Primary ESL teachers in using ICT to teach English during covid-19: challenges and strategies

Abstract

The emergence of the COVID-19 virus has caused substantial changes in the teaching profession in Malaysia. ICT-based teaching contributes to virtual education as online learning has become increasingly important and it is on the rise among educators. The language educators work under pressure to integrate ICT skills in their teaching and learning process during the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the virtual teaching environment has become more challenging for educators to adapt to the new norm implemented to curb coronavirus spread. Nonetheless, research that highlights primary school teachers' challenges and strategies to overcome the issue of teaching English using ICT is still inadequate. Hence, the current study aims to investigate the challenges encountered by English as A Second Language (ESL) teachers in implementing online lessons. It also outlines some possible ways to deal with ESL teachers' problems in conducting online teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. The research objectives of the present study are to examine the significant difference in Primary ESL teachers' perception with their age, gender, and confidence to use ICT in teaching English during COVID-19, to explore the challenges encountered by Primary ESL teachers in using ICT to teach English during COVID-19 and to identify the possible strategies to overcome the challenges faced by the Primary ESL teachers in using ICT to teach English during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed method was exploited in this research to gather data in two phases. Hence, for the first phase of data collection, a total of 166 primary ESL instructors from West Johor participated in the questionnaire. In the second phase, 12 ESL respondents took part in the semi-structured interview. Findings revealed that there is a significant relationship in the ESL teachers’ perception based on their age and confidence to use ICT. However, there is no significant difference in the ESL teachers’ perception among gender in utilizing ICT during COVID-19. This study discerns ICT-inculcation teaching strategies to overcome the challenges experienced by teachers in teaching English during COVID-19.