EFL In-Service Teachers’ Professional Identity and On-Line Teaching During the CORONA Pandemic: A Quantitative-Qualitative Study

This research explores how the changes in educational policy, due to the Pandemic and the use of on-line teaching are seen from the perspective of in-service EFL teachers’, and how they express their professional-identity in this situation. Initial data was gathered through a questionnaire implemented on 49 EFL in-service preparatory and secondary stage teachers. This data provided a range of background information, informing a second stage of research where in-depth case studies of four EFL in-service teachers was conducted. The case-study part consists of structured interviews which explore the experiences of the teachers involved. The research aims at giving teachers a forum to voice their thoughts and share their concerns about the difficulties they face and the conflicts they experience between their personal thoughts, attitudes, aspirations and pressures to conform. At the core of the research is their views of professional identity and how these views have been influenced by the circumstances of the pandemic and on-line teaching. The research, hence, follows the mixed approach. The statistical analysis of the teachers’ responses on the questionnaire shows that the general direction of their opinions about the on-line teaching are not in favour of absolute use of on-line teaching. The qualitative analysis shows that the participants suffer from a loss of professional identity and its elements (teaching beliefs, professional competency, teacher agency, and career professional development) during the period of online teaching in particular, in addition to the many obstacles that they encountered before the pandemic and still extend till present.