Investigating EFL Learners' Attitude toward Emergency Remote Teaching: A Probe into Learning Strategies, and Reading Achievement

The experience of Iraqi university students with Covid-19 emergency remote learning – a situation compounded by political instability, substandard internet infrastructure, and scarce technological resources – remains a relatively underexplored area of academic study. To address this gap, the current study aimed to explore Iraqi EFL learners' attitude toward emergency remote teaching (ERT). Moreover, it sought to examine the relationship between learners' attitudes towards ERT and their reading achievement. Moreover, the researcher tried to find out the relationship between participants' reading achievement and learning strategies. Accordingly, 100 students from two leading universities in Iraq were investigated by focusing on their experiences during the pandemic – induced shift to emergency remote learning. Semi-structured interviews as well as correlation and regression were run to answer the research questions. The findings revealed a robust and statistically significant correlation between students' attitudes towards ERT and their achievement levels in academic reading. Moreover, it was found that lack of participation posed a more significant challenge for the participants, relegating internet issues to second place. This suggests a potential change in the barriers to effective remote learning over time, emphasizing the dynamic nature of students' needs and challenges. The results of this study suggests that it is important for Iraqi governmental agencies in general and language institutes in specific to prioritize reforms in language teaching methodology and technological infrastructure.