{"id":15165,"date":"2021-08-24T08:32:41","date_gmt":"2021-08-24T14:32:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/?p=15165"},"modified":"2026-02-19T08:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T15:30:08","slug":"is-online-esl-education-here-to-stay-english-language-teachers-discover-creativity-opportunity-within-pandemics-restrictions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bridge.edu\/tefl\/blog\/is-online-esl-education-here-to-stay-english-language-teachers-discover-creativity-opportunity-within-pandemics-restrictions\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Online ESL Education Here to Stay? English Language Teachers Discover Creativity, Opportunity Within Pandemic\u2019s Restrictions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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At the start of the pandemic, the world came to a halt. Formerly bustling cities were suddenly marked by empty streets, closed businesses, shut down schools and at-capacity hospitals. The \u201cnew normal\u201d of life during COVID-19 became not only a learning process, but a creative one as well. For more than 168 million children worldwide, schools closed for almost an entire year, according to a UNICEF analysis<\/a>. One in seven children missed more than three-quarters of their in-person education.<\/p>\n

English as a second language (ESL) learners and teachers confronted even greater challenges, with estimates that English learners (ELs) fell 14 months behind in instruction, according to Migration Policy Institute (MPI), a think tank on information and analyses of international migration and refugee trends.<\/p>\n

Dr. Cynthia Kilpatrick, a teacher of Spanish and English as a second language has been on the faculty of the Department of Linguistics and TESOL at the University of Texas at Arlington since 2009 and joined UTA\u2019s English Language Institute<\/a> (ELI) as the interim director in 2016. Kilpatrick said the pandemic has resulted in a variety of challenges at the institute.<\/p>\n

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Dr. Cynthia Kilpatrick, director of the University of Texas at Arlington English Language Institute<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFirst, our student numbers have decreased drastically because it has been so difficult for students to get visas and come to the U.S.,\u201d Kilpatrick says. \u201cThis means that we have also had to reduce our teaching staff.\u201d\u00a0 She says moving online was a difficult adjustment for teachers and students, but they found ways to make it work. \u201cWe have had to combine multiple levels into a single classroom, so students and teachers have had to adapt to having a wide variety of proficiency levels in each classroom,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne thing that I have really learned is that we can teach English effectively online! For many years we, the field of ESL teaching, have resisted moving online, thinking that an online modality was not going to be effective. But when we were forced to try it, we found that it worked. I think that this discovery has the potential to change the world of ESL teaching if we allow it to, and I look forward to seeing how the field grows and changes over the next few years.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

According to the World Bank<\/a>, the worldwide school closures resulted in a $10 trillion loss of lifetime earnings for the young generation of students globally. And that young generation, according to UNICEF, included 1.6 billion learners, equaling approximately 91% of the world\u2019s enrolled students. English learners were hardest hit by the disruptions of COVID-19. \u201cIn many cases, virtual learning effectively foreclosed opportunities for English learners to engage in English-language conversation with adults and with peers, receive intensive language instruction at frequent intervals, and encounter conversational and formal language in a range of social and academic contexts,\u201d according to a report<\/a> published by the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.<\/p>\n

The loss of human interaction because of the pandemic created a need for education to assimilate quickly or stagnate. Kilpatrick says at UTA teachers were immediately offered professional development. \u201cUTA offered a wealth of trainings, support and help, and I have encouraged our teachers to attend and watch these. I also made a few screencasts early on to help teachers who were not familiar with Zoom,\u201d she says. \u201cThe ELI teachers have always provided excellent instruction for ELI students. I have been impressed with how they were able to pivot online in March 2020 and really create an excellent learning experience for our students, even those who had gone home and were in vastly different time zones. Through much of the pandemic, we taught most of our classes online, and we felt that this was very successful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kilpatrick says, \u201cOne thing that I have really learned is that we can teach English effectively online! For many years we, the field of ESL teaching, have resisted moving online, thinking that an online modality was not going to be effective. But when we were forced to try it, we found that it worked. I think that this discovery has the potential to change the world of ESL teaching if we allow it to, and I look forward to seeing how the field grows and changes over the next few years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audrey Mislan, has taught K-12 and higher education for 26 years. She has incorporated ESL strategies into her classroom in Florida. She says teaching online is a transition that found students having a difficult time focusing and teachers adjusting to a new teaching method.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic education at K-12 level had the hardest time adjusting because teachers weren\u2019t used to using software such as Zoom to conduct lectures,\u201d she says. \u201cThe structure many schools used often forced teachers to sit for long hours in front of the screen, which had a negative impact on the teachers and their morale. Many schools also mandated extra teacher accountability measures and student tracking, which meant more work for the teachers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Teachers were provided with \u201cbest practice\u201d professional development to help with the transition. However, she says she still struggled with feeling confident on using the software to deliver engaging lectures. \u201cAs an instructor, I think online, virtual learning works well for students who are self-motivated. This typically develops in younger students through in-person classroom experiences,\u201d she says. \u201cAs students get older and develop a love of learning it becomes easier to get students to want to do assignments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Remote learning options became the only possibility for sustaining education. Three-fourths of teachers were required to teach during school closures, according to a study by UNESCO, UNICEF and the World Bank<\/a>, which surveyed 149 ministries of education on their responses to COVID-19. Nearly every country in the survey reported using online platforms, TV\/radio programs that aired educational programs and\/or take-home packages, which were distributed to students to help them continue learning.<\/p>\n

A Shift to Online Learning<\/strong><\/h2>\n

According to UNICEF, globally 2.2 billion young people 25 years old or younger, or two-thirds of the individuals in this age group, do not have an internet connection at home. More than two-thirds of school-age children between the ages of 3 and 17, and 63% of those aged 15-24, lack internet access at home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Organizations like the National Association of English Learner Program Administrators<\/a> (NAELPA) supply resources to educators working with ELs. NAELPA created a dedicated website<\/a> for teachers and administrators to help bridge the gap by providing resources and information on teaching English online during the pandemic. Organizations like Migration Policy Institute offered insights for educating English learners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally, online resources appeared to take hold of English language learning. In Nepal for example, the Curriculum Development Centre<\/a> provided teachers with curricula, textbooks and guides to assist with virtual English language teaching. With the immediate need for professional development, teachers turned to online resources like the British Council\u2019s website<\/a> and the U.S. Department of State\u2019s American English website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today, mobile phones, laptops and tablets create a modern-day classroom environment through Zoom, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, Canvas, WhatsApp, Telegram, Edmondo and a variety of apps and ed tech blends that all require one key ingredient: electronic connectivity. However, MPI estimated that more than half of ELs had difficulties with digital technology and remote learning resources, while teachers simply lacked the opportunities for training. A study of English language professional development of teachers in Nepal during COVID-19<\/a>, conducted by Ganga Ram Gautam, found that teachers sought out development on their own. \u201cThere was an unsurmountable pressure on teachers to make a shift to the alternative mode of teaching as quickly as possible, but there was no organized support system in place for teachers to learn the new ways of doing. The situation brought confusion among teachers, putting them in a very stressful situation,\u201d according to the study.<\/p>\n

A lack of resources and electronic connectivity was problematic for much of the world.<\/p>\n

UNESCO<\/a> and the International Telecommunication Union estimated that 43%of students whose schools were closed as of May 2020 did not have access to the internet. While the main approach to ensure the continuation of education was the use of online platforms, in 95%of the countries, many low-income countries were forced to use broadcast media \u2014 93% used radio and 92% television for education purposes. According to UNICEF, globally 2.2 billion young people 25 years old or younger, or two-thirds of the individuals in this age group, do not have an internet connection at home. More than two-thirds of school-age children between the ages of 3 and 17, and 63% of those aged 15-24, lack internet access at home.<\/p>\n

Socioeconomic factors explain this picture further. Only 5% of young people under the age of 25 in West and Central Africa and 13% in South Asia and Eastern and Southern Africa have internet access, while in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, 59% have access. In short, the richest households had universal access at 97%, while 74% of the poorest households had access.<\/p>\n

Global Community Responds to Online Learning<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The pandemic brought social interaction to a halt, a tremor felt deeply by language learners who often require social and academic interaction to become proficient. Various studies found a discord of opinions about virtual learning of English as a foreign language (EFL).<\/p>\n