Surviving or Thriving? Experiences and job satisfaction of language instructors in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic meant fast changes for language educators. Understanding how teachers experienced online language teaching during the recent pandemic is crucial for the language teaching profession in order to better prepare instructors for future scenarios in which a move to online instruction may be necessary again. Language instructors’ experiences can help inform administrators and program directors about potential gaps in teacher training or support needed for effective language instruction. This study investigates the experiences and challenges that increased or decreased language teachers’ feelings of satisfaction with teaching online. As an exploratory study, both quantitative and qualitative methods are included in order to capture a broad picture of teacher job satisfaction. The results indicate common challenges faced by teachers during online instruction, and the qualitative analyses of correlations between pre-identified factors impacting job satisfaction allowed us to measure the strength between these factors and job satisfactions; pre-defined factors included familiarity and ease of technology, relevance of training, and expectations of how long online/distance education would last. We conclude this study with a discussion of how these findings can be used to better prepare for future shifts to online teaching, including strategic use of training, programmatic changes in teaching load, and the role of technology in facilitating the delivery of content and interaction between instructors and students.