EFL teachers’ identity in self-directed learning: A work-from-home phenomenology

Ashadi Ashadi,Ihtiara Fitrianingsih,Erna Andriyanti,Widyastuti Purbani

doi:10.24815/siele.v9i1.21455

Ashadi Ashadi, Ihtiara Fitrianingsih + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.24815/siele.v9i1.21455

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Abstract

Major potential effects of abrupt changes in educational settings particularly for education stakeholders such as teachers have been somewhat interesting to examine. This study examines how teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in different schooling levels acclimatize their experiences due to the unanticipated Covid-19 outbreak, which forced them to pursue Online Distance Learning (ODL). Employing a phenomenological approach, eight teachers from various educational and psychometric backgrounds in three different provinces in Indonesia shared their experiences in coping with the changes. Before engaging in two semi-structured interviews, they were invited to complete an e-reflection to share their feelings, concerns, difficulties, and challenges. To get to the core of their experience, the data were scrutinized following an interpretive phenomenological analysis which includes an early focus on the lines of inquiry, central concerns and important themes, identification of shared meanings, final interpretations, and the dissemination of the interpretations. The findings demonstrated that the changes created an ambivalent experience of being challenged and bored, prompting teachers to reflect on their existing practice and respond appropriately by combining empathy, new roles, and technology paramount through their self-directed learning (SDL). Further implications on teacher agency and identity are discussed to shed light on the reshaping of teacher identities due to ODL and SDL.

Highlights

Coronavirus pandemic has undesirably affected most walks of life all over the world (WHO, 2020)
As research of events experienced from the first-person point of view, the current study poses questions that grow out of intense interest in the experience of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers during the Covid-19 pandemic forcing them to teach from home
The first is that teaching from home during the Covid-19 health crisis was considered an ambivalent experience in which there was an impression of burdensome and boredom but stirring from the English teacher participants

Summary

Introduction

Coronavirus pandemic has undesirably affected most walks of life all over the world (WHO, 2020). People’s patterns of behaviour change in almost all fields to ensure health and survival in response to the spread of the virus. Counteractions to limit the spread of the outbreak have been taken by authorities, communities, and individuals. Governments attempt to consolidate their systems to ensure that patterns develop during the pandemic in each sector, including education. Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) reported that educational institutions, at all levels from kindergartens to universities, have been closed gradually to minimize the spread of the virus (OECD, 2020). The transition from classical classrooms to distance and online learning can be a new experience for teachers at all levels and may be discerned differently depending on their previous individual beliefs, professional practices, and institutional contexts. With the sudden occurrence of the pandemic, limited facilities, and skills possessed by involved parties, how they make meaning of their experience and react to the condition is interesting to understand

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