The Views of Instructors in Foreign Language Teaching with Distance Education Model during the Covid 19 Pandemic Process: A Study at Tishk International University in Erbil, Iraq

Abstract

The Covid19 pandemic process, which is the biggest global problem of the recent times, has been a negative factor that has profound effects in all sectors and different platforms, necessitating radical changes and plans to follow. Of course, education is one of the areas most affected and directed by this process. Many educational institutions in the world that provide services at various levels have had to give more importance to internet-based distance education applications and technologies. The aim of this study is to reflect the views of foreign language instructors in the university about distance education and to analyze the different situations they encounter in the process and make forward-looking suggestions. The study group of the research consists of 24 academic staff working in the faculties of Dentistry, Pharmacy, Nursing, Engineering, Administrative Sciences and Economics and Science at Tishk International University Language Preparatory School in the 2020-2021 academic year and voluntarily participated in the research. The data of the research were collected with a semi-structured interview form consisting of open-ended questions created by the researchers. Then, content analysis was performed on the data obtained from the study. As a result of the research, the online and offline distance education model, which is carried out throughout the year, provides flexibility of time and space, easy access and sharing to different resources and materials in many areas, positive interest of students in technology, preventing in-class pressure and other kinds of pressure. It has been determined that there are opportunities such as the ability to easily prevent classical discipline problems. On the other hand, the traditional formal education model has the advantage of being able to deal with students more closely and specifically, to establish face-to-face and eye contact, to interact and understand with body language, to have the usual classroom management experience, to actively participate in the lesson, to give instant feedback and to ensure the continuity of motivation. It has been determined by the instructors that it is more efficient and more beneficial for the academic development of the student than the distance education model due to the advantages of not interrupting the course due to connection problems, reliable measurement and evaluation in and out of the classroom

Keywords

• distance learning
• traditional education
• foreign language instructors