Exploration of online teaching experiences and thoughts of primary school English language teachers during COVID-19 pandemic

Teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL) is something common around the world for various purposes. Teaching English to Young Learners (YLs) is also a valid topic in TEFL. Teaching English to young learners for long time has been done through traditional way which is face-to-face even though the improvement of the technological devices. Materials have been changing at the same time as technology improved itself. However English teaching method to YLs has stayed similar with some minor changes. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unpredicted challenges to the world, disrupting various aspects of our lives. One significant area that has been affected is education. With schools temporarily closing their physical interaction to ensure safety, the shift towards online education has become essential. Among the subjects the subjects that require special attention in this transition is English language learning for young learners. The importance of teaching English to YLs online has never been more evident than in these trying times. As educators, we find ourselves at a critical juncture in the field of language instruction, especially when it comes to teaching English to young learners. The COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the landscape of education, prompting a rapid shift towards online learning. From our vantage point, this transition has underscored the indispensable role of teaching English to young learners online, infusing the journey with both challenges and remarkable opportunities. In the light of the data that was gathered by interviews, this study was conducted to search what are the English language teachers experiences and thoughts while teaching English to young learners online during COVID-19 pandemic. The study was carried out with the English language teachers as a foreign language who taught English Online to primary school students during COVID-19 pandemic in Antalya city. Data were collected by applying a semi-structured interview to English teachers. Purposeful sampling and snowball sampling methods were used to reach the participants of the study. There were 5 main and 14 sub-questions in the interview related to their experiences and thoughts about online education during COVID-19 pandemic. 18 participants attended the research. Interviews took between 15 to 30 minutes. Each interview was done in Turkish or in English according to the participants choice. Interviews were recorded and turned into written form. The researcher studied the interviews and created themes out of the interview texts. Another researcher outside the field who is experienced with qualitative analysis prepared themes out of the interviews. After studying the themes together, final versions of the qualitative data were decided. Although it was stated in the literature that YLs are accepted as eager to use technological devices in their lessons, the research concluded that YLs may also need social interaction with their peers, teachers, and physical movement between their breaks. Even though YLs like to use technology in their lessons they do not choose online teaching over face-to-face, as online teaching cannot provide the required elements to YLs.