Educação e Pesquisa
Print version ISSN 1517-9702On-line version ISSN 1678-4634
Abstract
RAMOS, Eva Álvarez; BIEL, Leyre Alejaldre; BLANCO, Belén Mateos and MAYO-ISCAR, Agustín. Teaching foreign languages during Covid-19: challenges and training gaps for teachers. Educ. Pesqui. [online]. 2022, vol.48, e258199. Epub Sep 27, 2022. ISSN 1678-4634. https://doi.org/10.1590/s1678-4634202248258199esp.
The objective of this work is to determine, empirically, the challenges that foreign language teachers have faced, in different countries of the world, during the health crisis, derived from Covid-19. In this research, the reasons underlying these difficulties are analyzed, evaluating the role of digital teaching competence in the training of this group. This work is defined with a mixed paradigm in which quantitative and qualitative methods are systematically integrated to ensure optimal triangulation of the data obtained. The main quantitative data collection tool is a questionnaire designed to determine the challenges of the foreign language teacher during the pandemic and that has been distributed digitally to informants. An accidental non-probabilistic sampling has been used that has made it possible to obtain information from sixty-four teachers at different educational levels and located in different countries of the world: Spain, USA, France, Ivory Coast, Australia, Latvia, Barbados, Colombia, Hong Kong, England, Madagascar, Italy, Thailand or Trinidad and Tobago, among others. The qualitative component consists of a set of free-response questions, that seek to validate previously obtained data and demonstrate that teacher digital literacy is a pending subject in foreign language teacher training, a deficiency, even more, appreciated during the health crisis.
Keywords : Foreign language teaching; Teacher training; COVID-19; Teacher digital competence.