Students’ Perceptions of EFL Teachers’ Online Effectiveness in Post-COVID-19 Moroccan Higher Education

The current study explores the EFL students’ perceptions and attitudes towards their teachers’ effectiveness in the post-pandemic era. It also provides insights into the current situation of EFL teaching effectiveness in Moroccan higher education, emphasizing teacher training, pedagogical flexibility, and digital integration to meet the ever-evolving post-pandemic educational landscapes. The study investigates the perception of EFL students in Moroccan higher education on the impact of teachers’ personal and interpersonal characteristics, subject matter knowledge, and teaching flexibility on their learning experience and academic performance. Using a mixed-method approach, data were collected from 120 university students through surveys and focus groups from undergraduate, graduate, and PhD students. The study investigates three primary aspects: interpersonal and behavioral characteristics of higher education students’ regarding their instructors’ teaching methods, subject matter knowledge of the Instructor regarding the subject, and language teaching approaches adopted to transmit and communicate information with students. The findings suggest that students highly value engaging with the instructors on a personal level, being in a supportive learning environment, and teachers’ linguistic and pedagogical skills, emphasizing flexibility in teaching approaches. Students preferred practical teaching abilities over linguistic perfection, such as native-like accents, and stressed the importance of modern technology in education. The results underline the need for continuous teacher training in digital literacy and pedagogical innovation to meet evolving educational demands