Revisiting technological tools used in EFL speaking classes during the COVID-19 pandemic: What are the implications for the post-pandemic?

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a massive shift from traditional teaching to online settings. In response to the new learning milieu due to COVID-19 pandemic, this study aimed at exploring technological tools and the strategies used to teach EFL Speaking during the COVID-19 pandemic and identifying technological tools and strategies recommended for the post-pandemic. The participants of this study were seven university teachers of EFL speaking who were recruited by using a purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through interviews, which were then analyzed thematically based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) tailored to the key features of ICT-based online learning. The result of the study shows that during the COVID-19 pandemic, all of the participants’ EFL speaking classes were conducted online by using various technological tools and strategies. It also demonstrates the EFL-speaking teachers’ voice regarding technological tools and strategies they would use to teach EFL speaking in the post-pandemic. The transformation of the learning practices in the EFL speaking class might reflect an inquiry that forms the global education shift. Whereas the online EFL speaking class was the common mode during the COVID-19 pandemic, the present study revealed a prediction the EFL speaking class in the post-pandemic would be the result of technological immersion in the EFL speaking class during the pandemic. This implies that the use of various technological tools and strategies within the integration of hybrid and blended learning is likely to continue in the post-pandemic era.