Research Article

Professionalism in the classroom: How online learning influences English language instructors

Mohammed AbdAlgane 1 *
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1 Department of English & Translation, College of Science and Arts, Ar Rass, Qassim University, SAUDI ARABIA* Corresponding Author
Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(4), October 2023, ep476, https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/13741
Published Online: 30 September 2023, Published: 01 October 2023
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ABSTRACT

Due to the quick effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the educational system, English instructors were required to retrain and build a new normal in order to prepare for an online classroom while still keeping their teaching style and professional identity. The study’s overarching goal was to look at how English teachers’ developing senses of who they are as professionals have affected their views on remote learning. 135 Middle Eastern English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers were surveyed for the research. Responses to a questionnaire based on the teacher professional identity scale and semi-structured interviews with 13 participants provided the data for this analysis. Content analysis was used to categorize the codes representing the qualitative information gleaned from the semi-structured interviews. It seems that many EFL teachers were unprepared for the pedagogical and technical problems they faced while teaching English to foreign students online, and this has had a profoundly destructive impact on the instructors’ professional identities as they migrate away from teaching in-person. The findings revealed that the participants’ long-term engagement with Edu-Tech during and after their formal education significantly influenced their perception of themselves as professionals. Possible avenues for further research include action research, increasing faculty and staff awareness, and continuous professional development.
Keywords: e-learning, COVID-19 pandemic, information and communication technologies, professional identity of teachers

CITATION (APA)

AbdAlgane, M. (2023). Professionalism in the classroom: How online learning influences English language instructors. Contemporary Educational Technology, 15(4), ep476. https://doi.org/10.30935/cedtech/13741

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