COVID-19: Is It Time You Made the CALL?

Abstract

With the outbreak of the COVID-19 and the consequent closure of schools and universities, distance learning has been adopted throughout the world. However, the problems associated with this type of education under such circumstances have not been studied thoroughly. Conducting in-depth semi-structured interviews with 10 English language instructors at two Iranian universities and the data from ongoing discussions the teachers had in a group on WhatsApp about their classes, the present study investigated the problems these teachers had with virtual classes. After analyzing the participants’ experiences of teaching virtual English classes, three major themes emerged: Technological Aspects (pros and cons), Class Atmosphere (teachers and students), and Class Activity (pedagogy and assessment). Based on the results obtained from this study, infrastructure should be improved, and teachers need to be more resourceful, flexible, and patient. In addition, teachers should be prepared for huge shifts in their teaching paradigms.