Exploring the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Rural English FAL Teachers’ Lesson Planning

Abstract

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) has disrupted the process of teaching and learning in various ways. In particular, lesson planning in rural English first additional language (FAL) classrooms has been disrupted. As a result, there is a need to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on rural English FAL teachers’ lesson planning. To achieve this aim, these questions remain central to this study: How does the COVID- 19 pandemic disrupt the typical teaching plans of English FAL teachers in a rural context? How do rural English FAL teachers respond to the challenges of the phased- in and rotational approaches during the COVID-19 pandemic? The study follows a qualitative research design and uses Document Analysis to generate data from the eleven participants whose responses are analyzed thematically. The findings reveal that rural English FAL teachers face challenges when planning lessons amid the COVID-19 pandemic. These include: struggle with committing to the plan, inadequate coverage of content, catering for learners’ educational needs, as well as learner-absenteeism and the need for re-teaching. The paper recommends the following strategies for rural English FAL teachers to circumvent these challenges. They include: incorporating various resources in the lesson plan, integrating active learning activities in the lesson plan, and tailoring lesson plans to meet learners’ educational needs.