Indonesian EFL Teachers’ Practice of Online Informal Learning of English: Perceived Understandings and Benefits to Language Skills

Abstract

Despite the abundance of studies on EFL students’ online informal learning of English (OILE), EFL teachers’ OILE practice has been left largely unexplored. Considering that EFL teachers are instrumental in providing support and guidance for students’ OILE, the present study attempted to provide holistic and updated empirical evidence of EFL teachers’ OILE, addressing these research questions: (1) What OILE activities do EFL teachers know and practice? and (2) How do EFL teachers perceive OILE benefits to their language skills? The study was conducted based on explanatory sequential mixed method design involving 219 EFL teachers teaching at junior and senior high schools. The data were collected using an online questionnaire and semi-structured in-depth interviews with 15 selected teachers and analyzed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The study revealed that despite their unfamiliarity with the OILE concept, EFL teachers practiced OILE and perceived OILE positively and considered OILE to be beneficial in maintaining and improving their English. However, most of the EFL teachers have practiced OILE in low frequency. They reported that their low OILE practice level was attributed to lack of time, struggle for English, unfamiliarity with OILE activities, fear of making mistakes, and fear of judgment.