Instructors’ Roles in Asynchronous Online Courses for ESL/EFL Teachers

Abstract

This study examines how students and instructors perceived online instructors’ roles in asynchronous courses designed for language teachers. Five instructor interviews, 46 student questionnaires, and ten course evaluation summaries presenting the opinions of 69 out of 120 students in total were analyzed. Based upon Berge’s (1995) framework, asynchronous online course instructors’ roles were divided into four categories: pedagogical, social, managerial, and technical. The results highlight and give suggestions to what is characteristic and likely problematic in online teaching-using the tools and pedagogical techniques to make learning more social than conventional classroom exhibit, orchestrating discussion not only technically but also by instructing and modeling effective postings, assessing the various ways that students participate in the class, and managing time, the students’ as well as the instructor’s. This study provides an opportunity for language educators and researchers to think about the unique characteristics of web-based distance education in general and the changing roles of instructors in that new form of education in more critical way.