







































English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021, pp. 87-98  

        10.12928/eltej.v4i2.3964                             http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/eltej/index             eltej@pbi.uad.ac.id 

Turkish EFL teachers’ attitudes towards online instruction 

throughout the Covid-19 outbreak 

Mustafa Civelek a 1, Işılay Toplu b 2, Levent Uzun *c 3  

a,b Institute of Education Sciences, M.A. Program in ELT, Bursa Uludag University, Turkey 
c English Language Teaching Department, Faculty of education Bursa Uludag University, Turkey  

 1mustafacivelek179@gmail.com, 2isilaytoplu6@gmail.com,  *3 ulevent@uludag.edu.tr 

* corresponding author 

 

A R T I C L E  I N F O 

 

ABST RACT   

 

 

Article history 

Received 13 April 2021 

Revised 29 June 2021 

Accepted 21 August 2021 

 The purpose of the present study is to shed light on the attitudes of 
Turkish EFL teachers towards online instruction (OI), the impact of 
training on their attitudes, the obstacles they encounter, and the 
strategies to deliver OI more successfully throughout the Covid-19 
outbreak. The participants were 70 EFL teachers (52 female, 18 male). 
The data was collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured 
interviews. The data were analyzed by using SPSS 26. Descriptive 
statistics of each item was calculated and an independent sample t-test 
was conducted to answer the research questions. For the analysis of the 
interview data, the responses of the participants were transcribed and 
the recurring themes were identified. The results revealed that the 
attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers, who experienced online instruction 
during the Covid-19 outbreak, are not as positive as expected regarding 
some of the results of the related research in the literature. The interview 
findings revealed that EFL teachers do not feel capable of delivering 
online instruction effectively since they do not have adequate 
knowledge and necessary skills to do that. In view of the findings, it’s 
suggested that online instruction methodology should be integrated into 
teacher training programs and teachers should receive an in-service 
training about the related subject. 

 

This is an open access article under the CC–BY-SA license. 

    

 

 

Keywords 

online instruction 

attitudes 

EFL 

obstacles 

perceptions  

 

 

How to Cite: Civelek, M., Toplu, I., and Uzun, L. (2021). Turkish EFL teachers’ attitudes towards online 
instruction throughout the Covid-19 outbreak. English Language Teaching Educational Journal, 4(2), 87-98 

1. Introduction  

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of the significance of Distance Education (DE) 
with the advancement in technology.  Keegan (2002) defined DE as “teaching and learning in which 
learning normally occurs in a different place from teaching” (p. 20). Every teacher has more or less 
knowledge of implementing technology in her face-to-face classrooms. However, the Distance 
Educational Contexts (DEC) differ from the face-to-face environments in various ways such as 
interactional patterns, materials, methodologies, and techniques to be employed. DEC can be divided 
into two categories: synchronous distance educational context (SDEC) and asynchronous distance 
educational context (ASDEC). SDEC refers to the virtual educational environments in which learners 
and teachers come together and become active participants of interaction. Yet, learners and teachers 
are not required to be active participants in the learning and teaching process at the same time in 
ASDEC. Instead, learners communicate with their teacher through Asynchronous Computer-
Mediated Communication tools or are required to watch the recorded videos. 

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88 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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 Civelek, M., et.al (Turkish EFL teachers’ attitudes towards online instruction) 

The development in Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has attracted great 
attention of scholars in the field of language teaching and this led to the nascence of sub-fields such 
as Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL) and Mobile-Assisted Language Learning 
(MALL). CALL and MALL technologies provide both teachers and learners with online instructional 
tools to support the learning process in DECs such as Computer-Mediated Communication tools, 
virtual meeting environments, software, websites, and instant messaging tools. Much research has 
been conducted to investigate the impact of Online Instruction (OI) on EFL learners’ outcomes in 
various language areas (Eslami et al., 2015; Yen et al., 2015; Altay & Altay, 2017). The findings of 
these studies revealed that OI is quite valuable for language teaching.  

OI has been optional for language learners and teachers for a long time. However, it has become 
compulsory in almost all educational contexts after the Covid-19 outbreak. Like all the countries in 
the world, Turkey is also affected by the outburst of the pandemic. After the announcement of the first 
pandemic case in Turkey in March 2020, the Turkish National Ministry of Education declared the 
change from face-to-face instruction to DE at all levels from primary schools to graduate courses. In 
a short period, the Turkish National Ministry of Education established three TV channels for 
educational purposes not to hinder the learning process of students and asked teachers to conduct 
online sessions with their students in virtual meeting environments such as Zoom, Skype, Google 
Meet, Team Link, and Microsoft Teams. 

This sudden shift from traditional classrooms to virtual learning environments helps learners 
maintain their language learning process. In addition to this, it has been noted that OI has supplied 
language learners with a variety of potentialities such as cooperating with their peers, enhancing their 
critical thinking skills, providing opportunities for innovative tasks, and increasing awareness about 
life-long learning in digital platforms (Hazaymeh, 2021). Moreover, teachers unintentionally replace 
traditional materials they use with more innovative multisensory materials. Such materials are 
reported to contribute to learners’ language skills by motivating them, and making learning more 
concrete and fun (Çelik-Kormaz & Karatepe, 2018; 2021). Along with all these potentialities, this 
shift has brought about notable challenges for both language learners and teachers (Hakim, 2020; 
Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020; Mathew et al., 2019; Nenakhova, 2021). It would not be an 
exaggeration to claim that such obstacles may put too much stress on teachers, which is likely to 
impact their instructional practices and views regarding OI in a negative way.  

Even though several studies had investigated the attitudes of EFL teachers towards OI (Osika, 
Johnson & Butea, 2009; Dashtestani, 2014), they were mostly carried out with teachers who had little 
or no OI experience. The studies regarding the views of EFL teachers about OI throughout the Covid-
19 pandemic are scarce (Housseine & Rabha, 2020; Nugroho & Mutiaraningrum, 2020). Due to the 
increasing significance of OI over the last two years, it has become compulsory for researchers to 
question EFL teachers’ views and experiences in terms of OI. Yet, such studies, to the authors’ 
knowledge, have not been conducted in Turkish educational context. The studies conducted in the 
other parts of the world during the outbreak recommended covering methodologies and techniques 
regarding the implementation of OI in teacher training programs to cope with the anticipated 
challenges (Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020; Nugroho et al., 2021). Thus, this paper intends to 
contribute to the growing body of literature by investigating how the Turkish EFL teachers with 
training on OI differ from the ones having no training in terms of their attitudes to this end. 
Additionally, the present paper aims at shedding light on the obstacles the participants encounter 
during the Covid-19 outbreak and their opinions about the strategies to deliver more successful OI.  

The CALL technologies enable language teachers to employ various tools to enhance the language 
learning process of their learners. Yet, it is a challenging task for language teachers to use such tools 
in their teaching practices for the reason that they do not have adequate skills and knowledge to this 
end. In Turkish EFL teacher training programmes, there is a course named “Education Technologies” 
which focuses on the integration of technology for language instruction (www.yok.gov.tr). Uzun 
(2016) argued that other courses offered in teacher training programmes in Turkey fail to foster 
prospective teachers’ skills regarding technology use for instructional purposes. Seeing this, is one 
course enough to equip prospective teachers with the necessary knowledge and skills to employ CALL 
technologies effectively for both face-to-face classrooms and DECs? 

Rizvi, Rienties, and Khoja (2019) emphasized that the number of people willing to become online 
learners is increasing. However, OI has been considered as a supplementary practice in respect to the 



ISSN 2621-6485 English Language Teaching Educational Journal 89 
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blended-classroom approach in English language teaching for a long time. Surprisingly, it has become 
an inevitable part of every language teachers’ life because of the Covid-19 outbreak. In such situations, 
OI can be useful to maintain language teaching and learning regardless of space and time. Sun (2014) 
emphasized that it is uncommon to find research shedding light on fully online learning. Yet, fully OI 
has drastically attracted great attention of researchers in the field with the outburst of the Covid-19 
pandemic. A significant number of studies about OI have brought attention to the opinions of EFL 
teachers since it has been noted that teachers’ beliefs play a vital role in their instructional practices 
(Carter & Doyle, 1995).  

Long before the pandemic, Osika, Johnson, and Butea (2009) carried out a case study at Chicago 
University to investigate the factors affecting faculty instructors’ decisions of whether or not to 
implement OI. They reported that perceptions of OI, the instructors’ past experiences regarding online 
technologies, and particular experiences at the university were core factors influencing instructors’ 
choice in terms of OI. The findings indicated that nearly half of the instructors believed that OI was 
not as effective as traditional classes. The reasons behind these instructors’ negative beliefs about 
online classes were the learners’ inability to use online tools and technological problems. On the other 
hand, flexibility and success with previously used technologies were among the factors that motivated 
the teachers to deliver OI. Similarly, Belanger and Jordan (2000) also advocated that distance learning 
increases flexibility. 

In another research, Dashtestani (2014) unravelled the attitudes of EFL teachers towards OI, the 
possible obstacles of OI, and EFL teachers’ perceptions about the strategies to include more OI in 
Iran. In view of the analysis of both quantitative and qualitative data, it was reported that although 
EFL teachers mostly held positive attitudes towards OI, they preferred blended instruction over fully 
OI. They also expressed some challenges that language teachers might encounter while delivering OI 
such as lack of online resources and facilities, learners’ negative attitudes towards OI, and EFL 
teachers’ inadequate knowledge in terms of OI.  They also suggested that authorities should take all 
necessary steps to improve the quality of OI since it was an inevitable component of the educational 
contexts of the near future. In addition, Atmojo and Nugroho (2020) underscored the significance of 
teacher training for technology integration to deliver effective OI. Since teachers are mostly the main 
source of information in educational contexts where English is taught and learned as a foreign 
language, their beliefs, attitudes, and knowledge play a vital role in the way they implement OI. 

Learners’ attitudes towards OI have also been a topic of interest in the field. For example, Erarslan 
and Zehir-Topkaya (2017) examined both the opinions of EFL learners about OI and their outcomes 
through an online English course. Their findings indicated that the learners adopted partly positive 
attitudes towards OI. Some of them positioned OI as an optional-extra in their language learning 
process. Additionally,  the learners’ exam results documented that their online exam results were 
relatively low when compared to face-to-face classes. Considering the findings of this research, it can 
be concluded that the attitudes of learners are as important as teachers’ attitudes to achieve successful 
outcomes in OI. 

More recent research regarding OI has drawn attention to EFL teachers’ and learners’ views, their 
practices, and the challenges they encounter throughout the Covid-19 outbreak in this regard. For 
illustration, Housseine and Rabha (2020) conducted a study to investigate the attitudes of EFL teachers 
towards DE and the challenges they experience during the covid-19 outbreak in Morocco. It was seen 
in the research that 98% of the teachers delivered online sessions by employing various instant 
messaging or virtual meeting tools such as Whatsapp, Facebook, Google classroom, and Zoom, etc. 
The results indicated that most of the participants held positive attitudes towards OI; however, they 
also reported a variety of challenges they experienced during their online sessions such as technical 
issues, managerial issues, lack of student interest and interaction, and unsatisfactory knowledge of 
teachers. In the light of the findings, it can be concluded that there is still a lot to be improved for more 
effective OI to take place. 

Similarly, Nugroho and Mutiaraningrum (2020) conducted a case study to explore non-native EFL 
instructors’ beliefs about digital learning and their instructional practices during covid-19 pandemic 
at a public university in Indonesia. The participants were selected based on 2 criteria: (1) having at 
least three years of experience, and (2) integrating digital tools in their teaching practices. Their 
findings revealed that the instructors were aware of the significance of digital learning. Yet, they 
reported some personal and contextual challenges which prevented them from carrying out their 



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beliefs. Some of these challenges were poor internet connection, lack of time and resources to prepare 
the most efficient materials for distance learning, teachers’ lack of training regarding OI and teaching 
efficacy. The researchers suggested that the professional development of teachers is required to be 
enhanced through training on technology integration to increase the quality of OI.  

Additionally, Khatoony and Nezhadmehr (2020) aimed to find out the effectiveness of OI and the 
challenges that graduate and undergraduate Iranian EFL teachers came across during Covid-19 
pandemic. The study revealed that although the teachers adopted positive views on the integration of 
technology, they had some challenges such as the lack of suitable materials, students’ demotivation, 
and inadequate support for language institutions. It was also pointed out that various technologies 
could be rewarding to miniaturize the distance between instructors and learners in such situations like 
pandemics.     

 Likewise, Atmojo and Nugroho (2020) investigated the challenges of OI during the Covid-19 
outbreak in their study. They reported that the problems were related to the teachers, students, and 
parents. One of the reasons was financial factor. The parents could not afford a smartphone or they 
did not have an internet connection in their homes. Moreover, the learners were not equipped with the 
necessary knowledge and skills to use digital devices and they could not comprehend the instructions. 
Not only students but also teachers had difficulty in implementing online classes because of 
inadequate experience and preparation. Another challenge mentioned in the study is the inadequacy 
of time allocated to the teachers. It was concluded in the study that OI is not regarded as successful 
due to the lack of preparation and planning. In another study (Lassoued et al.,2020), the challenges 
for succeeding in quality in OI are categorized as personal, pedagogical, technical, and financial. 

Apart from the research mentioned previously in this section, the studies regarding OI during the 
pandemic also focused on the views of EFL learners, their learning experiences, and obstacles they 
come across (For example; Allo, 2020; Almusharraf & Khahro, 2020; Octoberlina & Muslimin, 2020; 
Pasaribu & Dewi, 2021). Pasaribu and Dewi (2021) highlighted the significance of OI to improve 
learners’ engagement and autonomy. Allo (2020) demonstrated that EFL learners perceive OI helpful 
during the Covid-19 outbreak. Yet, it has been noted that they encountered some obstacles throughout 
their online learning experiences such as lack of experience regarding e-learning, physical issues, and 
heavy internet connection (Octaberlina & Muslimin, 2020). 

This paper aims to investigate the attitudes of EFL teachers towards OI, the obstacles they 
encounter during their instructional practices, and the strategies to include OI more effectively. As 
different from the studies conducted before, this paper examines the impact of training on teachers’ 
attitudes regarding OI since many researchers recommended teacher training as a solution to cope 
with the issues in this respect (Dashtestani, 2014; Aliyyah et al., 2020; Atmojo & Nugroho,2020; 
Khatoony & Nezhadmehr, 2020; Nugroho & Mutiaraningrum, 2020). 

The present study aims to reveal the answers to the following questions;  

(1) What are the attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers, who had the experience of DE throughout the 
Covid-19 outbreak, towards OI?  

(2) Is there a significant difference between the attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers who had learned 
about implementing OI during their academic studies and the ones who hadn’t?  

(3) What are the opinions of Turkish EFL teachers, who had the experience of DE throughout the 
Covid-19 outbreak, on the obstacles of OI?  

(4) What are the perceptions of Turkish EFL teachers, who had the experience of DE throughout the 
Covid-19 outbreak, on the strategies that should be employed for the integration of OI in Turkey? 

2. Method 

This study was based on a mixed-method design that was defined as “the collection, analysis, and 
integration of quantitative and qualitative data in a single or multiphase study” (Hanson et al., 2005, 
p. 224). 

 



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2.1 Participants 

 The participants of this study were 70 Turkish EFL teachers (52 female, 18 male) teaching 
different age groups (see Table 1). The participants’ teaching experience varied from 1 to 26 years 
which meant the study involved both novice and experienced EFL teachers. Their ages ranged from 
22 to 50. All of the participants received formal education at BA level (at least) to teach English. 
However, 57.1 % of the participants have not received education on the use of educational 
technologies for OI during their academic studies. 

Table 1.  Demographic Information about Participants 

Workplace  Female Male 

Primary school 11 3 

Middle school 14 6 

High school 19 6 

University 6 2 

Freelance 2 1 

Total 52 18 

 

2.2 Instruments and Data Collection Procedure 

2.2.1 Questionnaire 

The questionnaire developed by Dashtestani (2014) was adapted and employed for data collection. 
Dashtestani’s study was conducted with EFL teachers with little or no OI experience, thus employing 
this questionnaire enabled the researchers to compare the results of EFL teachers who had little or no 
OI experience and the ones who had. Few changes were made to the questionnaire statements to make 
it more useful to investigate the perspectives of Turkish EFL teachers who had the experience of OI 
throughout the Covid-19 outbreak. The changes included the wording of the questionnaire, and the 
deletion of two items to make the data collection tool served the purpose of the study. The final version 
of the questionnaire consisted of 32 items. The questionnaire included three subscales: (1) attitudes of 
EFL teachers towards OI, (2) obstacles of OI, and (3) strategies to include OI in EFL teaching. The 
modified version of the questionnaire was given to two experts in order to establish content validity. 
Furthermore, it was piloted with 15 EFL teachers who were not the actual participants of the current 
study so as to evaluate the clarity of the items. The first sub-scale provided the researchers with the 
answers of research questions 1 and 2; the second one to research question 3; and the third one to 
research question 4.  

The questionnaire was presented in Google forms format and the URL was shared with the 
participants via WhatsApp and they were kindly asked to fill out the questionnaire and share it with 
their colleagues. Snowball sampling was employed as the sampling strategy. Snowball sampling is 
efficient at times when it is difficult to access participants (Cohen et al., 2007). The data was collected 
during the Covid-19 outbreak so it was difficult to employ other data collection strategies. 

2.2.2 Interview Protocol 

After the analysis of the questionnaire data, 10 participants who mostly demonstrated negative 
attitudes towards OI were invited to take part in the interview protocol. Since EFL teachers showed 
highly positive opinions about OI in the previous study (Dashtestani, 2014), “a semi-structured 
interview” (Cohen et al., 2007, p.361) was employed to explore the reasons behind the participants’ 
negative attitudes towards OI. The following open-ended questions were addressed to the interviewees 
in Turkish; 

(1) Why do you think OI is not as effective as face-to-face instruction in EFL courses?  

(2) What are the challenges of OI you experience in your lessons?  



92 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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(3) Do you think you have adequate skills to implement OI?  

(4) What can be done to include OI more effectively in EFL courses in Turkey?  

 

2.3 Data Analysis 

The questionnaire data were analysed by using SPSS 26. The Cronbach’s Alpha values of each 
sub-scale were calculated and they were found to be reliable. The Cronbach’s Alpha values of each 
scale is presented in Table 2. 

Table 2.  Sub-scales and their Cronbach’s Alpha Scores 

Scale Number of Items Cronbach’s Alpha Score 
Attitudes of EFL teachers towards OI 16 0.88 
Obstacles of OI in EFL 11 0.84 

Strategies to include OI in EFL 5 0.71 

 

In order to answer research questions 1, 3, and 4, descriptive statistics were calculated and 
presented in tables. To find out whether there is a significant difference between the teachers who had 
been taught about educational technologies to be employed for OI and the ones who hadn’t, an 
independent sample t-test, which is a parametric test, was conducted since the normality test results 
revealed that skewness and kurtosis values were between +1.5 and -1.5 which means the data was 
normally distributed (Tabachnick & Fidell, 2013). 

For the analysis of the interview data, content analysis was employed. The responses of the 
participants were transcribed and recurring themes were identified. The findings were presented in a 
table in which each interviewee was given a number rather than their names for anonymity 
considerations. 

3. Findings and Discussion 

3.1 Findings 

Research Question 1 was constructed to investigate the attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers, who 
experienced OI during the Covid-19 outbreak, towards OI. To this end, the descriptive statistics of the 
participants’ responses to the questionnaire items were presented in Table 3. 

The results presented in Table 3 revealed that Turkish EFL teachers, who experienced OI 
throughout the Covid-19 outbreak, showed positive attitudes towards OI in terms of the use of 
multimedia, availability of various materials, its impact on learners’ and teachers’ computer 
competence, and cost-effectiveness. However, they maintained undecided or demonstrated negative 
attitudes towards other aspects of OI. While the use of multimedia in OI received the highest score in 
the questionnaire (M= 4.55), the participants significantly disagreed that OI provides equal 
opportunities for all learners (M= 2.30). To get in-depth information about the reasons why EFL 
teachers had negative attitudes towards OI, 4 open-ended questions were asked to 10 participants. The 
interview findings supported the questionnaire results as seen in Table 4. 

Research Question 2 aimed at revealing whether there is a significant difference between the 
attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers, who had been taught about educational technologies to be employed 
in OI and the ones who hadn’t. To this end, an independent sample t-test was conducted. The t-test 
results demonstrated a significant difference (p = .002 < 0.05, Cohen’s d= 0.44) . Furthermore, the t-
test result indicated that the participants who had been taught about the educational technologies (M= 
3.51) hold more positive attitudes towards OI than the ones who hadn’t  (M=3.01) as seen in Table 5. 

To answer Research Question 3 regarding the obstacles that teachers experienced during OI 
throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, the descriptive statistics data of the questionnaire items regarding 
the obstacles of OI are presented in Table 6. The findings demonstrated in Table 6 revealed that each 
questionnaire statement, which was presented in the subscale regarding obstacles of OI, was 
recognised as an obstacle more or less by Turkish EFL teachers. 

 



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Table 3.  Turkish EFL Teachers’ Attitudes towards OI 

Scale Percent (%) Mean SD 

 Disagree Undecided Agree   

Students become more autonomous in online EFL courses 27.1 35.7 37.2 3.14 1.20 

Online EFL courses enhance students’ motivation 55.7 25.7 18.6 2.51 1.17 

Online EFL courses are time-efficient 28.6 25.7 45.7 3.35 1.09 

Authentic materials are used in online EFL courses 20.0 35.7 44.3 3.38 1.17 

Learners can communicate internationally in online EFL courses 24.3 31.4 44.3 3.31 1.24 

Online EFL courses are based on learner-centred approaches to 

teaching 

38.6 30.0 31.4 2.92 1.14 

Online EFL courses are easily accessible to students 42.8 12.9 44.3 2.97 1.34 

Multimedia can be used in online EFL courses 1.4 7.1 91.5 4.55 0.69 

Various types of materials can be used in online EFL courses 8.6 17.1 74.3 4.08 0.97 

Online EFL courses are cost-effective 12.8 24.3 62.9 3.72 1.12 

Online EFL courses promote students’ and teachers’ computer 
competence 

4.3 12.9 87.2 4.25 0.89 

Online EFL courses provide equal opportunities for learners to 

learn English 

61.4 18.6 20.0 2.30 1.27 

Online EFL courses promote collaboration among students 55.7 28.6 15.7 2.44 1.07 

Expansive feedback can be provided for students in online EFL 
courses 

24.3 28.6 37.1 3.08 1.11 

Online EFL courses are easy to be implemented 30.0 28.6 41.4 3.17 1.14 

Online EFL courses are more interactive than traditional courses 58.6 18.6 22.8 2.45 1.33 

 
 

Table 4.  Reasons of Participants for Their Negative Attitudes towards OI 

Reason for Negative Attitudes towards OI Participants 
I don’t have adequate knowledge and skills about educational technologies P1, P2, P3, P4, P5, P7 

Students are not eager to participate in online sessions P1, P2, P4, P7, P9 
It’s difficult to check whether students understand the lesson content P1, P2, P4 

I can’t make sure whether all the students listen to me P2, P4, P8, P9 

It is difficult to attract learners’ attention in online sessions P2, P3, P4, P10 

It is difficult to teach lower-level learners online. P1, P4, P5 
It is mostly “teacher to whole class” interaction in OI P1, P2, P3, P9 

Each student doesn’t have access to the necessary equipment to participate in 

online sessions 

P1, P6, P7, P9 

Virtual meeting applications I use for OI lack some features of face-to-face 
classrooms 

P3, P5, P8, P9, P10 

Students do not have the necessary skills for OI. P2, P6 

 

 

 

 

 



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Table 5.  Independent Samples t-test Results 

Groups N x ̄ SD t p 

1st Group 30 3,51 0.77  

3.15 

 

.002 
2nd Group 40 3,01 0.54 

 

Table 6.  Obstacles of OI 

Scale Percent (%) Mean SD 

 Disagree Undecided Agree   

There is a lack of online facilities in EFL courses 28.5 27.1 44.2 3.21 1.24 

Students lack the necessary Internet-based skills to 

participate in online ELT courses 

27.1 37.1 35.7 3.24 1.18 

There are cultural resistances to the implementation 

of online EFL teaching 

30.0 24.3 45.7 3.25 1.20 

There is a lack of interaction in online EFL courses 22.9 18.6 58.6 3.55 1.28 

Students do not have positive attitudes towards 

online EFL courses 

28.5 18.6 52.9 3.47 1.17 

Online EFL courses are just appropriate for 

autonomous students 

25.7 21.4 52.9 3.47 1.20 

There is not much teacher supervision over students 

in online EFL courses 

30.3 25.7 50.0 3.37 1.28 

Online EFL courses are not responsive to students’ 

needs 

31.5 31.4 37.1 3.17 1.12 

Online EFL teaching is costly to be implemented in 

TEFL contexts 

27.2 44.3 28.6 3.04 0.90 

Online EFL courses place a lot of demands on EFL 

teachers 

12.9 27.1 60.0 3.70 1.05 

Online EFL courses are not motivating for students 25.7 24.3 50.0 3.41 1.24 

 
Regarding Research Question 4 asking the perspectives of EFL teachers about strategies to 

integrate OI, the descriptive statistics of the related subscale were calculated and presented in Table 
7. As the numbers in Table 7 indicate, EFL teachers had positive perceptions about the OI integration 
strategies such as improving online facilities in EFL courses, providing both students and teachers 
with training on the use of educational technologies, combining face-to-face EFL courses with online 
ones, training EFL teachers on online EFL teaching methodologies. However, they strongly rejected 
the idea of replacing face-to-face EFL courses with online ones. 

Table 7.  Strategies to Integrate OI in EFL Courses 

Scale Percent (%) Mean SD 

 Disagree Undecided Agree   

Computer-based and online facilities should be improved in 

EFL courses 

4.3 5.7 90.0 4.45 0.84 

Students and teachers should receive training on online 

computer literacy skills 

5.7 4.3 90.0 4.48 0.88 

Online EFL courses should be combined with face-to-face 

EFL courses 

8.6 15.7 75.7 4.11 1.13 

EFL teachers should receive training on online EFL teaching 

methodologies 

5.8 7.1 87.1 4.48 0.95 

Online EFL courses should replace the traditional EFL 

courses 

64.3 22.9 12.8 2.15 1.22 

 



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3.2 Discussion 

This paper is an attempt to investigate the attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers towards OI, the 
challenges they encounter, and their perceptions about the strategies to implement OI in EFL courses 
during the Covid-19 outbreak. Firstly, the study aimed to explore the attitudes of Turkish EFL teachers 
towards OI. The interview and questionnaire indicated that even though Turkish EFL teachers have 
positive attitudes towards OI, they are not found to be as positive as the ones demonstrated in the study 
of Dashtestani (2014). However, the findings of this study are in line with some other studies (Aliyyah 
et al., 2020; Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020; Nugroho & Mutiaraningrum, 2020). That is, the studies 
conducted with the inexperienced teachers regarding OI revealed more positive attitudes than the ones 
conducted with EFL teachers with OI experience during the Covid-19 outbreak. Therefore, the reason 
behind the differences among the findings of the related studies may be the period in which they were 
conducted. The quantitative results also revealed that EFL teachers disagree that OI provides equal 
opportunities for each student.  

Secondly, the study questioned whether there is a statistically significant difference between the 
attitudes of EFL teachers who were trained about OI and the ones who weren’t. The results revealed 
that training had a positive impact on the participants’ attitudes towards OI. The significance of teacher 
training on effective OI has been argued in the previous research, and it was recommended for teacher 
training programs to revisit their curriculums to equip teacher candidates with necessary knowledge 
and skills for more effective OI (Dashtestani, 2014; Atmojo &Nugroho, 2020; Lassoued et al.,2020; 
Nugroho & Mutiaraningrum, 2020). The findings of this study supported these recommendations with 
an analytic ground. The qualitative findings provided rich information about the reasons behind EFL 
teachers’ negative attitudes towards OI. Teachers’ inadequate knowledge and skills, lack of facilities 
in virtual meeting programs, demotivation, and lack of interaction and collaboration among students 
are the most frequently expressed reasons by the participants and these challenges were reported in 
the previous research (Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020; Khatoony& Nezhadmehr, 2020; Aliyyah et al., 
2020; Housseine & Rabha, 2020). 

 Considering the third research question, the obstacles of OI have been investigated. The 
quantitative results were in support of the above mentioned qualitative ones. Sepulveda-Escobar and 
Morrison (2020) also emphasized the lack of interaction in OI. As opposed to these studies, Khatoony 
and Nezhadmehr (2020) reported that OI increases the interaction between students and their teacher. 
However, the demotivation of the students is stated as a negative side of OI in some studies (Khatoony 
and Nezhadmehr, 2020; Housseine & Rabha, 2020). The fourth research question asked teachers’ 
perceptions of strategies to include OI more effectively in EFL courses. The results revealed that they 
strongly disagree with the replacement of face to face classes with OI. Similarly, it was seen in Osika, 
Johnson, and Butea’s (2009) study that most of the teachers believe that online courses are not 
equivalent to traditional classrooms. However, EFL teachers in the study strongly support the 
incorporation of the training regarding OI into teacher training programs to implement OI more 
effectively. 

4. Conclusion 

With the outburst of the Covid-19 pandemic, teachers are required to replace their face-to-face 
lessons with online lessons unpredictably. In the literature review, it is emphasized that the attitudes 
of EFL teachers towards OI have a vital role for successful OI to take place. The present study provides 
rich information about Turkish EFL teachers’ attitudes towards OI, the challenges they experience, 
and their perceptions about the strategies to integrate OI in EFL courses more successfully.  

The findings revealed that Turkish EFL teachers do not have positive attitudes towards the 
implementation of OI for most of the aspects of OI. The most common reasons behind their negative 
attitudes can be listed as (1) teachers’ inadequate knowledge and skills about educational technologies, 
(2) lack of students’ motivation to participate in online sessions, (3) the shortcomings of virtual 
meeting applications, (4) lack of interaction in online sessions, and (5) some students’ inadequate 
access to necessary equipment for successful online learning to take place. The findings also indicated 
that the EFL teachers, who had been taught about the educational technologies to be employed in OI, 
have more positive attitudes towards OI. 



96 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

 Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021, pp. 87-98 

 Civelek, M., et.al (Turkish EFL teachers’ attitudes towards online instruction) 

It can be concluded that most of the EFL teachers in Turkey do not have adequate knowledge and 
necessary skills to conduct online lessons. Therefore, it is suggested that OI methodologies should be 
integrated into teacher training programs and current teachers should receive an in-service training on 
OI. Most of the challenges and the reasons behind teachers’ negative attitudes towards OI can simply 
be overcome when they have the necessary knowledge and skills in this regard. 

Limitations and Suggestions for Further Research 

One limitation of this paper is that the number of participants in the two groups was not equal to 
each other. The number of participants who received training on the use of educational technologies 
for OI during their academic studies was less than the ones who didn’t. Even though a significant 
difference was found between the attitudes of the two groups towards OI, the effect size was found to 
be low. If the number of participants had been equal in each group, the test could have provided more 
generalizable results, maybe with a higher effect size. Therefore, more studies should be conducted to 
investigate the impact of teacher training for OI methodologies on the attitudes of EFL teachers 
towards OI. 

Declarations 

Author contribution    : MC and IT conceived the research ideas, worked on data collection, 
analysis, and draft writing; LU supervised the research throughout the 
process and revised the final draft. 

Funding statement      :   The authors have not received any financial support from any agency or 
individual for the authorship and the publication of this paper. 

Conflict of interest       :    The authors declare no conflict of interest. 

Additional information:    No additional information is available for this paper. 

 

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