THE TRANSITION FROM BEING A CONVENTIONAL ENGLISH FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHER TO A SELF-INSTRUCTION AND ONLINE FACILITATOR: TEACHER REFLECTIONS

As EFL (English Foreign Language) teachers, we are accustomed to teaching in classroom learning environments. Our practices have provided us with certain expertise dealing with classroom dynamics, and the role teachers and students tend to play. Through our teaching careers, we have learned teaching strategies to deal with possible problems that could arise during the class. One year ago, we were offered the opportunity to work as facilitators in self-directed and online EFL courses at a public university in Mexico. The challenge to teach this kind of courses has provided us with an opportunity to explore a different learning environment. It has also helped us understand students learning English in self-instruction settings not to mention the approach to help students whose role varies from the ones in classroom contexts. This paper comprises the reflections on the challenges that an experienced EFL (English Foreign Language) teacher at conventional courses meets when getting involved in self-instruction courses for the first time. Reflections emerged from our inclusion as facilitators in autonomous EFL courses and online English for Specific Purposes (ESP) ones. We were concerned with understanding the process of teaching and learning through self-instruction in order to cope with the needs of our students. After an analysis of the bibliography related to teacher’s self-instruction, psychological, practical, and methodological preparation, we discuss the implications concerned with adapting to the change of role necessary in self-instruction.