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Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 12. Number4 December 2021 Pp.279-301
Department of Englishm, College of Arts
Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia
The present descriptive study investigated the challenges experienced and the coping strategies used by Egyptian university educators from different institution types while teaching online during the pandemic. The cross-sectional study drew participants (N = 222) from three different academic institution types, private universities, public universities, and adult education institutions, who responded to a survey that examined the technical, professional, administrative, social, and psychological challenges teachers encountered as well as their coping strategies. Data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Results indicated that the challenges and coping strategies reported by teachers varied according to the teaching context and the requirements of each academic institution. The most reported challenges experienced were exhaustion, internet problems, technical issues, and anxiety. Despite the challenges, participants reported a few positive effects, including feeling more productive, being motivated to learn something new, feeling appreciated by the students and administration, and feeling confident using online teaching tools. Results also revealed that the participants used social and professional strategies to cope with the circumstances accompanying the sudden shift to online teaching. The results indicated how challenges faced by educators from different institution types may diminish with more training on, and experience with, online teaching, forming communities of practice as well as other coping strategies they developed. Such findings should be helpful to educators, institutions, and policymakers in different academic institutions all over the world and in various teaching contexts.
Hafez, O. & Salah El-Din, Y. (2021). Egyptian Educators’ Online Teaching Challenges and Coping Strategies during COVID-19 . Arab World English Journal, 12 (4) 279-301.
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Ola Hafez, Ph.D. is Professor of linguistics at both Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University, Dammam, Saudi Arabia, and Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt. Her research areas are discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, and teaching methodology. She has presented at national, regional and international conferences and published more than 35 research articles and books. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0568-4662
Yasmine Salah El-Din, Ph.D. teaches academic skills and linguistics at the American University in Cairo. She has a Master’s degree in Teaching English as a Foreign Language and a Ph. D. in applied linguistics. Her research interests include corrective feedback, pragmatics, and sociolinguistics. She has presented at national and international conferences. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8728-5552