An investigation into the online language teaching and assessment practices during COVID-19

Abstract

Due to a growing number of casualties, company and school closures, and a lack of social connections, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a number of unanticipated challenges. As a result, to cope with these challenges online education served as a great way for bridging the distances through digital tools. With the purpose of an effective and quality online learning, all stakeholders involving active implementers of educational programs, namely teachers and students in addition to administrators should be aware of its benefits and drawbacks. To this end, the current study attempts to uncover the perspectives of ELT instructors about online language teaching and assessment through a qualitative research design. The results showed that online language assessment and teaching was considered as inevitable by all participants, thus making it necessary to employ efficient methods for designing and administering online assessment, and interpreting the scores. On the contrary, a long list of challenges and problems were noted by the respondents including academic misconduct, difficulty of proctoring, open to manipulation, validity and reliability concerns. The study ends with practical implications for teacher training programs and further research ideas.

Keywords

• online language assessment
• ELT
• Covid-19

Kaynakça

1. Adedoyin, O. B. & Soykan, E. (2020). Covid-19 pandemic and online learning: The challenges and opportunities, Interactive Learning Environments. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1813180
2. Amiti, F. (2020). Synchronous and Asynchronous E-Learning. European Journal of Open Education and E-Learning Studies, 5(2), 60–70. https://doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v5i2.3313
3. Arslan, R., Bircan, H. & Eroğlu H. (2019). Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi’nde uzaktan eğitimde sunulan derslere yönelik tutum ölçeğinin geliştirilmesi. Cumhuriyet Üniversitesi İktisadi ve İdari Bilimler Dergisi, 20(2), 409-427.
4. Bond, M., Marín, V. I., Dolch, C., Bedenlier, S., & Zawacki-Richter, O. (2018). Digital transformation in German higher education: Student and teacher perceptions and digital media usage. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 15(1), 48. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41239-018-0130-1
5. Bryman, A. (2015). Social research methods. Oxford University Press.
6. Çakır, O., Karademir, T., & Erdogdu, F. (2018). Psychological variables of estimating distance learners’ motivation. Turkish Online Journal of Distance Education, 19(1), 163-182. https://doi.org/10.17718/tojde.382795
7. Chen, J. C., Dobinson, T., & Kent, S. (2020). Students’ perspectives on the impact of blackboard collaborate on open university Australia (OUA) online learning. Journal of Educators Online, 17(1), n1. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1241569.pdf
8. Cicillini, S. & Giacosa, A. (2020). Online English-medium instruction (EMI) classes. What we have learned so far. Conference Paper. 178-185.

9. Cohen, L., Manion, L. & Morrison, K. (2007). Research methods in education (Sixth ed.). London and New York: Routledge.
10. Creswell, J. & Poth, C. (2018). Qualitative inquiry and research design are choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks.: SAGE Publications Inc.
11. Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry & research design: Choosing among five approaches. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
12. Creswell, J. W. (2013). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
13. Dörnyei, Z. (2007). Research methods in applied linguistics: Quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
14. EAPRO (2020). Guidance: Assessing and monitoring learning during the COVID-19 crisis.
15. Elzainy A, El Sadik A, & Al Abdulmonem, W. (2020). Experience of e-learning and online assessment during the COVID-19 pandemic at the College of Medicine, Qassim University. J Taibah Univ Med Sc. 15(6), 456-462. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtumed.2020.09.005
16. Erdoğan, Ş. K. (2020). Foreign language education during COVID-19 pandemic: An evaluation from the perspectives of preparatory class students. Millî Eğitim, 49 (1), 1079-1090. https://doi.org/10.37669/milliegitim.788274
17. Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online learning. Educause Review, (March 27, 2020). https://er.educause.edu/articles/2020/3/the-differencebetween-emergency-remote-teaching-and-online-learning.
18. Joshi, O., Chapagain, B., Kharel, G., Poudyal, N. C., Murray, B. D., & Mehmood, S. R. (2020). Benefits and challenges of online instruction in agriculture and natural resource education. Interactive Learning Environments, 1–12. http://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1725896
19. Karataş, T. Ö. & Tuncer, H. (2020). Sustaining language skills development of pre-service EFL teachers despite the COVID-19 interruption: A case of emergency distance education. Sustainability, 12, 8188. https://doi.org/10.3390/su12198188
20. König, J., J. Jäger-Biela, D. & Glutsch, N. (2020) Adapting to online teaching during COVID-19 school closure: Teacher education and teacher competence effects among early career teachers in Germany. European Journal of Teacher Education, 43 (4), 608–622. http://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1809650
21. Kopp, M., Gröblinger, O., & Adams, S. (2019). Five common assumptions that prevent digital transformation at higher education institutions. INTED2019 Proceedings (pp. 1448-1457). https://doi.org/10.21125/inted.2019
22. Krueger, K. (2015). How to catch students cheating on online tests [Internet]. Available from: http://mediashiftorg/2015/08/how- to-catch-students-cheating-on-online-tests/
23. Lie, A., Tamah, S. M., Gozali, I., Triwidayati, K. R., Utami, T. S. D., & Jemadi, F. (2020). Secondary school language teachers’ online learning engagement during the COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia. Journal of Information Technology Education: Research, 19, 803-832. https://doi.org/10.28945/4626.
24. Lincoln, Y. S. & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
25. Mackey, A. & Gass, S. M. (2005). Second language research: Methodology and design. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Publishers.
26. Maxwell, J. A. (2010). Using Numbers in Qualitative Research. Qualitative Inquiry, 16(6), 475–482. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800410364740
27. Miles, M. B. & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook. (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
28. Osterlind, S. J. (2002). Constructing test items: Multiple-choice, constructed-response, performance, and other formats (2nd Ed.). Kluwer Academic.
29. Rahim, A. F. A. (2020). Guidelines for online assessment in emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Education in Medical Journal, 12(2), 59–68. https://doi.org/10.21315/Eimj2020.12.2.6
30. Sandkuhl, K., & Lehmann, H. (2017). Digital transformation in higher education – the role of enterprise architectures and portals. Digital Enterprise Computing (DEC, 2017).
31. Shenton, A. K. (2004). Strategies for ensuring trustworthiness in qualitative research. Education for Information, 22, 63-75. https://doi.org/10.3233/EFI-2004-22201
32. Smedley, J. (2010). Modelling the impact of knowledge management using technology. OR Insight, 23(4), 233–250. https://doi.org/10.1057/ori.2010.11
33. Strauss, A. L. (1987). Qualitative analysis for social scientists. Cambridge University Press.
34. Sun, S. Y. H. (2020). Online language teaching: the pedagogical challenges. Knowledge Management & E-Learning: An International Journal, 3 (3), 428-447.
35. Taopan, L. L., Drajati, N. A., & Sumardi (2020). TPACK framework: Challenges and opportunities in EFL classrooms. Research and Innovation in Language Learning, 3(1), 1-22. https://doi.org/10.33603/rill.v3i1.276
36. The realities of cheating in online classes & exams [Internet]. Online Education.2020. Available from: https://www.onlineeducation.com/features/cheating-in-online-education
37. UNESCO (2020). Guidance on flexible learning during campus closures: ensuring course quality of higher education in COVID-19 outbreak. Available online: https://iite.unesco.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Guidance-on-Flexible-Learning-during-Campus-Closures-in-COVID-19-outbreak-SLIBNU-V1.2_0508.pdf
38. YÖK. (2020). Üniversitelerde uygulanacak uzaktan eğitime ilişkin açıklama. Retrieved from https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Haberler/2020/universitelerde-uygulanacak-uzaktan-egitime-iliskin-aciklama.aspx
39. Zhao, C., & Mei, Z. (2016). A case study of American and Chinese college students motivation differences in online learning environment. Journal of Education and Learning, 5(4), 104–112. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/jel.v5n4p104