INSIGHTS INTO UNIVERSITY TEACHERS’ ROLES IN ONLINE EFL CLASSES IN VIETNAM

Teacher roles in online language classes have been a well-researched area yielding various insights into the potential of online technologies and the need for a consideration of re-defining the roles of the teacher. The proliferation of research in this area has yet called for elaborations of the roles. This paper, drawing on a study of two cases, aims to investigate teachers’ roles in EFL classes integrating online technologies at a university. Online classroom observations and interviews with the teachers were used as instruments for data collection. Findings from qualitative data analysis showed major issues relating to university teacher roles. First, online technologies helped enable the development of the teachers’ roles, which otherwise was impossible. Second, while online technologies opened numerous learning opportunities and avenues, the teacher role remained the fulcrum for the students in the whole learning process. Among discussion issues, an argument that can be raised concerns how teacher roles developed. This paper implies the need for re- efining university teacher roles in online language classes.