HOW ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS COPED WITH THE ONSET OF THE PANDEMIC AND REMOTE LANGUAGE TEACHING: A CASE STUDY

Year 2021, Volume: 21 Issue: 4, 1198 - 1211, 15.12.2021

Gokce Erkan , Seher Balbay

https://doi.org/10.17240/aibuefd.2021..-912877

Abstract

This paper reports on the emergency remote education period of the instructors at the School of Foreign Languages of a Turkish state university. The university the study was conducted in, along with all other higher education institutions in Turkey, switched to online education with the sudden spread of the COVID 19 pandemic. To evaluate how the instructors dealt with this sudden transition, 110 participants teaching at the School of Foreign Languages completed an online survey at the end of the emergency remote education academic semester. Thereafter 24 of them volunteered to be interviewed about their experiences in more detail. The findings reveal that most instructors had some apprehension and difficulty in making the transition to online teaching, yet still considered themselves competent in dealing with the unexpected and unprepared teaching medium. Many thought the experience had been valuable to their personal development and referred to aspects of online education that will be integral to their professional development. It was observed that the instructors also repeatedly expressed that they perceived the experience as one that interaction among colleagues benefitted them most both in developing their digital skills and in providing them with psychological support.

Keywords

Emergency remote teaching, distance education, pandemic period language education, adaptation to educational technology

İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETİM GÖREVLİLERİNİN PANDEMİ DÖNEMİ UZAKTAN EĞİTİM SÜRECİ: BİR VAKA ÇALIŞMASI

Abstract

Bu çalışma Mart 2020’de Türkiye’de ilk COVID 19 vakasının görülmesiyle başlayan yeni eğitim şartlarına ODTÜ Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu öğretim görevlilerinin uyum sürecini incelemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Bu dönemde Türkiye’de yüksek öğretim kurumlarındaki öğrenciler evlerine gönderilmiş ve hızlı bir şekilde uzaktan eğitime geçilmiştir. Araştırma için veri toplama amaçlı 110 katılımcı uzaktan eğitim süreci hakkında araştırmacıların hazırladıkları çevrim içi bir anket cevaplamış ve gönüllü olan 24 katılımcıyla mülakatlar yapılmıştır. Katılımcıların büyük bir çoğunluğunda sürecin başında zorluk yaşadıkları tecrübesi ortaktır, fakat sürecin zaman içinde katılımcı öğretim görevlilerinde, uzaktan eğitimde gerekli beceriler konusunda yeterlilik hissi yarattığı gözlemlenmiştir. Ayrıca yine katılımcıların çoğu, kişisel gelişimleri açısından, uzaktan eğitim sürecinde kazandıkları beceri ve bakış açılarının, mesleki gelişimlerine katkısının büyük olduğunu iletmiş ve çevrim içi eğitimin ileriki dönemlerde de hayatlarında olacağını belirtmişlerdir. Katılımcı öğretim görevlileri, meslektaş iletişiminden hem dijital becerilerini geliştirme hem de psikolojik destek anlamında çok faydalandıklarını belirtmişlerdir.

Keywords

Afet durumu eğitimi, uzaktan eğitim, pandemi dönemi dil eğitimi, eğitim teknolojilerine uyum

References

• Aksal, F. A. (2011). Action plan on communication practices: Roles of tutors at EMU Distance Education Institute to overcome social barriers in constructing knowledge. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 8(2), 33–47.
• Akyıldız, S. T. (2020). Pandemi döneminde yapılan uzaktan eğitim çalışmalarıyla ilgili İngilizce öğretmenlerinin görüşleri (bir odak grup tartışması). Rumelide Dil ve Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi, 21, 679-696. https://doi.org/10.29000/rumelide.835811
• Allen, E., Seaman, J., Lederman, D., & Jaschik, S. (2012). Conflicted: Faculty and online education, 2012. The Sloan Consortium. http://www.insidehighered.com/sites/default/server_files/survey/conflicted.html
• Barış, M. F. & Çankaya, P. (2016). Akademik personelin uzaktan eğitim hakkindaki görüşleri. International Journal of Human Sciences, 13(1), 399-413. https://doi.org/10.14687/ijhs.v13i1.3378
• Barr, B. A., & Miller, S. F. (2013). Higher education: The online teaching and learning experience. Online Teaching and Learning. http://files.eric.ed.gov/Fulltext/ED543912.pdf
• Baloran, E. T. (2020). Knowledge, attitudes, anxiety, and coping strategies of students during covid-19 pandemic. Journal of Loss and Trauma, 25(8), 635-642. https://doi.org/10.1080/15325024.2020.1769300
• Bond, C. S., Fevyer, D., & Pitt, C. (2004). Student reactions to online tools for learning to use the internet as a study tool: Outside the comfort zone? In R. Atkinson, C. McBeath, D. Jonas-Dwyer & R. Phillips (Eds), Beyond the comfort zone: Proceedings of the 21st ASCILITE Conference. Perth.
• Community College Research Center. (2013). Creating an effective online environment. Teachers College, Columbia University. http://ccrc.tc.columbiaEdu/media/k2/attachments/creating-effective-online-environment.pdf
• Creswell, J. W. (2012). Educational research. Pearson.
• Driscoll, A., Jicha, K. A., Hunt, N. A., Tichavsky, L., & Thomson, G. (2010). Can online courses deliver in-class results? A comparison of student performance and satisfaction in an online versus a face-to-face introductory sociology course. Teaching Sociology, 40(4), 312-33. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X12446624
• Hartshorn, K. J., & McMurry, B. L. (2020). The effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on ESL learners and TESOL practitioners in the United States. International Journal of TESOL Studies, 2(2), 140-156. https://doi.org/10.46451/ijts.2020.09.11
• Hodges, C. B., Moore, S., Lockee, B. B., Trust, T., & Bond, M. A. (2020, March 27). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-difference-between-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning
• Khanlarian, C., & Singh, R. (2013). An exploratory study of the online learning environment. Issues in Accounting Education. 29(1), 117-147. https://doi.org/10.2308/iace-50614
• Ko, S., & Rossen, S. (2010). Teaching online: A practical guide (3rd ed.). Routledge.
• MacIntyre, P. D., Gregersen, T., & Mercer, S. (2020). Language teachers’ coping strategies during the Covid-19 conversion to online teaching: Correlations with stress, wellbeing and negative emotions. System, 94, 102352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.system.2020.102352
• Means, B., Bakia, M., & Murphy, R. (2014). Learning online what research tells us about whether, when and how. Routledge Taylor & Francis Group.
• Mulig, L., & Rhame, S. (2012). Time requirements in an online teaching environment: How to be more effective and efficient in teaching online. Journal of Accounting and Finance, 12(4), 101-109.
• Nash, J. A. (2015). Future of online education in crisis: A call to action. The Turkish Online Journal of Educational Technology, 14(2), 80-88.
• Pu, H. (2020). Implementing online ELT in the time of crisis: Ordeal or opportunity? ELT Journal, 1(4), 345-348.
• Schleicher, A. (2020). Education disrupted—education built. Spotlight: Quality education for all during Covid-19 crisis. OECD/Hundred Research Report #011. https://hundred-cdn.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/report/file/15/hundred_spotlight_covid-19_digital.pdf
• Şevik, M., & Yücedağ, Z. (2021). An evaluation of distance education during the Coronavirus-19 pandemic: The views of Turkish EFL teachers. Eğitim Bilimleri Enstitüsü Dergisi, 9(11), 171-190.
• Thiede, R. (2012). Best practices with online courses. US-China Education Review, A2, 135-141. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED532176
• Wang, C., Pan, R., Wan, X., Tan, Y., Xu, L., Ho, C. S., & Ho, R. C. (2020). Immediate psychological responses and associated factors during the initial stage of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) epidemic among the general population in China. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(5), 17-29.
• Wilkes, R. B., Simon, J. C., & Brooks, L. D. (2006). A comparison of faculty and undergraduate, student perceptions of online courses and degree programs. Journal of Information Systems Education, 17(2), 131-140.
• UNESCO (2011). Understanding education’s role in fragility: Synthesis of four situational analyses of education and fragility: Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Liberia. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000191504