Introduction

At the time of this study, many countries had lifted their Coronavirus restrictions, enabling face-to-face teaching to resume (Department for Education, 2021). However, Iran was the main hotspot in the Middle East for Covid-19 (World Health Organisation, 2020). As with many other countries, the recent pandemic forced Iran to transition to online teaching, and at the time of writing this article, Iran’s teaching continued to be conducted online (Azizpour, 2021; Tafazoli, 2021). However, the Iranian online education system is underdeveloped (Badrkhani, 2021; Sadeghi & Navaie, 2021). The demand for English learning in Iran is high, particularly among university students (Goodrich, 2020; Haghighi & Norton, 2017), many of whom are planning to immigrate abroad to pursue their careers (Aslan et al., 2020; Koo, 2023; Migration Policy Institute, 2021; UN Immigration, 2020). The purpose of the present study was to investigate the perceptions of Iranian English as a Foreign Language (EFL) university teachers toward online EFL teaching working specifically in an economically deprived area. This study attempts to understand potential indirect factors, including those linked to conjunctions and disjunctions between policy and practice to identify furtherance and barriers in online teaching and learning and suggests ways to improve.

Policy Responses to the First Outbreak of Covid-19

Despite being among the first countries to be affected by Covid-19, Iran still faces challenges brought on by the virus. Iran reacted in a completely different manner than China and Italy. Like other countries, Iran's education system was affected by Covid-19, but Iranian officials did not use early detection methods, communication strategies, and lockdown procedures quickly enough to limit the virus’s spread (World Health Organisation, 2020). The Iranian government also refused to import certain Covid-19 vaccines manufactured by the US or the UK due to a lack of trust in them and the genuineness of their intentions to help Iranians (Human Rights Watch, 2019, 2020).

Iranian Academics Under Sanctions

Iranians have suffered from the sanctions against their country, especially the 'maximum pressure' sanctions imposed by the US. The sanctions have not only negatively affected the daily lives of ordinary people, but also universities, researchers, and scholars in the country (Human Rights Watch, 2019, 2020). For example, the sanctions prevented Iranian institutions from effectively exchanging information or communicating with their counterparts abroad, and Iranian professors and students from participating in international exchange programs.

There has been a severe impact of poverty on Iranian education in recent years. In turn, this reduced the financial opportunities for students and in some cases, discouraged them from pursuing their studies. In addition to this, there has been a lack of job security, welfare, and economic security for recent graduates. Due to the fact that many young people could not afford academic expenses, they preferred to directly enter the labour market. Moreover, young people with university degrees are keen to emigrate to other countries for their future careers (Aslan et al., 2020; Koo, 2023; Migration Policy Institute, 2021; UN Immigration, 2020). This is because Iran's current unemployment crisis is causing the country to struggle in creating new jobs for the young generation (Koo, 2023; Migration Policy Institute, 2021). During the long-running brain drain, the country loses more accomplished, well-educated, and highly skilled workers (Migration Policy Institute, 2021). In terms of brain drain, Iran ranks third among 72 developing countries. Proving that English proficiency is an absolute requirement for those seeking immigration, hence this study's focus on EFL (UN Immigration, 2020).

The pandemic crisis has also been overshadowed by political issues. During the pandemic, Iran has been unable to finance humanitarian imports, including medicines and medical equipment, threatening their right to health. (Human Rights Watch, 2019, 2020). In addition, sanctions have made it extremely difficult for the country to access other vaccines for the Covid-19 virus (Human Rights Watch, 2020). It is true that the US claims that humanitarian goods and medicines are exempt from sanctions, however, sanctions have prevented the Iranian government from paying for Covid-19 Vaccines Global Access (Covax), (Human Rights Watch, 2019, 2020). As a result of these difficulties, Iran was still engaged in online education at the time of this study.

Foreign Language Education Policies in Iran

Many people in Iran are eager to learn English (Sharifian, 2010), still, politics have a significant impact, and the government policy in Iran is often reluctant to accommodate this. In order to counter western cultural intrusion, teaching English is currently illegal in both government and non-government primary schools (Babaii, 2022; Goodrich, 2020; Mirhosseini & Khodakarami, 2016). While students start learning English at 11 (first grade in junior high school), most are supported by their families to study English in private language schools. Families in the middle and upper classes often enrol their children in these extracurricular courses to give them an academic and professional advantage abroad (Haghighi & Norton, 2017). Political, historical, economic, and social factors have all contributed to the decline or promotion of EFL in Iran, but this has been little reported (Goodrich, 2020; Hwami, 2022). Other languages are offered in universities (German, French, Spanish, and Chinese) alongside Arabic, but English remains the most widely studied foreign language (Nikoopour et al., 2011).

Aim of This Study

As poverty and inequality (including economic and technological aspects) continue to be obstacles to online teaching (Alijani, 2020), this study was conducted in a financially deprived province in Iran. The literature on EFL teaching in Iran especially during the pandemic is vestigial, and this study aims to help fill the gaps, and specifically explore possible hidden factors influencing teachers' perceptions and experiences of online EFL teaching. There is a need for a deeper understanding of the benefits and challenges of online EFL teaching in higher education in Iran.

Literature Review

This review focuses on recent studies from Iran during the pandemic (2020–2022), given that online education in Iran almost only became available during the pandemic (Badrkhani, 2021; Dashtestani, 2014). Few researchers have focused on online EFL (Azizpour, 2021; Badrkhani, 2021; Ghanbari & Nowroozi, 2021; Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020), and no attention has been paid to the effects of politics, history, economics, and society on online EFL teaching (Goodrich, 2020). Despite Iranian EFL teachers' positive expectations for Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) for students at home during the pandemic (Azizpour, 2021; Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020) most Iranian teachers lacked the necessary knowledge and professional development experiences (Sadeghi & Navaie, 2021; Tafazoli, 2021). It was therefore seen as imperative to increase professional development in technology (Azizpour, 2021; Tafazoli, 2021).

In the absence of suitable online educational platforms, most EFL teachers had to use mobile applications (e.g., WhatsApp, Telegram) to conduct their courses, resulting in a variety of problems (Azizpour, 2021; Badrkhani, 2021; Ghanbari & Nowroozi, 2021). Despite these challenges, Iranian EFL teachers were said to have been effective in overcoming them (Badrkhani, 2021; Sadeghi & Navaie, 2021). However, it was difficult to understand exactly how students and teachers implemented online education (Azizpour, 2021). There were a large number of participants in these studies, but most reported data from a variety of groups facing completely different obstacles (e.g., Sadeghi & Navaie, 2021; Tafazoli, 2021). Using data from similar groups (e.g., the same course at the same school) might improve the accuracy of results.

Although these studies seemed encouraging, none gave any evidence of whether participants actually engaged with online teaching and learning. It was unclear what benchmarks were used to measure successes. Nor was it known whether new digital techniques and methods were being used, which might have affected pedagogy more than traditional methods typically used by Iranian teachers. Moreover, no data had been collected on online EFL in areas of widespread poverty, which might influence outcomes differently (Alijani, 2020).

Research Questions

There are thus many gaps that need to be addressed in terms of the perceptions of EFL teachers regarding online teaching. In order to address these, the current study was guided by the following research questions:

  • What are Iranian EFL teachers' perceptions of online teaching in higher education at a university?

  • What benefits are evident that improve online teaching?

  • What challenges are evident that impair online teaching?

Methodology

Ethics

Research ethics approval was granted by both the researchers’ university and the host university. All measures were taken to protect the anonymity of the research location and participants. The names of all participants along with any information that might identify them, their university or their place of residence were removed and data was stored securely.

Research Context

This university is a coeducational institution, recognised by Iran's Ministry of Science Research and Technology, with about 10,000 students. It is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in the country, offering more than 120 subjects for bachelor, master's, and doctoral degrees. The university is located in one of the most economically depressed areas in the country. According to the teachers in this study, the majority of the teacher and student population were from the same province or nearby areas.

Participants

It is common practice to determine the number of interviews by reaching a theoretical saturation point at which further information cannot be gathered (Saunders et al., 2018; Seldén, 2005). There were 11 EFL teachers at the university, but only six teachers volunteered to participate. These teachers were given a preliminary interview and it was decided that six participants were sufficient to reach saturation. Consequently, six female teachers of first-year university students (average students n = 55 in each class) took part. They taught the same course during the academic year 2021–2022. They were either PhD candidates (PhD-c) (n = 4) or already had PhDs in TESOL from this university (n = 2). Five had temporary part-time contracts and one had a full-time temporary contract. Their EFL teaching experience ranged from 10 to 15 years. Their experience in online teaching was only during the pandemic.

Instrumentation

This study collected qualitative data through virtual semi-structured interviews guided by a specifically developed protocol. Interviews explored teachers’ perceptions and experiences of their online teaching. Interview questions were pre-set open-ended questions (see Table 1), sometimes varying from the order they appeared on the protocol. The questions were developed from a number of previous papers and information gathered from consulting with university EFL teachers in Iran, and based on the Interview Protocol Refinement (IPR) framework (Gani et al., 2020). The protocol had sequential steps providing a systematic framework (Castillo-Montoya, 2016): (a) ensuring the questions were appropriate for the participants, (b) aligning the interview questions with the research questions, and (c) constructing an inquiry-driven conversation (Patton, 2014).

Table 1 Interview schedule
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Positionality of Researchers

The first author conducted and analysed the interviews. In terms of the researcher’s context, the interviewer’s experience included teaching EFL and teaching Iranian students as well as collaborating with Iranian teachers. The interviewer was assisted by an expert in research, the second author.

Process of Data Collection

Each interview was conducted in Microsoft Teams, recorded (to which participants consented) and manually transcribed. A week before the interview, participant information sheets were sent to the teachers so they could ask any questions before granting informed consent. Interviews were conducted in English and lasted 45 min to two hours, with opportunities for follow-up questions (DiCicco‐Bloom & Crabtree, 2006). Questions were reviewed, adjusted, and supplemented as necessary to cover any potential gaps (Castillo-Montoya, 2016). The views of earlier interviewed teachers were discussed anonymously with later interviewed teachers, as suggested by Klarenbeek et al. (2020). Overall, all six interviews provided rich information.

Data Analysis

NVivo (Maher et al., 2018), a qualitative data analysis software package, was used to thematically analyse the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006). This facilitated the identification of common themes between interviews and then clarifying these commonalities (Heydarian, 2016). A seven-step process identified themes and subthemes: (a) data familiarisation, (b) data cleansing, (c) producing codes, (d) producing themes, (e) reviewing themes, (f) defining and naming themes, and (g) producing the report (Braun & Clarke, 2006). The lead researcher immersed herself in the raw data to elicit recurring themes, reading and re-reading the transcripts as well as listening to the interviews. This cycle was repeated many times to reduce the number of codes and categorise them into distinct sub-themes, which could be grouped under broader themes (Corbin & Strauss, 1990).

Results

The results followed the Consolidated Criteria for Reporting Qualitative Research (COREQ) (Tong et al., 2007). Table 2 shows that most of the sub-themes were common to most of the participants.

Table 2 Themes and sub-themes with codes
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Benefits of Online Education

The impact of sudden transition to online education yielded three sub-themes: the establishment of online education, convenience and in-class advantages (X1, X2, and X3), which indicated that forced precipitate transition to online teaching had some positive effects.

All teachers recognised the benefits of online education (X1). The sudden transition was seen as a golden opportunity for decision-makers to seriously consider the value and need for online education (Y1). Two relevant statements from teachers were:

T3 “I think that Covid was a kind of blessing in disguise for our education system, it actually led our administrators and policymakers to take a serious look at online education because earlier we didn't use online teaching in our country. But after COVID, it caused us to think about other platforms that we could use for teaching”.

T4 “The most important positive consequences of teaching online were that it was a wakeup call for us, and a great opportunity for our decision makers and government to take a serious look at how we can adopt this form of teaching.”

The opportunity for online lessons allowed teachers to become familiar with new teaching environments and new ways of transferring information digitally (Y3):

T2 “I was not interested in online teaching before Covid, but now we are all pushed to understand this new digital classroom and technology like Moodle…in a way, it made teachers improve and understand about this online teaching”

T3 “I think one of the positive outcomes for becoming online teachers is that we are forced to think of new ways to provide information and lessons to students. It’s not just the blackboard and chalk, we are forced to learn new digital ways to do our job.”

Teachers who were not local to the university (which was all six interviewed) enjoyed the convenience (X2) of not having to deal with long commutes or traffic delays to get to work (Y3):

T2 “Because I’m not from the same city as my work, staying at home has been a really good part of online classes because it means I do not need to think about how I’m getting to work or how I must be ready to get up really early to make sure I make it to class on time. Online education took away the problem of distance for us I think.”

T5 “One of the best things about online teaching is that I don’t have to worry about being late for work anymore, because of the traffic. You're so confident that you will be in the class on time”

Teachers also noted that the pandemic offered comfortable clothing options (Y5), especially since the university is in a hot region of the country:

T5 “You're more comfortable and confident when leading the class from your home. You don't have to wear, especially in Iran, you don't have to cover yourself in warm and hot weather going out, and this is a good thing. You are sitting in your home, in very comfortable clothes and teaching the students.”

Teachers were able to often work on a flexible working schedule as suggested by students (Y4) without the added pressure of having to find empty and available classroom space:

T6 “Sometimes I needed to change the class time—this was also another advantage for me. I could change it to a time where my students are happy and are satisfied. There is no need to check with other professors to see if they are using the classroom at that time; there is no need to be concerned about empty classroom spaces.”

Among recognised benefits were in-class advantages (X7), such as reducing the amount of background noise (Y6) usually present in face-to-face classes:

T6 “Classes are crowded, but in these online classes we don't have the problem of making students quiet. This is an advantage I think, because in those actual classes it took a lot of our time to make students quiet. In these online classes you know the room is quiet. This is an advantage for us and we don't have a problem of making students quiet or asking them to listen to us.”

Teachers also perceived online teaching as a way to enhance the confidence of shy students’ (Y7), engaging them without making them feel they were in the spotlight:

T6 “Online teaching to some extent is good for shyer students. Usually, when their cameras are off, they start to talk. And it can be helpful for them, because they know that nobody is watching them. Nobody is monitoring them and so they can start showing themselves.”

Challenges of Online Education

Financial Influences

Table 2 also highlights challenges associated with online teaching. The first two sub-themes (X4, X5) were under the theme of ‘Financial Influences’, as these showed, financial costs are a barrier to online teaching in Iran.

Economy (X4)

An important obstacle raised by the teachers was the impact the economy (X4) had on their online courses. Sub-theme Y8 indicated that the economic climate made it difficult for teachers and students to access appropriate devices. This was a primary barrier preventing teachers from conducting online teaching effectively, particularly for less privileged teachers and students. It was emphasised that the economic decline was a consequence of sanctions imposed in Iran for the past decade (Y9), as well as currency devaluation (Y10):

T5 “It’s not like all the students have a laptop or appropriate phones and mobiles….. I have had many calls from parents that they are not at that level of financial status, to buy children a laptop. Things are really expensive…. it is a big challenge to buy a new one. There was a dad who called me and he was very upset and told me ‘please don't fail my son. I had a big challenge with him and he's always telling me that he doesn't have a laptop’. Economic issues are one of the biggest challenges”.


T6 “For all of us, the internet is expensive. Because our money is worse and is decreasing day by day. So, for us teachers especially we have issues on having good laptops. Mostly especially when you are a teacher for long time you have an old laptop, but it’s not easily possible to just get a new laptop.”

Due to having no access to unlimited internet (Y18), purchasing an adequate amount of internet (Y11) was one of the challenges, causing students to sometimes miss classes.

T1 “We don’t have unlimited internet services here, so we don’t use it as much as we want or need. The internet finishes regularly and we have to keep buying it regularly, sometimes three or four times a month. It is very costly and so sometimes our students do not have internet to join classes.”

Internet access was an issue for both students and teachers. As a consequence, an interview with T5 was twice postponed. However, recently, the Iranian Ministry of Communication and Information Technology launched a process for university instructors, school teachers and university students to register for free internet gift packages to support online education. After requesting and receiving this gift, T5 was able to join the interview. However, the package provided only 60 GB of data to university instructors, 40 GB to school teachers, and 30 GB to university students, with a 6-month expiration date (Rahimi et al., 2022).

Employment (X5)

Another factor indirectly influencing online EFL teaching, and learning was employment conditions (X5). All but one of the teachers were part-time and all were on temporary contracts. Consequently, most teachers were searching for new jobs, or trying to emigrate (Y12–Y15). Additionally, the teachers reported their wages were far below what was necessary to sustain an adequate standard of living (Y14). Teacher salaries had not risen for some time, and the currency was rapidly declining in value (Y14, Y10):

T4 “We have got our PhD but there is no job, and even if you have a job, there are lots of limitations at work. You know you don't have any job security anytime - you may lose your job. Because of this even the students don't have any hope for a good or better future. So, they are trying to leave Iran.”


T5 “Our currency is worse and the value is decreasing day by day. And teaching is not a well-paid job in Iran, especially nowadays. The pay is exactly the same as before, but things are more expensive now. For example, two years ago they paid you $6 for each class, and you buy your cell phone for only $200. Now they still pay you $6, but the cell phone is $800. So, it's a huge difference. It’s difficult to live a normal life.”

Almost all teachers reported that they worked longer hours in more than one institution, as well as conducted private lessons (Y12). Five of them said they also worked at private language institutions and were tutoring privately. The sixth teacher (T6) reported she also taught private lessons (Y13). All teachers clarified that they were employed as EFL personnel and were paid accordingly at a lower rate, although they had also been assigned classes to teach in the Faculty of Education. Thus, they expressed dissatisfaction with their slim chance to be hired as full faculty members, which would result in a higher salary and could help them start building a career. They teachers were becoming increasingly concerned with this. Regarding age restrictions and employment challenges:

T1 “It is really hard for us to find full-time permanent jobs related to our own field at the universities. My age is increasing, but my chances are less and less in Iran, and this makes it very hard to be positive about my job and future”.

T3 “If I meet the requirements, I will apply for university again, but a problem that I face is the age limit of 40 years. For actually applying for universities, it will be difficult after 40.”

Technology Influences

Teachers faced significant challenges in the digital environment (subthemes X6, X7, Table 2).

Internet (X6)

In addition to financial restrictions caused by sanctions, Covid-19 exacerbated Iran’s digital poverty (Osiewicz, 2021). Besides not having unlimited internet packages (Y18), poor internet connectivity was one of the major challenges (Y17). Previous studies in Iran had noted how poor internet connection affected teaching—obstacles varied from slow connections in general to no internet access (Hedayati & Marandi, 2014). It was difficult to conduct classes from start to finish, which led teachers to cancel classes and use WhatsApp to send course materials to students.

Weak internet connectivity was also often an issue when using their Learning Management System (LMS), and WhatsApp was again used. However, this method was less effective as it lacked synchronous voice communication and the ability to determine whether students could access materials. These unpredictable circumstances also created challenges with regard to learners' attendance and punctuality. Some of the teachers expressed their frustrations and anxieties by saying:

T1 “Taking attendance is frustrating for teachers and students because the internet is not reliable and it’s not fair to say the student is absent if their internet does not work.”


T3 “There are challenges preparing materials for online classes. We put a lot of time into preparing online material, but when we want to present to students, we see that the Internet is slow and we cannot. These challenges influence both teachers and students and make us feel frustrated and anxious.”


T5 “Because the internet is really weak in Iran there are lots of cut-offs, sometimes during teaching, so we go to WhatsApp and continue the class there.”

T6 “My classes are interrupted, sometimes students say professor we can’t hear or get you or we can’t see you, it is scratchy, and there are so many pauses. This creates a lot of uncertainty and anxiety.”

An additional problem related to poor internet connection was the inability to upload and download course materials such as videos:

T6 “I downloaded videos about important points of the LMS and wanted to share these with my colleagues, but they said the files are so large, how could we download them? Even WhatsApp doesn’t work to download them.”

T5 “It limits the amount of material I can search for using the internet. For example, I cannot watch many videos until I find the best one, or sometimes I want to get some ideas about teaching but I cannot.”

Digital Materials (X7)

It was also reported that internet controls and restrictions (X17-X23) had a significant influence on access to digital content (X7). Iran has a complex censorship system (Aryan et al., 2013), which frequently blocks websites (Marandi, 2010). Teachers said that useful and popular video-sharing websites (e.g., YouTube), which contained a wealth of authentic materials for EFL, could only be accessed through Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) (Y20), because cultural and religious filters were in place (Y19). However, VPNs were not always helpful (Y20), since they frequently drastically slowed down internet connection, to the point where the LMS stopped working, which meant that teachers could not access materials during live classes. VPNs also lost their effectiveness after a brief period, forcing teachers to find new VPNs:

T4 “Most of the websites that share good resources and videos are banned here. Or we have to use a VPN to use it. On the other hand, if you want to use a VPN, the class will be stopped.”

T2 “YouTube is very rich. It's not comparable to Aparat, for instance. But YouTube needs a VPN, and when we use a VPN the LMS stops working. Even when we download video beforehand it takes a long time to upload and download it on the LMS.”

T6 “YouTube is banned in my country. This creates many problems for me because YouTube is a very good resource. Of course, we shift from one VPN to the other to see which one is working. It's time consuming for us so I prefer not to use it.”

Teachers used PowerPoint presentations and pdf files of book chapters to conduct their classes, which were time-consuming to prepare. All teachers reported having no access to electronic books (e-books) (Y22)—an additional digital limitation. Teachers also said that the EFL books in the university were mostly revised by Iranian authors to ensure content was culturally, religiously and politically appropriate (Y24). Private language institutions were slightly more flexible in their selection of books (Y25).

Teacher Self-efficacy

Teacher self-efficacy refers to a teacher’s confidence and belief in their ability to successfully carry out the responsibilities, duties, and challenges of their profession (Bandura, 1997). Many studies have found a strong relationship between teacher self-efficacy and learners’ academic outcomes (Alibakhshi et al., 2020; Barni et al., 2019). In Table 2 (above) factors X8—X12 all relate to teacher self-efficacy.

Teacher and Student Bonding (X8)

By bonding with learners, teachers recognise their personalities, needs, and learning styles (Miller, 2021). The teachers had difficulty bonding with learners in the online environment (X8), especially since classes were very crowded (e.g., T3’s class had 66 students) and some students did not switch their cameras on (Y26). Consequently, teachers were less confident when preparing for classes, as they could not easily recognise the most effective ways to teach certain subjects or distinguish learners’ cultural and religious diversity to help understand which materials may or may not be ethically acceptable (Y39).

Engagement (X9)

Teachers also found it extremely challenging to enhance learner engagement (X9). There were many challenges related to learner participation (Y28), such as in conducting pair/group work (Y32) and encouraging learners to join in class discussions (Y28), which created difficulties in developing communication skills (Y29), very important for building confidence (Edwards & Roger, 2015). This was linked to student lack of confidence to speak in an environment in which they had never physically met with their peers. Moreover, teachers expressed concern regarding whether students genuinely attended the class or just signed in for attendance purposes, since cameras were off and some students failed to respond when their names were called out. As a number of students also had jobs, their lack of response might be due to being signed into class while at their workplace (Y33). It was against university rules for teachers to force students to turn on their cameras (Castelli & Sarvary, 2021). Even though their cameras were off (Y26), students would sometimes forget to mute, so it would be obvious they were not actually participating in the lesson.

Observation of Learners (X10)

Monitoring sought to ensure learners were on the right track for improved learning outcomes (Akbari & Allvar, 2010). Teachers reported a lack of ability to effectively monitor learners (Y34) and this had a negative influence on their self-efficacy. Assigning tasks and providing effective feedback (Y35) were challenging. Students would not complete tasks at the same time, owing to the weak internet connection, erratic attendance, and inability to access materials at the same time. Consequently, teachers found it difficult to provide individual feedback. Students used the LMS or WhatsApp for submission of completed tasks, which was erratic and made it difficult for teachers to set aside a fixed time to go over students’ work. Consequently, teachers could not build their lessons based on students’ strengths and weaknesses. Teachers tried to use ‘break out rooms’ to support task completion, but often students talked in their home language about unrelated topics or leave the group (Y32) altogether. Thus, teachers felt they had less control over their online classes than in traditional classes (Y27).

Stress and Anxiety (X11)

One of the main factors affecting teachers’ low self-efficacy was their low digital literacy (Y42). They felt stress and anxiety resulting from the overnight transition to ‘online only’ teaching. Their anxieties and frustrations stemmed from a lack of digital skills to teach online (Y42), a lack of training, limitations on IT support (Y40), and an inability to help students with unexpected technical issues (T4). All the interviewees had no previous experience in online or blended teaching. Even before the pandemic, they had limited experience in using technology such as video. In fact, only two teachers mentioned using instructional videos at all. Both these teachers decided their efforts were in vain owing to students’ inability to download the video materials from the LMS (Y45), and in some cases students’ lack of engagement (X9) with the videos:

T2 “I think we were not ready for the online transition. We did not have experience from before nor the necessary training. It was very stressful at the beginning especially and still I’m anxious about my limited skills to solve or handle mine or my students’ problems online. It’s stressful.”


T1 “Before Covid I did not have much experience using videos because there are no available facilities - there is only one lab and fifteen very crowded English classes, and if you use your laptop students cannot hear the sound. I tried to use videos, but I think students did not take it seriously or saw it as some kind of holiday and even signed out of class, so I decided it was useless.”


T4 “In Iran we don't have many experts, even in the universities. If suddenly the LMS stops working, there's no one to support us. It makes me feel helpless as a teacher because I cannot help students and they cannot help themselves.”

These online teachers displayed anxiety, stress, and depression. A further reason for anxiety was that university recorded every lesson (Y36) and observed online classes (Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020; Mheidly et al., 2020). Teachers noted their classes were said to be recorded to keep a record of student attendance (Y36), but teachers still felt evaluated and intimidated. T5 also said the students were “not being themselves” due to recording. This stressful classroom environment caused all participants to feel “restricted” and “not show their full potential”:

T3 “Most universities like to record classes online. They are monitoring and evaluating the teachers. The teachers are under pressure. They are afraid of being fired from their jobs.”


T5 “I'm a confident teacher—I have 13 years of experience. But when you feel that somebody is supervising you, listening to you, watching you, how you are teaching right now, you cannot bring all the potential to the class. I had no idea about classes being recorded, but the moment I found out I was just afraid and nervous, and I wasn’t myself anymore.”

Moreover, three of the teachers (T1, T2, T6) expressed feelings of stress due to inability to balance work and home life. Students’ messages via WhatsApp would be constant or at inappropriate times. Owing to the pandemic, household members were often at home at the same time. This was a problem for mothers who, while teaching, supported their own children’s online learning, which meant being distracted while teaching or rescheduling their classes owing to weakened internet connections. Cancellations of classes resulted in apprehension about whether or not teachers could cover the syllabus (Y41).

Iran censors more internet traffic than any other country. While local Persian sites are allowed, English websites (such as the BBC) and popular communications platforms (such as Telegram, Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, Snapchat, and Medium) are blocked. Also blocked are some streaming services (e.g., YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu) and science, health, sports, news, and shopping sites (Aryan et al., 2013). Additionally, the government sometimes implements an internet shutdown (the first author witnessed this directly, having no access to interviewees for four days). Teachers must select or design educational materials following Iranian law so as not to create political tension, insult officials, or clash with Islamic or political customs. They are often limited in their ability to access international resources (Y47) (Kennedy, 2015). Teachers reported still feeling anxious about their selection of materials, as there are cultural and religious diversities across Iran (Y39). When students’ cameras were off, it made it difficult for teachers to obtain feedback from students:

T5 “We have many kinds of people here that belong to different areas and backgrounds, so we have to be really careful because there are still traditional people who think some materials or videos may assault their background. So, some people are less traditional, some people are really traditional, and this is a big issue and stressful for teachers. It is much easier in the normal classroom because you can see the student reaction. In online classes it’s not the case.’’.

Motivation (X12)

Motivating students to engage in learning tasks was a big challenge, especially given the autonomous nature of online learning (Liu, 2015). Motivating and inspiring autonomous learners requires methodological changes and a new understanding of teachers' and students' roles. Raising learner confidence and digital literacy is necessary (Serdyukova & Serdyukov, 2013). Students lacking adequate devices, digital literacy, or connectivity for online learning are likely to be less motivated (Y44) and complete fewer assignments than their peers. Teachers said they were very confident in their ability to motivate students in the physical classroom, since it was easier to know more about their students and bond. However, it was much more difficult in the online classroom (Y45).

Also, teachers themselves experienced low levels of motivation (Y44), which influenced their teaching performance negatively. Teachers said factors such as technical challenges (Y45), forced social isolation (Y46), having limited time (Y47), and feeling burnout (Y48) had significantly impacted their motivation. Previous studies have shown that ‘inefficient time management’ was a factor in teacher anxiety and depression as well as job satisfaction (Y47, Y48). Preparations for online classes involved a lot of time (Y27, Y44), putting extra strain on already overloaded schedules, and causing teachers to feel helpless in managing time efficiently or reaching their full potential. All this weakened their motivation.

Other studies indicate that learners’ feelings of isolation in the online environment can be problematic (Ali & Smith, 2015), so facilitating a strong sense of community amongst learners and teachers is a goal of many online instructors. Nonetheless, the high drop-out rates in online courses suggest that learners feel detached and isolated (Phirangee & Malec, 2017). In the same way, teachers described their feelings of isolation (Y46) during their online teaching. Lack of camera use and participation from the students caused teachers to feel classes were “one-sided” (T4, T5). Moreover, due to being physically separated from their colleagues, teachers reported a heightened sense of isolation and being lost, due to decreased spontaneous “sharing of ideas” with their peers. Owing to the forced isolation caused by the pandemic, the “sharing” of ideas became much more limited (Pierce-Friedman, 2018), and was less effective since teachers had limited information about online teaching technologies. These circumstances led to decreased motivation and lowered self-efficacy in teachers:

T1 “I know online teaching can be a good thing, but if we have the right circumstances, like satisfactory internet, good materials, the right training and more information about strategies on how to teach better in online classes or encourage our students. Then I would have motivation, but in the present circumstances, I’m not motivated at all.”


T4 “You know when you don't get a good salary, when you don't have any hope for the future, so you don't put all of yourself, all of your effort into work, because you are working in more than one job. And for sure, it has a negative impact on your motivation and your job.”

Discussion

Summary and Link to Previous Literature

This study found that online teaching in Iran had both advantages and disadvantages. Teachers experienced a variety of benefits that make their teaching practices more comfortable. However, the teachers gave no evidence that these benefits enhanced teaching effectiveness. We also found that teachers were significantly affected by a number of challenges. The most common external challenges were financial and internet related, as also indicated in the literature (Ghanbari and Nowroozi, 2021; Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020). However, as opposed to previous studies suggesting online teaching in Iran was effective (Azizpour, 2021; Badrkhani, 2021), this study reached different conclusions. For instance, internet-related issues including poor connectivity (Hedayati & Marandi, 2014) and no access to unlimited internet packages were factors that made online education challenging.

As with some previous studies (Alijani, 2020; Ghanbari and Nowroozi, 2021), financial influences also posed major challenges to both teachers and students, including access to devices and the necessity for teachers to work multiple jobs. Teachers expressed an intention to emigrate due to financial problems and limited career prospects. Iranians are more likely to emigrate in comparison to the global average, and even more likely than any other Middle Easterners, largely for economic reasons (Alijani, 2020; Keyou, 2021). Consequently, the number of Iranians leaving the country may potentially decrease drastically if the economy improved (Koo, 2023; Migration Policy Institute, 2021).

Besides factors beyond the teachers' control, many internal factors had been triggered as a result of external circumstances. Internal factors included but were not limited to low teaching self-efficacy and high rates of depression, anxiety, and stress resulting from deficient training, job insecurity, high workload, economic pressure, and communication problems, all of which were evidenced in this study (Lai et al., 2020; Ozamiz-Etxebarria et al., 2021). Despite these circumstances, there was no evidence suggesting the existence of online interventions to reduce these challenges. There might be digital interventions that could help (Ezza et al., 2019; Tran & Nguyen, 2021). The lack of using such interventions might well be because of teachers’ limited digital literacy. Teachers need training in digital techniques (Azizpour, 2021; Ghanbari and Nowroozi, 2021; Sadeghi & Navaie, 2021).

The university was not fully prepared to offer online instruction, due to limitations triggered by external factors such as; economic factors linked to sanctions and internet conditions being highly affected by government policies. Consequently, the pandemic highlighted Iran’s challenges with online teaching and the degree to which it was influenced by internal and hidden factors. Though there were many challenges, teachers and policymakers alike were aware of the obvious advantages of online instruction (Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020.)

Limitations and Strengths

This study had a small sample, and more research is needed. However, it was not possible to interview a large number of teachers due to the difficulties of volunteering, communicating, and conducting interviews online. Yet, in this study, the commonality among the interviewees (see Table 2) indicates saturation was reached. We do not know how representative the interviewees were of all EFL teachers in the university, but we think they were likely to be representative.

All communications and data collection processes were conducted online, so the nuances of face-to-face interviewing were missing. Given this, the degree of trust and honesty with the interviewer was remarkable. It was possible to gain a deeper understanding of the factors mentioned in the previous literature. Unlike many prior studies in this field in Iran, the dataset came from a university in a deprived area, and cannot necessarily be generalised to all universities in Iran (Azizpour, 2021). Therefore, the results provide a new perspective compared to those found in the literature (Alijani, 2020).

Implications for Future Research, Practice, and Policy

This study found that although teachers acknowledged the advantages of transitioning to online teaching, there were many challenges. To address these challenges, effective digital interventions (using accessible digital materials) which conformed to Iran’s cultural and religious requirements were necessary. In Iran, a Middle Eastern country, religion has a significant impact on education (Cheng & Beigi, 2012; Chelkowski & Dabashi, 2000; Moaddel & Azadarmaki, 2003; Paivandi, 2008). New online techniques might improve the pedagogical style of teaching EFL. The university should pay greater attention to teacher professional development courses in order to enhance digital literacy, prepare all teachers for fully online teaching and enable them to cope with the challenges (Azizpour, 2021; Sadeghi & Navaie, 2021).

Teachers acknowledged online education was a positive development. However, they also indicated that online teaching was not their preferred form of instruction, since it was still in its infancy. It seems there is an urgent need to establish infrastructure for developing online teaching, such as administrative support, staff development systems, technology support, and an effective and usable LMS. In addition, policies governing online teaching need to be reviewed and some of the key problems (e.g., economic and connectivity issues) need to be resolved in order to develop online education successfully (Meyer & Barefield, 2010).

Despite the fact that educational policies, and political, historical, economic and social, factors have all contributed to the rapid promotion but ineffective implementation of EFL online education in Iran, these aspects have received minimal attention in social science journals (Goodrich, 2020). This study highlights the need for more in-depth studies. Further insights could be gained by conducting an intervention and post-implementation interview. This would be especially useful if the perspectives of students were also covered.

Conclusion

The study examines the experiences of teachers with online teaching at a state university in a province of Iran with many financial, infrastructural, cultural, and religious constraints. It sought to gain further insight into the teachers' perceptions of online teaching and whether any hidden factors might influence those perceptions indirectly. Analysis of the thematically coded transcripts of semi-structured interviews identified both benefits and dis-benefits of online teaching. A total of twelve themes were identified, further classified into four central themes: the impact of the sudden transition to online education, financial influences, technology influences, and teachers’ self-efficacy.

Regarding the first research question, although teachers recognised the promising potential of online teaching, they did not prefer this, owing to their decreased self-efficacy. Variables associated with this (e.g., motivation, engagement) were closely related to a number of hidden factors discovered through the exploration of features related to the second research question. In terms of factors affecting self-efficacy, most of the influences were external (financial limitations, internet problems, a lack of time as a result of working multiple jobs, job insecurity and stress, and anxiety caused by government policies). It appears the university was ill-prepared for online teaching. However, even in the face of a broad range of difficulties, teachers were able to recognise the obvious advantages of online instruction, leading policy and decision-makers to seriously consider online education.

It is noteworthy that, despite the number of challenges that teachers expressed, no new teaching methods or teacher-led digital interventions in the online environment were proposed or implemented. The methods used by the teachers were previously used in traditional classrooms and merely translated into the online environment.

This study was set in an economically deprived location, and the results might not be generalisable to other universities in Iran. However, it seems likely that some of the results would be relevant to other universities, not only in Iran but also elsewhere in the Middle East or in countries with similar circumstances.