Unveiling Indonesian Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceived Competencies and Readiness for Online English Language Teaching: A Mixed Methods Study

Abstract

There has been a great deal of research into teacher readiness for online language teaching conducted in many parts of the world. However, scarce inquiry on this topic has been published in the Indonesian context. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate Indonesian EFL pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their technological, pedagogical, and evaluation skills in online language teaching, and (2) to explore their perceptions of online English language teaching. The study employed a mixed methods research approach. The quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire from 92 pre-service teachers majoring in English Education at a state Islamic institute in Jambi province and the qualitative data were collected through WhatsApp messenger from six of the participants. The data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The results showed that the participants had positive perceptions of their technological, pedagogical, and evaluation skills in online English language teaching. However, the qualitative data demonstrated that the participants had a strong inclination toward classroom face-to-face teaching rather than online teaching for a number of reasons, indicating that they were not ready for online English language teaching. Some practical suggestions for the EFL teacher training programs in Indonesian tertiary education institutions are given.