An Analysis of Face-to-Face Education versus Emergency-Remote Teaching: Readiness of ELT Teacher Trainees

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Tezin Türü: Yüksek Lisans

Tezin Yürütüldüğü Kurum: Bursa Uludağ Üniversitesi, EĞİTİM FAKÜLTESİ, YABANCI DİLLER EĞİTİMİ, Türkiye

Tezin Onay Tarihi: 2022

Tezin Dili: İngilizce

Öğrenci: Gözde Karakaya

Danışman: Çiğdem Karatepe

Özet:

AN ANALYSIS OF FACE-TO-FACE EDUCATION VERSUS

EMERGENCY-REMOTE TEACHING: READINESS OF ELT TEACHER

TRAINEES

Since World Health Organization (WHO) declared the virus called COVID-19 a

pandemic in March 2020, the education system all around the world has gone into a total

shutdown. Turkey was one of the countries that were negatively affected by this unexpected

change of context. Emergency-remote teaching (ERT) was suddenly introduced to prevent the

disruption of education and almost all countries adopted this alternative system that allows

access to education through digital devices. Turkish teacher education institutions also

switched to ERT during this phase. With the digitalization of education, being well equipped

with digital users has gained more importance for student teachers studying in the English

Language Teaching departments. Thus, the present study first aimed to find out the

emergency-remote teaching experiences of ELT student teachers. The study also asked the

2nd, 3rd and 4th year student teachers to compare their ERT experiences and perspectives with

that of the face-to-face education experiences they had before the epidemic. Secondly, the

participants’ readiness for and perceptions of ERT were scrutinized alongside analyzing the

factors of student teachers’ technical possibilities and digital competencies with their effect

on readiness during this phase. The research took place in the fall semester of the 2020-2021

academic year, consisting of 194 English teacher candidates in their second, third and fourth

years throughout Turkey. This mixed-method thesis study implemented four scales and a

semi-structured interview to elicit rich information and thus provide a comprehensive and

elaborate framework. Quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics,

independent samples T-test and one-way ANOVA analysis in SPSS while the qualitative data

were transcribed, coded and presented with a flow chart. The findings showed the extent to

which emergency-remote teaching shaped English student teachers’ experiences, choices for

a face-to-face context, readiness for online learning and remote learning perceptions.

Although student teachers indicated neutral opinions about their ERT experiences, they are

inclined to prefer face-to-face education. In addition, student teachers seem to exhibit a

moderate level of readiness for ERT, which seems not to have been influenced by their

perception of ERT, technical opportunities and digital competencies. The reason for this fact

is that student teachers have already been familiar with the use of digital devices before the

lockdown. Therefore, these factors did not have any significant effect on their overall

readiness for ERT. The study also reported the strengths and weaknesses of the ERT in

Turkish teacher training institutions. The results of the study have provided implications for

teacher education programs and teacher educators regarding how better prepare them for

wider use of digital educational technologies in the near future.

Keywords: Emergency-remote teaching, ELT teacher trainees, face-to-face education, learner

perception, online education, readiness for online learning