1. 10186-36205-1-CE.pmd EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Journal homepage: http://jurnal.unmer.ac.id/index.php/enjourme/index Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh:Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh:Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh:Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh:Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modificationsTechnological adaptations and pedagogical modificationsTechnological adaptations and pedagogical modificationsTechnological adaptations and pedagogical modificationsTechnological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain*, Md. Atiqur RahmanMd. Mozaffor Hossain*, Md. Atiqur RahmanMd. Mozaffor Hossain*, Md. Atiqur RahmanMd. Mozaffor Hossain*, Md. Atiqur RahmanMd. Mozaffor Hossain*, Md. Atiqur Rahman Department of English, Pundra University of Science & Technology, Bogura-5800, Bangladesh *Corresponding author: alirumashuhana74@gmail.com ARTICLE INFO Received 30 May 2023 Accepted 16 June 2023 Available online 20 July 2023 Keywords: Teaching English, Coronavirus Pan- demic, Bangladesh, Technological Adaptations, Pedagogical Modifi- cations DOI: 10.26905/enjourme.v8i1.10186 How to cite this article (APA Style): Hossain, M., & Rahman, A. (2022). Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Techno- logical adaptations and pedagogi- cal modifications. EnJourMe (En- glish Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English, 8(1) 1-17, doi: https://doi.org/ 10.26905/enjourme.v7i2.10186 ABSTRACT This research intended to explore the improvisations and novel adaptations to the existing technological devices and applications, and the changes to the already- practiced pedagogical approaches, which the English language teachers of Bangladesh made and implemented to continue teaching English amidst the COVID- 19 pandemic. The study utilized the mixed methodology applying an open-ended questionnaire on 12 English Language Teaching (ELT) teachers from across the country, who taught English language to various levels of students through online mode during the impasse. The findings of the research demonstrated that ELT teachers effectuated dramatic changes and improvisations to the existing techno- logical devices, programs and applications to respond to the new mode of teaching, and exert the best of it. Simultaneously, the results presented that most of the ELT teachers had to inculcate dramatic modifications to the habituated pedagogical practices, a major portion of which was psychological shift and support. © 2023EnJourMe. All rights reserved. EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No, 1, July 2023, Page 1–17 1. Introduction COVID-19 pandemic has had a deep impact on the mode of teaching and learning in higher education, which propelled, almost across the world, an abrupt shift of pedagogical approaches (Silvia et al., 2021; Moorhouse and Wong, 2022). Educators all over the world, albeit with varied respective details, faced fresh academic challenges, and had to transition courses from basically in- class teaching and learning to an alternative online teaching (Silvia et al., 2021; Moorhouse and EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 2 | Wong, 2022). The abrupt shift to virtual pedagogy resulting from the Coronavirus pandemic in many countries, mostly the developing ones, has brought to light a number of challenges and abnormalities, and some blessings as well (Oyedotun, 2020). The education sector, like scores of other fields, has not been spared by the dire effects of COVID-19 since it has had debilitating impact on all levels of universal education systems from pre-primary to tertiary levels and had also forced all sorts of onsite academic sessions and conferences to absolute halt (Oyedotun, 2020). Bangladesh reposts its first confirmed COVID-19 case on March 8, 2020 (WHO). The government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh declared nationwide lockdown for all sorts of public and private offices and institutions including schools, colleges and universities on March 16, 2020, and with the rising number of Coronavirus affectedness and, as a result, growing public concern for people’s health and life, the shutdown period kept getting extended from time to time (Barua, 2020; Emon et al. 2020). COVID-19 crisis has not only put an absolute stop to students’ schooling but also severely curtailed their scopes for social protection, entertainment, health-promoting atmospheres, financial doorways and psychological support (Uddin, 2020). On top of the loss of onsite learning as well as socializing, the closure of academic institutes has led to a number pressing issues, like dropouts, digital divide and economic inequality (Uddin, 2020). With the ongoing distant education facilitated by internet and television, students need smooth availability of all the necessary devices which, as Das (2020) explores, are lacked by majority of the receivers of education since only 37.6% of the house- holds of Bangladesh possess internet access and this percentage gets decreased considerably in the rural areas of the country. A study by Sundarasen et al. (2020) on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the anxiety level of the tertiary level students of Malaysia explores that 20.4%, 6.6% and 2.8% of the 983 respondents of the research went through least to moderate, marked to acute and most extreme levels of anxiety which stemmed from economic scarcity, virtual distance learning and uncertainty regarding future academic performance and career. The implications of this research might benefit not just the technological and pedagogical improvisations and adaptations in terms of teaching English during the near-past global shutdown and worldwide online education both propelled by the COVID-19 Pandemic, rather they are likely to act aptly for any remote teaching-learning circumstances forced by any known or unknown calamity at present and in the days to come. Technological Adaptations and Innovations According to Moorhouse and Wong (2022), the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a cata- lyst for teacher novelty and progress in terms of improvisation of existing digital resources and inno- vating new technological atmosphere. Higher levels of technical incorporation and greater perceived learning efficacy of virtual teaching are affirmatively connected with the use of the new technological devices, software and applications (Dincher and Wagner, 2021). In Germany, Dincher and Wagner (2021) considered the implementation of eight technological options for education during COVID- 19, namely: sending paper-based assignments, phone calls with students, sending assignments via email, providing students with links to digital learning material of third parties, recording learning videos, uploading learning material via a digital platform, live teaching via a video conference (e.g. Zoom, Microsoft Teams), and recording audio messages. However, Christopoulos and Sprangers Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain, Md. Atiqur Rahman | 3 | (2021) suggest for, in terms of implementing technological adaptations into education, careful ex- amination of the features of potential platforms or tools, a trial of such features prior to integration within an educational system, paying special attention to the degree of gamification, especially be- yond the primary school level, as it may negatively impact incentives for student interaction and engagement, and ensuring pedagogical goals, not technological burdens. Pedagogical Impact A study by Baird et al. (2020) reveals that, due to the lingering existence of the pandemic, a large number of adolescents are affected by economic constraints along with malnutrition, anxiety and mental health issues. The abrupt move from the in-class teaching activities to the virtual ones gave birth to various dilemmas and hesitations among both the teachers and learners (Lee et al., 2022). The teachers who were already experienced in online teaching faced one sort of reality while those having no experience in online mode of teaching face some different sort of pedagogical chal- lenges (Lee et al., 2022). New teachers along with the students suffered fear and insecurity at the approach of using newer technological devices and arrangements in teaching and learning in a critical situation like COVID-19 (Varea et al., 2022). Many academic institutions moved to activate digital pedagogy as a contingency plan to achieve teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic (Zhang and Yu, 2021). In response to the changed teaching-learning mode in the pandemic, teachers extended their pedagogical dimensions, improvised existing technological apparatus and applica- tions, innovated fresh and more efficacious technologies and software, reshaped pedagogy in an easier and more effective version, bettered learning atmosphere, improved learner treatment, and provided required support to the learners (Zhang and Yu, 2021). However, in the unique period of the COVID-19 eruption, learners across the globe went through unexpected anxiety, which may have had dire impact on their involvement and achievement in learning atmosphere and eventually their academic outcomes (Dubovi and Adler, 2022). This crisis, as it stands, accentuates the universal need to inspect the learning processes and devise the ways to support and retain students’ engagement under stressful circumstances, and accordingly, Dubovi and Adler (2022) suggest that teaching ap- proaches need to be restructured and implemented so as to minimize learners’ psychological strain and maximize their participation as well as enjoyment in virtual learning. Corbera et al. (2020) argue that academia, especially in dire circumstances like COVID-19, must nourish a culture of care, help, sharing, and fellow-feeling, to be able to refocus on what is most important, and redefine brilliance in teaching and research. Humanistic re-orientation of pedagogy respecting psychological, political, social and environmental strains can make academic practice more reverential and sustainable, both amidst critical situations and when normal ones prevail (Corbera et al., 2020). Modifications Xhelili et al. (2021), in Albenian Context, find that students are not well-familiar with internet- based education. So, the suggestion that follows afterword is that online teaching has to be integrated gradually, taking students’ status of technological exposure into consideration, and the learning pro- cess is to be pragmatically designed by the teachers, taking into account learners’ incapability, dissatis- EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 4 | factions and the overall limitations as a whole. One of the remarkable transitions caused by COVID- 19 pandemic in the education sector is the online assessment policy which many institutes find diffi- cult to perform accurately as well as satisfactorily, for the existing assessment options are mostly debatable ones, like students’ previous test scores, assignment scores, overall performance etc. (Wal, 2020). Prospective reconciliatory approaches can be incorporating the positive mindsets and interac- tions in the direct or live online classes and creating a virtual, active blended learning. A mixture of both interactive virtual classes and pre-recorded classes can result in the lively engagement of both the students and teachers, and the effective replication of onsite class experience in the digital world (Wal, 2020). Goddard (2020) suggests that co-teaching helps English Learners to feel involved in the class- room environment and lets them enhance their English efficiency in line with their peers. As such, the researcher presents, during the enervating circumstances of COVID-19 pandemic, like co-teaching in normal situation, making use of a shared virtual space, arranging consultation sessions on a regular basis, sharing assignments well prior to assessment and exam schedule etc. have helped the online co- teachers in the USA to ensure an educating setting as strong as in the usual schooling atmosphere. Mccarthy and Wolfe (2020) have suggested engaging parents through institute-wide strategies for online instruction. Broadly speaking, they received feedback from parents regarding the already delivered online lessons, and accordingly assisted the institute in revising their teaching procedure and virtual learning plans to incorporate parents-centered and school-wise approaches that helped the learners learn at home better. Williams et al. (2020) propose that creating a support network can ensure a student-oriented response to the shift in academic environments of teacher training initia- tives which COVID-19 has necessitated so far. In fact, the University of Wyoming’s College of Edu- cation, USA, established a network of support and a consistent presence of the community through which it promoted continuous professional development to enable active learning in teacher educa- tion courses made inevitable by Coronavirus (Williams et al., 2020). To mitigate the multifaceted issues emerged from the abrupt shift of the mode of education due to COVID-19, Koehler and Farmer (2020) suggest digital learning plans to be used for e-learning. Their research comes up with the following suggestions for the teachers to implement effective virtual learning during the shut- down of the onsite learning mode: i. Identify unique features and challenges of the learning context. ii. Build transparent expectations as to the methods and approaches of the virtual classroom. iii. Exhibit the procedures of e-learning and provide scopes for practice. And, last but not the least, iv. Share the approaches and methods of digital learning to both the learners and parents (Koehler & Farmer, 20200. In New Zealand, they have utilized Virtual Learning Network (VLN) not only to continue distance education but also to build resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic (Lindsay & Whalley, 2020). With the coordination of the Ministry of Education, schools in New Zealand provided syn- chronous (real time) online classes and asynchronous (independent learning choices) to the students and teachers, which helped both the learners feel well prepared in carrying on teaching and learning amidst the widespread lockdown (Lindsay & Whalley, 2020). Flynn (2020), for online teaching, emphasizes teachers’ digital pedagogical literacy to plan lessons. Initial findings of a pilot project, as Flynn (2020) presents, revealed that lessons planned through a Rhythmic Approach worked better for Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain, Md. Atiqur Rahman | 5 | the virtual classrooms and accelerated both the teachers and learners to enact dialogical interactions between them. Moreover, the lesson plans done in the Rhythmic Approach also alleviated the early obstacles relating to the hurried transition of the academic mode from in-class to online. Redmond & Henson (2020) give motivation for implementing a reciprocal remix practice of creativity among the learners in the online classes amidst COVID-19 circumstances. They suggest an equal combination of both technology use and cultivation of higher order thinking and authentic as well as innovative learning opportunities. Absolute focus on digital skill and competitive performance, to a great extant, if not totally, creates more of physical as well as psychological pressure than learning benefits for the learners. Therefore, designing a remix classroom, a participatory learning model, where learners create their own works, share them virtually, relate the works with course contents and learning aims, and mingle creations with their expressions of individual latent talent of the cultural artifacts can result in supe- rior academic outcome (Redmond & Henson, 2020). Greenhow, Lewin and Willet (2020) study USA’s and UK’s educational responses to COVID-19, in terms of initial digital pedagogy adoption, and found that the suggested educational responses were digital pedagogy, parents-as-teachers policy, digital equity and renewed education strategy. Among the COVID-19 pedagogical adoptions, found by Greenhow, Lewin and Willet (2020), in US and UK school settings, the most notable ones are synchronous sessions of interaction between teachers and students, decreased focus on rigorous assess- ment, moderate attendance expectation, minimized workload for teachers, creation of state fund for both teachers and learners and disbursement of necessary fund. In Turkish educational setting during COVID-19 closure of academic institutions, TV broad- casts of lessons and textual discussions have been found to be supporting students’ learning and providing psychological support (Erümit, 2020). Besides broadcasts, one of the televisions in Turkey, as mentioned by Erümit (2020), has its own educational portal which provides the learners easy access to academic materials, discussions and explanations, which, certainly, help the learners particu- larly in the present context. Synchronous lessons have proved more effective since they can endorse social interaction, conducive atmosphere and chances for the learners to ask and/or questions, and receive answers as well (Erümit, 2020). Distance learning, in a critical time emitting psychological stresses to the learners, requires flexible as well as accessible learning approaches, for which teachers can use both digital and printed stories and texts to establish connection with the learners and their families (Semingson, Owens & Kerns, 2020). Zhanf, Yan & Gronseth (2020) recommend adding flexibility to the curriculum and implementing student-directed assessment for online education dur- ing the Coronavirus pandemic. In the new normal teaching and learning setting, manners of instruc- tion need to harmonious with the multifarious backgrounds and learning necessities of the learners, basically, when they are almost imprisoned at home and, as such, have limited access to learning resources (Zhang, Yan & Gronseth, 2020). Shelton et al. (2020) recommend enacting critical humanizing pedagogies in online teaching and learning, and likewise, resisting dehumanizing assessments. Accordingly, the researcher applied novel technologies to effectuate critical humanizing pedagogies, which include inspiring beyond solely cognitive approaches as well as reflexively denoting issues of abilities, affordabilities and social back- grounds. By critical humanizing pedagogies, Shelton et al. (2020) mean a considerate approach to online assessments, that emphasizes meaningfulness balanced with social realities and, accordingly, EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 6 | engages multimodality. Fox (2020), for virtual classroom, suggests bidirectional pedagogy where lessons and classroom practices are shared with both students and their guardians at home. As a result, teachers come to know the details as to the families’ storage of knowledge as well as home education practices, and thus, can assimilate how the families of the learners can also contribute to their learning improvement. Grandolfi and Kratcoski (2020), during the pervading closure of face- to-face education. Formosinho (2021) suggests, in a metaphoric way, for the schoolification of par- ents and guardians of the learners for effective learning during COVID-19. Teaching English English language teachers, like those in other branches of studies, have found webinars to be an effective medium to reach teachers from all over the world, especially, English teachers who have a common language for both communication and instruction (Shin & Borup, 2020). Webinars are an improved online platform for the audience across the world, offered for free, and activated to use immediately to respond instantly to the needs of the teachers of English (Shin & Borup, 2020). Grandolfi and Kratcoski (2020), during the pervading closure of face-to-face education, focused on pedagogies, practices and educational technologies, and ended up developing a Community of Prac- tice (CoP) that mobilized more concerted attempt to engender solutions for shared challenges and upgrade professional learning. When there exists a plethora of learning technologies in abundance, choosing the most suitable technological modes and sharing the best practices can ensure fruitful online teaching amid the COVID-19 crisis (Gruber & Bauer, 2020). Gruber and Bauer (2020), re- garding foreign language classes in the remote learning arrangement, emphasize that they have to be synchronous online class sessions and their facilitators are to implement interaction and virtual so- cialization so as to let the learners practice the target language as in real-life reciprocity. Among the most pressing issues in terms of teaching-learning during the pandemic propelled instruction mode are comprehension of learning content, student engagement, and internet connec- tivity, which many ELF learners found as disadvantages (Tarrayo et al., 2021). Although Tarrayo et al. (2021) mentioned a couple of advantages of virtual teaching and learning, namely convenience and enhancement of teaching and learning, they suggested some significant reformations in foreign language learning, such as: planning, implementation, and monitoring of institute administration; provision of adequate internet and technological resources; and capacity-building and trainings. Vir- tual teaching during COVID-19 can have disparate implications and realities for male and female teachers, and so the emerging technologies incorporated in teaching and learning need to be put to function with a conscious outline respecting gender identity too (Emelogu et al., 2022). Online lessons necessitate motivations for both teachers and students as to their physical as well as psycho- logical betterment, and thus they the imperativeness of carefully selecting and modifying the peda- gogical formats and objectives (Nakata, 2022). The objectives of the research include finding as well as presenting the realities of English lan- guage teaching during the countrywide shutdown of educational institutions and, as such, the stop- page of in-class education due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Concurrently, it seeks to unearth the sorts of adaptations and improvisations the English language teachers of the country devised for continu- ing teaching through virtual classroom during the deadlock. Likewise, it pursues to know the changes Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain, Md. Atiqur Rahman | 7 | and modifications the teachers made in their pedagogical techniques and execution in line with the demands of the new normal circumstances. Accordingly, the research also ventures for being abreast of the efficacies the technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications really brought into exist- ence in the field of virtual teaching. Thus, the questions that the research attempts to seek the answers to are the following: a) What is the semblance of virtual ELT teaching and learning amidst the COVID-19 pandemic in Bangladesh? b) What technological adaptations and improvisations have the ELT teachers made to cope with the online teaching? c) What changes and modifications have the ELT teachers made to their traditional pedagogical practices for effectively serving the purpose of the online teaching? 2. Method This research applied the mixed methodology having a careful combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods to conduct the study. Mixed methodology performs as an efficacious para- digm for elaborate as well as all-consuming considerations in a research pursuit where the researcher(s) aims to unearth both the outcomes of the population and the reasons of such findings (Shannonhouse et al., 2017). Moreover, the quantitative methods come with decisive outcomes whereas the qualita- tive methods engender profound as well as explanatory discernment of the researched phenomenon (Shekhar et al., 2018). On top of these two widely-practiced methodologies, the mixed methodology singly makes sure the conveniences of the two approaches by uniting them in a single initiative, which helps the research to be comprehensive in relation to both its regulatory attempts and explicatory articulations (Shekhar et al., 2018). With such affirmative regards, we chose the mixed method ap- proach to accomplish the current research. The researchers served an open-ended questionnaire to the populations, which contains the questions resonating the objectives of the research. In social science researches, open-ended question- naires provide some significant advantages, like they are convenient for knowledge measurement, offer an infinite magnitude of possible perspectives on the questions, help avoid unnecessary notions and options, and they serve as a cognitive pre-testing (Züll, 2016). Although Reja et al. (2003) find both close-ended and open-ended questionnaires, in terms of use and popularity, equal and appli- cable, they infer that an open-ended question creates a much more assorted set of answers, and supplies more missing data than a close-ended one. The selected population gave detailed answers to the questions, and the researchers, subsequently, labelled as well as categorized the responses for ana- lyzing the data. Accordingly, as in-depth analysis of the problem was done in the findings and discus- sion sections. We sent the questionnaires through email, Messenger App, Zoom Cloud Meeting, and WhatsApp to 30 teachers of English language from various private and public universities of Bangladesh, out of which only 12 ELT teachers (4 from Pundra University of Science & Technology, 2 from Dhaka International University, 2 from European University of Bangladesh, 2 from Northern University Bangladesh, and 2 from Varendra University) responded. The sample was selected applying the simple random sampling method so as to ensure the reliable representation of the population. EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 8 | The research collected qualitative data through an open-ended questionnaire which was sent to the sample populations via, mostly, online communication media like email, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Zoom Cloud Meeting. The selected population was also contacted through mobile phone communication, and subsequently, the responses were received through. 3. Results and discussion The results are presented in the following table: Table 1. Technological devices used for teaching English amidst COVID-19 Serial Number Technological Devices Used for Teaching English amidst COVID-19 Percentage 1. Laptop 83.33% 2. Smartphone/Android phone 66.66% 3. Desktop computer 16.66% 4. Whiteboard 16.66% 5. Smartphone Camera 33.33% 6. Headphone 33.33% 7. WIFI device/WIFI Router 33.33% 8. Camera Stand, 16.66% 9. Laptop camera 16.66% 10. Digital stand 16.66% 11. Notepad 16.66% 12. Digital Writing Pad (XP-PEN) 16.66% 13. Modem 16.66% Serial Number Apps/Software Used for Teaching English amidst COVID-19 Percentage 1. Zoom Cloud Meeting 100% 2. Google Classroom 33.33% 3. Google Drive 16.66% 4. Facebook 75% 5. You Tube 50% 6. WhatsApp 33.33% 7. Messenger 50% 8. Email 41.66% 9. Stream Yard 16.66% 10. Google Meet 41.66% 11. Google 58.33% 12. Telegram 16.66% 13. Opera Beta 8.33% 14. NCTB Books 8.33% 15. Bangla Dictionary 16.66% 16. OALD (Oxford Advanced Learners’ Dictionary) 41.66% 17. Foxit Reader 33.33% 18. Google Chrome 66.66% 19. Adobe Acrobat Reader 50% Table-2: Apps/Software Used for Teaching English amidst COVID-19 Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain, Md. Atiqur Rahman | 9 | Table 3. Websites the ELT teachers have taken help from to teach during COVID-19 Sl. No. Websites Percentage 1. Google (Search engine) 50% 2. Marriam Webster Dictionary 25% 3. Google form 33.33% 4. Wikipedia 41.66% 5. tophonetics.com (for pronunciation) 8.33% 6. kahoot.com (for quiz & multiple-choice questions) 8.33% 7. academia.edu 41.66% 8. libgen 8.33% 9. Google translate 16.66% 10. Banglapedia 8.33% 11. The Financial Express 8.33% 12. National Geography 8.33% 13. Muktijoddha Archive 8.33% 14. Bangladesh Tottho Batayon 8.33% 15. Different sorts of websites 66.66% Sl. No. Name of the Device/Apps Earlier Uses Uses During COVID-19 Percentage of Users 1. Notepad To write things, keep records, and to draft things To demonstrate writing through digital mode 25% 2. Google To browse and exert information regarding various issues for personal use To browse and learn for the purpose of collective teaching materials 75% 3. Google drive To store documents, data and information To provide the learners an access to the instructional documents, data and information 33.33% 4. Laptop To type documents like CV and cover letter, to watch movies, to listen to songs, to browse internet To prepare lessons, teaching materials, instructional videos and share through online media the teaching materials to the students 100% 5. Smartphones To make calls, receive calls, send messages, receive messages, take photos and selfies, to listen to songs, to browse internet etc. To record class lectures and upload them on learning platforms, to communicate and browse for academic purposes etc. 100% 6. Messenger To conduct person to person communication, and to socialize To make and join in academic groups, upload teaching materials and communicate with the learners regarding their study 75% 7. Zoom Cloud Meeting It was not familiar and used earlier To conduct online classes, virtual tests, and to give feedbacks on the assessment 100% 8. Digital camera To shoot photos and record videos To record class lectures and use them in live or blended teaching sessions 58.33% 9. YouTube To watch videos To watch and learn from the academic videos, and to upload instructional videos for the learners 41.66% Table 4. Technological Adaptations the ELT Teachers have Made to Teach during COVID-19 EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 10 | 10. Facebook To give status, write comments, watch videos, read news items etc. To make and join academic groups, and upload teaching materials, and to conduct Facebook live classes 66.66% 11. Soft copy materials Hardcopies were used earlier Softcopies of learning and teaching materials are sent and shared through online paths 75% 12. NCTB Books Hard copies of NCTB books were used Soft copies of NCTB books are downloaded and used for teaching 16.66% 13. Telegram Not used earlier To communicate with the students for teaching purposes 8.33% 14. Power point Earlier it used to be used mostly in seminar presentations To demonstrate teaching materials to the learners virtually while conducting classes 41.66% As to the English language teachers’ satisfaction regarding the existing technological devices and their uses, majority of the teachers participating in this research responded with affirmative feedback although many referred to some known pressing issues related to internet, training and updated devices, like lack of smooth internet connection, need for training on virtual teaching for many aged faculty members, and upgradation of earlier versions of computer and related devices. Likewise, maximum of the population of the research found satisfactorily effective the technological adaptations they devised for making English language teaching fruitful amidst the Coronavirus pro- pelled new education mode. (i) If handwriting on digital board could automatically be transformed into Word file. (ii) Free Apps like Zoom (ii) Faster internet service (iv) Uninterrupted Zoom performance (v) Zoom sessions without time limitations (vi) More effective Applications to monitor the students properly (vii) Lighter version of Zoom (viii) Built-in Teaching Apps in Android phone (ix) Better Zoom resolution (x) If WhatsApp and Messenger had a teaching platform like Zoom (xi) Effective Apps and software for virtual assessment and script checking Table 6. Pedagogical Modifications for Teaching English amidst COVID-19 SL. No. Before COVID-19 During COVID-19 Percentage of Teachers Modifying thus 1. TPR (Total Physical Response) No TPR, only presentation 41.66% 2. Interactive classes Monologue/one sided lectures 50% 3. Strict assessment on hard copies of answer scripts Lenient assessment on soft copies 58.33% 4. Class control/teachers’ talking time (less) More teacher’s talking time 33.33% 5. More students’ class participation Less students’ class participation 50% Table 5. Suggestions for Additional Technological Innovations and Adaptations Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain, Md. Atiqur Rahman | 11 | 6. Sufficient contents A bit limited content 16.66% 7. Automatic class control Technological class control (Suddenly muting somebody for convenience) 25% 8. More friendly/less strict class control A bit strict class control 41.66% 9. Performing only as a teacher Thinking as both a teacher and a student 8.33% 10. Normal temperament Being more patient 75% 11. Teaching lessons as they were Making lessons easier 50% 12. Liberal about time Time conscious 33.33% 13. Need study as usual Need more study 8.33% 14. Direct offline classroom setting with adequate teaching staff Virtual classroom 58.33% 15. Oral and written lecture-based Lectures with soft copies of teaching materials through screen share 41.66% 16. Huge classroom with an excessive number of students Online class with fewer students 16.66% 17. Direct attention to each and every student Technology-based attention to the students 25% 18. Physical presence of the students was assured Students IDs might be there, but some would remain absent albeit showing their presence 33.33% 19. More time was spent for class maintenance, roll call and class discipline Class maintenance is quite easier 16.66% 20. Needs to be physically and mentally prepared before entering the offline classes As the classes are casual, and the students’ participation is also casual, teachers feel both mentally and physically relaxed 16.33% 21. Could cover fewer topics in offline classes Can cover more topics in virtual classes since they are mostly one-way teaching 8.33% 22. Less enjoyable than virtual class More enjoyable than onsite class 8.33% 23. Focusing on paper-based assessments Focusing more on virtual assignments, MCQ, fill in the blanks or short questions in order to assess the students’ progress. 41.66% 24. Earlier it was classroom teaching and assessment. Assessing students through oral tests, audio-visual live presentations, sharing audio-visual materials and PowerPoint presentations 50% To ease the challenges faced by the students To retain students’ academic continuity To facilitate learning during COVID-19 To remain at par in the teaching competition To deliver the lessons as it is required Figure 1. Purposes for Pedagogical Modifications EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 12 | Most of the English language teachers responding to the questions of this research, in terms of the effectiveness of pedagogical changes and modifications they had made, apprised that they had found them remarkably effective though a few of them had encountered some challenges like learners’ unwillingness in virtual classes. Nevertheless, the teachers are sanguine that in course of time, if online education goes on, learners will be accustomed. Sl. No. Suggestion for Additional Pedagogical Modifications 1. More PowerPoint presentations than Word-file teaching 2. More study to fill the gap of the absence of in-class education 3. More time for teachers to study and prepare 4. Virtual learners should respond more and better. 5. Online affordability for all the students 6. Providing the learners with adequate slides and hand notes apart from virtual class lectures 7. Encouraging the students repeatedly to attend the online classes as much as possible 8. Paraphrasing and interpreting the texts comprehensively 9. Seriousness of the teachers and students regarding attendance and attention 10. Focusing on more online presentations, interviews and viva voce may be helpful for the teachers to teach English better. 11. The teacher has to be fully aware of his limitations. He can also provide the students texts that are available online and can be easily downloaded. He must try to engage every student in his learning tasks. Table 7. Suggestions for Additional Pedagogical Modifications Discussion The unavoidable impact of COVID-19 on education system was a challenge to the whole world, and Bangladesh was no exception. Teachers needed to make a drastic change in education system with the help of modern technology and networking devices. The findings of the research show, sequentially, how modern technology and networking devices like computers and smartphones replaced the classroom education system with online education system. Apps like Zoom Cloud Meet- ings and Google Classroom functioned like the virtual classrooms. Even a social medium like Facebook played a vital role in our education system during COVID-19 pandemic. There is no denying the fact that our education is now inseparably connected to the Internet and modern technologies, especially those connected to Information and Communication Technol- ogy (ICT). This is the fact which was strongly felt during COVID-19 pandemic—teachers googled topics of different subjects, read and downloaded pdfs, epubs, and shared them with students. They browsed different websites connected to education and learning like Wikipedia, academia.edu, etc. The COVID-19 impacts on education made our teachers use their everyday electronic devices like laptops, smartphones, digital cameras in the ways more suited to our online education during COVID-19 pandemic. Their adaptation of various social and entertainment websites like Facebook, YouTube show how teachers tried their best levels to cope up with the crisis. Devices and technologies which had long been used primarily for entertainment and social networking thus became essential Teaching English amidst coronavirus pandemic in Bangladesh: Technological adaptations and pedagogical modifications Md. Mozaffor Hossain, Md. Atiqur Rahman | 13 | things for education, for instance – 16.66% teachers started to use pdf copies of NCTB books. Al- though the percentage is small, it hints at a new idea of books and the experience of reading, which have all the possibilities to change the traditional education system radically if it is necessary. Suggestions from teachers for additional technological innovations and adaptations clearly hint at the inefficiency of the online education system: their want of a free app which may allow them to continue their class without any interruption as happens when using the free version of Zoom Cloud Meetings. Their want of an inbuilt app on smartphones shows how much they suffered on the one hand, and on the other, how much a smartphone or a computer can act as an essential device in modern education system, a device with all the potentials to change the long-lasting idea of education by giving lectures in the physical classrooms. Our recent experience of online education also shows how teachers may adapt with techno- logical devices to create a new dimension of modern education system. The traditional pedagogy went through a big change: real-time physical gestures and interactions in the classrooms were re- placed by video presentations created with extra focus and care. But here the teachers lost the Total Physical Response, interactive classes; because in most cases, they felt bound to continue giving one sided lectures which often seem to be boring monologues, for in most cases, the network of some of the participants, be it the students or the teachers themselves, was very poor, and the students re- mained silent with their microphones turned off. For such reasons, lenient assessments of soft answer scripts took the place of strict assessments on the hard copies of the answer scripts. Suggestion from teachers for additional pedagogical modifications to make online classes more effective and less monotonous include using more PowerPoint presentations than Word-file teaching, ensuring interactive discussion and frequent responses from the students. Most of the teachers are of the opinion that the internet should have been affordable for every student; and students must be engaged directly though virtually in the learning process. 4. Conclusion One of the remarkable limitations of this research is its small number of sample population which could not be selected in a sufficient number due to the country wide shutdown incited by COVID-19 pandemic. A representative number of samples would make the research more reliable and comprehensive. The COVID-19-forced novelty in teaching demands that the traditional ELT theory and research trends need to be refurbished, and sociopolitical concerns should be re-considered in a healthy manner (Mirhosseini, S. (2022). Effective English language teaching, like teaching any other branch of knowledge, requires to be ensured through solving the technology and internet – related issues prevalent across Bangladesh, and, simultaneously, teachers along with the learners need to nurture unavoidable pedagogical and learning reformations (Hossain, 2021). Positively seen, although COVID-19 pandemic brought havocking effects on various sides of human life across the world, it introduced as well as reinforced educational technology as an oppor- tunity for teachers, learners and stakeholders to accelerate education virtually. The study apropos of technological use in virtual teaching brought to notice a number of solvable issues like shortage of technological tools, insufficient parental support for active participation of students, trial and error EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 8, No. 1, July 2023, pp. 1–17 | 14 | to adopt technical tools to virtual mode of teaching and abrupt paradigm shift without methodical training, little time space to adapt to the paradigm shift, planning, and executing classes, learners unwillingness to give in to the sudden learning mode, and after all, unaffordability of many of the learners to have necessary updated technological devices at their possession (Alimyar & Lakshmi, 2021). Since COVID-19 almost imprisoned people into unusual life practices, especially in academia, the concerned people need to foster humanistic attributes in greater volume caring for the psychologi- cal realities of both the teachers and students (Corbera et al., 2020). Likewise, teachers feel the ur- gency to act carefully for the psychological well-being of the learners in terms of teaching English in a suffocating time like COVID-19. As such, all the people in connection with teaching and learning are demanded to effectuate technology in the most fruitful manner and re-arrange pedagogical tech- niques to help the learners assimilate the most. 5. Acknowledgements We acknowledge our sincerest gratitude to all the participants who rendered us a great help by sparing the valuable moments of their time to answer the questions of this research. 6. References Alimyar, Z., & Lakshmi, S. G. (2021). A study on language teachers’ preparedness to use technology during COVID-19. 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