CONCLUSION, DISCUSSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 RESEARCH CONCLUSION
duration and students’ satisfaction of online English courses. While the second part is Five Likert Scale questions, there are 25 questions in total, and they are divided into 8 factors. The researcher was to investigate students’ perceptions toward online English learning. However, the third part is an open-ended question, and there is only 1 question. The researcher was to investigate students’ opinions and suggestions in online English learning.
The researcher to investigate students’ perceptions toward online English learning, and they are divided into 8 factors (Table 4.14) in order from high to low ranked that were demonstrated: 1) Teaching professionalism, 2) Effective interaction, 3) Network facilities, 4) Teaching contents, 5) Learning motivation, 6) Learning self-discipline, 7) Courses management, 8) Teaching methods. The highest dimension of students’ perceptions is ‘Teaching professionalism’. And the reasons are that Anshun No. 1 High School teachers have strong professionalism and a positive teaching attitude. Teachers could effectively guide students in online English learning.
They are patient to teach students the English language. They also respect students’
ideas and arrange learning tasks reasonably. Most importantly, they guide students to review the latest knowledge as well as help students improve their learning efficiency.
On the other hand, the lowest dimension of students’ perceptions is ‘Teaching methods’. The reasons are that if teachers only use online English teaching method is obviously simple and tedious. There are lack of communication and interaction between teachers and students. Students will be easily distracted when they sit in front of the computer without teachers’ supervision, which leads to decline in their academic performance. At the same time, teachers cannot help students solved their learning difficulties in time, which also leads to students losing their motivation in online English classes.
5.1.2 Responses to Second Research Objective
The second research objective is ‘To find out the challenges and opportunities of Chinese high school teachers in online English teaching in difficult times’. And the findings are based on semi-structured interviews.
The semi-structured interviews include 5 questions, and they are: 1) What do you think are the challenges of online English Teaching in difficult times? 2) What do you think are the opportunities for online English Teaching in difficult times? 3) Facing the challenges in difficult times, what attitude do you use to overcome them? 4) Facing the opportunities in difficult times, what actions do you take to seize them? 5) Please provide some practical teaching techniques for motivating students to study English online. The researcher used qualitative research instrument to collect semi-structured interviews data. In the semi-structured interviews, a total of 10 English teachers have participated. They interacted with the interviewer by the online meeting, and the interviewer recorded the content and information of the interview.
Then, the researcher coded the semi-structured interviews data and analysis the data with 3Cs theme-coding analysis method. The interviewees not only discussed the challenges and opportunities, which are faced by teachers in online English teaching but also shared opinions and suggestions of online English teaching.
5.1.2.1 Responses to First Question of Semi-Structured Interviews
The first question is ‘What do you think are the challenges of online English Teaching in difficult times?’ The researcher found 3 concepts (Table 4.9) in order of significance that were demonstrated: 1) Learning without independence, 2) Inefficiency, 3) Lacking of interaction.
It can be concluded that, in online English classes, some students study English without independence. The challenges are that students have poor self-control ability and teachers cannot supervise learning at any time. In addition, students have been sitting in front of the computer for a long time and lack of effective guidance. Students are easily distracted in this situation which decreases their learning efficiency. At the same time, the lack of effective communication and interaction between teachers and students will ultimately influence students’ academic performance.
5.1.2.2 Responses to Second Question of Semi-Structured Interviews
The second question is ‘What do you think are the opportunities for online English Teaching in difficult times?’ The researcher found 3 concepts (Table 4.10) in order of significance that were demonstrated: 1) Switching teaching methods, 2) blended teaching, 3) More convenience.
It can be illustrated that, online English teaching creates opportunities for teachers. Teachers can switch teaching methods and use modern teaching tools to assist teaching, as well as enhance students’ learning enthusiasm and motivation. In addition, teachers can carry out teaching activities online and perform learning supervision onsite. The blended teaching methods will help students improve their learning efficiency. On the other hand, teachers can conduct online learning with students anytime and anywhere through the Internet. It also provides more convenience both for teachers and students.
5.1.2.3 Responses to Third Question of Semi-Structured Interviews
The third question is ‘Facing the challenges in difficult times, what attitude do
you use to overcome them?’ The researcher found 2 concepts (Table 4.11) in order of significance that were demonstrated: 1) Positive, 2) Negative.
Facing the challenges of online English teaching in difficult times, some interviewees believed they should maintain a positive and optimistic teaching attitude.
They need to pay more attention to care about students from the mentality and physically. They were guiding students in online learning effectively, as well as helping students improve their learning enthusiasm. Furthermore, some teachers thought they should maintain a lifelong learning attitude and find a more comprehensive online English teaching method. On the contrary, a small number of participants hope that face-to-face English teaching can come back as soon as possible because they cannot control the learning behavior of students, which makes them feel depressed.
5.1.2.4 Responses to Fourth Question of Semi-Structured Interviews
The fourth question is ‘Facing the opportunities in difficult times, what actions do you take to seize them?’ The researcher found 3 concepts (Table 4.12) in order of significance that were demonstrated: 1) Improve teaching professionalism, 2) Strengthen learning management, 3) Focus on courses design.
It revealed that, online English teaching requires teachers to improve their ability to use network technology and find more comprehensive and innovative teaching methods through network resources, which can enhance their teaching professionalism. Meanwhile, teachers need to strengthen the learning management of students and supervise students to practice English knowledge repeatedly. On the other hand, teachers also need to focus on the course’s design. In order to increase course content knowledge and make online courses more diverse.
5.1.2.5 Responses to Fifth Question of Semi-Structured Interviews
The fifth question is ‘Please provide some practical teaching techniques for motivating students to study English online’. The researcher found 4 concepts (Table 4.13) in order of significance that were demonstrated: 1) Practicing repeatedly, 2) Setting a learning target, 3) ICT-based approach, 4) Communication and interaction.
It can be concluded that, the teachers should suggest students practice and review key and difficult points repeatedly in online English learning and make relevant notes in online classes. At the same time, teachers direct students to set a learning target to strengthen their independent learning ability and improve their efficiency of online English learning. Furthermore, teachers recommend that students search for relevant knowledge through online resources to be more autonomous.
Finally, Teachers suggest students use the Internet to increase opportunities for communication and interaction with other students, which can be helping students increase their enthusiasm for online English learning.