EFL teaching and motivation in higher education during emergency online learning

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the measures taken to contain the spread of the virus was to replace face-to-face instruction for an online modality known as Emergency Online Learning (EOL). During its implementation in this unprecedented scenario, motivation—a central element to Second Language Acquisition (SLA)—was explored to understand how the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom in higher education was affected by these novel educational circumstances under the premise of Sociocultural theory (SCT), where context influences the learning process. This exploratory mixed-methods study gathered through a survey the perspective of 30 university instructors on their use of motivational strategies and how challenging three classroom-related areas have been in this context in comparison to the face-to-face modality. Then, five university instructors were interviewed to study in more depth their previous survey responses regarding their own teaching experience throughout this year. Results show that instructors faced challenges such as communication and student participation during the online synchronous classes, and dealt with them using motivational strategies, accompanied by constant displays of compassion on the part of instructors to overcome the educational challenges arising from the context.