Proceedings of The 5th World Conference on Teaching and Education
Year: 2022
DOI:
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EFL Teachers’ Identity Transformation during Online Teaching
Haya Fayyad Abuhussein
ABSTRACT:
Despite its substantial importance, EFL teachers’ identity transformation during covid-19 has received less attention in comparison with the plethora of research conducted on the technological transformation in methods of teaching and learning. Switching to online teaching and learning is inseparable from changes in teachers’ self-perspectives and teacher’s identity. Seeking to understand the impact of these significant changes on EFL teacher’s identity and relating this to their professional needs, self-esteem and self-awareness, relations with learners, relations with colleagues, and perspectives towards their institution is fundamental. In this sense, this research aims at investigating EFL teachers’ identity transformation during covid-19 lockdown and the subsequent online teaching. The research was conducted during the Summer Semester 2021/ 2022. The researcher has adopted the qualitative descriptive research method, in which semi-structured interviews with nine EFL instructors at the Department of Languages and Translation at Birzeit University, Palestine, were conducted. Appropriate qualitative analyses were utilized to figure out participants’ responses to the interviews and to answer the research main question. The results of the research have shown substantial impact of online teaching on EFL instructors’ identity in terms of their professional needs; self-awareness and self-esteem; relationships with learners; relationships with colleagues; and their perspectives towards their institution (Birzeit University). Hence, some recommendations were suggested.
keywords: Teacher’s Professional Identity, Identity Transformation, Online Teaching