Post pandemic English language teacher development: A global perspective

This paper explores English language teachers’ beliefs, roles, practices, and feelings about their English language teaching post-pandemic. Research was undertaken using a mixed method, two phase exploratory design, where qualitative data were collected and analysed to inform and construct a quantitative questionnaire. 523 teachers from 43 countries responded. Data were analysed by examining the interplay of the four constructs in relation to geographical regions, the digital position of the country, and participants’ years of teaching experience. Findings indicated that regardless of geographical region, beliefs, and feelings were the same but cultural differences were evidenced with roles and practices. A country’s level of digital readiness significantly impacted on the participants’ beliefs, roles, and practices but not on the feelings. Using Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theory, I argue that the lockdown experience provided an unplanned professional development opportunity for teachers. The conclusion aligns the development to additional learning theories and presents implications for sustainable development of teaching online.