A study on language teachers’ preparedness to use technology during COVID-19

Abstract

Although the Covid-19 pandemic, has affected all aspects of human life, including education worldwide, technology has provided an opportunity for teachers to replace their classroom-based education and face-to-face learning with digital modes of online teaching and learning. With the paradigm shift in education, the present study adopted a descriptive research design that involved the analysis of quantitative data, investigated the preparedness, attitudes, beliefs and difficulties of 452 English language teachers from India and Afghanistan towards various ways of using technology for language teaching. A questionnaire with 23 items on Likert scale and open-ended questions was shared online with the teacher respondents to collect data. The findings revealed that lack of technological tools, low parental support for active participation of students, time taken to adopt technical tools to virtual mode of teaching and sudden paradigm shift without systematic training, little time space to adapt to the paradigm shift, planning, and executing classes were among the challenges that teachers faced while using technology in their classes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The study suggested some pedagogical implications and information for further studies.

Keywords

• use of technology
• covid-19
• teachers’ preparedness
• attitudes
• beliefs
• online teaching and learning