Transition into Online Education During COVID-19: The Case of Speaking-Based Courses at an English Language Teaching Program in Turkey

During the spring semester in March 2020 and the fall semester in October 2020, tertiary-level education in Turkey underwent two different transitions into online education. This study aimed to examine the two transition periods with a focus on the course design processes of two speaking-based courses taught at a state university. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with two professors, and open-ended questionnaires were administered to students. The findings showed that professors could not tailor the design of the two courses in March as they did not have time, but they gained experience to supplement their course content, remove some activities and prioritize others, and they opted for performance-based assessment in October. This paper concludes that the transition in October needs to be differentiated with the suggested term; semi-planned transition into online education. This transition period is still affected by the crisis; however, time can be allocated to determine the needs and expectation of the stakeholders to better prepare for online education. Keywords: Transition into online education, Covid-19, Speaking-based course, English language teaching

Keywords:

Transition into online education, Covid-19 Speaking-based course, English language teaching,

PDF

___

Allen, I. E., & Seaman, J. (2016). Online report card: Tracking online education in the United States. Babson Survey Research Group & Quahog Research Group. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED572777.pdf
Anugrah, P. M. (2022). Teachers’ challenges in teaching speaking through online learning during covid-19 pandemic. The Art of Teaching English as a Foreign Language, 3(1), 25–34. https://doi.org/10.36663/tatefl.v3i1.140
Arianto, P. (2021, June). Teaching English during Covid-19 pandemic: Using “Busuu” in speaking class. In UNNES-TEFLIN National Seminar Vol. 4, No. 1 (pp. 392-401). http://utns.proceedings.id/index.php/utns/article/view/132/118
Basilaia, G., & Kvavadze, D. (2020). Transition to online education in schools during a Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic in Georgia. Pedagogical Research, 5(4), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/7937
Bich, T. N. C., & Lian, A. (2021). Exploring challenges of major English students towards learning English speaking skills online during covid 19 pandemic and some suggested solutions. In Proceedings of the AsiaCALL International Conference (Vol. 621, pp. 135-144). https://asiacall.info/proceedings/index.php/articles/article/view/38/37
Buckenmeyer, J., Hixon, E., Barczyk, C. C., & Feldman, L. (2011). Invest in the success of online programs at the university? Mentor professors. Contemporary Issues in Education Research, 4(6), 1–6. https://doi.org/10.19030/cier.v4i6.4380
Council of Higher Education (2020). Basın açıklaması [Press release]. https://www.yok.gov.tr/Sayfalar/Haberler/2020/universitelerde-uygulanacak-uzaktan-egitime-iliskin-aciklama.aspx
Cutri, R. M., & Mena, J. (2020). A critical reconceptualization of faculty readiness for online teaching. Distance Education, 41(3), 361-380. https://doi.org/10.1080/01587919.2020.1763167
Djafar, R. (2020). Analysis of the effect of covid-19 towards L2 English speaking performance. Jurnal Ilmu Sosial Dan Pendidikan, 4(4), 219–223. http://ejournal.mandalanursa.org/index.php/JISIP/index Drescher, S. (2022). How engagement changed during online speaking tasks due to Covid-19 [Master’s Thesis, Leopold-Franzens Universität Innsbruck]. https://diglib.uibk.ac.at/ulbtirolhs/content/titleinfo/7673845/full.pdf
Efriana, L. (2021). Problems of online learning during COVID-19 pandemic in EFL classroom and the solution. Journal of English Language Teaching and Literature, 2(1) 38-47. https://jurnal.stkipmb.ac.id/index.php/jelita/article/download/74/52
Erarslan, A. (2021). English language teaching and learning during Covid-19: A global perspective on the first year. Journal of Educational Technology and Online Learning, 4(2), 349–367. https://doi.org/10.31681/jetol.907757
Gacs, A., Goertler, S., & Spasova, S. (2020). Planned online language education versus crisis‐prompted online language teaching: Lessons for the future. Foreign Language Annals, 53(2), 380-392. https://doi.org/10.1111/flan.12460
Garland, M. E., & Violanti, M. T. (2021). Rock my world: Rewind to a better transition to remote learning. Frontiers in Communication, 6(641873), 1-10. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcomm.2021.641873/full
Garrison, D. R. (2016). E-learning in the 21st century: A community of inquiry framework for research and practice. Routledge.
Gonzalez-Torres, P., Cabrera-Solano, P., & Castillo-Cuesta, L. (2022). Exploring perceptions of online feedback in teaching EFL speaking and writing skills during the Covid-19 Pandemic. International Journal of Learning, Teaching and Educational Research, 21(7), 330–344. https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.21.7.17
Gülbahar, Y., & Adnan, M. (2020). Faculty professional development in creating significant teaching and learning experiences online. In L. Kyei-Blankson, E. Ntuli, & J. Blankson (Eds.), Handbook of research on creating meaningful experiences in online courses (pp. 37–58). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-0115-3.ch004
Hodges, C., Moore, S., Lockee, B., Trust, T., & Bond, A. (2020). The difference between emergency remote teaching and online teaching. Educause Review. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/104648
Huang, M. (2021). A case study of ESL students’ remote speaking class learning experiences in a Canada university during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 3(5), 32-44. https://al-kindipublisher.com/index.php/jeltal/article/download/1739/1415
İşler, C., & Elmas, B. (2022). The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on teaching speaking skills. Journal Of Language Teaching and Learning, 12(2), 36-54. https://www.jltl.com.tr/index.php/jltl/article/view/404/178
Istiqhomah, F. N., Wahyuna, Y. T., & Nugraha, S. I. (2021). Problem faced by EFL teacher in teaching speaking during pandemic. LINGUISTIK: Jurnal Bahasa Dan Sastra, 6(2), 269–278.
Jeffery, K. A., & Bauer, C. F. (2020). Students’ responses to emergency remote online teaching reveal critical factors for all teaching. Journal of Chemical Education, 97(9), 2472-2485. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c00736
Khaerana, A. S. A., Soraya, A. I., Ridha, M., & Latief, A. (2022). Receptive and productive skills online learning during covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Innovative Science and Research Technology, 7(1). https://www.ijisrt.com/assets/upload/files/IJISRT22JAN089.pdf
Kusumawati, A. J. (2020). Redesigning face-to-face into online learning for speaking competence during Covid-19: ESP for higher education in Indonesia. International Journal of Language Education, 4(2), 276–288. https://doi.org/10.26858/ijole.v4i2.14745
Kuznekoff, J. H., & Munz, S. M. (2022). COVID-19 and the transition to online learning in the basic course: examining effects on student learning. Higher Learning Research Communications, 12(2), 45-61. https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1350669.pdf
La’biran, R., & Dewi, R. (2021). Teaching English speaking strategies in Covid-19 era for English department students at UKI Toraja. Jurnal Keguruan Dan Ilmu Pendidikan, 10(1), 49–55. https://doi.org/10.0901/jkip.v10i1.1218
Mallillin, L. L. D., Mendoza, L. C., Mallillin, J. B., Felix, R. C., & Lipayon, I. C. (2020). Implementation and readiness of online learning pedagogy: a transition to Covid 19 pandemic. European Journal of Open Education and E-learning Studies, 5(2). http://dx.doi.org/10.46827/ejoe.v5i2.3321
Menggo, S. (2021, November). Perception and barrier on using zoom in speaking class during covid-19 pandemic. In ICHELAC 2021: First International Conference on Humanities, Education, Language and Culture, ICHELAC 2021, 30-31 August 2021, Flores, Indonesia (p. 137). European Alliance for Innovation. https://doi.org/10.4108/eai.30-7-2021.2313619
Mishra, L., Gupta, T., & Shree, A. (2020). Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of Covid-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open, 1, (2020), 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100012
Mulyani, E. R., Yugafiati, R., & Fatia, K. N. (2021). English students’ academic-emotions in learning speaking at the beginning of online learning time amid Covid-19 pandemic: a narrative study. Professional Journal of English Education, 4(4), 744-749. http://dx.doi.org/10.22460/project.v4i4.p744-748
Khreisat, M. (2022). English language learning strategies during Covid-19 in the middle east: a systematic review. Arab World English Journal, 13(1), 56–71. https://doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol13no1.4
Nayman, H., & Bavlı, B. (2022). Online teaching of productive language skills (PLS) during emergency remote teaching (ERT) in EFL Classrooms: A phenomenological inquiry. International Journal of Education and Literacy Studies, 10(1), 179–187. https://doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijels.v.10n.1p.179
Nurwahyuni, R. (2020). An analysis of students’ perception on synchronous and asynchronous learning in speaking skill during pandemic Covid-19. 21–22. http://e-proceedings.iain-palangkaraya.ac.id/index.php/inacelt
Yépez, J., Guevara, L., & Guerrero, G. (2020, June). AulaVR: Virtual Reality, a telepresence technique applied to distance education. In 2020 15th Iberian Conference on Information Systems and Technologies (CISTI) (pp. 1-5). IEEE. https://doi.org/10.23919/CISTI49556.2020.9141049
Yin, R. K. (2018). Case study research and application: Design and methods (Sixth Edition). SAGE.