The Architectural Design of Successful Online English Classes

Various studies on the impact of online teaching and learning have shown the importance of a teacher’s presence in the classroom, in terms of the efficiency of conveying knowledge. With online teaching, students show that they still require their teacher’s involvement as well, demonstrating that his/her guidance and management of a class remains an important component of pedagogy. However, not all students decide to get equally involved in in-class activities, considering the issues that four groups of students in a university revealed during their online learning experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their need for better interaction with the teacher and their hesitancy to participate due to possible bullying, demonstrate that a teacher’s presence is necessary. The Peer-Review Approach and the Flipped Classroom Strategy were both helpful to the students as they were involved in activities under the teacher’s observation. The latter could check the students’ knowledge acquired before the start of the classes and monitor their learning process, which enhanced their feeling of self-confidence. As a result, the students could better concentrate and became more self-confident as they succeeded academically.