Distance education in the post-COVID-19 era (on the basis of learning the opinions of foreign language teachers)

The purpose of the study is to analyze foreign language teachers’ views on distance education (DE) in the period that is defined now as post-COVID period; on the optimal ratio of the online and offline forms of education; on main difficulties while shifting to hybrid format of education; on the changes in quality of life among teachers and in their emotional state.The anonymous answers of 120 foreign language (FL) teachers served as a basis for the research. They answered questions in the online survey.It was found 46 % of FL teachers have fully adapted to the distance teaching, but 39 % of the surveyed work remotely with great reluctance. Half of the respondents believe that online learning is effective only in combination with full-time education. For 63 % of teachers, the main difficulty of online teaching is the accumulated physical and psychological fatigue. The optimal ratio of offline and online classes in a blended learning format in order to achieve its greatest effectiveness is 50–70 % of offline classes. Teachers perceive the advantages of online learning in the more rational use of their working time (40 %), the possibility of combining it with other work. Distance learning affects the health of teachers.The received results are recommended to use for the review of teachers’ workplace conditions in online as well as in blended learning with the aim to upgrade the quality of their professional activity in blended or distance learning. The research that is based on the empirical data would be useful for specialists in digitalization of the educational system.

COVID-19, distance education, foreign language teaching, pandemic, language teachers, COVID-19, post-COVID era, teachers’ health