English Teachers' Beliefs and Practices: A Mixed-Methods Study of 25 Countries in the COVID-19 Pandemic

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to investigate what language teachers believe and practice regarding the transition to online teaching, which needs more extensive research to understand the effect of Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) on language teaching and learning. 156 teachers of English teachers in higher education across 5 regions stated their beliefs and practices regarding ERT that were studied through the analytical framework of data analysis informed by quantitative and qualitative tools. Descriptive statistics with the use of frequencies and percentages were used for the quantitative approach. As for the qualitative approach, qualitative content analysis was employed as the analytical tool for data analysis. Four main themes emerged from the analysis in which English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers' beliefs and experiences gathered around the areas of teacher training and readiness for ERT, motivation, learner autonomy and engagement. Lack of training both on technological and pedagogical approaches was cited as one of the main challenges. In this sense, it was found that the pedagogy-informed design of new educational technology was not formed to deliver online teaching effectively. Therefore, this study adds to the knowledge of the current insights into online education amid the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly from EFL teachers' perspectives.