Perceived Roles and Competencies of English Language Instructors in Online Learning Environments
Author: Günes, Hilal
Date: 2017-01-00
Type: Dissertations/Theses - Masters Theses
Subjects: Electronic Learning,English (Second Language),Language Teachers,Teacher Role,Educational Environment,Foreign Countries,Technology Uses in Education,Educational Technology,Teacher Attitudes,Technology Integration,Instructional Design,College Faculty,Second Language Instruction,Second Language Learning,College Students,Student Attitudes,Teacher Competencies

Recently, a number of universities have started to provide campus-based online courses for various reasons. Online education environments constitute unique conditions for teaching and learning. Especially for online instructors, assuming new roles and developing new competencies has become necessary to be successful. The main purpose of this study is to explore the roles and competencies of English language instructors in online learning environments through perceptions of English language instructors and students. For this aim, qualitative data are collected from English language instructors who teach Basic English course online and students who take this course at Mugla Sitki Koçman University in 2015-2016 Academic Year, Fall Term. Data are gathered through self-designed semi-structured interviews and analyzed through content analysis. Results indicate that there are some advantages and disadvantages that online education creates. The most articulated advantages of online education are the flexibility of space and time it offers for learning, enabling access to recordings of online classes and creating a comfortable environment. On the other hand, many challenges as well are referred which make online instructors and students feel negative towards online teaching and learning. The most referred challenges are poorness of technical infrastructure, lack of faculty support, interaction and communication problems, lack of content development, student profile and difficulty of teaching English online. In this present study, facilitator has been identified as the most important role for online language instructors. Nevertheless, it is uncovered that online instructors perform the instructor role most of the time rather than acting as facilitator in online classes. In total, 28 competencies are addressed by participants. The most articulated competencies are delivering the content, using varied teaching methods, strategies, activities and materials, fostering interaction, attracting attention, ensuring participation, giving and receiving feedback, pre-class preparation, having basic ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) skills and integrating technology into teaching effectively. The perceptions of instructors about roles and competencies of online language instructors mostly correspond to students' perceptions. Promoting peer learning, complying with copyright issues, reflecting on online teaching performance, being collaborative, managing question-answer process, and involving students in lesson planning and implementation process are among competencies articulated by some of the instructors, yet not by the students. In this study, it is found out that there are great differences between what is regarded as important roles and competencies, and what is actually performed in the class. Instructors especially have difficulty in using varied teaching methods, strategies, activities and materials, fostering interaction, attracting attention, designing online activities, materials, and tasks, integrating technology into teaching effectively, ensuring participation, giving and receiving feedback, promoting peer learning, and monitoring student progress or performance in online classes. Most of the articulated roles and competencies for online classes are similar to those in traditional classes. For ensuring a successful online learning environment, improvement of technical infrastructure, digital content development, along with hands-on and continuous professional development trainings for online instructors are demanded by the participants. This study uncovers important issues to be taken into consideration by higher education institutions to create an efficient online language teaching and learning environment.