Abstract
This chapter takes a snapshot of the current situation in terms of secondary school English teachers’ capacity to engage in teaching remotely, as has been necessary during the COVID-19 pandemic, in three distinct locations within Asia – India, Malaysia, and Taiwan. In addition, taking account of the potential effects of COVID-19, it seeks to uncover any mismatch between teachers’ theoretical understandings of what remote teaching of English language classes involves and what has been happening in practice. It is based upon a small-scale qualitative study that used questionnaire data from English teachers working in secondary schools in different locations and interview data from academics working in the field of English language teacher education in each location. Through the data, the study revisits how teachers’ capacity to teach remotely is modelled as well as making recommendations in terms of supporting and training teachers to deliver classes remotely and the need to pay attention to both teacher and student wellbeing in order to make remote teaching sustainable.
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Notes
- 1.
The participants from India were all based in the state of Kerala. This was chosen as a third geographical location, though the authors note that they are not seeking to suggest Kerala is necessarily representative of such a large and diverse country.
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Appendix: Open-Ended Questionnaire
Appendix: Open-Ended Questionnaire
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1.
Briefly summarise the context of your online teaching experience in the past year (e.g., education level, time involved, class size, synchronous/asynchronous)
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What challenges have you experienced when teaching online – technical, administrative and/or pedagogical?
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What strategies have you used to overcome these challenges?
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How has teaching online impacted on your teaching style?
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How have you been supported in developing your knowledge of how to teach online?
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6.
How does online practice differ from face-to-face classroom practice?
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7.
To what extent do teacher training programmes you’re aware of cover:
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(a)
using technology in the classroom?
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(b)
blended learning?
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(a)
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8.
To what extent should teacher training programmes you’re aware of cover:
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(a)
using technology in the classroom?
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(b)
blended learning?
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(a)
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9.
In the light of current realities, to what extent should teaching training programmes cover online teaching?
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10.
Looking back, what do you wish you had known about online teaching before you’d started doing it?
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Balchin, K., Linehan-Fox, A., Norris, D. (2023). Exploring Teachers’ Capacity to Engage with Remote English Language Teaching Environments: The Interface Between Theory and Practice. In: Suárez, MdM., El-Henawy, W.M. (eds) Optimizing Online English Language Learning and Teaching . English Language Education, vol 31. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-27825-9_3
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