Abstract:

The prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic has forced many universities to shift from face-to-face instruction to emergency remote teaching (ERT) to allow students to access their educational programs in the global crisis. The context of ERT brought great challenges to international students who had to study abroad while staying in their home countries. Previous research shows that effective teaching presence contributes to student satisfaction, learning efficiency and community building [1-3]. Although there are a few recent scholarly discussions on the teaching and learning in ERT [4-7], studies on the role of teaching presence in such a context remain scarce. This study intends to fill this gap by exploring the experiences of 13 international students who were admitted to a Canadian university in the fall of 2020 and studied remotely from their home countries during the first semester into their graduate program. By analyzing students’ three reflection journal entries as well as the results of the post-study interview, the study finds that teaching presence played a vital role in shaping English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students’ study-abroad experiences in ERT. Effective instructional designs were highly appreciated and had a positive impact on students’ learning experiences. However, it was not seemingly the determining factor of successful teaching presence, as the lack of or insufficient direct instruction and instructional organization were found to be closely associated with negative learning experiences. The study promotes a critical understanding of teaching presence in contexts such as ERT where stronger teacher involvement and dedication would be beneficial for a better accommodation to the changing needs of international students.

Keywords:

Teaching presence, study abroad, international students, emergency remote teaching, ERT.