Challenges and opportunities : experiences of EFL teachers with the emergency remote teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic

الملخص EN

COVID-19 has forced higher education institutions around the world to suspend face-to-face courses and implement emergency remote teaching (ERT) as an alternative with the primary goal of ensuring continuity of teaching and learning processes.

this study explored the experiences of EFL teachers from the department of English at Hassiba Benbouali university of Chlef in response to the sudden switch to an ERT environment during the times of COVID.

the results revealed two main themes of opportunities and challenges.

while the sudden shift to online teaching forced innovation and fostered collaborative and supportive teaching environment, teachers experienced difficulties in accessing technology, lack of digital competence and pedagogical training on the use of ICT, and difficulty of assessing students online.

this study has implications in the field of education and research at large.