AN INVESTIGATION INTO ENGLISH INSTRUCTORS’ ANXIETY IN SYNCHRONOUS ONLINE TEACHING PLATFORMS

Abstract

Owing to the Covid-19 outbreak, all universities in Turkey were closed for the spring term of 2019-2020 academic year and there was a sudden and obligatory shift to distance education. The study aims to investigate the feelings of English instructors assigned to give synchronous online lessons at university during emergency remote teaching, to explore the reasons for their anxiety and whether their feelings and sources of anxiety differ according to age and years of teaching experience. As for the method, a sequential exploratory mixed-method research design was employed. Initially, semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven English instructors and the data were analyzed through content analysis. Then, a questionnaire was developed based on the findings obtained from the interviews and the relevant literature. Sixty-three English instructors responded to the questionnaire and SPSS was used to analyze the quantitative data. Both qualitative and quantitative findings indicated that sudden conversion to remote teaching created anxiety and negative feelings were dominant in the beginning. Sense of inadequacy, lack of interaction opportunities and the fear of not being able to meet students’ needs were found to be the major causes for the instructors’ concerns. The results obtained from the study may offer clues to improve the effectiveness of synchronous online education and professional development activities for English instructors.