Addressing challenges during emergency remote teaching: exploring the habits of mind of experienced EFL teachers

Abstract

This present study aimed to investigate the challenges and strategies teachers report during emergency remote teaching and explored what intelligent behaviors and Habits of Mind are evident when teachers explain how they organize and address these challenges. This narrative inquiry study was carried out at a private university in Ankara. All participants in this study were experienced EFL instructors at preparatory school at a private university. Three in-depth unstructured interviews were conducted with participants as the data collection tools. The researcher used the conceptual framework developed by Altan et al. (2019) for analysis to explore the connection between participants’ shared experiences and their dispositions as Habits of Mind. Findings reveal that participants use certain intelligent behaviors associated with Habits of Mind during emergency remote teaching. Given the novelty of remote teaching, institutions may need to identify the professional dispositions that an effective educator needs to have in online environments. Profiling these professional dispositions could reveal an indication of the probability that they may foster their dispositions toward remote teaching.