Abstract
While previous studies in the literature may have used the concept of a community of practice (CoP) to investigate its role for teachers’ professional development, this study identifies the role of a teachers’ CoP in navigating the challenges in online/remote teaching faced by six teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) in a university in Thailand during the COVID19 pandemic. This study employed a purposive-convenience sampling method with an individual online interview to gather qualitative data. Findings revealed that although teacher-participants pointed out the lack of students’ interaction, lack of time to do assessment and feedback, and the lack of students’ concentration in online teaching, they greatly acknowledged the role of the teachers’ CoP in navigating the demands and challenges of online teaching during the pandemic. Some of the ascribed roles of the teachers’ CoP in online teaching include; a support group, a source of solutions to online teaching issues, and a learning community. Implications are discussed and suggestions for future studies are offered.
Highlights
IntroductionA number of schools and universities may have been used to, and prepared for, online teaching, other university classes in Thailand were not necessarily ready and prepared for the sudden need to move classes from residential or face-to-face to online, especially in the middle of the semester
Teachers had conflicting views with regards to moving classes online, they all agreed that remote teaching was a better option during the COVID19 pandemic
The present study explores the role of the teachers’ community of practice (CoP) in meeting the demands of and issues in online teaching that teachers in a university in Thailand faced during the COVID19 pandemic
Summary
A number of schools and universities may have been used to, and prepared for, online teaching, other university classes in Thailand were not necessarily ready and prepared for the sudden need to move classes from residential or face-to-face to online, especially in the middle of the semester. Such a move to online teaching and learning was likely to create apprehension and concern among teachers in universities since classes are usually held in a lecture-based classroom (Boonmak, Tesaputa & Duangpaeng 2015; Ulla 2018) and there are clearly both teachers and students who are unfamiliar with online pedagogy. Mehran et al (2017) admitted that despite having technological tools for online learning, university undergraduate students at Osaka University in Japan lacked the interest and motivation to take
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