Book chapter on language education during the pandemic, lessons learned and directions for change

I’m pleased to announce that I have contributed a chapter to the book Language Teaching and Learning during the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Shift to a New Era edited by Stella Kourieos and Dimitris Evripidou and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. The book features chapters that bridge theory and practice in an accessible and practical way, with a focus on pedagogical implications and future research directions. You can see the list of chapters here.

The chapter

My chapter Language Education during the Pandemic: Lessons Learned and Directions for Change discusses the lessons learned during the pandemic and their implications for the long-term rebuilding and recovery of language education systems. It provides guidance on how these lessons can inform the development of sustainable improvements in language education, whether in-person, online, blended, or hybrid. It mainly draws on the findings of a large-scale, mixed-methods study that I conducted at the height of the pandemic published by the British Council, and which included the participation of 1102 language educators from 49 countries around the world. 

According to this large-scale study, language education adopted an Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT) approach during the pandemic marked by trial and error, resilience, and innovation. Language educators exhibited unwavering commitment and made outstanding efforts to adapt to online teaching modalities, but their teaching experiences were negatively affected by a number of issues; while some of these issues were pre-existing and exacerbated by the pandemic, others were a result of ERT. Six lessons – positive and negative – were identified from this dark and creative period for language teachers. Namely, innovation, insufficient preparation and ongoing support, student engagement, assessment, student digital literacies, and digital divides. 

The key takeaways of this chapter include a discussion of the lessons learned during the pandemic and an analysis of how these lessons can help inform the long-term rebuilding and recovery of language education systems. As such, the contribution that is hoping to achieve is to provide a starting point for reflection on action and digital strategic thinking and planning by identifying four key areas for language education digital strategies moving forward. Namely, ongoing teacher professional development; formal teacher education; digital assessment; and student digital literacies. As stated in the chapter’s conclusion:

It is important to maintain or restore the strengths of the current language education system while acknowledging the many weaknesses exposed by the pandemic. As educators, we now have a unique opportunity to reflect on these weaknesses and envision the next normal in language education; an ecosystem of learning modalities, technologies, and robust, flexible, and inclusive assessments. (p. 14)

Achieving this vision will require active participation and dialogue from all stakeholders involved in language education, including teachers and researchers. I believe that this publication will serve as a valuable resource and point the way in this direction.

I want to extend a special thanks to the editors, Stella Kourieos and Dimitris Evripidou, for their stellar editing and guidance, and congratulations to all the authors and contributors. I also want to thank Maria Diakou and CyTEA Cyprus, as many of the book chapters were adapted from papers presented at the annual CyTEA conference in November 2021.

You can read the chapter in the book sample made available by the publishers. The sample also contains all the chapter titles, authors as well as preface. To purchase a copy of the book visit the Cambridge Scholars Publishing website. 

I’m honoured to have been a part of this publication and I hope you find it informative and insightful!

Sophia Mavridi is a lecturer in technology-enhanced learning and English Language​ ​Teaching at De Montfort University (Leicester,​ UK). She also teaches on the master’s degree programme in Professional Development for Language Education for NILE (Norwich Institute for Language Education). Her research focuses on the intersection of technology and teacher education and she’s currently researching the role of AI in internationalised higher education. In addition to her regular publications in academic journals, her latest volumes include Language Teaching Experiences during COVID-19 (British Council) and English for 21st Century Skills (Express Publishing).