Transition into Online Education During COVID-19: The Case of Speaking-Based Courses at an English Language Teaching Program in Turkey

Year 2023, Volume: 9 Issue: 1, 203 - 222, 29.04.2023

Kenan Çetin , Ayşegül Daloğlu

https://doi.org/10.31464/jlere.1267862

Cited By: 1

Abstract

During the spring semester in March 2020 and the fall semester in October 2020, tertiary-level education in Turkey underwent two different transitions into online education. This study aimed to examine the two transition periods with a focus on the course design processes of two speaking-based courses taught at a state university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two professors, and open-ended questionnaires were administered to students. The findings showed that professors could not tailor the design of the two courses in March as they did not have time, but they gained experience to supplement their course content, remove some activities and prioritize others, and they opted for performance-based assessment in October. This paper concludes that the transition in October needs to be differentiated with the suggested term; semi-planned transition into online education. This transition period is still affected by the crisis; however, time can be allocated to determine the needs and expectation of the stakeholders to better prepare for online education.

Keywords: Transition into online education, Covid-19, Speaking-based course, English language teaching

Keywords

Transition into online education, Covid-19, Speaking-based course, English language teaching

References

• Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2016). Online report card: Tracking online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group & Quahog Research Group. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED572777.pdf
• Anugrah, P. M. (2022). Teachers’ challenges in teaching speaking through online learning during covid-19 pandemic. The Art of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 3(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.36663/tatefl.v3i1.140
• Arianto, P. (2021, June). Teaching English during Covid-19 pandemic: Using “Busuu” in speaking class. In UNNES-TEFLIN National Seminar Vol. 4, No. 1 (pp. 392-401). http://utns.proceedings.id/index.php/utns/article/view/132/118
• Basilaia, G., & Kvavadze, D. (2020). Transition to online education in schools during a Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Georgia. Pedagogical Research, 5(4), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/7937
• Bich, T. N. C., & Lian, A. (2021). Exploring challenges of major English students towards learning English speaking skills online during covid 19 pandemic and some suggested solutions. In Proceedings of the AsiaCALL International Conference (Vol. 621, pp. 135-144). https://asiacall.info/proceedings/index.php/articles/article/view/38/37
• Buckenmeyer, J., Hixon, E., Barczyk, C. C., & Feldman, L. (2011). Invest in the success of online programs at the university? Mentor professors. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(6), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v4i6.4380
• Council of Higher Education (2020). Basın açıklaması [Press release]. https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Haberler/2020/universitelerde-uygulanacak-uzaktan-egitime-iliskin-aciklama.aspx
• Cutri, R. M., & Mena, J. (2020). A critical reconceptualization of faculty readiness for online teaching. Distance Education, 41(3), 361-380. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1763167
• Djafar, R. (2020). Analysis of the effect of covid-19 towards L2 English speaking performance. Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Pendidikan, 4(4), 219–223. http://ejournal.mandalanursa.org/index.php/JISIP/index Drescher, S. (2022). How engagement changed during online speaking tasks due to Covid-19 [Master’s Thesis, Leopold-Franzens Universität Innsbruck]. https://diglib.uibk.ac.at/ulbtirolhs/content/titleinfo/7673845/full.pdf
• Efriana, L. (2021). Problems of online learning during COVID-19 pandemic in EFL classroom and the solution. Journal of English Language Teaching and Literature, 2(1) 38-47. https://jurnal.stkipmb.ac.id/index.php/jelita/article/download/74/52
• Erarslan, A. (2021). English language teaching and learning during Covid-19: A global perspective on the first year. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 4(2), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.31681/jetol.907757
• Gacs, A., Goertler, S., & Spasova, S. (2020). Planned online language education versus crisis‐prompted online language teaching: Lessons for the future. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 380-392. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12460
• Garland, M. E., & Violanti, M. T. (2021). Rock my world: Rewind to a better transition to remote learning. Frontiers in Communication, 6(641873), 1-10. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2021.641873/full
• Garrison, D. R. (2016). E-learning in the 21st century: A community of inquiry framework for research and practice. Routledge.
• Gonzalez-Torres, P., Cabrera-Solano, P., & Castillo-Cuesta, L. (2022). Exploring perceptions of online feedback in teaching EFL speaking and writing skills during the Covid-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 21(7), 330–344. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.21.7.17
• Gülbahar, Y., & Adnan, M. (2020). Faculty professional development in creating significant teaching and learning experiences online. In L. Kyei-Blankson, E. Ntuli, & J. Blankson (Eds.), Handbook of research on creating meaningful experiences in online courses (pp. 37–58). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0115-3.ch004
• Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online teaching. Educause Review. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104648
• Huang, M. (2021). A case study of ESL students’ remote speaking class learning experiences in a Canada university during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 3(5), 32-44. https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/jeltal/article/download/1739/1415
• İşler, C., & Elmas, B. (2022). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching speaking skills. Journal Of Language Teaching and Learning, 12(2), 36-54. https://www.jltl.com.tr/index.php/jltl/article/view/404/178
• Istiqhomah, F. N., Wahyuna, Y. T., & Nugraha, S. I. (2021). Problem faced by EFL teacher in teaching speaking during pandemic. LINGUISTIK: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra, 6(2), 269–278.
• Jeffery, K. A., & Bauer, C. F. (2020). Students’ responses to emergency remote online teaching reveal critical factors for all teaching. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 2472-2485. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00736
• Khaerana, A. S. A., Soraya, A. I., Ridha, M., & Latief, A. (2022). Receptive and productive skills online learning during covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology, 7(1). https://www.ijisrt.com/assets/upload/files/IJISRT22JAN089.pdf
• Kusumawati, A. J. (2020). Redesigning face-to-face into online learning for speaking competence during Covid-19: ESP for higher education in Indonesia. International Journal of Language Education, 4(2), 276–288. https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v4i2.14745
• Kuznekoff, J. H., & Munz, S. M. (2022). COVID-19 and the transition to online learning in the basic course: examining effects on student learning. Higher Learning Research Communications, 12(2), 45-61. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1350669.pdf
• La’biran, R., & Dewi, R. (2021). Teaching English speaking strategies in Covid-19 era for English department students at UKI Toraja. Jurnal Keguruan Dan Ilmu Pendidikan, 10(1), 49–55. https://doi.org/10.0901/jkip.v10i1.1218
• Mallillin, L. L. D., Mendoza, L. C., Mallillin, J. B., Felix, R. C., & Lipayon, I. C. (2020). Implementation and readiness of online learning pedagogy: a transition to Covid 19 pandemic. European Journal of Open Education and E-learning Studies, 5(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v5i2.3321
• Menggo, S. (2021, November). Perception and barrier on using zoom in speaking class during covid-19 pandemic. In ICHELAC 2021: First International Conference on Humanities, Education, Language and Culture, ICHELAC 2021, 30-31 August 2021, Flores, Indonesia (p. 137). European Alliance for Innovation. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.30-7-2021.2313619
• Mishra, L., Gupta, T., & Shree, A. (2020). Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1, (2020), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100012
• Mulyani, E. R., Yugafiati, R., & Fatia, K. N. (2021). English students’ academic-emotions in learning speaking at the beginning of online learning time amid Covid-19 pandemic: a narrative study. Professional Journal of English Education, 4(4), 744-749. http://dx.doi.org/10.22460/project.v4i4.p744-748
• Khreisat, M. (2022). English language learning strategies during Covid-19 in the middle east: a systematic review. Arab World English Journal, 13(1), 56–71. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no1.4
• Nayman, H., & Bavlı, B. (2022). Online teaching of productive language skills (PLS) during emergency remote teaching (ERT) in EFL Classrooms: A phenomenological inquiry. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 10(1), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.10n.1p.179
• Nurwahyuni, R. (2020). An analysis of students’ perception on synchronous and asynchronous learning in speaking skill during pandemic Covid-19. 21–22. http://e-proceedings.iain-palangkaraya.ac.id/index.php/inacelt
• Yépez, J., Guevara, L., & Guerrero, G. (2020, June). AulaVR: Virtual Reality, a telepresence technique applied to distance education. In 2020 15th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI) (pp. 1-5). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.23919/CISTI49556.2020.9141049
• Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and application: Design and methods (Sixth Edition). SAGE.