A survey of preK-12, university and adult online language educators’ background, experiences, training and challenges

Abstract

This study presents the results of a survey of 264 current online language teachers. The findings tell us that current online language teachers are highly experienced in traditional classrooms; however, the majority have only started teaching language online within the past five years. The teachers in this study taught grade levels from early childhood education to adult education, in a total of twenty different countries, and twenty different languages. Most of the teachers said they had participated in some form of training for teaching online with just over half saying they had participated in training specifically focused on teaching language online. Technology was the most common area they received training in. Assistive technology and professional practice were the two areas they said they had the least amount of training. The most common provider of training was their employer in formats from one-time sessions to ongoing training. The results of this study suggest the areas current online language teachers struggle with the most in teaching language online are: technology, student perseverance and online language pedagogy with preferences for both structured and unstructured professional development to help with those challenges. When making recommendations for providing training for teaching language online, the teachers in the present study said that technology, online pedagogy and online language pedagogy should be covered in formal teacher preparation programs. Comparisons of the responses by teachers across grade levels and languages taught are presented and the study ends with recommendations for training providers and directions for future research.