Emergency Remote Language Teaching and U.S.‐Based College‐Level World Language Educators’ Intention to Adopt Online Teaching in Postpandemic Times

Abstract

This study adopted a mixed methods approach to explore the impact of emergency remote language teaching (ERLT) in the spring of 2020 on 662 U.S.-based college-level world language educators' intention to teach languages online in postpandemic times. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected from an online questionnaire and follow-up interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed through exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, and structural path analysis, which identified 3 factors-perceived values of online language teaching, self-confidence in online language teaching, and stress felt during ERLT-having significant positive predictions of world language educators' intention to teach online in the future. All other ERLT-related factors had indirect effects on their intention. Typological analysis was conducted with qualitative data, which revealed primary reasons for the 3 types of intention to teach online in the future. The results indicate that U.S.-based college-level world language educators were generally positive about adopting online language teaching in postpandemic times after the ERLT experience, although many preferred hybrid teaching if given the choice.

The role of hope in language teachers' changing stress, coping, and well-being

“…Our original study ( Authors, 2020 ) found that approximately 95% of teachers were teaching online, with 75% of that sample having converted face-to-face courses to online delivery in less than a week. Additionally, the emergency conversion to online teaching is likely to affect the willingness to engage in online teaching for some time to come ( Jin et al, 2021 ; Panisoara et al, 2020 ). Given that participants had approximately eight months to adapt to the new teaching conditions, some reduction in stress from teaching online seems to have occurred in the present data, along with a larger reduction in coping efforts.…”

“…Travel restrictions continued to affect both personal and professional activities. Although fears over shortages of goods eased over time, perhaps the most significant change was in the stress attributed to online teaching, which declined but did not disappear, and likely will continue to have an enduring impact on language pedagogy and teachers alike ( Jin et al, 2021 ; Kulikowski et al, 2021 ).…”

“…Although the implications of these data might be applicable to teachers of other subjects, we studied only language teachers and must limit our findings to this group. Although several authors have speculated about the enduring consequences for teachers of the emergency conversion to online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic ( Jin et al, 2021 ; Kulikowski et al, 2021 ), its long-term effects are yet to be revealed.…”

“…Literature on teacher reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic is developing rapidly, although much of the focus has been on pandemic pedagogy or the reactions of learners ( Jelińska and Paradowski, 2021 ). These days, and likely for the foreseeable future, it will not be possible to study language teacher well-being without acknowledging the overpowering and decidedly mixed impact that the COVID-19 pandemic and the emergency conversion to online teaching has had on language teachers (Authors, 2021a, 2021b; Jin et al, 2021 ; Kulikowski et al, 2021 ). The pandemic has affected levels of stress, anxiety, and depression ( Santamaría et al, 2021 ), altered the work-life balance for many teachers, especially women ( Uddin, 2021 ), and led to a sense of burnout ( Zadok-Gurman et al, 2021 ).…”

Emergency Remote Language Teaching and Learning in Disruptive Times

“…In other words, the current understanding of ERLTL is primarily based on language educators' and learners' self-reported experiences during the pandemic. In particular, the aim of most existing studies (e.g., Moser et al, 2021;Wang & Zhao, 2020) was to uncover how educators and students perceived the sudden changes in ERLTL environments, with the exception of two studies, which investigated language educators' perceptions of online language education in general and how the ERT experience influenced their intention for future online teaching (Jin et al, 2021;Xu et al, 2021b). As noted by Oskoz and Smith (2020), many researchers had to pause or make drastic changes to their research projects due to the challenges to data collection posed by an unexpected pandemic.…”