The Perceptions of Thai EFL Primary School Teachers towards the Shift from the Classroom to Online Teaching during Covid-19 Period

บทคัดย่อ

The purpose of this study was to find out the perceptions of EFL teachers in Thai primary schools regarding online teaching, two years after the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic.  In this study, the participants were 6 full-time Thai EFL teachers (1 male and 5 females) teaching in Intensive English Program (IEP) in primary level from various private Catholic schools in the central region in Thailand. The selection of the participants was conducted through the purposive sampling technique. The participants have had teaching experience in the English language for 1-5 years. For this study the participants are simply named P1, P2, P3, P4, P5 and P6. To collect data and information, the instruments consisted of semi-structured interviews were employed.  The interviews were conducted online on the Zoom platform over a course of three evenings, 2 interviewees each day.   The data and information, then were analyzed using the integrative approach, combining deductive and inductive methods. The findings indicated that the positives of online teaching were underlined by the participants, who mentioned time, energy, and location flexibility as advantages. Furthermore, the teachers were able to improve their teaching talents by learning how to use ICT in the classroom. In contrast, the participants perceived the disadvantages of English online instruction from two perspectives: higher workload for teachers and less effective learning for students. Thai learners in primary school, as noted in the discussion of the downsides of online teaching, require more hands-on supervision and benefit from the social and physical interaction that may be offered when learning onsite. In comparison to secondary school and college students, Thai primary school kids behave differently and are less autonomous.