Indonesian EFL Journal (IEFLJ) p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IEFLJ/index 83 STUDENTS’ PERSPECTIVE ON FOREIGN TEACHER’S ONLINE TEACHING SKILLS IN INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION CLASS Yoga Prihatin English Education, Faculty of Teacher Training and Education, Universitas Pancaskati Tegal, Indonesia Email: Yogaprihatin92@gmail.com APA Citation: Prihatin, Y. (2022). Students’ perspective on foreign teacher’s online teaching skills in intercultural communication class. Indonesian EFL Journal, 8(1), pp. 83-90. https://doi.org/10.25134/ieflj.v8i1.5591 Received: 26-09-2021 Accepted: 27-11-2021 Published: 30-01-2022 INTRODUCTION Internationalization in Post Covid 19 era changes the form of visiting scholar in Universitas Pancasakti Tegal. English Department of Universitas Pancasakti Tegal invited a Morrocan scholar to teach intercultural communication and global Englishes. The reason of inviting Moroccon scholar is first it is the implementation of MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Universitas Pancasakti Tegal and Hasan First University Morocco. The second reason is Intercultural communication crucial to bridge the communication among different countries with different cultural background. It is involving the diversity of at least two different cultures. Third, the goal of Intercultural Communication course is also referred to as the base for international communication in business, health. education, and politics therefore inviting a teacher from different country to teach will develop a better communication skill for the students. Learning Intercultural Communication course to develop intercultural communication skill virtually by using Zoom platform taught by a Moroccon teacher is very challenging for the second semester students of English Department of Universitas Pancasakti Tegal. This is the first time for them having a foreign teacher during their study. They are very excited to welcome the teacher as well as to adapt themselves with their first foreign teacher in distance learning. The purpose of this study was to investigate second semester students’ perspective towards a Morroccan teacher’s online skills and competencies, the difficulties and barriers of learning Intercultural Communication materials taught by a Moroccan teacher. It focused on university EFL learners’ persepectives, challenges and obstacles during the learning process with a Moroccan teacher in the current global pandemic and the possible facilities and solutions that can be delivered to overcome problem findings in the Abstract: Internationalization in Post Covid-19 era changes the form of visiting scholar in Universitas Pancasakti Tegal. English Education of Universitas Pancasakti Tegal invites a Morrocan scholar to teach intercultural communication. The reason of inviting Moroccon scholar is first it is the implementation of MoU (Memorandum of Understanding) between Universitas Pancasakti Tegal and Hasan First University Morocco. The second reason is Intercultural communication crucial to bridge the communication among different countries with different cultural background. It is involving the diversity of at least two different cultures. It has created adjustment toward new learning environment for the students. The study investigates students’ perceptions on their first Moroccon teacher. The study used 45 second semester students of English Education who experienced the first foreign teacher in their study. The findings showed positive perceptions of students on their Moroccan teacher’s competencies in online teaching and the learning environment. The teacher has a good capability in technological skills, social and communication skills, design skills, content knowledge skills, pedagogical skills, and management and institutional skills. However, the problem of slow Internet connectivity and lack of Internet access for some of the students outside the university campus hindered the effectiveness of the online learning environment for a few students. Improvement in ICT infrastructure and capacity building for lecturers to adopt online learning approach were recommended. Keywords: online teaching competences; intercultural communication; students’ perceptions https://doi.org/10.25134/ieflj.v7i2.4564 Yoga Prihatin Students’ perspective on foreign teacher’s online teaching skills in intercultural communication class 84 future. The significance of the present study is to explore the influence of a foreign teacher online competencies in the COVID-19 pandemic on the EFL learning process. Culture has heavily influenced language teaching and has become the most fundamental document in the teaching of foreign language. Teacher’s cultural background difference creates challenges for EFL learners in understanding the course such as ethnocentrism, stereotyping, psychological barriers, language barriers, geographical distance, and conflicting values (https://declicinternational.com/6-barriers-to-cross- cultural-communications/). Having online Moroccan teacher for foreign language learners such as English Education students of Universitas Pancasakti Tegal need intercultural communication skill to overcome a misunderstanding, conflict, and dissapointment. In order to maintain the communication run well in multicultural classes with diferent cultural background, students need to be intercullturally communicative competent. (Tran & Duong, 2018) On the other hand, a well established teachers’ competence is crucial in managing the class in exposing students to express their ideas in communication. Teacher’s teaching strategies is assumed to influence students’ competence in learning English as a foreign language. Studies on teaching strategies have been widely found in the context of teaching English as a foreign language (Takac, 2008; Mehrgan, 2013; Daddi & Haq 2014; Lubis, 2017) as cited in (Zaim, Refnaldi, & Rahmiyanti, 2019). Teachers’ online skills and competencies are classified into six categories: (a) pedagogical skills, (b) content skills, (c) design skills, (d) technological skills, (e) management and institutional skills, and (f) social and communication skills (Albrahim, 2020). Those skills are used to overcome the problems and challenges faced by students in a multicultural virtual class. Sucessful online teaching requires teachers’ collaboration with the students in communication. To know the influences of teachers’ online skills and competencies, it very important to know students’ point of view as the feedback for future improvement in online teaching especially when they are taught by a foreign teacher. The student perspective is especially important when new teaching approaches are used and when new technologies are being introduced (Arthur, 2009; Crews & Butterfield, 2014; Van Wart, Ni, Ready, Shayo, & Court, 2020) cited in (Van Wart et al., 2020). Pedagogical skills A teacher needs pedagogical skills to teach students, those skills involve teaching method, classroom management, designing appropriate lesson plan, and the assessment of the students (Rahman, Tambi, & Anny, 2020). To achieve the goals of learning, a teacher uses their pedagogical skills to improve the quality of learning process in an online and off line classroom. It is indeed very challenging for a teacher to maintain students’ motivation, to understand materials especially in online learning, to keep them interested in learning is also a hard task for teacher during online class. Pedagogical skills help teachers to manage the class, to use the appropriate teaching method, to arrange the lesson plan, and to have effective interaction with students. Smith et al. (2016) cited in (Rahman et al., 2020) pedagogical skills contribute to make pupils believe in their individual competency, capability to complete their coursework magnificently, ability to judge themselves and overcome challenges successfully. Content skills Content skills or content knowledge skills are necessary for teachers to achieve the learning objectives, as by having those skills teacher will determine approach, learning model and teaching method used during the learning process. Teachers’ decisions will impact on effective classroom. It is immensely important to teaching and its improvement. Instead of taking pedagogical content knowledge as given (Loewenberg Ball, Thames, & Phelps, 2008). When teachers have good content knowledge, it makes them easier to minimize the failure of achieving learning objectives. Content knowledge contributes a lot in work of teaching as it is the basic professional knowledge that teachers must have. It has significant implications in understanding teaching and improving learning quality for students in virtual or non-virtual classroom. Design skills Teachers are demanded to have design skills, in this case is designing syllabus and lesson plan to meet Indonesian EFL Journal (IEFLJ) p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IEFLJ/index 85 the students need in Intercultural Communication subject. online teachers must be able to understanding and applying instructional design principles, models, and theories (Albrahim, 2020). Teachers use syllabus and lesson plan to guide them to achieve the learning objectives in intercultural communication class. The documents have many benefits such as providing guidance to teachers, clarifying the learning objectives for teachers, improving the quality of lessons, enabling visualization of the entire teaching process and making learning easier for students. A properly designed lesson plan also helps teacher to teach properly. Teacher is able to manage the class and to use the time effectively to know students’ comprehension toward learning materials. Technological skills The pandemic all over the world changes traditional teaching, off line teaching into online teaching which requires teachers’ technological competence in learning process. Teachers encounter many issues due to technological knowledge and use during online teaching. The problem of better-preparing teacher education students to use digital technologies effectively and productively in schools is an enduring issue (Guzman and Nussbaum 2009; Otero et al. 2005; Sutton 2011) cited in (Falloon, 2020). Teachers have some issues regarding their technological skills especially teachers in remote area. They have been struggling in handling these issues. Management and institutional skills A teacher is a manager of his class therefore management skill is essential in planning, organizing and running the class well. Decision making is included in classroom management in which it is used for not only maintaining a well run classroom but also building a successful interaction turn taking to understand students comprehension toward learning materials. Educational management is as the process concerned with using methods, principles and practices to establish, develop and execute the goals, policies, plans and procedures necessary to attain the objectives of education (Akpan, 2020). Classroom management is a part of educational management in general. Organizing and running an on line classroom skill is a significant role of a teacher, how they manage the classroom for successful and meaningful learning process. Learning objectives can be achieved well when a teacher is able to maintain best and enjoyable teaching environment. An online teacher needs to promote students’ motivation and interest during the class therefore teacher will be able to engage students to be active in the classroom. The ability of teachers to organize classrooms and manage the behavior of their students is critical to achieving positive educational outcomes (Oliver & Reschly, 2007). Social and communication skills Social and communication skills are very crucial for teachers in transferring the information to students need. Both verbal and nonverbal communication are used by teachers to convey and understand the messages to the students as well as to the school policy makers and parents. Teachers need to communicate well especially during in the classroom. It is teachers’ social and communication skills that greatly determine the successful learning process. Effective teaching depends upon the teachers’ knowledge, method, and style of teacher communication skills (Khan, Khan, Zia-Ul-Islam, & Khan, 2017). A good communication skill affects classroom interaction as good communication skill brings comfortable and meaningful learning process. Students teachers collaboration is vital in determining the successful and valuable classroom context to dig students critical thinking toward materials understanding or comprehending. Challenges faced by students in online learning Online learning encounters several problems in the implementation. Both students and teacher face the difficulties and challenges in online learning. The problems are slowing down the successful learning process and the desired outcomes. There are various problems including support system, time management, and independent learning (Barcenas, J.M. & Bibon, 2020). Support system is closely related to parental support at home of physiological needs to the academic requirements of students; time management is managing time between non academics and academic matters; and independent learning is cognitive level of students to understand learning materials independently. The better is students’ cognitive level, the better is his understanding but it is supported by infrastructure or equipment needed. The infrastructure at home Yoga Prihatin Students’ perspective on foreign teacher’s online teaching skills in intercultural communication class 86 owned by students determine well run online learning, mobile phone, personal computer, and internet connection must be owned by the students for online class. Students in low poverty level family will find difficult in providing personal infrastructure. This is the biggest problem in online learning. METHOD The aim of the study was to students of English Education experiences of online classes during COVID-19 pandemic with a Moroccan teacher in Intercultural Communication class. A Qualitative case study was adopted to help exploring an in- depth online learning process investigation in particular context. Data collection Semi-structured interviews with open ended were used to collect data from 45 students of English Education during the January-May 2021 period. The question prompts for the semi-structured interviews were originally composed in English and later translated into Bahasa Indonesia to make students understand well. Seven (7) main interview questions were developed in line with the research objectives to explore teachers’ online skills and competencies. The six main interview question explored a teacher’s competencies on (a) pedagogical skills, (b) content skills, (c) design skills, (d) technological skills, (e) management and institutional skills, and (f) social and communication skills, whereas one question was used to investigate to challenges faced by students in online learning. Each interview took 15 minutes for 7 questions using zoom in 12 (twelve) meetings. It was recorded under students’ permission. In answering the questions, students were free to use both languages, Bahasa Indonesia and English. Data analysis The interview data were transcribed then read and cross-checked for accuracy. The data were coded, categorised and analysed based on the six categories of teacher’s competencies mentioned above. To maintain anonymity, the participants were coded as S1 to S45. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Pedagogical skill The findings reveal that most of students have positive attitude or perspectives towards a Moroccan teacher’s competences in online teaching. Most of the students state that teacher’s competence on pedagogical skill meets their expectation. Only 2 students out of 45 students stated that the assessment needs to be improved by using presentation rubrics. Q: “What do you think of teacher’s pedagogical skills in intercultural communication class in terms of teaching method, classroom management, designing appropriate lesson plan, and the assessment of the students?” S2: “I love his pedagogical skills especially they way he teaches us. It is fun and enjoyable for online learning class.” S10: “Oh he is good in teaching us. I can understand well. He manages the class so good...” S16: “We study online but it is ok. He is good in explaining. He listen and explain us patiently when we don’t understand. We like him!” S32: “I like having interaction with the teacher. He is very patiently listening to our idea.” S33: “He is on time, very well management. I can uderstand the materials that is the point.” The pedagogical skills include the management of classroom, knowledge regarding different theories of learning, and motivating the students (Rahman et al., 2020). Moroccan teacher’s pedagogical skill or in other words instructional method skill impacts the class to run well especially his ability in engaging students in meaningful interaction, and managing classroom is very important as the students need to focus to the learning in virtual classroom. Teacher is aptitude to plan, initiate, lead and develop teaching in both general and subject-specific knowledge of student learning that it finds very challenging condition in a virtual room. Content knowledge skills Teacher’s content knowledge skill has a significant influence in creating successful learning process. Successful learning process means it is successfully achieving the learning objectives stated in the lesson plan of a virtual intercultural communication classroom. All students believe that their Moroccan teacher has good content knowledge. Indonesian EFL Journal (IEFLJ) p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IEFLJ/index 87 Q: “Please state your point of view of teacher’s content knowledge clearly, do you think that your teacher explains the topic materials well? Is it comprehensible for you?” S6: “Yes, I can understand well. It is easy enough for me. He explained well.” S10: “I ask him very often and he always patiently explains until I get the point of the lesson.” S15: “I love when he explains what the students need to do. Excellent! It is easy for me.” S20: “He is open minded and he has good knowledge of the topic given.” There are aspects of teachers content knowledge that predict student achievement more than others (Loewenberg Ball et al., 2008). When the students understand well the materials in learning process, it is very relevant to their achievement. In other words, when teacher’s knowledge is good, it will be easier for students to have interaction in expressing their ideas in the classroom. Design skills Design skill has important impact in the classroom as the whole activities must be based on the lesson plan to achieve the learning objectives therefore the assessment made for the students also designed based on the learning objectives. Designing a lesson plan for online teacher is not an easy task since the interaction in the learning process is not in person interaction. In designing an online class, teacher needs to consider the learning model, learning approach and strategies used in the learning process. Q: “Do you think that teacher is able organizing and presenting the learning materials in different formats; understanding and applying instructional design principles, models, and theories in teaching the subject?” S5: “He is good enough in teaching as he presented the easy materials that we can understand.” S6: “I think the teacher has designed the class well.” S19: “I like the way he teaches us especially when we have questions about the learning materials.” S29: “Yes, He is so nice teacher. I love him. That’s it.” S45: “Yeaa, I think he has applied a good learning model for us. I like it and it is enjoyable class or may be because this is the first time for us to have a foreign teacher. We are so excited. He listened well what we needed in the classroom.” The findings show that a Moroccan teacher hold a proper design skills. He also used students feedback by listening their needs to improve the quality of his online teaching and to make students felt comfortable to comprehend the materials as stated by (Albrahim, 2020) using students’ previous feedback to develop and design courses and assess the course design quality is necessary for every online teacher. Technological skills Mastering the use of various technological advances is like an obligation for online teacher since he relies on the technology in teaching the students. Teacher needs to keep updating with the use of diverse teaching tools and platforms. Q: “How do you tell your teacher’s technological skills?” S3: “He is so good in technological skill.” S6: “He is great using technological tool for teaching. I think he master it.” S7: “Amazing teacher! So far there is no technological problem but my internet connection is not good sometimes.” S15: “He is better and well prepared for using any platforms.” S29: “I like him, he is good for handling technological matters in teaching us.” S30: “He is best for using teaching tools. Great!” The findings show that a Moroccan teacher has a good quality in digital competence. A successful online class requires teacher’s digital competences since the class heavily depends on those competences in using learning tools and platforms related to technological advances. A qualified teacher must be able to make use all various learning tool to predict the problems not only internet connection but students problem in using the platform and learning tools during the online learning process. A broadly-based teacher digital competence framework is introduced, which teacher educators have an important part to play in implementing through modelling and deliberate planning and teaching (Falloon, 2020). Management and institutional skills Yoga Prihatin Students’ perspective on foreign teacher’s online teaching skills in intercultural communication class 88 Classroom management is critical to establish an efficient and effective online teaching learning process. It influences students’ behavior during the class. A good classroom management will benefit for keeping students’ motivation and interest throughout the learning process. Q: “How does teacher manage the classroom? Do you feel interested and motivated during the learning process?” S6: “I am very motivated to learn when he teaches me.” S8: “enjoy the class and I learn a lot how to communicate with people from different cultural background.” S17: “yea, such a nice class! I want to him to teach me the whole semester!” S19: “I love the interaction part, it is lovely and fun. He manages the class well.” S24: “I have fun and it is very challenging and interesting class.” S35: “I don’t feel bored and I enjoy it. I know many new things about intercultural communication because I learn a lot the materials.” The finding shows that a Moroccan teacher has the capability in classroom management since most of the students enjoy and have a good motivation and interest during the learning process. When students are motivated well, the outcomes will be better attained. This is very critical to create fruitful classroom environment because a bad classroom management has huge impacts on students’ behavior. Improved teacher preparation and professional development in classroom management are critical parts of the solution (Oliver & Reschly, 2007). Social and communication skills The following are students’ responses regarding their teacher’s communication competences. Q: “How does your teacher communicate with you in the classroom?” S6: “We communicate well; he helps me a lot when I fail to understand the materials.” S7: “I ask a lot and he answers me well.” S10: “He talks to me in nice intonation and explain well when I ask him.” S18: “Questions and answers run well. Amazing!” S35: “It is easy to know the idea of his talks.” S40: “I grasp his message well when he speaks to me. Nice conversation….” The findings show that a Moroccan teacher has a good communication skills. All the students stated that their teacher would listen to them patiently and solve their difficulties in learning by explaining and creating enjoyable interaction between students and teacher. Effective communication occurs only when both sides understand well the idea of the message conveyed by the speaker and the listener. Teacher’s communication skills determine efficacious learning activities. Teacher communication skills are important for a teacher in delivery of education to students (Khan, Khan, Zia-Ul-Islam, & Khan, 2017). Problems faced by students in online learning The last question is about problems faced by students in intercultural communication class. The purpose to find out what kind of difficulties that they mostly met. Q: “What are your problems in online intercultural communication class?” S9: “My internet connection is on and off and that makes me difficult to join the class.” S15: “I live in suburb so I must get the place with good internet connections.” S18: “I don’t have PC at home so I use my cell phone and it is difficult to get the signal. I don’t know what happens. It could be my cell phone or something else.” S30: “Well yaaaa, when it rains heavily, my connection is bad.” S35: “I think I will be able to join the class the whole semester if the signal of my internet is good enough.” The findings show that problem met by the student is mostly internet connection. They state the most important thing for them in online class is a stable internet connection. They even coping the problem by finding best place to get good connection for their class. Bad internet connection interruption creates a very bad influential factor on the learning process and the results since the class heavily relies on the internet connection, Internet- based technology now plays a significant role in education (Hui, Pan, & Tan, 2001). CONCLUSION The findings of the study revealed that students’ perceptions on teacher’s online teaching competences was generally positive. Students percieved teacher’s pedagogical skills to plan, Indonesian EFL Journal (IEFLJ) p-ISSN 2252-7427, e-ISSN 2541-3635 Volume 8, Issue 1, January 2022 https://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/IEFLJ/index 89 initiate, lead and develop teaching was well established. His proficient competence of content knowledge helped students comprehending teaching materials. The online Intercultural class was enjoyable and fun since teacher’s online skills on design skills and classroom management was good. The teacher was able to design the lesson plan based on the students’ needs. In designing skill, students viewed their Moroccan teacher showed good performance making all the activites in online class were in line with lesson plan therefore it was easier to create the assessment for the students. 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International Journal of Research in Counseling and Education, 4(1), 28. https://doi.org/10.24036/00207za0002 Yoga Prihatin Students’ perspective on foreign teacher’s online teaching skills in intercultural communication class 90