Language Teaching during a Pandemic: A Case Study of Zoom Use by a Secondary ESL Teacher in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article reports a case study of an English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher in Hong Kong who conducted lessons via Zoom during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study focused on the factors influencing her technology integration in synchronous online teaching mode. Using data from classroom recordings, stimulated-recall and semi-structured interviews, this study uncovered how Zoom functioned as a substitute for face-to-face lessons. The findings revealed that although there were fewer interactions between the teacher and her students, teaching in synchronous online mode provided the teacher with opportunities to utilize certain online features to augment methods of checking student understanding. The study identified the teacher’s pedagogical beliefs, the context and professional development as factors that influenced the level of technology integration in her Zoom classes. The study concludes that embracing process-oriented pedagogies may be necessary for a higher level of technology integration among ESL teachers who have adequate professional development opportunities and school support.

Iranian EFL Learners' Attitudes Toward Language Learning Through Social Media During the Covid-19 Pandemic

“…The data in Table 2 revealed that EFL learners have positive attitudes toward the use of social media in language learning, which is in line with the previous research with regard to the use of social media in general (Akhiar, Mydin, & Kasuma, 2017;Aloraini, 2018;Al-Qaysi, Mohamad-Nordin, & Al-Emran, 2019;Bailey, Park, & Haji, 2017;Balbay, & Kilis, 2017;Eaton, 2010;Elia, 2006;Fewell, 2014;Fleck, Beckman, Sterns, & Hussey, 2014;Kabooha, & Elyas, 2018) and the use of social media during the pandemic (Cheung, 2021;Serhan, 2020;Suadi, 2021) in particular. Some learners believed that social media could help them develop their vocabulary knowledge (Al-Qaysi, Mohamad-Nordin, & Al-Emran, 2019).…”

“…In the EFL/ESL learning/teaching context, some researchers shed some light on different PSMs with regard to their uses, potentials, etc. including Instagram (Akhiar, Mydin, & Kasuma, 2017;Aloraini, 2018;Anggraeni, 2017;Gonulal, 2019;Mansor, & Rahim, 2017;Sari, & Wahyudin, 2019), YouTube (Balbay, & Kilis, 2017;Fleck, Beckman, Sterns, & Hussey, 2014;Kabooha, & Elyas, 2018;Maziriri, Gapa, & Chuchu, 2020), Facebook (Atmaca, 2013;Bailey, Park, & Haji, 2017;Çakır, & Atmaca, 2015;Shukor , 2015;Terantino, 2013), Twitter (Cheng, 2012;Kim, Park, & Baek, 2017;Mompean, & Fouz-González, 2016;Said, & Abd Elfatah , 2015;Taskiran, Gumusoglu, & Aydin, 2018), Skype (Eaton, 2010, Elia, 2006Ockert, 2015Ockert, , 2020Yen, Hou, & Chang, 2015), Zoom (Cheung , 2021;Khusniyah, 2020;Nuryanto, 2021;Serhan, 2020), and What's App (Hamad, 2017;Noorani, & Salehi, 2019;Suadi, 2021).…”

New Challenges Imposed by the Pandemic on a Ukrainian University

“…The literature reviews provide an insight into the language teachers' online experience. The authors would like to admit that there is not a country unaffected by the crisis (Amin, 2020;Asmara, 2020;Egbert, 2020;Cheung, 2021;Lesnichenko et al, 2020;Naqvi & Zehra, 2020;Okmawatti, 2020;Shevtsova & Kozubai, 2020).…”

“…The literature review provides coverage of the opinions and feedback on the forceful integration of online instruction (Amin, 2020;Asmara, 2020;Cheung, 2021;Kucheriv, 2020;Lesnichenko et al, 2020;Matvienko et al, 2020;Matvienko et al, 2021;Shevtsova & Kozubai, 2020;Sakalo, 2020;Zmievskaya et al, 2020). Distance learning is not a cutting-edge experience in many European, American, and Asian universities anymore.…”

“…English language education has become a big concern in Ukraine and many non-English speaking countries. The teachers had to transfer to online instruction adapting the technologies and means they had at hand (Amin, 2020;Asmara, 2020;Cheung, 2021;Egbert, 2020;Naqvi & Zehra, 2020;Okmawati, 2020). Though English language education in Ukraine had utilized technologies in teaching phonetics, grammar, speaking before the Covid 19 crisis, teachers adhered to working in the actual classroom.…”