Teaching English Online During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Saudi Arabia: Challenges and Pedagogical Opportunities

With the spread of COVID-19 all over the world, the transformation of the educational system and the implementation of remote lessons became the only possible variant to continue the process of teaching students for English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers. This tendency was unexpected and became rather difficult for teachers and administrators who were typically not involved in online education to facilitate that change smoothly. The purpose of the study is to investigate the pedagogical opportunities and challenges for teachers who have to work online during the pandemic organizing the lessons of foreign languages in Saudi Arabia. The study is based on the analysis of the information received during qualitative semi-structured interviews with teachers from Saudi Arabian Universities and English language centers who use online classes as an alternative to traditional English lessons. The results of the study show that from the teacher’s perspective, challenges included a lack of student engagement, unnatural communication patterns, unusual requirements for planning content, and technical difficulties. The study found that remote education is hampered by low student engagement, lack of appropriate technology, incompatibility with new technologies, emotional stress, communication issues, student perception of material, attention on work, and inability to communicate with teachers and classmates. Moreover, the major findings include the solutions to the existing issues of online education, such as the creation of compelling content, the use of powerful online tools, the provision of effective platforms to students, the deeper focus on listening skills, and the use of technologies.