Brooks Slaybaugh has taught in Japan, Morocco, Poland and Russia. He teaches at four universities in the Tokyo area. Besides teaching, he is also a speaking examiner. His research interests include assessment and online teaching and learning.

 

2020 was a hard year to be a teacher. Unfortunately, we have been forced to teach our classes online, which has been called emergency remote teaching (EMT) (Nae, 2020) and many teachers and students were not prepared for it. While teachers have a duty to do their best, students may have different attitudes to online learning and may see it as a poor substitute to traditional education. Thus, what I have found is a gap in achievement, where some students are capable of independent learning and can seemingly thrive and others who struggle with a lack of motivation, disengagement or have problems using technology. Some students are ready for the challenge of online learning while other students are not ready and may give up, or do poorly in English classes. This paper focuses on how teachers can be proactive in bridging this achievement gap in online learning: suggestions for feedback and communicating with students will be given, followed by the need for standards and flexibility, and the issue of digital literacy as well as student collaboration.

 

Feedback

First, communication with students is essential. One kind of communication with students is feedback for written assignments, which can be helpful in connecting with students and hopefully showing that they are making progress in learning. (Seliem & Ahmed, 2009) A way of giving frequent feedback is to use Google Classroom. Google Classroom makes feedback easy. It is easy to correct writing and return it to students. The challenge is for students to realize that just submitting a draft of writing is not enough. They need to understand that rewriting is important. (Seliem & Ahmed, 2009). Teachers should give higher grades to students who rewrite their drafts once or more.

 

The LMS

The learning management system (LMS) is important because it is used for communication. Communication can be given to individuals or to the entire class. It matters especially for students who feel isolated, miss deadlines or do not do assignments. It is more accessible since students can check the LMS on their smart phones. In this way Google Classroom is useful since teachers can know who submitted any assignment and who did not. (Nae, 2020). One other LMS that teachers can use is Moodle. Sometimes criticized for being too simple, in some ways simplicity makes it easier to use. Teachers have a class page with their announcements on the top, which can be edited. Assignments can be put below the announcements. In case some students have problems, it may be recommended for teachers to provide support for students with a how to guide or have a link that students can use, for an explanation of submitting assignments, in Japanese or in English. Teachers may need to be proactive and assume certain things that students will have problems with.

 

Flexibility

Flexibility is a tough question. Students need structure but some students may need more time than others with deadlines. In class, it is easier for teachers to realize things, but with online classes sometimes they cannot tell if students have legitimate problems or if they are lazy or dishonest. Students may have issues with using technology and it could take them longer to complete assignments. Tests can be put up on the LMS and can be given longer deadlines. It is up to teachers to decide if tests should be given during online class or, if not, they could become homework. Deadlines might be important since some students may procrastinate too much, or have poor time management.

 

Digital Literacy

The other issue is with digital literacy. This may be the greatest challenge for some students (Mehran, et al., 2017). It depends on how flexible teachers can be with assignments and what they ask students to do. How demanding should  teachers be? Do hard deadlines matter or should they give extra time as long as assignments are completed? Some students may have to borrow a PC or could have a poor Wi-Fi connection. Others could use a smartphone or tablet and have connection problems. Some students could be poor at typing on an English keyboard (Mehran et al., 2017). Teachers need to maintain standards but should be mindful of any potential problems that students may have in submitting assignments on time and in meeting deadlines.

While learning in the classroom cannot be replicated, student collaboration should be encouraged since teachers do not want students to feel isolated, and also that students can help each other with learning. Zoom has breakout rooms where students can practice speaking or they can do joint peer- review for writing assignments. Higher-level students can be paired with lower-level students (Meija, 2021). Peer review is quite helpful for teachers since there is often not enough time for teachers to give adequate feedback (Seliem & Ahmed, 2009). Also, it helps students realize the mistakes they may have made.

 

Discussion

Considering the challenges that students face, and since some students may have a hard time coping with online learning, it may be good for teachers to lower their expectations and prepare to cover less material than in a normal class at university. This is because in online classes we cannot know which students are struggling to keep up with the material so we should be mindful of that. Teachers should teach students by making their expectations clear and repeat what is important. Very important things should be put on the LMS, either in announcements or a forum since face-to-face classes are not conducted.

 

Conclusion

Online learning can be challenging for students. Communication is very important and teachers need to maintain it by using the LMS effectively and by providing adequate feedback, especially for written assignments. Teachers need to maintain standards but should be mindful of problems that students have with using technology. Teachers need to keep a positive attitude in order to help the students. It is also recommended to have students collaborate with each other, such as by using breakout rooms on Zoom.

 

References

Meija, J., (May/June, 2021) Zoom with these four in-person class techniques. The Language Teacher, The Japan Association for Language Teaching, Vol. 45, Number 3.

Mehran, P., Alizadeh, M., Koguchi, I., Takemura, H. (2017) Are Japanese digital natives ready for learning English online? A preliminary case study at Osaka University. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education. 14:8, p. 1-17.

Nae, Niculina (2020). “Online Learning during the Pandemic: Where does Japan Stand”? Euromentor Journal. Retrieved April 15, 2021.https://www.researchgate.net/publication/342505298_ONLINE_LEARNING_DURING_THE_PANDEMIC_WHERE_DOES_JAPAN_STAND

Seliem, S. & Ahmed, A. (2009). Missing: Electronic Feedback in Egyptian EFL Writing Classes. Paper presented at CDELT 29^th Conference Occasional Papers, Faculty of Education, Ain-Shams University. Retrieved March 29, 2021. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234595949_MISSING_ELECTRONIC_FEEDBACK_IN_EGYPTIAN_WRITING_CLASSES

Yunus, A., Syafi’I, A. (2020). Google Classroom as Learning Platform in Teaching and Writing. British, Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra Inggris, 9(1). P. 48-64.