HOW ENGLISH LANGUAGE INSTRUCTORS COPED WITH THE ONSET OF THE PANDEMIC AND REMOTE LANGUAGE TEACHING: A CASE STUDY

Abstract

This paper reports on the emergency remote education period of the instructors at the School of Foreign Languages of a Turkish state university. The university the study was conducted in, along with all other higher education institutions in Turkey, switched to online education with the sudden spread of the COVID 19 pandemic. To evaluate how the instructors dealt with this sudden transition, 110 participants teaching at the School of Foreign Languages completed an online survey at the end of the emergency remote education academic semester. Thereafter 24 of them volunteered to be interviewed about their experiences in more detail. The findings reveal that most instructors had some apprehension and difficulty in making the transition to online teaching, yet still considered themselves competent in dealing with the unexpected and unprepared teaching medium. Many thought the experience had been valuable to their personal development and referred to aspects of online education that will be integral to their professional development. It was observed that the instructors also repeatedly expressed that they perceived the experience as one that interaction among colleagues benefitted them most both in developing their digital skills and in providing them with psychological support.

Keywords

• Emergency remote teaching
• distance education
• pandemic period language education
• adaptation to educational technology

İNGİLİZCE ÖĞRETİM GÖREVLİLERİNİN PANDEMİ DÖNEMİ UZAKTAN EĞİTİM SÜRECİ: BİR VAKA ÇALIŞMASI

Abstract

Bu çalışma Mart 2020’de Türkiye’de ilk COVID 19 vakasının görülmesiyle başlayan yeni eğitim şartlarına ODTÜ Yabancı Diller Yüksekokulu öğretim görevlilerinin uyum sürecini incelemek amacıyla yapılmıştır. Bu dönemde Türkiye’de yüksek öğretim kurumlarındaki öğrenciler evlerine gönderilmiş ve hızlı bir şekilde uzaktan eğitime geçilmiştir. Araştırma için veri toplama amaçlı 110 katılımcı uzaktan eğitim süreci hakkında araştırmacıların hazırladıkları çevrim içi bir anket cevaplamış ve gönüllü olan 24 katılımcıyla mülakatlar yapılmıştır. Katılımcıların büyük bir çoğunluğunda sürecin başında zorluk yaşadıkları tecrübesi ortaktır, fakat sürecin zaman içinde katılımcı öğretim görevlilerinde, uzaktan eğitimde gerekli beceriler konusunda yeterlilik hissi yarattığı gözlemlenmiştir. Ayrıca yine katılımcıların çoğu, kişisel gelişimleri açısından, uzaktan eğitim sürecinde kazandıkları beceri ve bakış açılarının, mesleki gelişimlerine katkısının büyük olduğunu iletmiş ve çevrim içi eğitimin ileriki dönemlerde de hayatlarında olacağını belirtmişlerdir. Katılımcı öğretim görevlileri, meslektaş iletişiminden hem dijital becerilerini geliştirme hem de psikolojik destek anlamında çok faydalandıklarını belirtmişlerdir.

Keywords

• Afet durumu eğitimi
• uzaktan eğitim
• pandemi dönemi dil eğitimi
• eğitim teknolojilerine uyum

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