Overcoming Online Teaching and Learning Challenges in the Japanese Context

The COVID-19 pandemic presented many opportunities for instructors of foreign languages toexperiment with online learning technologies and gain knowledge that would assist them in theimplementation of these tools in the future. Even though COVID-19 pandemic generatedchallenges, these opportunities were plentiful. Therefore, this study investigates the challengesfaced by English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instructors while delivering online EFL classesduring the pandemic in Japan. The study investigates how they have overcome obstacles andwhat they have discovered from their experiences that can help online language instructorsimprove the quality of instruction they provide. Semi-structured interviews were conductedwith seven EFL instructors at the English Department of a Japanese university using MicrosoftTeams. During the interviews, participants revealed how they overcame challenges to intereststudents in their online classes and how they came up with unique techniques to teaching.Based on the findings, it appears that the online pedagogical training that instructors receivedwas inadequate. As a result, the study recommends that universities should formulatestandardized guidelines for the delivery of education over the internet and expand the types ofopportunities provided for instructors to receive adequate training.