All set? ESL online teaching among polytechnic lecturers during the COVID-19 pandemic
List of Authors
  • Gan Poh Xian , Sara Ruran Fabian

Keyword
  • readiness, polytechnic lecturers, online teaching, ESL, Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract
  • Educational institutions around the world have been forced to shut as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak, causing challenges in teaching and learning. The mode of face-to-face teaching in the classroom has quickly given way to web-based interactive teaching. The unexpected shift of online interactive teaching has affected the readiness of educators in offering high-quality education to the learners. Previous research has shown that lecturers at higher education institutions, notably Malaysian universities, were not fully prepared for the abrupt change. While in the polytechnic setting, however, just a few investigations have been undertaken. As such, this study aims to investigate the readiness of polytechnics lecturers in ESL online teaching during the pandemic. A Google Form questionnaire was sent to 35 English lecturers from Sarawak's polytechnics and a semi-structured interview was conducted with three lecturers who teach Communicate English from each polytechnic. The findings revealed that although having a decent comprehension of basic technological abilities, the lecturers are not fully equipped for online teaching due to a lack of training. Whether or not a pandemic is present, it is vital to provide trainings to assist polytechnic lecturers in embracing and preparing for online teaching.

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