“And My Screen Wouldn't Share...”: efl Student-Teachers' Perceptions of ict in Online Teaching Practice and Online Teaching

Abstract

The sudden switch to online teaching enforced by the covid-19 pandemic has impacted teacher education at universities, particularly micro-teachings and teaching practice, as technology has become an inherent part of these processes. The growing body of literature on online teaching and teacher education during lockdown conditions mainly addresses challenges in teacher education and educator perceptions. However, very few studies deal with the perceptions of student-teachers. To fill this gap, a group of teacher educators conducted a research study with 63 students enrolled in a master's Degree in Teaching efl for Secondary Schools offered at Masaryk University, Czechia. To carry it out, qualitative coding procedures were employed on a dataset of 120 lesson reflections written by students completing their teaching practice via online courses which were ordinarily conducted in person. The purpose was to find out how student-teachers perceived technology use when teaching online. The main findings show that, despite constant comparison between the face-to-face and online classrooms and an initial reliance on the success of technology to determine a lesson's success, the majority of student-teachers normalized technology as a platform for teaching, using technology-specific language for teaching strategies and classroom events. These findings suggest that online teaching and learning should be seen as an integral part of teacher education.