0 6 12.0 3 6.0 - - 4. My university provides
appropriate tool(s) to conduct online classes.
3 6.5 35 70.0 9 18.0 1 2.0 2 4.0 5. Online tools are easy to use when
conducting lectures
6 12.0 33 66.0 8 16.0 3 6.0 - - 6. Teaching English online is more
effective than teaching in a classroom.
1 2.0 9 18.0 12 24.0 8 16.0 20 40.0 7. The students are motivated during
online lectures
- - 2 4.0 12 24.0 14 28.0 22 44.0 8. I am happy about the
student-teacher interaction during online teaching & learning?
6 12.2 7 14.0 10 20.0 23 46.0 4 8.0
9. It is challenging to maintain discipline of a large class while teaching English online.
8 16.0 35 70.0 5 10.0 2 4.0 - -
10. There are difficulties of teaching some skills (Ex. Writing)
21 42.0 18 36.0 7 14.0 4 8.0 - - 11. It is difficult to get an immediate
feedback on what was being taught in online class.
4 8.0 16 32.0 4 8.0 25 50.0 1 2.0
The following sub-section enumerates the result and interpretation of the data based on the respondents' responses against each item. The questionnaire is designed so that all items are framed to determine the protentional challenges in adopting online class (during COVID-19 pandemic) from the teachers' perspective, and possible solutions have been drawn based on the responses.
For a better presentation of the data, data scaling has been merged into three categories: agreement (includes both strongly agree and agree), neutral, and disagreement (includes both disagree and strongly disagree). In the above data, for question no. 1, the received responses are, 6 chooses strongly agree (12.0%), 15 agree (30.0%), 5 neutral (10.0%), 22 disagree (44.0%), while 2 choose strongly disagreed (4.0 %). Similarly, response of question no. 2 offers that, 9 strongly agree (18.0%), 30 agree (60.0%), 7 neutral (14.0%), 4 disagree (8.0%), and no respondent feel strongly disagree. Further, question no. 3 reveals the responses as, 31 strongly agree (62.0%), 10 agree (20.0%), 6 neutral (12.0%), 3 disagree (6.0%), and none say strongly disagree. Question no. 4 offers the response like, 3 strongly agree (6.0%), 35 agree (70.0%), 9 neutral (18.0%), 1 disagree (2.0 %), and 2 chooses strongly disagree option (4.0%). Similarly, question 5 says that, 1 strongly agree (2.0%), 9 agree (18.0%), 12 neutral (24.0%), 8 disagree (16.0%), and 20 chooses strongly disagree as an option (40.0%). Question 6 shows that, 1 strongly agree (2.0%), 9 agree (18.0%), 12 neutral (24.0%), 8 disagree (16.0%), and 20 strongly disagree (40.0%). Question 7 enumerates that, none strongly agree, 2 agree (4.0%), 12 neutral (24.0%), 14 disagree (28.0%),
and 22 has strongly disagreed (44.0 %). Question 8 offers the responses like, 6 strongly agree (12.0%), 7 agree (14.0%), 10 neutral (20.0%), 23 disagree (46.0%), and 4 choose strongly disagree (8.0 %). Question 9 receives, 8 strongly agree (16.0%), 35 agree (70.0%), 5 neutral (10.0%), 2 disagree (4.0%), and strongly disagree remains un-responded. Furthermore, question 10 explains that, 21 strongly agree (42.0%), 18 agree (36.0%), 7 neutral (14.0%), 4 disagree (8.0%), and none of the respondents selected strongly disagree option. Finally, question 11 receives the responses like, 4 strongly agree (8.0%), 16 agree (32.0%), 4 neutral (8.0%), 25 disagree (50.0%), and 1 respondent choose strongly disagree option (2.0%).
B. Qualitative Data Analysis
As mentioned in the methodology, the study also dealt with a qualitative study with two open-ended questions on the advantages and disadvantages of teaching English online. The research has also applied a qualitative study to understand the different online teaching issues better and meet the study objectives. There were two open-ended questions regarding the advantages and disadvantages of teaching English online. The questions were made optional, so the responses were only a few. The participants’ responses are analyzed below.
1) Advantages
While teachers were asked about the advantages of teaching English online, one of the teachers responded:
For this unavoidable pandemic, online teaching is very important for learners; they
can participate on line class and can be safe from going outside.
There were four teachers who responded that online teaching provides:
Flexibility of time, anytime anywhere learning, group work and lots of materials.
Similarly, another teacher felt that
I can teach a large number of students at a time. No hassle of travelling. Students can hear the recorded lectures at their convenient time. 2) Disadvantages
In response to the disadvantages of online teaching, the following responses were found from the participants:
Teacher 1: Without eye contact actually teaches can’t able to understand whether students give full attention or not.
Teacher 2: No proper interaction. Social isolation. Network problem. Less attendance. Very time consuming in preparing lessons. Lessons are less effective. More chance of cheating. Making exams is quite challenging.
Teachers 3: Cheating is easier in online classes. Students may be online while they are busy doing other things. There are no or few face-to-face interactions.
VI. D
ISCUSSIONThis study set out to evaluate various issues in teaching English online during pandemic like Covid-19. Regarding the first research question, whether the teachers were satisfied with online teaching, most of the respondents (56%) believed regular face-to-face classes are better than online teaching. They (68%) also believed that students were less motivated during an online class. However, the qualitative data revealed that a few of the respondents were happy since online class saves time, and classes can be conducted anytime-anywhere, and during a pandemic like Covid-19, it crucial to conduct online classes for the safety and continuation of education.
The second question in this study sought to determine whether there was any challenge in teaching English online. The results (86%) showed some significant challenges like difficulty maintaining discipline in a large class online. Another large group of respondents (78%) has felt challenging in teaching some specific skills, like writing skills.
The present research supports earlier studies by Harrison [12], Bao [15], Sahu [17], Utama et al. [19]. However, the research was limited to a few university faculty members. There are still many unanswered questions, so further studies emphasizing students’ achievements in EFL learning through online teaching are suggested.
VII. C
ONCLUSION ANDS
UGGESTIONSThe study attempted to identify the various challenges of Teaching EFL online during a global pandemic like COVID-19 and to provide possible solutions. The study revealed some promising results, although there were some discrepancies. It cannot be denied that during the quarantine, online teaching has repaired some of the damages to education caused by COVID-19. However, questions remain unanswered as to whether teaching EFL online can meet the learners’ needs and desired goals. Based on the study results, the following suggestions are given to strengthen EFL instruction/teaching online:
1. Implementing well-equipped language learning platforms and tools
2. Providing proper orientation and training for teachers and students to perform online teaching–learning programs efficiently
3. Limiting the number of students in each class so that teachers can efficiently monitor students and provide quality instruction
![Figure 1. Categories of online language learning tools [1]](https://thumb-ap.123doks.com/thumbv2/123deta/8043538.1254761/3.892.112.430.87.350/figure-categories-online-language-learning-tools.webp)
