Challenges and Solutions of Teaching English as a Foreign Language Online During a Global Pandemic Like COVID-19: Saudi EFL Teachers’ Perspectives

Abstract

COVID-19, the most catastrophic global pandemic of the 21st century, has caused unbelievable disruption in various sectors, such as education, business and commerce, and tourism. According to UNESCO, education has been so severely affected by the pandemic that over 60% of the world’s student population were deprived of it. As a result, the growth of online teaching has accelerated. The present study aims to explore the challenges of teaching English as a foreign language online during the COVID-19 pandemic in Saudi Arabia and to assess whether the teachers are satisfied with online English language learning classes. Both qualitative and quantitative approaches were used with the help of a self-administered online questionnaire. The questionnaire was distributed among English as a foreign language faculty members of various universities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia using different online tools, such as email, WhatsApp groups, and Facebook. Fifty faculty members voluntarily participated. Analysis was carried out using SPSS 26. The findings revealed promising results that indicate that teaching English as a foreign language online can be very useful if proper training and orientation programs for teachers and students are implemented and online language learning platforms and tools are up to date.