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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 2
Publication Date: February 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.102.13843. Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During
the Covid-19 Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced
by the English Teacher During the Covid-19 Lockdown
Nabiryo Nancy Rosemary
School of Education, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Ssegantebuka Julius
School of Education, Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
ABSTRACT
English language is widely regarded as the lingua franca meaning that it is the most
widely spoken language in the World. This article emerges from the desire to
document English language teaching in teacher training institutions in Uganda
during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. In particular, it documents the challenges
faced and mitigation measures put in place by English language teacher trainees.
The paper is underpinned by two objectives - namely: first to describe English
language taught in Higher Education institutions in Uganda during the lockdown
and secondly, to explain the challenges teacher trainees faced in learning English
during the lockdown. The paper culminates from a study that followed a
phenomenology design where data was collected through observation and
interviews. Findings established that English language was mainly taught using
WhatsApp, the university learning management system and e-mail. In this kind of
teaching and learning, teacher trainees faced the challenges of limited interaction,
lack of reliable Internet and poor technological knowledge. Therefore, the study
recommended that higher education institutions continue using the blended mode
of instruction in English language education so that English language teacher
trainees can gain the technological pedagogical knowledge relevant to teach
English.
Keywords: Blended Learning, COVID-19, English Language, Learning Management
System.
INTRODUCTION
At the end of 2019, China announced its first case of COVID-19, a virus in the class of SARS,
which was spreading rapidly and causing many deaths. By March 2020, this virus had spread
in over 114 countries and caused over 4300 deaths leading the World Health Organization
(WHO) to declare it a world pandemic on 11th March 2020 (WHO, 2020). This pandemic had
untold effects on the education systems of the world. This article emerges from the desire to
document English language teaching in higher education institutions in Uganda during the
pandemic, challenges faced and how they were mitigated.
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Teaching is one activity that teachers do to convey students’ knowledge so the learning process
occurs (Bawawa & Uspyanti, 2021). Teachers are the most important component of the
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education systems because teacher quality matters in achieving goals of education and
development of societies (Coban & Vardar 2021). One of the goals of education, in the globalized
community that we are living in now is language proficiency (Yen & Muhammad, 2020 as cited
by Ying, Slang & Mohammad, 2021). English language is widely regarded as the lingua franca
meaning that English the most widely spoken language in the world. (Yen & Mohammad, 2020;
Ying, Slang & Mohammed, 2021). Eralson (2020) says due to English being the lingua franca of
the world, it is taught in almost all segments of education from kindergarten to higher education
across the world. English language teaching and learning was also affected due to problems
created by the pandemic (Atmojo & Nogroho, 2020).
According to the WHO, (2020), near the end of 2019, China country office learned of a
pneumonia of an unknown cause. By March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared
COVID-19 a pandemic (AJMC, 2020 as cited by Swanson, 2022), The emergence of the novel
Corona virus known as COVID-19 and the pandemic announced by WHO (WHO 2020) following
the rapid spread of the virus across boarders created an unexpected lockdown in nearly all
parts of the world. The most recommended steps against the virus were masks, social
distancing and hand hygiene. The uncertainty caused by the pandemic challenged almost all
parts of human life including education. In this case, schools and Higher Education Institutions
needed to end face-to-face education and continued through online courses that directly
affected all stakeholders. According to United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organisation (UNESCO, 2020), the closure of the schools and online learning directly or
indirectly affected more than 90% of learners all over the world. Therefore, Distance Education
emerged as a common condition all over the world. About 429 universities shifted to
emergency remote or online teaching in the Distance Education (Coban & Vardar, 2021;
Moorehouse & Kohnke 2021; Ying, Slang & Mohammad, 2021: Sevilla-Pavon & Finardi, 2021).
Based on the requirements of different countries and communities, many commonwealth
countries came up with interventions like the use of print text, radio broadcast, telecasting
lessons, and multimedia through web conferencing applications such as Zoom and Big Blue
Button (Hargis 2020; Schleicher 2020; UNICEF, 2021).
In most African countries, response to the pandemic was slow due to the much later occurrence
of the disease on the continent. The fastest action was to shift learning to digital platforms and
remote learning platforms. According to UNICEF (2020), most countries developed broadcast
curricular (television and radio based) for primary and secondary schools. Due to the
emergency or remote online teaching that was implemented worldwide during the Covid-19
pandemic, technological infrastructure was the biggest challenge in low-tech countries and
regions like Africa (Eralson, 2020). As a result of the closures, many institutions faced
challenges including: the rapid period, lack of online teaching experience by teaching staff, lack
of technological infrastructure, and poor self-efficacy among teachers and students (Duraku,
2020: Hargis, 2020; Paschal & Mukulu, 2020). However, contexts of limited access to electricity,
computers, connectivity, and the transition to online learning precipitated teachers and
student’s objection to online education. According to Mishra and Koehler (2006) successful
online pedagogy takes a lot of time for institutions to develop on line pedagogical systems, train
staff, provide the necessary pedagogies and implement it.
The education system of Uganda has five levels: pre-primary school (3-6 years), primary level
(7-13yrs), and O’level known as the lower secondary school (14-17 years), A level secondary
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
school (18-19 years) and Tertiary education (The Education Pre- Primary, Primary and Post
Primary Act 2008). The country is home to over thirty registered private universities and
eleven public universities (as cited by Nawangwe, et al., 2021). In Uganda, the lockdown came
into implementation on March 20, 2020, following a presidential directive (Tumwesigye,
2020). When schools were reopened for public examination classes only in October 2020, most
school pupils remained out of school, experiencing an entire year without formal education. A
phased re-opening of schools started in March 2021. Soon after, Uganda faced a surge of COVID- 19 cases and all educational institutions were forced to close again starting June 7th 2021
(Reuters 2021 as cited by Datzberger and Parker, 2021). In early November, schools had been
either fully or partially closed for the majority of students for 77 weeks and were not expected
to open before January 2022 (Datzberger and Parker, 2021). This affected the learning of
approximately 170,000 Higher Education students (Kabahizi, 2020).
LITERATURE REVIEW
Language Teaching in Higher Education Institutions During the Lockdown
During the pandemic, many teachers were instructed to use online sources to continue teaching
(Coban & Vardar, 2021; Eralson, 2020; Klimova, 2021; Moorehouse & Konhke 2021). Some of
the most common online sources used in teaching included Google Meet, Zoom, the institutions’
Learning Management Systems (LMS) and WhatsApp. For example, Eralson conducted a
literature review in 2020 to gain a deeper understanding of the global aspect of English
language teaching during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. He found out that the
common online platforms were zoom, google meet and LMS. Kassem (2022) conducted a study
to find out the impact of online education on Saudi English as a Foreign Language learners’
autonomy. He found out that during the pandemic, Shafra University shifted to virtual
classrooms. Moodle was used for content delivery and assessment though they also used
WhatsApp, Google Meet, Blackboard and Zoom. Alhal (2020) investigated the role of the teacher
agency using WhatsApp among Saudi EFL students. The goal was to evaluate trends in the
enhancement of learners’ writing skills across two universities in KSA over a period of four
weeks with WhatsApp being used as an instructional tool during the covid-19 lockdown. The
results in the study lead them to conclude that WhatsApp may be used across campuses in KSA
as a useful tool in writing exercises.
Some studies focused on the impact of social media on language teaching in Higher Education
Institutions (Ying, Slang & Mohammed (2021; Mufta, 2021; Zabihulla & Survana, 2021). They
found out that the most common social media applications used in language teaching in
Malaysia were Facebook and WhatsApp. Mufta (2021) aimed at identifying the impact of social
media on learning English during the Covid-19 pandemic. His participants were undergraduate
English language learners in the College of languages and Translation, Najran University, and
KSA in Saudi Arabia. Mufta found out that the most popular social media site was WhatsApp
which majority of students used to get information and to interact with each other in the
process of learning language.
Some studies portray that there was scanty published literature on the impact of the pandemic
on education in Africa (Moorehouse & Kohnke, 2021; Datzerbeger & Parkes 2021; Upor, 2021).
For example, Moorehouse and Kohnke (2021) systematically reviewed published empirical
studies during the first eight months of the pandemic to identify key knowledge generated by
the ELT community during this unprecedented period and identify lessons learnt and
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directions for future scholarship pertaining to English Language Teaching. Their first finding
was that most of the studies were conducted in Asia and the Middle East. Moorehouse and
Kohnke (2021) believe this was caused by the shift to online education being so fast and the
impact of the pandemic as so overwhelming that researchers in other areas were more
concerned with survival than research. However, according to Upor (2021), in most African
countries, response to the pandemic was slow due to the much later occurrence of the disease
on the continent.
Upor (2021) conducted study with the aim of describing language learning in the new era
prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on the use of technology in resources in
Tanzania for remote learning during the period of the national closures. In the literature review
she conducted for the study, Upor (2021) cited UNICEF (2020) as saying that most African
countries developed broadcast curricular (television and radio based) for primary and
secondary schools. Upor found out that the common resources used in teaching and learning in
Tanzania were television, WhatsApp and Google. Google complemented WhatsApp to
download materials.
Just like in Tanzania, during the lockdown that came as a result of reducing the spread of the
pandemic, studies conducted about Uganda’s education system portray that the government
initial response to education challenges was to organize Television and Radio lessons
(Datzberger and Parker, 2021; Tumwesigye, 2020; The National Planning Authority (NPA),
2021; Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, 2021). For example, according to the NPA of
Uganda, The Ugandan government adopted and supported a multipronged approach to ensure
continuity of learning through remote learning models. Key among these include: the use of
print learning materials developed by the NCDC, television lessons, radio lessons, internet- based learning and home schooling that entails parents teaching their children.
In some few cases, education continued through internet-based learning/technology-based
learning and home-based learning resources (Biira, et al., 2021; NPA, 2021; Tumwesigye, 2020,
Mbazzi, et al., 2021). For example, Mbazzi et al. (2021) investigated the impact of the COVID-19
response on children with disabilities in Central Uganda during the first five months of the
outbreak. They found out that their participants received education information through
television, radio, telephone messages and neighbours respectively. Tumwesigye (2020) noted
that teachers extensively used mobile phone applications like WhatsApp, Facebook and Google
hangouts to continue engaging their students. Holiday work packages that could not be
provided at closure are being forwarded to parents via these phone applications.
Most of the research accessed were conducted among participants in primary and secondary
school learners. Studies conducted in Higher Education Institutions in Uganda portray that the
Ministry of Education and Sports (MOES) permitted these institutions to continue with online
and Distance Education (Biira et al, 2021; Kabahizi, 2020; Nawangwe et al., 2021; Okware &
Esaete, 2021). According to these studies, the institutions that contacted distance education did
it using learning technologies (Okware & Esaete, 2021). According to Nawangwe et al (2021),
Makerere University was the most visible representative of university education during the
lockdown. Makerere University conducted DE through training staff on how to use the
University Learning Management System (MUELE) and on how to use other online pedagogical
practices (Nawangwe et al, 2021). Literature shows that a few other universities in Uganda
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
taught during the lockdown. For example, Biira et al., (2021) conducted a case study in
Busitema University to determine the readiness of students to adjust, accept and maximize fully
online learning to acquire the intended knowledge and skills. Their findings indicated that the
majority of their participants accessed study materials using WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram
and Email respectively. Kabahizi (2020) conducted her study on the impacts of Covid-19
Disruptions on Institutes of Higher Education in Uganda. The study aimed at assessing the
reactions of HE students towards several aspects of learning during the lockdown. Her major
findings included the fact that most Higher Education Institutions gave their students take
home hard copy notes, a few others provided online platforms to teach students, and a few HEs
like Uganda Christian University (UCU), the Law Development Center (LDC), Cavendish
University, and East African Virtual University utilized their preexisting e-learning platforms
(Kabahizi 2020).
Challenges Faced by English Language Teacher Trainees During the Covid-Pandemic
The first challenge faced by language teachers worldwide was that they were caught unawares
(Eralson, 2020; Swanson, 2022; Moorehouse & Kohnke 2021; Sevilla Pavon & Finardi, 2021).
Eralson (2020) explains that stakeholders were caught off-guard due to the unplanned
transition to online teaching. This, therefore, meant that there was no stable internet, reported
insufficient knowledge about technology use, making use of less varied activities, lack of control
over online platforms and lack of interaction were the most common challenges. In fact,
Swanson, (2022) explains that most teachers had the content knowledge but they were
prepared to teach in a traditional setting and not an online setting that was the main method of
teaching during the pandemic.
Studies by Klimova, (2021); Erarlson, (2020); Corban and Vardar, (2021) revealed that teacher
trainees also faced various challenges. For example, Klimova (2021) discussed students’
perceptions and attitudes to online foreign language learning in the pandemic. Klimova
collected data among third year distance education students and found out that most students
felt they did not improve their English due to irregular classes, laziness and difficulty in paying
attention. According to Eralson (2020), Students faced challenges of low technological literacy,
inability to afford a technology device, poor internet access, low language proficiency, low
motivation, misconceptions regarding online learning, concentration and behavioral problems
and low self-regulation. Coban and Vardar (2021) set out to investigate the views of both
student teachers and their instructors about the Distance Education English language teaching
during the Covid-19 pandemic. They used a mixed methods design and their participants were
forty senior student teachers of English in a university in Turkey. They found out that the
biggest challenges were not technological but rather unconducive home environment, lack of
motivation to study and lack of social interaction. Since Turkey is a developed country,
technology was not a problem but the environmental, psychological and social challenges were
big as language learning involves interaction in a conducive environment.
Ying, Slang and Mohammad (2021) conducted a literature review about the concept of e- learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, challenges faced by ESL in learning the speaking skills
and the intervention of social medial and video conferencing tools to help ESL learners copying
with the challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among the challenges already mentioned
above, Ying, Slang and Mohammad found out that learners lacked confidence to communicate
in virtual lessons that hindered their mastery of the speaking and listening skills. The
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participants also lacked concentration in learning in the home environment, as there was
competition from housework. Zabihullah and Survana, (2021) in their study on language
teachers’ preparedness to use technology during the Covid-19 pandemic also noted that apart
from the common problems like lack of technology and internet connection, the learners lacked
support from their families to study from home due to the presence of housework and other
home tasks.
Studies conducted in Africa show that the Covid-19 pandemic caused the biggest disruptions of
education in History. According to Upor (2021), as it was already under funded even before the
pandemic (Datzberger & Parkes, 2021). In many areas, vulnerabilities are often a lack of
stimulating environment, low levels of digitalization and widespread disparities in learning
opportunities available for students. Therefore, Upor set out to describe language learning in
the new era prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic and focused on the use of technology
resources in Tanzania for remote learning during the period of the national closures. This study
found out that participants faced the challenges of poor technological skills, poor network, and
lack of face-to-face support while teachers indicated lack of internet and airtime.
In Uganda, learners faced various education challenges during the pandemic. For example,
Mbazzi, et al., (2021) used a qualitative study to investigate the impact of the COVID-19
response on children with disabilities in Central Uganda during the first 5 months of the
outbreak (March – July 2020). They found out that the parents were concerned about children
not accessing learning through television or radios, as not all had access to this, and mentioned
it was not always accessible for their children. According to the NPA-U (2021), only 49% of
children in Uganda were able to continue learning from home during the pandemic due to
reasons like limited internet access, cost and coverage by Ugandan households. Initiative for
Social and Economic Rights (2021) evaluated the continuous learning program during the 2020
lockdown and found out that the program was unsuccessful due to various challenges like lack
of credible data to guide distribution of the self -study materials, limited access and ownership
of radio and television sets. They also found other challenges like limited internet and network
coverage in many areas, lack of feedback mechanisms between the teachers and the learners.
The biggest challenge faced by Higher Education Institutions in Uganda at the onset of the
pandemic was that almost all universities were caught unawares and unprepared Nawangwe,
et al., (2021). Okware and Esaete (2021) conducted a systematic literature review on the
disruptions the COVID-19 pandemic is exacting on Uganda’s higher education sub-sector in
order to develop a context-specific guide by which Uganda’s higher education policy regime
may respond to the disruptions in higher education learning by COVID-19. The very first impact
of the COVID-19 pandemic Uganda’s higher education stakeholders had to contend with was
the falling sick of learners, teachers, and the policymakers themselves. COVID-19 has caused
the death of higher education stakeholders. The authors believe that there is not a single higher
education stakeholder that has either not fallen ill, lost a colleague, a relative or friend to COVID- 19. He adds that, for example, the school closures of March 2020 resulted in unequal learning
opportunities for many students left without devices or proper internet connection. The fact
that even students in Higher Education institutions also faced challenges of lack of devices or
internet connection was also found out by other studies (Biira et al 2021; Nawangwe, et al,
2021).
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and reflect upon practices as teachers from the point of view of why researchers chose these
particular methods. It also enabled researchers to collect data from our students and interact
with them thus getting their views on challenges and advantages of online study of language
(Klehr, 2012).
Klehr (2012) noted that teacher researchers use a variety of qualitative designs to collect their
data. The researchers used phenomenology. Phenomenological research describes the lived in
experiences of individuals about a phenomenon as described by participants (Cresswell, 2014;
Wiersma & Jurs, 2009). In this case paper, The researchers described the experiences of English
language teacher trainees in studying English language during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2021
thus making phenomenology the best qualitative design under phenomenology.
Methods of Data Collection
We collected data through, observation, interviews, documentary analysis. We followed the
participant observation method where we observed our students’ participation in the
WhatsApp group whenever we posted notes. We posted notes on the class WhatsApp group
and answered any questions that our students directly addressed to us. We took note of how
frequent they posted questions, responded to each other’s questions and when they
acknowledged receipt of the notes that, we had posted. We also noted the number of
participants in the group as opposed to those who attended the face-to-face lessons and those
who were active in the online mode and face to face mode. Through observing my learners
online presence and frequency, we were able to understand how many of them had frequent
access to internet and could use it for their study. Secondly, we used documentary analysis to
analyse two kinds of documents. The first type was all the documents relating to teaching
during the lockdown and secondly, coursework assignments. We gave two assignments during
this semester. One was handed in during the lockdown period and involved asking learners to
explain how they would define the key Literature terms to secondary school learners of
different classes. We gave them our email addresses where they sent their work. In the second
assignment, we asked them to explain the challenges they faced while studying English using
the online methods. They presented physical copies of their work to the office that we later on
marked. Therefore, through using a written assignment, we wanted to obtain data from the
learners’ perspective on the challenges they faced through using technology to learn English.
Finally, in order to triangulate these findings, we interviewed twenty students on the challenges
that they faced in learning English. During the COVID-19 lockdown.
Procedure of Data Collection
In qualitative research, data collection and analysis go hand in hand (Wiersma and Jurs 2009).
In the Higher Education Institution where we work, once we used a blended form of teaching
during the COVID-19 period of 2021. This semester had two months of online teaching, one
month of face-to-face teaching and the last three weeks before Christmas for examinations. We
collected the data for this paper during the second semester of that ran from September to
December 2021.
During the season of online teaching, we posted class work once a week on a WhatsApp group
created by the learners and observed the online presence of the learners. We took notes on the
nature of questions they asked after we had posted notes and how frequently they interacted
through either asking each other questions, answering the questions of each other and how
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
they frequently addressed questions. When the class came for face-to-face lessons, we once
again met them once a week for one month where we further explained the notes that we had
sent and observed their interactions. Later, we asked them to write down a two-page
assignment on the nature of challenges that they faced while studying during the lockdown. We
marked this assignment while taking note of the challenges that they faced while studying
English language online. After marking this assignment, we interviewed some students to
obtain further information on the challenges that they faced and to confirm what they had
written in their work.
Participant Selection
The population consisted of the third year English language teacher trainees English language
teacher trainers. This class was composed of two hundred and eighteen students. All the two
hundred and eighteen students were supposed to join the class WhatsApp group that was
created by their coordinator. However, we observed that at the peak of the online semester,
only 190 students were part of the group. After the online session, we purposively selected
twenty students from the class and interviewed them on how they were taught online during
the COVID-19 lockdown and the challenges they faced. During the course of online teaching and
after, we also interviewed three English language teacher trainers online language teaching.
Validity and Trustworthiness
This research ensured validity through collecting data from various sources. Wiersma and Jurs
(2009) explain that qualitative validity can be obtained through demonstrating the logical
analysis of the results as the researcher develops the description of the phenomenon under
study (247). In this study, we ensured validity, through describing the period in which we
collected data, the nature of teaching that we used how we obtained the data and how we
analysed it.
Data Analysis.
We collected all the findings in one source, and analyzed the data using thematic analysis. We
analyzed the data from students’ WhatsApp interaction on the number of students who
regularly interacted on the WhatsApp group vs the number of students on the group and the
nature of questions that they regularly asked. For the assignment, we categorized the data
according to the most common challenges that learners faced. We later triangulated the data
from the assignment with that from the WhatsApp group and interview data to get to the final
themes that we present in the findings.
Ethical Considerations
The participants were informed of the purpose of the research and why and how they had been
chosen to participate in it (Punch 2012). They were assured of the confidentiality of the
information and that the research would use pseudo names for all participants. The
participants were aware that we were members of the WhatsApp group and that we were
reading all their posts. All lesson observations took place with the teachers' consent.
Participants were assured that the data will only be used for academic and it will be safely
stored from misuse.
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FINDINGS
The findings in this section are organized according to the research objectives that were: How
was English language taught in Higher Education institutions during the lockdown? What
challenges were faced by learners of English language education during the lockdown?
English Language Teaching in Higher Education Institutions During the Lockdown
We obtained the data from this section from observing our practices and those of other
colleagues, from interacting with students as well as from documents from the institution and
the government.
Documentary data portrayed that after the lockdown began, the government of Uganda
permitted Higher Education Institutions in Uganda to continue engaging in online learning. For
example, in its circular dated 12th July 2021, the National Council of Higher Education permitted
higher education institutions to continue teaching online. Because of this, Makerere University
Academic Registrar issued a circular on 10th August 2021 instructing all Makerere University
staff and students that, among other things, teaching and learning of finalists would resume on
30th August 2021. The circular also stated that staff should update their teaching materials on
the university LMS, MUELE implying that the university management recommended online
teaching. Later, the President of the Republic of Uganda addressed the nation on 22nd November
2021 and allowed post-secondary institutions to open on 1st November 2021. Because of this
address, the university management issued another circular on 25th October 2021 indicating
that final year students were to have face to face lectures for the first two weeks on November
and examinations for the last two weeks.
Data portrayed that in Higher Education Institutions of Uganda, during the lock down, English
language was taught using blended methods that is, teaching occurred first, through online
methods and later, through face-to-face methods. The most common online method was with
the university LMS’s, the use of WhatsApp, Zoom and Emails.
The University LMS:
Some staff members also used the university LMS for example during interviews with staff, Dr.
A said:
“During the lockdown, I posted work on the LMS. During the first part of the lockdown, I learnt
how to use it and opened an account for my students and my course units. I used the LMS”.
Dr. A said he used the first part of the COVID-19 Lockdown to learn how to use the university
LMS and the second part of the lockdown to teach using it. Uganda had two phases of the
lockdown. The first phase lasted from 20th March 2020 to December 2020 when there was a
phased opening of educational institutions (Datzberger & Parkes 2021). So when Dr. A talked
of ‘first part of the lockdown, he seemed to have been referring to the 2020 lockdown. Dr. A also
alluded to using the lockdown to learning how to use the university LMS. That Dr. A learnt how
to use it during the lockdown seems to point to the fact that before COVID-19, some staff
members never taught using the LMS. However, the fact that he mentions it shows that staff
used the LMS to teach.
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
The fact that staff used the university LMS to teach was confirmed by data from student
participants. For example, student R said,
“Many of the lecturers used to teach us through the university LMS. They would post videos,
notes and tasks regularly on the LMS. Our duty was to log on at specific times to find out what
was new, read the relevant resources or notes and do the relevant tasks”.
Student R confirms that many lecturers taught using the university LMS. The student goes on
to describe the various ways the lecturers used the university LMS. That they would post videos
notes and tasks regularly. The fact that they would post work implies that some lecturers tried
to reach out to the students and to teach during the lockdown.
However, some staff members were hesitant to use this LMS for example, one senior staff
member told colleagues to just ‘post’ work or tasks on the LMS. The idea of ‘posting’ work or
tasks on the LMS is not really teaching as teaching involves interacting with learners to try to
make them understand either the content or the methodologies used to teach. By posting work,
there was no interaction between teachers and learners thus no teaching took place. Secondly,
there was no way of the teacher knowing whether the learners had accessed the content and
understood it unless they asked questions, something which learners rarely did thus limiting
the ways of testing understanding of content.
Use of WhatsApp:
This was the most common and preferred method of teaching as seen in the fact that student
teachers readily preferred this mode of interaction as compared to other modes of teaching.
That students preferred this mode is seen in the fact that a colleague and we also regularly used
this group. And thirdly, through reading the conversations and questions that some of students
posted, we understood that they had WhatsApp groups for other lecturers for example, on 27th
September, Student P asked for the WhatsApp link for joining another group. Student Q
responded by posting the link on the group. This showed that other lecturers were using
WhatsApp to teach English.
This was the method/technology we used when training teachers of English language. At the
beginning of the online part of the semester, we asked our students what method of online
teaching they preferred to use when studying. Most said they preferred to study using
WhatsApp. The class leader started the group in September 2021 and by mid-October, there
were 190 students in the group out of a class of 218. My students and we agreed that we would
post work/notes every Tuesday. Students agreed that they would then read the notes and tasks
and ask questions where they had not understood. Through observing their interaction on the
group, we noted that three students would readily acknowledge the receipt of the notes that
indicated that they were active online. The rest would only respond to tasks and issues related
to assignments. For example, on 17th September when we began online teaching, we gave them
the first task as that of forming groups of 10 and reading the texts we would be reading as part
of our syllabus. During this season, we noted that the group was most active on 22nd September
which was the deadline of submitting the groups. On that day, students posted 27 times. This
indicated that students mostly paid attention to tasks and deadlines. We then gave the second
task that was connected to reading the text and answering questions about it. Once again, we
observed that most students became active on the group the day before its deadline and on the
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deadline date with most of the submissions being on 27th October when they were submitting
the second assignment. The final time when students portrayed a lot of online activity was when
we posted the preliminary results of their coursework assignments. This was when we received
the greatest feedback from students for example on 13th November, there were over 50 posts.
This showed that many students were following the communication and teaching on WhatsApp
though they were silent. Even then, considering that the class had over two hundred students,
a maximum fifty posts was too little and showed little engagement with WhatsApp with online
teaching.
Email:
The final common method that we used to teach online was the use of email. Different lecturers
used the email method differently for example, Dr. M said she would send notes to students on
their email addresses and would address their complaints and questions on email. Dr. N used
emails to receive assignments. That is we gave our students our email addresses and during the
online period of teaching, we asked them to send the assignments on our email addresses. We
would then download the assignments, mark them and record the marks. Sending assignments
on email provided a convenient way for students who were scattered all over the country to
type their work and send it as opposed to travelling to the university just to hand in
assignments. Secondly, because we were in a season were the rate of COVID-19 new infections
was still high in the country, sending assignments through email provided a safe way for
students to interact with us as it involved little interaction with many people which is one of
the ways of limiting COVID-19 infections. However, using email was tasking as seen in the
challenges both students and staff faced issues that are raised in the next research question
data.
However, as noted previously, some of the students that we interviewed had not been aware of
the WhatsApp group and therefore, first participated in the classroom work and assignments
during the face-to-face lectures. When students came for the face-to-face phase of learning,
some of them said this,
“Dr. please give me some extra time to work on the assignments”.
While student W said:
“How can I access the notes that you sent to the class?”
Data from these students portrays that they were not active online as seen in the fact that X
asked for extra time to work on the assignments implying that she was just learning about them
while W asked for the notes that we had posted online. Through the two face-to-face lessons
that we had with the class, we confirmed that few of those who were on the class WhatsApp
group had actually paid attention to the notes. We noted that when providing further
explanations on the course content, we had to further remind the class that we had posted some
information on the class WhatsApp group showing that though they were present online, they
had not bothered to read the work. We also noted that to teach effectively, we had to give them
ten to twenty minutes at the beginning of the lessons to skim through the notes, something that
further confirmed that online teaching was not effective.
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
Challenges Faced by University Learners of English Language Education During the
Lockdown?
Research on this question came out of our desire to understand why few students were active
online and why some students handed in all their assignments when they came for the face-to- face part of the semester. Therefore, we obtained this data from observing both the online
activity of our students during the online sessions and their activeness during the face-to-face
lectures. We also obtained the data from an assignment that we gave them on the challenges
they faced while learning online. Finally, we got some data from interviewing the students who
failed to submit their assignments online.
The most common challenge mentioned by students was the diminishing social skills that is,
language is so practical that learners the four language skills when they interact with one
another in a face-to-face situation. Student N said,
“For example, when the play Kinjikitile is being acted, one cannot forget it as they do when
reading the text. However, in online classes, there is minimal interaction due to limited
knowledge of the computer. This results into isolation”.
Student N said that it is easier to remember a play that has been acted than one reading the text.
Student N’s comparison of acting with reading implies they are the ones who act this play which
forces them to memorise the words and speak them out that keep them in their minds. The act
of memorizing involves reading, practicing these words with other students that involves both
speaking and listening and then presenting the play to an audience that involves the listening
skill. In so doing they practice three of the four language skills. To do this requires both time
and being face-to-face, aspects that are hard in online classes where every learner is in a
different place thus hindering the development of social and language skills. Social skills require
physical interaction with each other something that is hard in an online environment.
While Student R said:
“It reduces teacher student relationship. During online classes, most teachers only teach but do
not interact with students. They sometimes send materials without explaining what the
materials are about”.
Student R said some teachers just posted notes unto the online platform as opposed to
interacting with students and explaining the materials. By saying this, the student implied that
they understand teaching to be a social aspect involving teachers and students that involves
making students try to understand the content taught. By posting notes, there was no
interaction and thus little chances of students understanding the content.
The comments from these students were also in line with data from other sources. We too used
to post notes on the students’ WhatsApp group though we told the learners to read the notes
and ask any questions in areas where they had not understood. we noticed that during the
online phase of teaching, the number of questions from students about the notes was fewer
than the questions that they asked during the face to face lessons which supported the idea that
online learning reduced the amount of social interaction. We also noted that other teacher
trainers also just posted notes as seen in the senior staff member that we mentioned in the
findings of the previous research question who told his colleagues to ‘post notes’ on the
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university LMS. As far as language teaching is concerned, posting notes may support only some
aspects the reading skill if students endeavor to read them but it does not support reading
comprehension. It also does not engage students in writing, speaking or listening thus reducing
students developing of those skills.
Student N also emphasized that in an online environment, there is minimal social interaction
due to limited knowledge of computers. One may argue against this considering that we live in
a technology era where there are a many social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter,
Instagram and WhatsApp. While true, this does not take into account developing countries like
Uganda where challenges like few computers expensive access to internet and unreliable
internet abound as seen in the comments of the following students:
“Network is a problem since it is slow and on and off in many parts of the country so students
cannot concentrate fully. (Student O)”
“They are costly. Gadgets used to foster online methods like smart phones are expensive. Also
the subscription to some sites like Jstor and Academia that deliver online sources used for
lessons like articles are expensive. The data bundles are very costly. (Student P)”
“Student O said that the network was so irregular and slow thus creating difficulty in
concentrating to any online lesson. Student P on the other hand P on the other hand gave
examples of different technologies that are expensive like the smart phones, subscription to
online sources for personal reading that improves their learning of English language while at
the same time learning the necessary content thus hindering online learning of English
language”.
Findings portrayed those students felt that one of the biggest challenges of online teaching was
limited technological knowledge by both teachers and students for example, students said:
“Online teaching and learning come with technological issues like poor internet connection,
ignorance on how to operate the device. (Student S)”
“They require teacher training. Online learning requires teachers to have a basic understanding
of digital forms of learning like computers. (Student T)”
Students S and T noted limited technical knowledge as one of the challenges of online teaching.
Student T calls it the requirement of a ‘basic understanding of digital forms...’ while student S
called it ignorance of how to operate the device. This was true in my case where when students
chose to study on WhatsApp, we just posted notes that we expected them to read and ask
questions. This was also in agreement with the senior staff member who told staff to just post
notes on the university LMS. Limited technological knowledge hindered effective language
teaching as it prevented English language teacher trainers from exploiting all the affordances
of using technology in teaching. Yet in teaching English language, teachers need more than a
‘basic knowledge of technology. They also need according to Mishra and Koehler, (2006)
technological knowledge is not enough for teachers to conduct successful lessons. Teachers also
need technological pedagogical knowledge that Mishra and Koehler (2006) define as the ability
to use technology in teaching contexts.
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
The limited technological knowledge caused further challenges for both teacher trainers and
students like causing learners to be easily distracted. Teachers had difficulty in determining
students’ attentiveness as seen in the following comments from students.
“Students can be distracted by social media like Facebook and WhatsApp so teachers should
keep their classes engaging and interactive to help students be focused. (Student N)”
“It is hard to determine the attentiveness of a learner as far as online teaching is concerned and
due to this, the literary skills are denied access to learners. (Student P)”
Students N and P mentioned the fact that they could be easily distracted as another major
challenge. Student P further said that when distracted, students would miss learning literary
skills. Literary skills in this case were used to mean the ability to read and write thus missing
learning language skills. The fact that students noted this challenge and even wrote it down
implies that they were easily distracted and inattentive in online lessons as opposed to face-to- face lessons. This was in line with my observation data. When students came back for the face
to face part of the lessons, We noted that they were more active in the lessons, that some of
them even visited the office with questions and that the nature of their questions. This implied
that they had not read the notes as the answers were in the notes we had sent online. This
inattentiveness seems to have been caused by limited technological knowledge as seen in the
fact that technological knowledge comes with the ability to engage one’s online audience and
provide them with tasks that keep them attentive. The fact students were distracted during
online lessons means that they learnt little language and the fact that many students mentioned
this is further evidence that online teaching paused a challenge of keeping students attentive.
DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Discussion
Findings on the first research question portrayed that WhatsApp was the most common
technology application used in training English language students during the covid-19
lockdown. This could have been because WhatsApp is a social media application that was
already in use long before the pandemic. Thus, participants were already familiar with it and
all they had to do was to adapt it to language learning. This finding was in line with other studies
(Upor 2021; Moorehouse et al 2021; Mufta; 2021; Bbira et al 2021.) Upor (2021) who found
out that WhatsApp was one of the most common technologies used in language instruction
during the COVID-19 related lockdown in Tanzania. In Uganda, Bbira et al (2021) found out that
most students said they accessed learning materials using WhatsApp.
Findings also portrayed that other technologies which were used to teach English during the
lockdown was the university Learning Management System. This was the recommended
method of teaching in the university where I collected data and in universities with learning
management systems. For example, Nawangwe et al (2021) wrote that in Makerere University,
staff were encouraged to teach learners using the university Learning Management System
MUELE. Kabahizi (2020) cites universities like Uganda Christian University (UCU), the Law
Development Center (LDC), Cavendish University, and East African Virtual University which
utilized their preexisting e-learning platforms. However, data portrayed that the few who used
it just used to post notes and activities, yet language teaching is more than that. As some
participants said, they missed the interaction that is relevant in language teaching.
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The other methods that were used were zoom and email. Teachers asked students to send their
assignments using email. These were fraught with many challenges and thus, were rarely used.
This finding runs contrary to that of other studies for example in Sevilla-Pavon and Finardi
(2021)’s study conducted in Brazil, the most common technological applications used were
Zoom, Google classroom and Google Meet. The difference in findings could be attributed to the
different requirements of the different technologies. Zoom, Google classroom and Google Meet
are used for synchronous interaction; thus, they require availability of good digital
technologies, and affordable, available regular internet. Uganda, where there this study was
conducted is a developing country with irregular internet availability in most parts of the
country and many participants found the cost of internet, as too high hence they could not
afford to study using such methods. Those of Uysal corroborate the findings of this study and
Kanaganaga (2022) who also found out that teachers in their study mainly used emails for
receiving student assignments.
Findings on the second research question portrayed that the most common challenge
mentioned by participants during the lockdown was the limited interaction with their peers.
This caused by the fact that language is a communication process and effective communication
requires interaction between the communicators. Therefore, for English language teacher
trainees to master language, they needed to interact with their peers and the teacher trainers.
As seen in the background to this study, one of the methods of combating the spread of the
COVID-19 pandemic was social distancing thus limiting interaction between people. This
prevented the participants of this study from interacting with each other and learning English
language methods effectively. This finding was also in line with that of other studies. For
example, Moore et al (2021) conducted a study on the responses of the English language
community to the COVID-19 pandemic. Moore et al (2021) found out that for many teachers in
low resource contexts, one of the challenges they faced was limited interaction with their
students thus hindering the mastery of English.
Findings also portrayed those participants lacked technology and technology related support
like electricity and connectivity. Participants mentioned that their electricity was irregular and
some areas lacked electricity. This is also in line with other studies like; (Upor 2021: Sajitha et
al 2018; Uysal and Kanadaga 2022). For example, Upor (2021)’s research on language teaching
in Tanzania. Though Upor’s participants were secondary school learners, the two studies have
a connection of having been conducted in developing countries. Developing countries,
according to Sajitha et al (2018), all face a challenge of poor technology distribution and low
internet connectivity. This finding was also in line with a study by Nabiryo and Sekiziyivu
(2021) whose data was collected in 2016. Nabiryo and Sekizyivu found out that even before
pandemic, the majority of schools in Uganda were not using technology writing instruction due
to lack of technology and technology related supports like electricity and connectivity.
Findings portrayed that one of the challenges participants faced was lack of technological
knowledge. This was seen in the fact that few students were active during the online phase of
online teaching and in the fact that they also mentioned it when I interviewed them. Findings
also portrayed that English language teacher trainees were also easily distracted during the
online lessons. Mishra and Panda's (2006) TPACK theory focuses on the technological
pedagogical content knowledge possessed by teachers as key to learning. This theory, however,
focuses on only learning in a school setting. The COVID-19 pandemic forced all educationists to
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Rosemary, N. N., & Julius, S. (2023). English Language Teaching in Uganda: The Challenges Faced by the English Teacher During the Covid-19
Lockdown. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(2). 1-20.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.102.13843
consider the need for learning outside of the classroom, and therefore, the technological
availability and knowledge possessed by learners at home.
Some participants claimed that the teacher trainers lacked technological knowledge. This could
have been because many teacher trainers just posted notes online instead of engaging learners
in online teaching activities as seen in the teacher trainers cited who believed in posting notes
online. This was also in line with what was found out in the literature (Swanson 2022: Mugisha
et al 2021). For example, Swanson (2022) noted that though the teachers in his study had a
high self-efficacy in technological knowledge, they lacked self -efficacy in online teaching
methods thus hindering their effective teaching online. Mugisha et al (2021) argue that the use
of ICT in pedagogy in Africa is still low, an argument that may explain the teachers posting of
notes. Lack of technological knowledge was also found out by other studies conducted prior to
the pandemic for example Glazer (2018) found out that where teachers lacked technical
knowledge, they did not use technology in language instruction.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, findings portrayed that the most common methods of teaching university English
language students during the 2021 Covid-19 lockdown were through the use of the University
LMS, WhatsApp and Email. Findings also portrayed that during the online teaching phase, many
challenges hindered the successful online teaching of English language like diminishing social
skill, lack of technology and lack of good technological skills.
Recommendations
Scholars like Bbira et al (2021) and Morehouse (2021) recommend that there is a need for
universities to create adequate infrastructure to support online learning both in urban and
rural areas to ensure quality and equitable access to education. This recommendation is also
supported by the National Planning Authority (2021) of Uganda that recognizes the need to
digitize the education service by leveraging ICT in the teaching, learning, management,
monitoring and evaluation processes. Nawangwe et al (2021) recommend that in the aftermath
of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is need for universities to adopt blended pedagogies to
education whether the students are in face to face classrooms or not. Kabahizi (2020) also
supports this recommendation for the classes that can be conducted online. More research
needs to be conducted on good online practices with ELT especially in dealing with specific
language skills as well as design and implementation (Morehouse 2021). Mufta (2021)
recommends further research on the topic of utilization of social media during and after the
Covid-19 era.
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