Beliefs About Online-Based Teaching and its Effectiveness on Teaching Writing among ESL Teachers from Public and Private Schools in Sabah, Malaysia: Insights from Literature

The move to online teaching due to the COVID-19 pandemic shifted the way ESL writing instruction is taught across the world. The literature review summarises publications that enable a critical look at the perception of ESL teachers regarding the effectiveness of online pedagogy. The results place the beliefs held by teachers as difficult, although as important as, in determining whether to embrace modern technology. Digital tools are potential creators, organisers, and participants in the writing process of students, yet the potential is still to be exploited by remaining barriers. These barriers are the very nature of ESL writing and a lack of internet connectivity, incompatible tools, and students. In Malaysia, particularly Sabah, the transition to an online teaching environment could have become a turning point in terms of revisionism towards traditional approaches and the prospective hybrid character. Comparative studies indicate that school status (public or private) plays less in terms of its ability to influence teacher beliefs than other systemic and contextual influences. This synthesis, therefore, emphasises that there is an urgent need to develop specific professional learning combining technology upskilling with the pedagogical modification to optimise online writing education.