Pixel International Conferences

With the coronavirus pandemic, educational institutions all over the globe have been forced to migrate to fully online instruction. This radical shift has come with significant challenges for ESL teachers around the world, especially those with limited access to internet connectivity and infrastructure as is the case in rural Indonesia. Indonesia had been suffering low and stagnant educational quality prior to the corona virus pandemic. Indeed, there had been no significant progress on Indonesian students’ performance in the Program for International Students Assessment, or PISA, between 2003 and 2018 [1]. This situation has worsened with educators’ forced shift to online learning. Many teachers and students in Indonesia who live in poor rural areas lack internet access and smartphones and have thus been struggling to conduct online instruction [2]. However, in spite of harrowing scenes in the international media, Indonesian people have been resilient and innovative in the face of the “new normal” [3]. Many teachers in rural areas are striving to improve their online literacy, to provide support both physically and emotionally, and to facilitate their students’ learning in creative and responsive ways. This study explores teachers’ innovative practical and pedagogical responses to the monumental constraints represented by rural poverty. Based on these innovative responses to the emergency conditions, recommendations for preparing and supporting teachers to teach English through hybrid forms of learning are discussed.

Keywords: online language teaching, innovative hybrid learning, blended learning, remote learning, ESL, rural Indonesia. 

References:

1. Lee, Y.N. (2020, August 25). The Pandemic could leave Indonesia’s 69 million students further behind their global peers. Consumer News and Business Channel (CNBC). https://www.cnbc.com/2020/08/26/coronavirus-pandemic-could-leave-indonesian-students-further-behind-peers.html
2. Paddock, R.C, & Sijabat, D. M. (2020, September 5). When Learning Is Really Remote: Students Climb Trees and Travel Miles for a Cell Signal. The New York Time. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/05/world/asia/coronavirus-indonesia-school-remote-learning.html
3. Preuss, S. (2020, April 24). Indonesia and COVID-19: What the World Is Missing. The Diplomat. https://thediplomat.com/2020/04/indonesia-and-covid-19-what-the-world-is-missing/