"We Need to Be Gracious to Ourselves, We Need to Be Gracious to the Students" : English Teachers' Experiences and Opinions about Distance Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland
Partanen, Vilma (2022-09-12)
"We Need to Be Gracious to Ourselves, We Need to Be Gracious to the Students" : English Teachers' Experiences and Opinions about Distance Teaching during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Finland
Partanen, Vilma
(12.09.2022)
Julkaisu on tekijänoikeussäännösten alainen. Teosta voi lukea ja tulostaa henkilökohtaista käyttöä varten. Käyttö kaupallisiin tarkoituksiin on kielletty.
avoin
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on:
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022101462076
https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi-fe2022101462076
Tiivistelmä
This MA thesis examines English teachers’ dynamical opinions and experiences about distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic in Finland. Distance teaching in general has been a research subject for a long time, but during and after COVID-19, the studies about the topic have multiplied. However, the dynamic, possibly changed experiences and opinions of teachers have been missing. Previous studies have also usually concentrated on higher education, and in this thesis, the focus is on comprehensive school and upper secondary school teachers.
The main aim on the thesis is to find out how English teachers’ experiences and opinions about distance teaching have changed through all distance teaching periods from spring 2020 to autumn 2021. In addition to that, the focus is also on the themes of positive and negative sides of distance teaching, the usage of time during distance teaching and its planning, ICT and support gotten for distance teaching, distance teaching working methods, test arrangements and grading and also learner differences in distance teaching. The theoretical background of the thesis consists of distance teaching and its description, differences between distance teaching and contact teaching and distance language teaching in particular. It also includes previous studies about distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and discussion about the technological and digital aspects of distance teaching.
The material for this thesis was collected by seven English teachers’ interviews. The interviews were semi-structured, and they covered the themes which the focus of this study is on. After the interviews, the material was analyzed qualitatively. The results of the thesis show that teachers’ experiences and opinions about distance teaching changed dynamically for the better. The teachers felt mostly insecure about their own ICT skills in the beginning of the first distance teaching period, but as the time passed, their skills got better and they learnt new technological and pedagogical things, and this changed their feelings about distance teaching to more positive. However, the teachers found more negative than positive things about distance teaching, and the biggest reason for that was that they were concerned about their students’ coping and well-being during distance teaching periods. The teachers also noticed major differences between different learners and their studying during distance teaching.
The most important finding of the study was that the teachers used more time when planning lessons and courses in distance teaching than in contact teaching, since this is not in line with previous study results about the topic. Also, the dynamic positive change of experiences and opinions is an important new finding since it has not been studied before. The limitations of this study have to do with the small number of participants. In the future, research could focus on learner differences in distance teaching or the pedagogical aspect of distance teaching.
The main aim on the thesis is to find out how English teachers’ experiences and opinions about distance teaching have changed through all distance teaching periods from spring 2020 to autumn 2021. In addition to that, the focus is also on the themes of positive and negative sides of distance teaching, the usage of time during distance teaching and its planning, ICT and support gotten for distance teaching, distance teaching working methods, test arrangements and grading and also learner differences in distance teaching. The theoretical background of the thesis consists of distance teaching and its description, differences between distance teaching and contact teaching and distance language teaching in particular. It also includes previous studies about distance teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic and discussion about the technological and digital aspects of distance teaching.
The material for this thesis was collected by seven English teachers’ interviews. The interviews were semi-structured, and they covered the themes which the focus of this study is on. After the interviews, the material was analyzed qualitatively. The results of the thesis show that teachers’ experiences and opinions about distance teaching changed dynamically for the better. The teachers felt mostly insecure about their own ICT skills in the beginning of the first distance teaching period, but as the time passed, their skills got better and they learnt new technological and pedagogical things, and this changed their feelings about distance teaching to more positive. However, the teachers found more negative than positive things about distance teaching, and the biggest reason for that was that they were concerned about their students’ coping and well-being during distance teaching periods. The teachers also noticed major differences between different learners and their studying during distance teaching.
The most important finding of the study was that the teachers used more time when planning lessons and courses in distance teaching than in contact teaching, since this is not in line with previous study results about the topic. Also, the dynamic positive change of experiences and opinions is an important new finding since it has not been studied before. The limitations of this study have to do with the small number of participants. In the future, research could focus on learner differences in distance teaching or the pedagogical aspect of distance teaching.