Teacher Reflections on Distance English Teaching to Iranian Young Language Learners during COVID-19

The outbreak of COVID-19 led to a swift transition from traditional classrooms to distance education to ensure the continuity of learning. This sudden shift resulted in some problems for language teachers while offering some opportunities. This paper focused on language teachers’ reflections on the challenges they faced due to the urgent shift to virtual teaching of English to young language learners (YLL). The study also explored teachers’ reflections on the opportunities offered by distance language teaching during the COVID-19 lockdown. The data for the study were triangulated through a questionnaire filled out by 100 language teachers, a survey completed by 12 teachers, and an interview with five teachers. Based on quantitative analysis of the questionnaire data and thematic analysis of the survey and interview responses, distance education led to five main categories of challenges, including technological issues, communication issues, psychological issues, pedagogical issues, and worries and offered opportunities in five areas, comprising of technological knowledge, and psychological, pedagogical, economic, and safety issues. The results stress the crucial role of technology in education, specifically in times of emergency such as the COVID-19 crisis. Therefore, they imply the need for enhancing teachers and learners’ digital literacy, equipping educational environments with technological tools, and removing barriers in the way of implementing virtual education. Further implications of the study for language teachers, learners, and policymakers are discussed in the paper.