Teaching in COVID-19 Times: Challenges, innovations, solutions, and opportunities (2021)

Abstract

Based on research presented at the TESL Ontario Conference in November 2020, the authors "examine here the challenges, innovations, solutions, and opportunities in education that have grown out of the sudden disruption and constraints due to COVID-19. We first set the background in a global context; then report on the impact, challenges, and needs in LINC programs in Canada.  We then discuss an in-depth case study of a LINC educator’s experiences based on her own teaching and teacher development work during this time. We conclude by discussing lessons learned  from these COVID-19 experiences and recommend ways forward."

Findings

"Although our forced rush into pandemic online teaching has been extremely challenging, these efforts may have helped forge a path into the future. Technology-mediated approaches offer unprecedented opportunities for our students to communicate and collaborate with others in linguistically and culturally rich communicative contexts. They can also help students further  develop the critical digital literacies needed to communicate effectively in today’s technology-mediated societies (Kessler, 2018). As highlighted here, effective technology-mediated language  teacher education is at the core of forging this path ahead."

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