Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

• Mojtaba Maghsoudi ¹
• Abolfazl Khodamoradi ²

¹ Department of English Language Teaching, Farhangian University,Tehran, Iran

² Department of English language teaching, Farhangian university, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

The present study attempted to investigate the challenges English student teachers encountered compared to non-English student teachers at Farhangian University in online-learning environment. The data from focus groups, reflections, and interviews were analyzed using content analysis. The challenges were classified under two main themes: (1) the primary phase challenges pertaining to attaining online learning conditions, and (2) secondary phase challenges which included the adaptation and adjustments that had to be made to have a more effective online learning experience. Group comparisons revealed different learning pathways for the English and non-English student teachers, leading to educational inequities. It was also shown that the non-English student teachers suffered from gender inequity. Furthermore, the findings also revealed that the English student teachers and non-English student teachers as two social groups faced separate challenges resulting from different sources. It can be concluded that the two social groups go through two distinct pathways. Possible ways to safeguard social justice in terms of gender and social group equity in online teacher education based on the concept of “digital divide” are put forward.

Keywords

• Educational inequity
• English student teachers
• Non-English student teachers
• Transition to online learning
• Digital divide

Main Subjects

• Applied Linguistics