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Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

Rationale

Online platforms, undeniably, have been used by all educational sectors in

teaching the students. Major adjustments are needed to be done in order to adopt on

the new mode of teaching and learning. An aspect of the greater scheme of adjustment

involves how teachers adjust and cope with the new normal set-up, for example, in

teaching English and Language Arts. Without a doubt, the adjustment only gives

evidence how the transition from face-to-face to blended learning takes a great toll on

the ways teachers deliver their instructions, which greatly affects not only their

performance as a teacher but also students’ learning.

In a study conducted by Paras, Alvez, Perante, and Robosa (2021) on The

Experiences and Challenges Faced of the Public School Teachers Amidst the COVID-

19 Pandemic: A Phenomenological Study in the Philippines, the abrupt change caused

by the unprecedented situation prompted to re- construction of the curriculum,

pedagogy, and the evaluation of students’ performance while maintaining the quality

of teaching and the learners' engagement. More so, Paras et. al (2021) stated that

teachers are significantly challenged by lack of resources, handling of students, and

the submissions and workloads that greatly contribute to stress and burnout

(Macintyre, Gregersen, and Mercer 2020). Undeniably, the negative experience stems

from the fact that they are not psychologically, nor skill prepared for the sudden shift

of learning models (Tria, 2020). While it is true that they experience a number of

challenges, they also gain positive experiences despite stress and burnout,
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namely, passion, relationship builds, and fulfillment of the duty (Paras et. al, 2021).

Although there have been relatively few publications (Bhatarrai, 2020; Cabal,

2018; Morgan, 2018;) about the lived experiences of the teachers in teaching English

during pandemic times, we have not encountered studies that deal with senior high

school teachers. It is also important to note that this study highlights the positive and

negative lived experiences, which some studies did not consider. While it is true that

this study has somehow become the eye of today’s research, the need to conduct so is

still relevant as the enormous challenges continue to persist. Hence, this study was

conducted.

This study, undeniably, is of great help to account on the experiences of the

teachers during pandemic times. This will help teachers to be provided with attention

and support not only in terms of the physical aspect but also psychologically. When

this is considered and put into action, not only that we will be able to increase

teachers’ efficacy in teaching but also their quality of life. Without a doubt, when this

is felt by teachers, they would feel sense of liaison which in turn promotes

perseverance and optimism, thereby, making their experiences during the pandemic

times worthwhile.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this transcendental or psychological phenomenological study

was to seek reality from individuals’ narratives of their experiences in teaching

English and Language Arts and produce in-depth descriptions of the phenomenon.

More specifically, it aimed to unearth the positive and negative lived experiences of

the teachers. The insights shared by the participants were also taken into account.
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Research Questions

This study was directed by the following central research questions:

1. What are the lived experiences of the SHS teachers in teaching

English and Language Arts during Pandemic times?

2. What insights can the participants share to the students, their fellow

teachers, and administrators?

Theoretical Lens

This study was anchored on Husserl’s (1901) Phenomenological Approach as

cited by Ojikuto (2017), which aimed to understand and describe the essence of the

participants lived experience of the phenomenon. This is consistent with the design of

this research which is a descriptive type of phenomenological research that focuses on

questions of what is known, mechanical view of person, meaning given to subject,

meaning untouched by the interpreters’ view of the world, and subject meanings

constituted by perceiving data to speak for itself (Fendt et al., 2014). In the context of

this study, the senior high school teachers’ lived experiences in teaching English and

Language Arts during pandemic times was the center, specifically, the positive and

lived experiences.

Significance of the Study

This study recognizes the lived experiences of Senior High School teachers in

teaching English and Language Arts during pandemic times. Hence, this study is

beneficial to the following:

Firstly, to the teachers, although they are equipped with enough knowledge and skill

about teaching English and Language Arts, this study can help them understand and

facilitate the needs of the students in terms of learning. Through

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this study with the aim of teaching English and Language Arts, they can coordinate set

of strategies that can be useful in teaching through e-learning.

Secondly, the findings of this result will also benefit the School Administration

in terms of formulating new ideas that will be added to the curriculum. They can also

conduct researches on how to implement online teaching using this study as a

reference. On the other hand, they can also provide solutions to the problems of the

teachers in teaching English in the new learning set-up.

Lastly, to the future researchers, this study will serve as a threshold data that

will be of great help in generating further researches and enhancing the study itself.

Through the recent study, future researchers may be able to generate a more recent

data which will suffice their need to understand the positive and negative lived

experiences of the teachers in this time of crisis. This will also answer the questions

relating to the strategies in teaching English and Language Arts through the new

modes of learning.

Definition of Terms

To establish a common frame of reference of the terms used in this research,

the following terminologies are defined conceptually and operationally.

New Normal. It is a period marked by challenges and unpredictability,

curiosity, risk management, learning by exploring, learning by doing, and focus.

(Buheji, 2020). In this study, this is the current situation of the educational setting

where teachers need to adopt.

Lived Experiences. This is the representation of human experiences,

choices, and opportunities, as well as how those components influence one's

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perspective of knowledge (Mcintosh & Wright, 2018). In this study, this talks about

the positive and negative lived experiences of the teachers in teaching English and

Language Arts during pandemic times.

English and Language Arts. This is the primary key and largest skill set

relative to a particular context and is commonly referred to as macro skills that

includes reading, listening, writing, and speaking (Echoldt, 2021). In this study, this

refers to the subject handled by the teachers during pandemic times.

Delimitations and Limitations of the Study

This study was delimited to seven participants who taught English and

Language Arts since 2020. This did not consider those who only taught the subject

once. It should also be noted that the foremost concern of the study was only the

positive and negative lived experiences of the teachers, not their struggles experienced

and how they cope with them.

In terms of the possible weakness of the study, the researchers, might have trouble in

finding articles that were suitable for the study, because of the lack of studies. On the

other hand, the researchers may find it difficult to interact with the respondents or even

look for participants due to the pandemic and the researchers may encounter difficulty

in gathering data since it is not allowed to meet the respondents face-to-face and the

data gathering will be done through online interview.

Organization of the Study

This paper is composed of five chapters. The Chapter 1 includes the

introduction, purpose of the study, research questions, theoretical lens, significance of

the study, definition of terms, delimitations and limitations, and organization of the

study. Meanwhile, Chapter 2 contains the review of related

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literature. Then in Chapter 3 would be the methodology, comprised of research design,

role of the researcher, research participants, data collection, data analysis,

trustworthiness of the study, and ethical consideration. Chapter 4 consists of result of

the study which is presented according to the research questions. Lastly, chapter 5,

which is the last chapter of the paper contains the discussion of each emergent themes

and their supporting related literature. This also contains both implications in

educational practice and implications for future researchers. Lastly, this chapter have

the concluding remarks which the basis is from the results and the discussion of the

study.
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Chapter 2

Review of Related Literature

This section presents related literatures gathered from similar studies,

publications, journals, the internet, and other secondary data which are related to the

nature of the problem.

New Normal in Education

As the country continues to confront different issues brought about by the

COVID-19 pandemic, the education system has addressed the need to change the

traditional setting and switch to the new learning modes under the new normal

implementations. To ensure that education continues across the country, the institution

have been compelled to quickly adapt to new methods of doing things. Digital

technology or virtual learning was most likely used in the new normal in education,

whereas in other schools, learners are provided with learning modules. However, the

mode of learning will be determined by the availability of resources in an institution,

as well as the teachers and students, who will be given alternatives such as online or

modular learning. All of which are thoroughly researched and evaluated by

administrations and educational sectors prior to implementation.

Since the outbreak of the pandemic, many universities and other educational

institutions have been set to suspend. This notion was supported by Hou (2020) that

one of the government's precautionary steps to prevent viral spread is the closure of

schools. When the new normal emerged, several implications were discussed,

including the wearing of face masks and physical distance. In the field of education,

the Department of Education (DepEd) announced that there will be no face-to-face

learning this school year, instead

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focusing on online platforms, research and development, program creation, and health

integration. Dinalayan (2020) also asserted that the classes will be delivered via online

learning.

In most places, blended learning is not new in most locations because there are

institutions that have already used this type of learning. Blended learning as described

by Dinalayan (2020), is a type of modality that parents and students can choose

depending on what resources they have and this blended learning approach is regarded

as the new normal in the educational system. They can also select the modular type

wherein parents are instructed to go to school to pick up their children’s learning

materials and these modules are provided by the DepEd. If students have sufficient

resources at home, they can also select the online learning mode. On the other hand,

there have been existing studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of online learning

for students, as they did better than traditional face-to-face learning. Hou (2020) also

stated that the benefit of online learning is that students can learn at their own pace.

As we all are staying in our homes due to the safety policy and measures

implemented by the government, learning should not cease to exist. Throughout the

pandemic, countries all around the world have used various methods to continue the

educating process. This was the phase of distance learning, which is now used in

countries all over the world, including the Philippines. Google, LMS, TV broadcasts,

rules, resources, video lectures, and internet channels were all presented as online

learning platforms (UNESCO, 2020). This pandemic has definitely caused us to rely

more on the benefits of technology, particularly in the sector of education. According

to Qindah (2018), technology

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should be integrated into teaching and the learning process of learners because it is

regarded as one of the fundamental components in people's life. Because learners are

accustomed to using technology, the incorporation of technology into the education

area will provide them with a sense of comfort. Now, the traditional face-to-face

learning will not be applicable in this time to keep the students away from the spread

of virus.

Some schools in Cebu City were utilizing modular distance learning due to a

lack of internet connectivity in their areas, which is a frequent problem among other

schools, thus they chose to add modular distance learning. On the other hand, several

private schools were forced to raise tuition fees in order to meet the needs of this new

normal learning environment (Magsino, 2020). As a result of this new normal, many

private institutions began to use learning management systems (LMS) as a style of

education (Tumapon, 2020).

This new normal education has certainly brought about difficult circumstances,

but one thing is certain: it has enabled schools to limit face-to- face learning, assure

social distancing, and reduce the number of individuals outside the home at any given

time during this pandemic. As a result, despite the difficulties, a battalion of well-

trained, skilled, and motivated teachers can help develop and strengthen the new ways

of learning.

Process of the new normal education

As the COVID-19 pandemic arise, it greatly created a major disruption in the

educational system. In this sense, several learning modalities have emerged. Also, due

to the sudden transition of learning from face-to-face to online, teachers encountered a

variety of challenges while teaching online, most notably in terms of instructional

methodologies. Which in turn, they are in need

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to adopt into the new mode of learning as well as learn to utilized technology in order

to establish effective levels of learning connections towards students and able to build

a conducive learning environment.

Blended learning is a type of learning delivery that combines face-to-face and

online distant learning. It was first implemented into the education field in the so-

called new normal set up. Due to the fact that educational sectors prohibit face-to-face

learning in response to the threat brought by the COVID-19 pandemic, blended

learning has been widely adopted in academic institutions to ensure social distancing.

According to Antigan (2020), the various learning modalities also includes online or

electronic learning as well as TV or radio- based instructions.

The internet is used to promote learner-teacher and peer-to-peer contact in the

online learning modality, which features the teacher as a facilitator engaging the active

participation of learners by the use of different technology accessible through the

internet while they are geographically distant during instruction from each other.

Synchronous live instruction is made possible through online learning. Students can

use an E-Learning systems or comparable technology to quickly download materials

from the internet, complete and submit online assignments, and attend webinars and

virtual classes. Smart Learning Management Systems (SLMs) for television-based

instruction turned to video lessons and SLMs for radio-based instruction translated to a

radio script are used in TV/Radio-Based Instruction (Maldago, 2020).

Online classrooms have been used in the new normal set up at higher education

institutions. Google Classrooms, Messenger, Zoom, Edmodo, Facebook, and

YouTube were suggested by the Commission on Higher

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Education to enhance online platforms for blended learning (CHED, 2020). The

majority of schools chose to use synchronous meetings via Google Meet and

Classroom Teams, both of which are free to use. Some schools also employed the

Skype and Zoom platforms; however, some have experienced challenges with its free

version, including limited use and security concerns. Teachers gained control of the

Moodle platform, which was already in place in their schools prior to the COVID-19

pandemic.

In addition, with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the implementation

of the new normal education by the educational system, Llego (2020) stated that

DepEd commons can be used in the indicated modalities of learning delivery, such as

face-to-face, distant learning, and blended learning. Furthermore, DepEd commons is

an online platform that allows remote learning for teachers and students in public and

private schools (Malima, 2019). As a result, it can also allow homeschool as a

different mode of education. The digital self-learning modules will be made available.

Digital interactive e-books and multimedia classes for online distance learning will be

available through the DepEd commons. It would also entice students to participate

because it provides them with very exciting experiences that are relevant to their

lessons. This made their homestay worthwhile while also allowing them to utilize their

time wisely in this circumstance.

The transition from face-to-face to online teaching has posed certain pedagogical

issues, not just in terms of teaching methodologies, but also in terms of assessment

strategies and technologies. The demand to prepare and adapt pedagogy and resources

to online teaching environments in order to satisfy the demands of students as well as

the aims of each curriculum was a

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process characterized by a constant quest for the best solutions. Also, educators found

it quite difficult to measure how well their students understood their courses as a result

of the shift to online learning. As educators prepare for the new normal set-up of

education, teachers are also pushing forward with adaptable learning. Regardless of

the existing situation, teachers must employ certain pedagogical strategies in order to

effectively educate. Teachers must incorporate and construct productive and effective

synchronous and asynchronous learning experiences for continuous student

involvement in this era of new normal, as they are the essential maneuver in the

learning process (Gamiao, 2020). The biggest feature for students is to encourage them

to learn, not merely to encourage them to be responsible for their own learning. During

periods of remote learning, teachers must consider how continuous input from students

on their learning will assist them focus.

Furthermore, according to Alvarez (2020) of Sunstar Philippines, in the new

normal set up of online instruction, teachers must consider the utilization of interactive

graphics or images that can support the learning process, boosting higher order thought

and maintaining student engagement. It's also crucial to ask students random questions

from time to time. Synchronous learning creates a sense of connectedness to a learning

community and helps them feel less solitary. Asynchronous learning, like the former,

is important because it encourages students to employ many modalities of learning,

allowing them to choose their own learning path as the teacher guides them. Individual

online sessions with students are vital. But, beyond all of these, this could take a long

time, but for the teacher, it would be a helpful tool in determining if the students are

introverted or extroverted, as well as a guide for those who will be

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encouraged to express their ideas in real time during online classes.

Challenges in the Implementation of New Normal Education

When the pandemic first came out, lots of difficulties arose, all of which have

had a significant impact on how the educational system operates. Teachers have had to

make numerous changes as a result of the abrupt shift from face-to-face to blended

learning. They faced difficulties with regard to class preparation, internet access, and

other resources necessary to implement online classes. Teachers have also had

difficulties in presenting lessons to students since not all students are eager to

participate, and others are unable to participate due to a lack of resources. Also, some

of the challenges that teachers face is related to the use of technology. Some teachers

are technologically illiterate, resulting to burnout and stress.

The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in an education catastrophe for which no one

has adequately prepared. It has mostly posed difficulties in implementing modern

normal education. Millions of teachers and students have been affected by school

closures throughout the world, the effects of which are yet unknown (Education

International 2020). Traditional learning methods will not be as successful in the face

of a pandemic as they were before. Long lectures are no longer the norm in education

this time since the shifting of learning from the traditional classroom to blended

learning strategy in which students participate in both synchronous and asynchronous

learning. A lot of preparations have been taken to make the school year feasible in the

midst of the pandemic, and teachers will have to put in extra work in preparing their

classes as a result of these preparations.

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Teachers, as Calao and Yazon (2020) pointed out, require a suitable instrument

to teach online because of the changes brought on by the pandemic. They will have to

alter their class preparations, which will add to their workload. Teachers must ensure

that the quality of education is not compromised in the absence of face-to-face

learning. The Department of Education (2020) highlighted that teachers and students

would not necessarily need to attend to school and learn in classrooms and designed

several modalities to guarantee that online learning would be a viable option in this

new learning environment.

An article in the Manila Bulletin discusses teachers' difficulties in conducting

classes online, stating that it has indeed put pressure on institutional quality assurance

and governance systems, as well as increasing workload for faculty and teachers

(Bramer and Clark, 2020), causing significant stress, uncertainty, and work for faculty.

One teacher stated that prior to the pandemic, the time spent preparing classes only

lasted a few days, but that during the pandemic, it has taken up all of their time and

effort. Preparing lessons in this time of pandemic, according to a public high school

teacher, is far more difficult than it has been in the past since it is critical to guarantee

that the teachings are transferable to students and that they receive the activities. Also,

an Alternative Learning System (ALS) teacher admits that class preparation is much

more difficult now that it is done online, and it takes days to make sure that all of the

equipment used in the class is working, whereas before they only needed to prepare

their visual aids a day before the class started. According to Segovia's statement

(2020), students are not required to open their cameras because it uses more

bandwidth. He's not sure if he's actually speaking to his students or if he's just giving a

monologue during class discussions. He also mentioned that

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some students employ multiple learning modes, such as modules, and that this

occasionally causes him confusion. Clearly, this scenario is more difficult for teachers

since they must examine a lot of factors, particularly the situations of their students.

Another issue that teachers face is internet access. Moreno (2020) claims that

internet access in the Philippines is unreliable, and that not all parents can afford their

own internet connection at home. Moreno also stated that internet access will

compromise the teacher's presence throughout the learning process, which will have a

significant impact on the students' learning. Pontino (2020) also mentioned that poor

internet connectivity might be a major issue in some rural areas of the country. He

claims that if the Department of Education focuses on internet-based distance learning,

it would cost a lot of money not just for the teachers but also for the students.

Furthermore, because lessons are held online, background noises have an impact on

the quality of the learning process and distract both teachers and students (Caybon,

2020). Furthermore, teachers who teach in an online class should guarantee that their

students have access to the internet since their participation in a synchronous class will

make them feel as if they are in a real classroom, and they will be able to learn

alongside their peers (2020, Alvarez).

One of the challenges public schools have in implementing the new normal,

particularly the online class, is a shortage of internet connectivity resources (Romero

and Bernardo, 2020). Public schools, according to the Secretary of the Alliance of

Concerned Teachers, have had problems with technical resources long before the

pandemic. In this new normal, he also stated that there aren't enough devices for

teachers to utilize, leading him to

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recommend to the Department of Education that class sizes be reduced and social

distance maintained in school rather than using online classes.

Teachers were compelled to teach using their own technological devices in the

majority of situations. Another recent study conducted in Portugal found that owing to

a lack of resources or equipment, teachers were only able to connect with two students

each class on average. Teachers also recognized the primary challenges they faced,

such as a lack of enough student equipment, a lack of time, a lack of adequate training

in online teaching, and a lack of parental support. When compared to face-to-face

education, the majority of the participating teachers stated that time spent on remote

teaching has grown, while student engagement in evaluation has reduced (Flores,

Machado, and Alves 2020).

Teaching English and Language Arts

In teaching English and Language Arts, teachers should engage the students in

an activity that will enhance their mastery of the macro skills. Also, teachers must

evaluate students' development in all macro skills because the mastery of one skill

does not imply mastery of the remaining skill. Thus, when teaching English and

Language Arts, teachers should make sure that students have mastered all of the macro

skills in order for them to be proficient in language usage and in communication.

English and Language Arts education is the integration of teaching and

learning the macro skills. According to The American National Council of Teachers in

English, there are five basic components that composes English and language arts,

namely, reading, writing, speaking, listening, and viewing. These skills are achieved,

according to Swearingen (2018), through teaching

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phonics, decoding, comprehension, and writing letters. The teacher's role in teaching

Language arts or English language arts is to improve the students' understanding of the

English language by mastering the macro skills (Fatima, 2020).

There are several ways in teaching English and Language arts depending on

what grade level the teacher is handling. Language arts in primary level focuses mainly

on the fundamentals of macro skills; students are taught to read, write, and acquire

new vocabulary. They are also taught grammar and composition, as well as

participating in a complex reading and writing exercise. The major goal of language

arts in elementary school is for students to learn how to build early reading and writing

abilities. Meanwhile, students in high school are required to take English lessons,

where they are likely to improve their analytical abilities. Lessons usually consist of

reading novels, writing essays, and interpreting the novel's meaning. Students are

required to improve their writing abilities and proficiency. Furthermore, language arts

are not viewed only as a standalone subject, but rather as a complement to other

subjects or skills. As a result, all teachers must have the necessary knowledge and

abilities to support these students' academic language development and subject area

accomplishment.

Language arts, on the other hand, is not limited to the classroom, because these

abilities are transferable outside of the classroom. For instance, while applying for a

job, speaking skills can help you acquire a position. If you want to get a job, one of the

prerequisites is that you have good communication skills. Because the students have

gained the information and comprehension of this skill, they will no longer be

burdened or faced with challenges. Visual skills

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may be employed outside of school as well; for example, learners can use their visual

skills to interpret traffic signs and directions.

Teaching has been and will continue to be an important element of the

curriculum and in the educational process of the students. Teaching language arts as

distinct and unique subjects is necessary for developing specific writing, reading, and

listening skills, but it is also critical for student success to adopt an interdisciplinary

approach by applying language arts skills. Typically, this implies that students are

expected to read a novel and then write an analysis essay that responds to a specific

writing prompt and improves students' vocabulary and grammatical use. Furthermore,

according to Smith (2013), language arts instruction is not viewed as separate areas of

content, but as a single topic in which each of the five fields supports others and

develops thought and learning. On the other hand, as Manilaba (2011) suggests,

instructors may need to concentrate one language art for evaluation reasons in specific

circumstances. Written evaluations, for example, may not be the only means to test

reading abilities since students with writing difficulties may be unable to properly

explain concepts learned from their reading. As a result, teachers will need to use

evaluation techniques like conferences and observation to get an accurate picture of a

student's reading skills.

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Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This chapter presents the method used to collect data. This includes the

research design, role of the researcher, research materials, data collection, data

analysis, trustworthiness of the study, and ethical consideration. This study described

the lived experiences of Senior High School teachers in teaching English and

Language Arts during pandemic times.

Research Design

This was a descriptive qualitative research employing transcendental or

psychological phenomenological study. Labuschagne (2003) states that qualitative

studies are relevant when researcher is seeking to obtain detailed information but does

not look to measure the results in terms of quantity or amount of frequency. On the

other hand, phenomenology is a method of research aimed at understanding human

experience in order to investigate phenomena and how people interpret and experience

them in the phenomenological case (Lester, 1999).

It is important to note that the selection of the design as transcendental or

psychological phenomenological study was based on the idea that the investigators set

aside their experience toward the phenomenon under examination (Moustakas, 1994).

That is, it only focused on the interpretation of the researchers and more on in

description of the experiences of the participants.

Role of the Researcher

In terms of our roles in the entire process, we were involved in all stages of the

study, from defining a concept to design, analysis, verification, and

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reporting of the concepts. More specifically, we interviewed seven senior high school

teachers who taught English and Language Arts during the pandemic times. After

having interviewed, we read carefully the responses and analyzed them using

Colaizzi’s strategy. Also, to make sure that we analyzed the responses correctly, we

re-read and re-analyzed.

Research Participants

The participants were the seven senior high school teachers, ages 22- 40, both

male and female who taught English and Language Arts during pandemic times since

2020. The number of the participants was supported by Polkinghorne (1989) stating

that 5-25 individuals are required for interview. Also, we used purposive sampling,

where the identification and the selection of the participants were based on the idea

that they were especially knowledgeable or experience with a phenomenon of interest

(Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011).

Data Collection

The selected participants were being told at the outset of a phenomenological

research review. The researchers were be able to get detailed information using this

interview to help in the study being conducted. Since face-to-face interviews and

physical contact are now prohibited due to this pandemic, the researchers conducted

data collection through the online mode. Consent forms and other required letters

requesting their involvement in the research report were also included in the process.

Once they were accepted or upon received, the interviews officially begun. During the

gathering of data, the researchers used the method of interview, or the semi-structured

interview. In the semi-structured interview, the interviewer prepared a set of the same

questions for all of the interviewees and asked more open-ended questions,
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allowing for a discussion with the interviewee. This was to clarify or further expand

certain issues at the same time. In addition, at the beginning of every study interview

session, this was advisable for the researcher to try to build some kind of relationship

with their research participants so that before the interview session begins, the research

participants, can illuminate and feel comfortable about the procedure.

Data Analysis

There were notable procedures in doing a phenomenological data analysis. The

researchers used the Colaizzi's Descriptive Phenomenological Method to investigate

and able to depict the experiences of the participants particularly on the lived

experiences of Senior High School teachers in teaching English and language arts

during pandemic times. Colaizzi (1978) affirmed that there are seven procedures

namely familiarization, identifying significant statements, formulating meanings,

clustering themes, developing an exhaustive description, producing the fundamental

structure, and verification. Colaizzi (1978) emphasized that familiarization is the

method of arranging and translating the manuscripts into usable and simplified data to

achieve a comprehensible term that is also suitable for the respondents.

In addition, during familiarization researchers agreed about what element of

the formulated questions or data should be employed and able to read the participants'

given statements several times. After which, the researchers continued to the second

procedure which is identifying significant statements. Whereas, this method

emphasized on the association of sentences and phrases that are specifically discussed

and related to the analysis. Through this process,

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the researchers can identify the main thought and formulate a theme from the response

in the interview.

On the other hand, formulating meanings as the third procedure involved the

process of formulation of meanings prior to reading the participants' salient assertions.

In this procedure, the emerging ideas from the data should entail reviewing. Hence, the

researchers during the course of data gathering, ensured that the formulation of

questions were accurate and carefully re-configured the formulated meanings in

several times to ensure accuracy and credibility.

Further, for the fourth procedure which is the clustering themes, this involves

the compilation of the given meanings that are prevalent throughout the participants'

accounts. In this procedure, researchers able to ensure the convergences between the

formulated themes in order to emphasize consistency during the analysis process.

Moreover, the fifth procedure which is developing an exhaustive description is

the integration of all related information of the phenomenon under study. In this

matter, researchers able to ensure that the participants intended meaning is reflected in

the basic structure of the phenomenon and any modifications are made according to

participant's input. Also, the sixth procedure is producing the fundamental structure. In

this process, researchers able to condensed the detailed description to a short and

dense statement of the participants that captures only those elements considered

important to the structure of the phenomenon. Then, for the last procedure which is

verification, this will not be possible if the researchers did not complete the collection

of data or if the researchers did not derive with an accurate data. In this procedure, the

emerging ideas from the data should be tested and checked for verification and
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validation. Hence, the researchers during the course of data gathering, ensured that the

formulation of questions were precise in order to form an accurate results/conclusion.

Trustworthiness of the Study

In this study, the outcome goal of research, which is the validity of findings, is

based on trustworthiness and external reviews (Kearney, 2001). Corbin (2008) defined

validating as checking out of the interpretations with the participants and against data

as the research moves along. Lincoln and Guba (1985) proposed four criteria, which

he believed should be considered in the pursuit of a trustworthy study: credibility

(internal validity); transferability (external validity/generalizability); confirmability

(objectivity); and dependability (reliability). The processes for accomplishing each

technique are described in the following paragraphs:

Credibility. According to Mills A. & et.al (2010) this refers to the degree to

which a study account, with specific regard to the level of agreement between

participants, is reliable and acceptable. The ideologies and perspectives of the

participants are herein considered in this research. To assure the credibility of the

research, researchers linked the research findings with reality to be able to explicate

clearly the verity of the research study. The researchers noted the course of the

interview and provide each with raw data to interpret, after which, to secure the

research result, the researchers then conducted a group discussion on the individual

interpretation, thus, proving that the results as stated all were derived.

Transferability. The level of transferability depends upon how well and

concise the similarities between two settings are. The more the data and point
 2

were connected, the easier it is to transfer the material (Ramsey, 2010). To address the

transferability of the research findings, the researchers exemplified and clearly

elaborated the research purpose. The data collected, are made transparent as much as

possible to prevent any irregularities and create uncertainties towards the research

study. All findings are enriched with descriptions and is made easier for the future

researchers to understand. This all to prevent misconception to the points created by

the researchers. Hence, the detailed narrations presented by the researchers allow the

readers to accordingly transfer the material from one setting to the other and to assess

whether which part is needed or can be conveyed.

Confirmability. It refers to the extent to which researchers may validate the

results of the research study (Korstjens, I. and Albine, M. 2018). In this case, the

researchers conducted an online interview to the participants of the study. Despite the

limited area of the data collection, the researchers are able to maximize the space and

garnered substantial result through queries which supported the study’s' objective. The

analysis was carefully documented and arranged in a systematized manner. The results

of this study are kept transparent to confirm the conclusion of the research findings.

Dependability. A criterion often considered as like stability and consistency

of the result over time. Dependability is characterized on how the study could be

repeatedly used by other researchers. The dependability of the study is also shown to

the reliability of the study's findings to which procedures are documented and

presented. Moreover, the study showed an immense level of viscidity and able to

verify to its findings which is therein highlighted to the other chapters of the study.
 2

Ethical Considerations

In conducting a research, researchers must be able to incorporate and

determine the ethics that should be utilized during the conduct of the study. Hence, in

accordance to the consideration of these ethics, the researchers used the Philippine

Health Research Ethics Board (2017) as the core reference to the following ethics:

Informed Consent. As stated by the Philippine Health Research Ethics

Board (2017) informed consent refers to the decision by a knowledgeable prospective

participant to engage in research without being subjected to pressure, undue influence,

or inducement after receiving and recognizing relevant information. In this matter, the

participants of the study are duly informed during the conduct of the study and the

consent protects and secure the participants to observe and provide credibility to the

study. The consent provides the relevant details in the implementation of the study and

accentuated points that may be considered by the participants.

Voluntary Participation. The researchers make sure that the participants

voluntarily participated and engaged in the conduct of the study which free from any

coercion. The participants are independently free to share respective perspectives and

ideologies on the conduct of the study and no pressure have been placed.

Transparency. Transparency is an aspect of ethical research that facilitates

faith in the research enterprise and needs to be upheld on sensitive issues (Philippine

Health Research Ethics Board, 2017). Misleading information, as well as the

representation of data findings should be avoided and should not be presented in a

biased manner. In this way, researchers can

 2

ensure the credibility of the conduct study and the details were carefully considered

during the data gathering process which emphasized the specific consideration for the

participants’ anonymity and the confidentiality of the data gathered. Also, the

researchers ensured that during the conduct of the data collection, participants were

not held up against their will, and is given the primary option provided in the study.

Privacy and Confidentiality. The safety of the participant is the utmost

and primary concern in every research study to be conducted. It is the researcher’s

responsibility to take good care of the result of the study, as well as maintaining the

confidentiality of the participant’s information. Furthermore, under this ethics, the

participants were given the option to reject or withdraw from the study.
 27

Chapter 4

RESULTS

The primary focus of this chapter is to describe the data collected from

structured interviews through online video conference. The overall themes discovered

in this research will be presented based on the guidelines of Colaizzi’s (1978)

descriptive phenomenological method of analysis.

Lived Experiences of Senior High School

Teachers in Teaching English and Language Arts

Based on the conducted analysis several themes have emerged as shown

in Table 1. In this study, the lived experiences involved the positive and negative

lived experiences. In terms of the positive lived experiences, it involved the

following: Use of Online Learning Modalities, Use of Audio-Visual Learning

Materials, Planning and Creating Learning Activities, Increases Creativity in

Teaching, Teacher’s Empathy Augmentation, and Professional

Development. On the other hand, in terms of the negative lived experiences, it

involved the following: Students’ Lacking Motivation to Learn English Online,

Dilemma in Learning Tasks, Instruction Preference in Teaching, Poor Internet

Access, Insufficient Technological Literacy, Quality and Authenticity of

Students’ Learning, Difficulty in Online Curriculum Demands, Curriculum

Planning and Implementation, and Consistency of Teaching and Learning

Material. For further explanation, themes are presented below with sample

formulated meanings out from the significant statements from the respondents.

Positive Lived Experiences. To comprehensively discuss the positive

lived experiences, below are the following:

 2

Table 1
Lived Experiences of Senior High School Teachers in Teaching English and
Language Arts
Formulated Cluster themes Emergent
Meanings Theme
Positive Lived Experiences
Teacher utilizes online Using Online Platform Use of Online
platforms to assess Learning Modalities
student’s work and to
substantiate learning
through the exploitation
of video lectures.
[LV: Teacher 1]

Teacher finds ways to

reach out to students
through online learning
platforms such as Google
Meet and Zoom
applications.
[LV: Teacher 7]

The teacher encourages Using Variety of Planning and

cooperation in blended Interactive Activities Creating Learning
learning through Activities
collaborative activities.
[LV: Teacher 2]

The teacher highlights

the need to use
interactive and up-to-
date materials to be
parallel to the goal or
role as teachers.
[LV: Teacher 7]

The teacher
emphasizes to use
alternative activities to aid
the students’ multiple
intelligences that would
suffice the needs of the
students in this time of
pandemic.
[LV: Teacher 6]
The teacher punctuates not
to focus only on the
cognitive aspect but
also highlight hands-on
 2

activities targeting the

various competencies.
[LV: Teacher 5]

The teacher realizes the Teaching Creativity Increases Creativity

advantage of the pandemic Building Measure in Teaching
because it develops their
critical thinking and
creativity.
[LV: Teacher 6] Teacher
accentuate the advantage of
pandemic because they can
explore new teaching
strategies and re-
assess techniques in
teaching.
[LV: Teacher 3]

The teacher stressed the Using Video Materials Use of Audio-Visual

usage of audio- visual Learning Materials
learning materials in
teaching English and
Language Arts.
[LV: Teacher 4]

The teacher signifies the

value of accompanying
videos with heuristic
questions. [LV: Teacher
7]

Teacher pinpoints the

advantage and
convenience of pre-
recorded videos with the
ease of disseminating the
lesson.
[LV: Teacher 1]
The teacher considers the Teacher Considering Teacher’s Empathy
students’ situation during Student’s Various Augmentation
pandemic times. [LV: Circumstances
Teacher 2]
The teacher has
become more patient
and understanding
considering the
students’ sides and
situations.
 3

[LV: Teacher 6]

The teacher Trainings and Professional

emphasizes the Webinars for Development for
essence of undergoing Teacher’s Skills Teachers
trainings and webinars Enhancement
to equip themselves for
the online learning set-
up.
[LV: Teacher 1]

Negative Lived Experiences

The teacher Encouragement of Students’ Lacking
experiences struggle Students to learn Motivation to Learn
when some students do English Online English Online
not cooperate and
participate during the
discussions. They opted
to turn off their
microphones in the
middle or in the end of
the discussions.
[LV: Teacher 3]

The teacher complains

the difficulty of
encouraging
demotivated students in
learning the English and
Language Arts Online.
[LV: Teacher 4]

The teacher complains

about a number of
students’ invalid
excuses upon entering
the virtual class.
[LV: Teacher 2]

The teacher cannot Teacher’s Difficulty in Dilemma in Learning

evaluate the students’ Teaching and Tasks
learning since the Assessment
teacher only uses pre-
recorded lesson.
[LV: Teacher 5]
It’s quite challenging for
teachers to provide feasible
learning tasks. [LV:
Teacher 2]
 3

The teacher needs to

adjust and grasp with the
changes and to re- assess
techniques implying new
methodologies in
teaching.
[LV: Teacher 6]
The teacher prefers to
teach English and Teachers’ Instruction
Language Arts in face- Comparison of Online Preference in
to-face classes rather and Face-to- face Teaching
than online classes. [LV: Instruction
Teacher 6]

Teacher complains the

difficulty of teaching
English and Language
arts specifically exposing
students to macro skills
and language awareness
online.
[LV: Teacher 1]

The lack of social

interaction affects the
teaching experiences of
the teacher and made the
teacher realized that
communicating with the
students is more
convenient in person. [LV:
Teacher 4]

The teacher compares the

new normal set-up for
they cannot assess if the
students are really
learning.
[LV: Teacher 2]
The teacher conveys the Issues of Internet Poor Internet Access
hardship in giving Connectivity
feedbacks and
instructions to the
students when they are
experiencing intermittent
connection. [LV: Teacher
2]
 3

The teacher expresses

difficulty in connecting
with the students due to
lack of internet
connection on the
students’ end.
[LV: Teacher 5]

The teacher is having a

hard time teaching
English and Language
Arts most especially
when the internet
connection is unstable.
[LV: Teacher 3]
The teacher vented out the
stress and effects of poor
internet connection during
class

discussions.
[LV: Teacher 7]
The weakness of the Lack of Exposure in Insufficient
teacher in terms of not using Technology Technological
being technological Literacy
literate.
[LV: Teacher 3]
The teacher stresses out Assessing Quality and
the difficulty in teaching Students’ Overall Authenticity of
writing and making Knowledge and Students’ Learning
students write due to the Validity of their
uncertainness of Works
originality with students’
outputs.
[LV: Teacher 1] Due to
widespread cheating, the
teacher is unable to assess
the accuracy of the
students' outputs.
[LV: Teacher 2]

The teacher experiences

struggle in assessing the
students’ honesty in
making essays.
[LV: Teacher 3]
 3

The teacher is Worriment of the Difficulty in Online

experiencing doubts Demands of Online Curriculum
regarding with abilities Teaching Demands
in teaching.
[LV: Teacher 3]
The teacher experiences
inconvenience in
crafting modules to be
disseminated for
students’ self-directed
learning materials.
[LV: Teacher 7] The
teacher expresses
sentiments towards
responding to students’
queries since students have
no respect on the teacher’s
personal time.
[LV: Teacher 1] The
teacher struggles in
managing their time as
a teacher and as a
normal person. [LV:
Teacher 4]
Teacher is struggling to
incapsulate the topics in Problems in the Curriculum Planning
just a short period of time. Organization and and Implementation
[LV: Teacher 3] The Selection of
teacher finds difficulty in Topics
teaching English and
Language Arts due to the
broad categories that needs
to be considered in
teaching the subject.
[LV: Teacher 5]
The limited time and
limited options hinder
teachers’ capacity in
teaching.
Problems in
Instruction
Maximization
[LV: Teacher 2]

Use of Online Modalities in Instruction. This refers to the helpful tools

used by the teachers to conduct classes and assess students’ output through
 3

using online platforms. Teachers use a variety of online platforms to supplement their

classroom instructions such as Google Meet, Zoom, and

relevant, informative, and compelling content, which makes the English and Language

arts indulge into a new dimension, becoming both innovative and creative. This is

observed in the following responses below:

For instance, I use Grammarly to check their outputs if it is copy- pasted

or not. Another platform I use YouTube to reinforce learning. There's a
reinforcement from that, and that is the
lecture video.
[LV: Teacher 1]

Instead of just complaining, I try to reach out to the students more. If I

have time, or if the students also need, then I can talk to them like using
Zoom or Google meet sessions or any kind of platform just to cope with
the lack of social interaction.
[LV: Teacher 7]
In the first response, it can be deduced that the teacher purposefully uses online

learning applications to assess the students’ writing output and reinforces students’

knowledge through using useful and informative academic-related video lectures. As

mentioned by the teacher, I use Grammarly to check their outputs if it is copy-

pasted or not only means that the teacher finds it effective and helpful to use online

platform to evaluate students’ performance. On the other hand, the teacher also uses

the online platform to incorporate engaging video lectures to substantiate learning and

aid the teacher’s lesson in teaching English and Language Arts as evident in the

teacher’s response, I use YouTube to reinforce learning. It can be observed that the

teacher has harnessed the potential of online learning platforms to assist in the delivery

of instructions.

In the second response, this infers that the teacher has been using online

learning platforms to reach out and communicate with the students. In the utterance, it

is easier for teachers to communicate with students using such online platforms since

the teacher highlighted the use of online learning

 3

platforms as a means of bridging the social interaction gap between the students and

the teacher. In this sense, the teacher has used the online video- conferencing tools

such as Google Meet and Zoom which are also currently used as the primary online

platform of educational institutions for delivering classes and communicating with

students. It was clearly evident that the teacher employs these online video-

conferencing tools to reach out and interact more with the students.

Planning and Creating Learning Activities. This focuses on developing

activities with core features of efficient active learning tasks that are delivered online,

have a clear purpose and learning objectives, target the students’ multiple

intelligences, are timely, and caters the various learning competencies. It also includes

variety of interactive activities such as reading and writing exercises, projects, and

group work. Moreover, these engaging learning activities helped the teachers to target

the students’ interests and set expected skills in learning English and Language Arts

online. Below are the following responses showing the experiences of teachers in

planning and creating learning activities:

Since blended learning engages in collaboration, in my class I used to

divide the class into breakout sessions or having a grouping. Students
engaged in interactive and the same collaborative activities even though
it is in an online set-up. I let them brainstorm and talk to their
classmates.
[LV: Teacher 2]

For the instructional and learning materials, I use again, interactive

materials and up to date materials and fun materials to be parallel to the
goal or role as teachers.
[LV: Teacher 7]

We developed exercises that target the students' multiple intelligences.

So, with this I… I applied those strategies by implementing activities
that could cater the students’ learning needs in this time of pandemic.
 3

[LV: Teacher 6]

English and language arts should be taught and it is not merely more on
cognitive, but it must also include the hands-on activities. We have lots
of competencies that needs to be targeted, most especially this
performance task… Specifically we need to develop or to be focus more
on the performance task of the students not just in reading and writing
skills.
[LV: Teacher 5]

In the first response, it can be inferred that the teacher promotes cooperation

and collaboration in group work activities. In this utterance, the teacher allows the

students to interact and communicate with their classmates through the use of

interactive and collaborative activities such as breakout sessions and group work given

by the teacher. It is obviously shown in the teacher’s response when the teacher

significantly used these activities so that the students can brainstorm and actively

participate in the online class. This only means that the use of variety of interactive

activities greatly help the teacher in teaching English and Language Arts most

specially enculturating the students’ cooperation and participation while learning this

subject.

In the second assertion, the teacher emphasizes the importance of using

interactive and up-to-date materials that are pertinent to the objectives or role of the

teachers. In the utterance, when the teacher is making instructional and learning

materials, the teacher incorporates activities that are aligned to the curriculum as well

as relevant and engaging because the goal of the teacher is to let the students become

more motivated to learn, pay more attention, and participate in the given set of tasks.

By that, the use of variety of interactive activities aided the teacher in crafting

learning activities because the teacher ensures that the created activities make

learning fun, accessible, and meaningful in the online English classroom.

 3

In the third utterance, the teacher implemented strategies by designing

activities that may meet the demands of the students through creating tasks that

prioritize the students’ multiple intelligences. In this context, the teacher connotes the

use of variety of interactive activities that will appeal to the students based on their

particular learning strengths. In this utterance, the teacher also implies that the learners

are learning differently, which is why there is a need for the teachers to exploit online

classroom activities to cater their needs and varied intelligences.

In the fourth and final response, the teacher indicates that using of variety of

interactive activities in teaching English and Language arts helped him/her to create an

interactive online classroom as the teacher did not only focus on the cognitive learning

strategies but also on implementing learning exercises that target various learning

competencies. In line with this, the designation of appropriate and carefully-planned

learning activities enabled the teacher to incorporate performance-based and hands-on

exercises which is not only focused on reading and writing activities but also target

other macro-skills. By doing so, these activities played a prominent part as it was

easier for the teacher to handle the online class, keeping the students enthused to study

online and alleviate the pressure because the students were also driven to learn.

Increases Creativity in Teaching. It involves the teachers’ improvement

and integration of innovative teaching strategies making their pedagogy more

interesting even under certain circumstances. While most of the teachers were very

much unknown about the use of technology for online teaching in the early phases of

the pandemic, this crisis created an opportunity to enhance their creativity in teaching.

Teachers’ development is aided by their motivation and

 3

self-help techniques making themselves equipped with necessary resources and

abilities they needed in teaching English and Language Arts online. In the data

gathered, these are some of the responses showing the teachers’ increase of creativity

in teaching:

I have really developed my critical thinking and my creativity in

implementing activities that would really cater the students' learning
needs. I also make sure that my activities are fun and engaging so that
even during pandemic, the students would not get bored and stressed.
Despite the difficulty we are now facing, I was able to strategize
innovative activities that would help establish a conducive learning
environment for the students even in this kind of learning set-up.
[LV: Teacher 6]

For me, during the pandemic, the only advantage that I could think of is
that, I can explore more of new strategies to apply and re- assess my
techniques in teaching English and Language Arts.
[LV: Teacher 3]

The responses above show the teaching creativity building measure of the

teachers in teaching English and Language Arts online. This can be deduced in the

first response, wherein the teacher has realized the advantage of the pandemic because

he/she has greatly improved his/her critical thinking and creativity in conducting

classes online. Due to this development, the teacher was able to provide engaging

activities that caters the students learning needs so that the students will not get bored

or burdened when learning at home. The teacher also mentioned that the pandemic is

not a hindrance to provide a conducive learning environment for the students through

the use of innovative activities. This indicates that if there is an increase in the

teacher’s creativity in teaching, this will directly enhance the teaching and learning

process by increasing motivation, deepening understanding, and promoting

enthusiasm.

In the second response, the teacher pinpoints how teaching in the new normal

learning set-up helped to unravel his/her new teaching strategies and

 3

re-engineered his/her techniques in teaching English and Language Arts online. Here,

the new teaching strategies and techniques are essential to the teacher to maintain

because as seen in the teacher’s response, it aided him/her in providing an engaging

online learning environment, and made him/her eager and hopeful about bringing

further innovation to traditional English and Language Arts instruction. In this way,

the teacher can establish an online environment where the teacher and student can

productively collaborate to create a dynamic learning experience.

Use of Audio-Visual Learning Materials. These are the resources that

help teachers provide lessons more easily while also improving the teaching and

learning process online. The audio-visual learning materials are used in online

classroom to communicate the lesson more effectively and retain the topics efficiently

for longer duration. These devices are also used to make the learning experience more

concrete, more realistic, and dynamic. These are also considered to be immensely

useful in the transfer of learning and are very convenient for teachers to deliver

instructions of the English and Language Arts online. This can be seen in the

utterances below:

I normally use PowerPoints and videos for my English subject so that

students will not get bored in learning English…. We could include
music, movies, aside from the literatures. So, talking about 21st century
learning, technologies are very useful and through this I have improved
my traditional teaching methods.
[LV: Teacher 4]

I try to make use of interactive videos, wherein they have to watch the
video and then within the video, there are questions that we have to
answer. I use this kind of strategy because it is easier for me to introduce
the lesson and at the same time challenging the critical thinking of my
students.
[LV: Teacher 7]

I have learned how to edit video so that I can just do a pre-recorded

lesson and that all students can watch it anytime whenever they
 4

want. I have become more dependent on technology as for my pedagogy.

[LV: Teacher 1]

As technology advances, teachers have become more reliant on various forms

of technology. It can be seen in the first response; I normally use PowerPoints and

videos for my English subject so that students will not get bored in learning

English proves that the teacher uses Microsoft PowerPoint software and video

materials to keep students engaged and avoid dullness in the class while learning

English and Language Arts online. Also, the teacher realized the advantage of

technology in the 21st century learning which he/she deemed to employ audio and

visual elements including music and movies to transcend the paradigm of traditional

teaching towards modern teaching methods. This only means that accompanying

lessons with relative music and movies to enhance teachers’ skills will help make

teaching and learning process more effective.

In the second response, this can be implied that associating videos with logical

questions is beneficial as emphasized by the teacher. Here, the teacher did not let the

students watch videos passively, but letting them watch videos with interactive

features and being challenged throughout watching those due to the accompanying

logical questions at the beginning or at end of the video. The teacher also explained

why he/she utilize this strategy as he/she reasoned out that it is easier for him/her to

introduce the lesson and challenge the critical thinking of the students. This means that

the use of video materials assisted the teacher to achieve the curriculum objectives as

well as making the learning experiences as real as possible even in online.

 4

In the final response, the teacher proved how technology has become his/her

key partner in teaching English and Language Arts online. The teacher highlighted the

benefit of technology and the use of video materials in the online setting, where the

teacher used pre-recorded videos to conveniently disseminate lessons as well as

accessible for students to watch at any time and at their own pace. This means that the

use of audio-visual learning materials is highly helpful to the teacher because the

teacher did not need to strenuously reiterate the lessons every time due to the fact that

the lessons have already been recorded.

Teacher’s Empathy Augmentation. Empathy is one of the significant

improvements in the pedagogy of the teachers when almost everyone is working

virtually under excessive pressure. Many teachers have positively adjusted their

demands and expectations from the students by providing flexibility and consideration

on the output submissions. In the data gathered, these are some of the responses

showing the teachers’ empathy augmentation in teaching English and Language Arts

online:

Honestly, the thing that I considered during this pandemic as a teacher is

that, not all students could submit their activities on time in the online
setting and that I should be more considerate and understanding to the
students’ situations.
[LV: Teacher 2]

I've become more patient to my students these days so I guess that is the
value that I've developed. I guess I've become more understanding to the
side of the student because to be honest, I am this very strict teacher.
Well, I’ve also become more open with the students through having
consultations regarding with their problems.
[LV: Teacher 6]

In the first response, the teacher became more considerate on the students’

situation if ever the students cannot submit their outputs on time due to the various

circumstances that the students might have been experiencing.

 4

This means that the teacher’s empathy increased as they establish an online learning

environment that does not only focuses purely on the academics, but also striving to

connect with students in a more humanistic way by keeping track on students’ well-

being.

In the second utterance, the teacher has increased his/her level of

understanding to the students. It can be seen in the response when the teacher said, I've

become more understanding because to be honest, I am this very strict

teacher. This means that this pandemic has taught the teacher to be more emphatic no

matter how strict he/she is. The teacher is willing to adjust his/her teaching and

learning resources in ways that would enhance academic engagement and performance

of the student. The teacher has also become more inclined to communicate openly

with students about the inconveniences they are experiencing.

Professional Development for Teachers. These are the activities that

bolster the development of teachers’ teaching skills, knowledge, competence, other

learning purposes, and, in turn, boost student outcomes. Learning can be done through

attending conferences, seminars, training and workshops that also take place in a

number of different levels. In the online context, the teachers were professionally

trained through series of professional development courses through webinars. This can

be shown in the response below:

Actually, I was able to survive teaching English and Language Arts

during the first implementation of online learning set-up because of the
immersive trainings and webinars that were initiated by the institutions
and other educational sectors.
[LV: Teacher 1]

In the response above, the teacher was able to cope up with the challenges

during first implementation of online learning set-up. Teachers that were not totally

technologically inclined and with no or little experience in

 4

teaching online have learned to adapt in the new modes of learning. This was made

possible when the teacher said, he/she survived from the challenges in teaching

English and Language Arts online through the help of immersive trainings and

webinars provided by their institution and other educational sectors. This simply

means that the integration of trainings and webinars enhanced the teacher’s capacity to

teach English and Language Arts to the students in this online set-up. It was evident in

the response that the teacher was acutely aware that their teaching role now required

the continued development of a range of both technical and communicative skills in

order to teach effectively online.

Negative Lived Experiences. To thoroughly discuss the negative lived

experiences, below are the following:

Students’ Lacking Motivation to Learn English Online. Motivation

of the students in learning English has changed during the pandemic for a variety of

reasons. Further, this condition led to a major challenge for the teachers as the

faculty must strike a balance between keeping students motivated and eager to

effectively learn English online. This can be observed in the following statements

below:

It is entirely not the same with face-to-face because in face-to-face, the

students can clarify, I can directly see their reactions, and they can ask
questions. But now in the context of teaching English and Language Arts
online, it's very hard because the students don't answer or participate.
They do not cooperate when I ask something related to the discussion or
call some students to volunteer but instead, they will just turn off their
microphones until the end of the discussion and I find it disappointing
where sometimes I feel that I am not motivated to teach.
[LV: Teacher 3]

Also, with the students’ motivation, a lot of students don’t regard

English as a very essential subject and they do not take English
competence as an essential skill. So, it's more challenging to
 4

motivate them to learn English kay mawala ko sa passing bitaw

labaw na ron nga online set-up. So, mas lisod jud.

Also, with the students’ motivation, a lot of students don’t regard English
as a very essential subject and they do not take English competence as an
essential skill. So, it's more challenging to motivate them to learn English
especially now that we are in the online set-up.
[LV: Teacher 4]

To be honest, most of the time, students have several reasons upon

entering the virtual class because some will say that they are unable to
open their cameras and microphones or they do not have a strong internet
connection, power outages and such. I do not know if it’s actually
happening to those students, but I really find it frustrating. [LV: Teacher
2]

In the first response, the teacher struggled to deal with students who are not

willing to cooperate in the online discussions as they have just been turning off their

microphones when the teacher tries to ask questions related to the class discussion. In

this sense, the teacher finds it hard to encourage the students and to highly motivate

them to learn English online. The teacher also compared the advantage of face-to-face

from the online set-up as the teacher emphasized in the response, …in face-to-face,

the students can clarify, I can directly see their reactions, and they can ask

questions; while in the context of online set- up, the teacher accentuated in the same

response, they do not cooperate when I ask something related to the discussion

or call some students to volunteer but instead, they will just turn off their

microphones until the end of discussion. This implies that the students’ behavior

and their lacking of motivation to learn English online, affected the teacher’s

motivation.

In the second response, the teacher complains the difficulty of encouraging

demotivated students to learn English and Language Arts online as he/she asserted in

his/her response that several students disregard the essence and necessity of learning

this subject. This instance added to the

 4

challenges of the teacher to teach the subject online given that most students are not

intrinsically motivated to learn English and Language Arts. This means that the lack of

students’ motivation to learn English online affects the entire learning process as well

as losing the momentum of the teachers.

In the third response, the teacher expresses sentiments about the various

excuses of the students in attending synchronous classes. Students typically give

reasons such as being unable to switch on their cameras and microphones because they

are defective, having intermittent internet access, and experiencing power outages.

Such reasons made the teacher unsure whether or not the students are telling the truth.

It can be observed when the teacher said, I do not know if it’s actually happening to

those students, but I really find it frustrating. This assumes that the teacher is

confused whether the students are still motivated to learn English online or if they are

intentionally using those reasons to skip virtual classes.

Dilemma in Learning Tasks. After actual lectures were replaced by online

classes, the teachers experienced difficulty in teaching and giving assessments in

English and Language Arts. Issues arise when the physical distance between the

teacher and students affect the teachers’ teaching and assessment practices. This can

be proved in the following responses below:

I am not sure if they could really understand the lesson because, I can't
see them, and I don't teach them in an actual set-up. So, I can't really see
their expressions. It's really different when I teach face-to
-face and online because now, a lot of my lessons are mostly pre-
recorded. So, I can't really evaluate if they learn something through the
video discussions that I post.
[LV: Teacher 5]

The activities are the most challenging to administer because we are

limited to give activities that are feasible for the students which are
internet friendly and that they do not have to give out more resources like
money.
[LV: Teacher 2]
 4

The learning environment of both set-ups are very different. Unlike

before in the face-to-face, I can easily apply the techniques that I used to
teach my students. Now, the sudden shift from face-to-face to online
classes was very challenging because, there is a need for me to adjust and
re-assess my techniques that I have used before as well as incorporating
new teaching methodologies.
[LV: Teacher 6]

In the first response, the teacher is uncertain about the students’ understanding

towards the lesson because the teacher cannot see the students’ reactions and

feedbacks. Given that the teacher only gives pre-recorded videos for their lessons, the

teacher cannot evaluate the students’ learning related to the video lectures provided.

Here, the teacher also struggles in teaching and assessment for there are no natural

feedbacks from the students after they have watched the pre-recorded discussion. This

means that the teacher cannot guarantee that the contents of the pre-recorded

discussions were suitable and sufficient for the students.

In the second response, the teacher is challenged in giving learning activities

that are achievable on the students’ end amidst the pandemic. Since that the teacher is

only given limited time, he/she needs to think of activities that will not let the students

spend too much money and that the resources can only be found in their homes. In

here, the teacher is being challenged in providing feasible learning tasks that would

not afflict the teachers in teaching and giving assessment and that he/she had to ensure

that the learning tasks are student – friendly.

In the third utterance, the teacher highlighted the needs and the difficulties in

integrating new ways of teaching methodologies in teaching English and Language

Arts online. As stated by the teacher, the learning environment of both set-ups are

very different, he/she compared that it is easier

 4

for him/her to teach in the face-to-face rather than in the online set-up. The sudden

shift of classes from face-to-face to online made the teacher recognize the need to

improve his/her teaching techniques as evident in the his/her response, there is a

need for me to adjust and re-assess my techniques that I have used before as

well as incorporating new teaching methodologies. This has been a difficulty for

the teacher as he/she has to grasp to the changes as well as ensuring that there is an

alignment between teaching and assessment.

Instruction Preference in Teaching. Teachers have diverse teaching

preferences, and they consider and value the benefits of both online and face- to-face

learning differently. However, some teachers prefer teaching English and Language

Arts in traditional face-to-face learning modality than in online learning set-up. This

can be observed in the following utterances below:

It's difficult to teach English and Language Arts especially in the online
set-up because, I am used to having social interaction. I think, that this
subject could be learned more better if there is a social interaction or if
the classes took part in the face-to-face learning set- up.
[LV: Teacher 6]

Teaching English and Language Arts is quite challenging particularly on

the teacher's part because some students are not exposed to reading and
other macro skills and as a teacher, you need to help them to optimize
learning and at the same gain insights on language awareness. I believe it
would be much easier for me to teach this in face-to-face.
[LV: Teacher 1]

The first implementation of the new normal set up was very… very
difficult. One drawback that I experienced and until now is that, I still
complain about the lack of social interaction… I believe I can
communicate better when I am facing the person because I can
understand more with nonverbal and verbal cues.
[LV: Teacher 4]

To be honest, I really prefer teaching in face-to-face rather than in the

new learning set-up because I experienced a lot of challenges in teaching
online. One of these challenges that I have encountered is that, I had a
hard time to connect with my students because I cannot assure if they are
still learning or what part in the given lessons and activities that they find
difficult.
 4

[LV: Teacher 2]
In the first response, the teacher less preferred to teach English and Language

Arts online rather than the traditional face-to-face. The teacher pointed out that

teaching English and Language Arts in online set-up is more difficult compared to the

face-to-face context as he/she emphasized that this subject is much easier to teach in

face-to-face because there is a sufficient and meaningful social interaction. This

implies that the teacher's preference in delivering instruction is in favor of face-to-face

after comparing the experiences and difficulties of both teaching set-ups.

The second response indicated how the teacher inferred that it is difficult to

supervise students who have not yet thoroughly mastered the basic skills of reading,

writing, speaking, and listening. The teacher expressed the challenge in teaching

English and Language Arts in the online set-up that made the teacher believe that these

English teaching processes would be easier and more achievable if it is administered in

the face-to-face setting. Also, it is difficult in the teacher’s part to provide deeper

understanding or awareness towards English and Language Arts which can be seen in

his/her response, you need to help them to optimize learning and at the same time gain

insights on language awareness. Moreover, it also implies that the teacher must not

solely teach the subject but the teacher also needs to consider where the students lack

in English and Language Arts cultivation.

Found in the third response is associated in the first response, wherein it can be

extrapolated that the lack of social interaction in online learning set-up made the

teacher feel that it is more convenient in the face-to-face classes. The teacher believes

that it is easier for him/her to communicate when he/she is facing the students in

person because the teacher can get immediate feedback

 4

from students’ body language about how well they understood the information.

Therefore, the comparison of the teacher between online and face-to-face instruction

shows that the teacher prefers face-to-face classes due to the fact that the teacher’s

strength is seeing the students’ kinesics.

Further, the teacher’s comparison of online and face-to-face instruction in the

fourth response clearly indicates that the teacher still favored teaching in a face-to-face

class which can be seen in the response, I really prefer teaching in face-to-face

rather than in the new learning set-up. The teacher revealed that he/she

encountered challenges while conducting online sessions and one of these that he/she

experienced was connecting with the students. It is evident in the teacher’s response

when he/she said that, I had a hard time to connect with my students because I

cannot assure if they are still learning or what part in the given lessons and

activities that they find difficult. This means the teacher cannot determine whether

the students are still learning or not and if they have questions or concerns that need to

be addressed. Thus, it clearly shows that the instruction preference of the teacher is

more on the face-to-face set-up.

Poor Internet Access. Teachers and students must have sufficient internet

access and availability of different technological devices in order to implement online

learning during COVID-19. However, further gaps in internet connectivity were

identified when there were technological impediments frequently encountered by

students with limited online access. As one of the major challenges in the online setup,

here are the following responses that covered what had been claimed by the

participating teachers:

I think the challenging part is giving full instructions to the students

especially when having an intermittent connection. Also, it’s hard when
you cannot see your students when you want to give them feedback.
 5

[LV: Teacher 2]

Teaching English and other fields of English online is quite

challenging. For instance, when your students cannot decipher or cannot
hear you well when you speak English, especially when it is online
because some are having internet problems, and I would say that issues in
the internet connection really affect the entire class. [LV: Teacher 5]

We're experiencing difficulties connecting with our students, especially

when our internet connection is also inconsistent. As a teacher, I, too,
experienced bad internet connections, and there have been situations
where students have had the same. It's difficult to have an online
discussion because we're all needed to have an internet connection in this
kind of setup. Unfortunately, not all of our students and us, teachers, have
high-speed internet access, making it more challenging to meet them
halfway.
[LV: Teacher 3]

Aside from preparing your lesson plan, your PowerPoint

presentation and your video clips, I need to check my internet
connection din kasi. There are times that na disconnect ko or nag
lag ko tungod sa internet. It’s been acceptable if ang bata mawala,
but if ang teacher ang mawala, maundang ang klase. It is so hard
when you experience this tapos kalit lang… Bang! Napalungan si
Ma’am!

Aside from preparing lesson plan, PowerPoint presentation and video

clips, I, of course need to check my internet connection. There are times
that I would experience internet lagging and frequent disconnection
during online class meetings. It is acceptable if the student would
experience issues on internet connectivity but if there is an issue with the
teacher’s internet connection or if I got disconnected in the virtual class,
the momentum of the entire class would be affected.
[LV: Teacher 7]

In the first utterance, the teacher expressed that the challenging part is

providing feedback and instructions when the students are having intermittent

connection. A problem in the internet connection on the students’ end provided

restrictions to the teacher in giving absolute feedback. This means that, poor internet

access might be responsible for the teacher’s poorer feedback and engagement towards

the students.

In the second response, because of the slow internet connection of the students, it

affected the online teaching and learning experiences of English and

 5

Language Arts. Also, students cannot clearly hear to what the teacher is saying given

that the teacher uses English as the medium of instruction. The issue with the students'

poor internet access may affect their English learning and cause them to absorb less of

the lesson because, when there are issues with the internet connectivity and at the same

time the English language is used as the medium of instruction, it may add to the

students' difficulty in grasping the lesson because not everyone is good at the

language. With that, the issues of internet connectivity have caused difficulties for the

teacher in providing a good quality of English and Language discussion online.

In the third response, the teacher expresses difficulty in reaching out with the

students during online class discussions due to the unfavorable circumstances on the

teacher’s and students’ end. The teacher is unable to deliver instructions effectively,

especially when both the teacher's and students' internet connections become unstable

at the same time. This can be seen in the response, it's difficult to have an online

discussion… not all of our students and us, teachers, have high-speed internet

access, making it more challenging to meet them halfway. This certainly affects

the students' learning experiences as well as the teacher's online delivery of English

and Language Arts instruction.

In the fourth utterance, teachers also faced problems regarding the with the

internet connection speed. The teacher encountered lagging and frequent

disconnections due to his/her poor internet connection. Typically, when the student

disconnected from the online class, it is somehow acceptable. But if the teacher

disconnects during the online discussion, the entire class will be affected because the

teacher is the one who will exhibit and facilitate the learnings of the students. In this

respect, if the teacher has poor access to

 5

internet, the entire class discussion and quality of teaching English and Language Arts

will be affected.

Insufficient Technological Literacy. This refers to the insufficient

knowledge of the use of technology in terms of managing, integrating, and evaluating

information. Also, it hinders the development of one’s knowledge and skills to adapt

to changing technologies. In the context of the new learning mode, some teachers

were put under pressure to learn how to sync both successful teaching practices and

proper technology use. This can be seen in the utterance below:

During the first quarter, I was called at the guidance office

because a parent and the student actually made a complaint. I'm
not that techie techie so that's one of my weaknesses no… and I
am not really familiar with apps.

During the first quarter, I was called at the guidance office because a
parent and the student actually made a complaint. I'm not that really
good in technology so that's one of my weaknesses. I was completely
unprepared, and I'm not really confident and familiar in using apps.
[LV: Teacher 3]

In the response above, the teacher faced unintended consequence as seen in the

response, I was called at the guidance office because a parent and the student

actually made a complaint, due to his/her lack of technological knowledge. The

teacher was unprepared, unconfident, and unfamiliar with the apps needed for teaching

English and Language Arts online due to his/her lack of exposure in technology

beforehand. This unprepared and rapid change to online teaching generated concerns

not only about the effectiveness of online teaching itself, but also about how teachers

learn and adopt technology, as well as how learning is provided through this modality.

Quality and Authenticity of Students’ Learning. In this case, the

teacher experienced difficulty in measuring and assessing the students’

 5

accuracy of learning English and Language Arts. Teachers carefully look at students'

integrity and analyze the overall quality and authenticity of the student's output. By

assessing the students' general knowledge and output, the teacher can determine the

validity of their work, which might lead to the teacher being complacent that the

students are learning. This can be observed in the responses below:

For me writing is the hardest skill to teach because it's so hard to make
them create a writing output. It's so hard to check their paper, it's so hard
to guide them when it comes to writing because they can copy paste
things, they can paraphrase things, they can ask somebody to do their
writing tasks
[LV: Teacher 1]

To measure the students’ comprehension level and to measure the

accuracy of the student’s answers… I find it really hard to assure that
these ideas really came from the students. Knowing that cheating these
days, we cannot handle it in the new normal. LV: Teacher 2]

The most challenging part for me is the assessment. Since I do not know
if my students are honest with their modules especially that when the
pandemic started, the only activity I use to assess their knowledge is
through essay-writing. And I do not really know if they are honestly
doing their part.
[LV: Teacher 3]

In the first utterance, the teacher considered writing as a complex skill to teach

in this kind of learning set-up because it is difficult for the teacher to guide and assess

the student’s work given that the he/she cannot guarantee whether the students are

imposing trustworthiness with their output. Since the class is held online, there are

high chances that students will become overly reliant on the internet and will simply

copy everything. Also, the response showed that there are tendencies that the students

will have someone to make their outputs on their behalf. This means that assessing

students’ overall knowledge and validity of their works is difficult especially when it

is done online.
 5

In the second utterance, the teacher had issues in assessing the students’ overall

knowledge and comprehension, and ensuring the validity of their answers from the

given learning tasks. It was difficult for the teacher to assure that the answers for the

assigned tasks submitted by the students were based on their own knowledge and

perceptions. The teacher also shared a viewpoint about the prevalence of cheating in

the online learning modality since he/she cannot supervise or control the students’

behavior and honesty in the new normal learning set-up. With this, the quality and

authenticity of the students’ knowledge and output would be compromised.

In the third response, the teacher is disconcerted with the honesty of the students and

the credibility of their written outputs. Among the macro-skills, writing has been the

fundamental companion of the teacher in giving learning tasks and assessing students’

overall knowledge when the pandemic has taken place. This can be seen in the

teacher’s response when he/she said, …when the pandemic started, the only

activity I use to assess their knowledge is through essay-writing. This can be

concluded how the teacher relied on learning tasks that centered on writing,

specifically essay writing. However, the teacher’s reliance on writing tasks has led to

the teacher’s uncertainty about the authenticity and quality of his/her students'

learning.

Difficulty in Online Curriculum Demands. The teachers across the

country stood up to the challenging online teaching demands of not only transitioning

and adapting to online modes of instruction but also multi-tasking through learning

new technology, advising, attending official meetings, responding to students queries

outside of class hours, and much more. The teachers’ sentiments can be observed in

the following responses below:

 5

With the situation right now, it is really difficult because at first, I

have a feeling that I’m useless as a teacher, because I think my
students will not learn something from me through the screen or
through this kind of set up.
[LV: Teacher 3]

Everything is new to me. Teaching through online and making

activities through modules was very challenging. One of the
disadvantages I have encountered during the first implementation was
the module making because of the wide scope of English and language
arts that need to be included in their self-directed learning materials
that target

the learning competencies.

[LV: Teacher 7]

Also, addressing their queries is challenging because you need to

respond promptly. Personally, it is very stressful because of the way
the students reach to me because they keep on sending messages and
there are times that I cannot go directly to the messenger to check their
messages because I am very busy with other school-related works. I
find it disturbing also because even though it's time for you to rest,
they will instantly message in the middle of the night or even dawn.
[LV: Teacher 1]

I had a hard time managing my time, my personal time, putting

boundary between work and home, my lessons on how they are going
to be effectively done and, in the students, end.
[LV: Teacher 4]

In the first statement, it can be deduced that the teacher has doubts about

his/her own teaching abilities wherein it came to the point that he/she felt useless and

ineffective. This was one of the teachers' concerns as the demands of online teaching

arose and progressed. With this, the teacher was worried that the students might not

learn satisfactorily since they only converse virtually, and that the applicable abilities

in teaching online are inadequate to match the learning competencies that need to be

targeted.

The second utterance can be inferred that the teacher took crafting modules as

a challenge given that the teacher expressed how the online learning set-up was

diversified. Teachers were not only expected to teach the material, but some were

also assigned to create modules for students' self-

 5

directed learning resources. With a wide array of English and Language Arts, the

teacher had to endure strenuousness in providing modules that met the online

curriculum demands as well as the learning competencies.

In the third response, the teacher expressed the burnouts in responding to the

students’ concerns during the teacher’s personal time or outside the class hours.

Normally, it is the teachers’ responsibility to address the students’ questions, yet the

students have gone beyond the point where they bother the teacher and expect an

immediate response to their questions. It also came to the point where students were

interrupting the teacher's personal time by sending queries late at night. This online

curriculum demand has created new challenges for teachers because they must

compromise personal or private time in order to address the concerns and questions of

their students.

The last response, also showed that the teacher also had a hard time in setting

boundaries between personal and work space. The teacher here acknowledged that the

online learning set-up and its curriculum demands were stressful and challenging as

he/she has also need to have the ability to mentally and physically compartmentalize

his/her time and work. Moreover, the teacher also worries if the learning tasks were

effectively delivered and absorbed by the students. This means that the difficulty in

meeting the demand for online curriculum had a significant impact on work–life

balance, causing in physical and mental exhaustion among teachers.

Curriculum Planning and Implementation. Teachers have faced

difficulties in organizing and selecting topics when the broad categories of English and

Language Arts must be taught in a limited amount of time. Through the means of

curriculum, a certain school achieves its goal of educating learners

 5

with the knowledge, skills, and understanding that are needed in order to meet the

learning competencies and key to the success of educational programs. The difficulties

in organizing and selecting topics can be observed in the responses below:

With this pandemic, and in our school, we only meet the students once
a week per one hour. So that's very challenging, because you need to
teach them the topics for one week in just an hour. It’s very
challenging because you cannot make use of a lot of activities
especially if your subject has a lot of unfamiliar and broad content.
[LV: Teacher 3]

Teaching second language is quite difficult and at the same time fun.
It is difficult because there are broad categories and there are also
macro-skills that needs to be targeted. We have to follow and teach
everything even though the allotted time is not enough.
[LV: Teacher 5]

It is very challenging because of the limited time and the limited

options of activities. Since we have limited time plus we can't really
make it fun so it's challenging but still it's something I think we can
do. If we are interested to help those students and make things not
looking like a heavy task for them then it would be better.
[LV: Teacher 2]

In the first response, the teacher experienced difficulty in delivering the entire

weekly lesson for an hour which is very impossible and very challenging for the

teacher’s part. The teacher struggled to incapsulate the various topics in a short period

of time given that they only have one hour every week to discuss the lessons. As

implied in the teacher’s response, it’s very challenging because you cannot make

use of a lot of activities especially if your subject has a lot of unfamiliar and

broad content, the teacher also struggled to create useful and interesting activities

that would help the teacher introduce English and Language Arts that cover a broad

range of topics. To discuss the various topics compressed in one week made the

teacher experienced problems in

 5

organization and selection of topics because there may be an issue within the

curriculum planning and implementation.

In the second response, the teacher expressed how teaching English as a second

language is difficult but at the same time fun and interesting. The teacher punctuated

that English and Language Arts is indeed difficult because of the broad categories that

needs to be considered in teaching it. English involves broad range of categories as

he/she do not just deliver the topics but is also responsible for directing students

towards mastery of the four macro- skills (reading, writing, speaking, listening). Due

to this, the teacher is having a hard time in organizing and selecting the topics to be

discussed in a short span of time.

In the third response, the limited time and resources hinders the capacity of the

teacher in teaching English and Language Arts online. These instances challenged the

teacher to make the subject fun and interactive given the difficulty of imparting

instructions through an online learning setup and the requirement to complete and

meet the online curriculum demands. With this, due to the limited time and resources,

the teacher finds it difficult to maximize the instruction needed in teaching the subject

due to the time and resource constraints. Therefore, there should be a change or an

improvement within the planning and implementation of curriculum which is evident

in teacher's experience.

Insights Shared by the Participants

Based on the conducted analysis several themes have emerged as shown in Table

2. In this section, the insights that participants share to the students,

 5

fellow teachers, and administrators involved the: Well-established Curriculum Plan,

Teachers’ Readiness in Online Instruction, and Reciprocation in Teaching and

Learning Process. For further explanation, themes are presented below with sample

responses from the respondents:

Well-established Curriculum Plan. Curriculum is relied on by everyone,

including students, teachers, administrators, parents, the community, and other

stakeholders, to provide a high-quality education. Curriculum directs the expectations

of everybody and that its components consist of objectives, content, learning

experiences as well as teaching and learning strategies, activities and evaluation

approaches that are well- established. This can be observed in the responses below:

My recommendations to the administration in terms of the curriculum

planning is to set their instructions very well because at the end of the
day, the teachers will shoulder all of the responsibilities in managing and
delivering them to the class.
[LV: Teacher 1]

They should establish uniformity, standardized, and clear instructions

because we couldn’t perceive all of the things that they are relying to us.
[LV: Teacher 2]

There is a need for a consistent policy, where it will not favor one
department and the syllabus should contain what's essential because the
students will really needed in their lives.
ask if it's really
[LV: Teacher 4]

Teachers should be given more enough time in planning so that the

activities to be applied are more engaging for learners. Everyone should
be involved in planning.
[LV: Teacher 5]

In the first and second response, both of the teachers recommended the

administration to employ well-established instructions for the teachers to deliver

them accordingly and effectively. Also, both of the teachers rely on these instructions

as they are accountable for the learning of the learners.

 6

Table 2
Insights Shared by the Participants
Formulated Cluster themes Emergent
Meanings Theme
The teacher suggests Clarity of Instruction Well-established
having a well-constructed and Plan Curriculum Plan
curriculum plan.
[LV: Teacher 1]

The teacher
recommends uniformity
and clarity of instructions
for them to
properly execute the
given tasks.
[LV: Teacher 2]

Teacher suggests for

consistent policy and the
syllabus should only
contain essential topics.
[LV: Teacher 4]

The teacher advocates to Sufficient Time for

carefully plan and have Planning
enough time for planning
lessons and activities for
more engaging lectures.
[LV: Teacher 5]

Teacher encourages to Online Teaching Teachers’ Readiness

implement immersive Training in Online Instruction
webinars to become fully Implementation for
equipped with knowledge Teachers
regarding on the new
learning platform.
[LV: Teacher 2]

A need for dry run before

the implementation of
rules for new learning
setup and encourage
teachers to attend
webinars and trainings.
[LV: Teacher 6]

The teacher advises the Encouraging Reciprocation in

students to become more Student’s Teaching and
cooperative and more Participation Learning Process
 6

resilient and cope up with

the stress during this new
normal set-up of learning.
[LV: Teacher 3]

The teacher urges the

students to become more
passionate, responsible, and
have the initiative to
communicate with their
teachers.
[LV: Teacher 7]

This implies that the teacher's performance and means of teaching might be affected if

there is no uniformity and clarity of instruction and planning of curriculum. Thus, the

teacher sought for administrative assistance in guiding and making it easier for them to

align their teaching approaches with students’ academic needs in order for them to

succeed.

In the third response, the teacher proffered the need of consistent policy and

syllabus even in the online set-up. The teacher also stressed the necessity of including

topics that are important not only for the students' general knowledge but are also

purposeful and relevant in their lives. Teachers must use curriculum that fosters

personal connections with students, whether by emotionally engaging them or

connecting new information to previously acquired knowledge. Without it, students

may not only become disengaged and inattentive, but they may also lose willingness to

strive and learn online. Therefore, there should be clarity of instruction and plan as

well as providing a well-established curriculum that incorporate relevant and

meaningful activities that both engage students cognitively and affectively in learning

English and Language Arts.

 6

In the fourth utterance, the teacher highlighted the significance of taking

deliberate and adequate time to organize the lessons and activities of English and

Language Arts to be used and delivered in the online class. These activities and

lectures must be both engaging for the students and convenient for the teachers. The

teacher also encourage that everyone should be involved in planning the curriculum

including the administrators, teachers, parents, and students. Their involvement in

curriculum development and planning improves the precision and clarity with which

judgments concerning the aims and means of curriculum demands are made.

Teachers’ Readiness in Online Instruction. Teachers are encouraged to

undergo professional development in a virtual environment to build and enhance

teachers’ capacity to develop e-learning and creativity skills. Professional

development should include training and learning opportunities that are effective,

sustainable, high-quality, accessible and relevant for the teachers. This can be seen in

the given statements below:

They will also conduct seminars on how we conduct the online class
because as far as I can remember, we did not have the chance to have a
seminar regarding on how we will conduct the new platform of learning.
[LV: Teacher 2]

There should be a dry-run before implementing the new set-up rules.

Teachers should be given time to attend trainings and seminars.
[LV: Teacher 6]
In the first response, the teacher suggested to the administrators to provide

online teaching trainings and seminars to aid teachers to become more competent and

well-equipped with the necessary skills needed in teaching English and Language Arts

in the new learning platform. Some teachers were not given the opportunity to

participate in various online trainings and seminars

 6

before they began teaching in the online setting. Best practices for teaching should

drive technology use, utilization of online platforms, and awareness of effective

learning tools that can be integrated in the class that will encourage students to be

eager and motivated to learn. These online teaching training implementation for

teachers should also focus on skills that can quickly transfer to an online or remote

environment and provide comprehensive professional development support focusing

on pedagogy using technology.

In the second response, the teacher urged the administrators that a dry- run

should be conducted before implementing the new online learning set-up to prepare

teachers on the shift to new modes of distance learning. The teacher also encourages

other fellow teachers to attend and participate online trainings and webinars to boost

their consistency in implementing high-quality, personalized and engaging content and

instruction. Schools should mandate consistent and clear instructional practices and

expectations that would support and ensure teachers’ readiness in online instruction.

Reciprocation in Teaching and Learning Process. It promotes the

participation of student and teacher in the teaching and learning process and build a

classroom community that ensures a reciprocity in the classroom where students and

instructors are expected to give and take efforts and participation in the entire learning

process. This can be discerned in the utterances below:

Students really need to be more cooperative. They need to be more

responsible. And they need to know that students really need or really
have to communicate with their teachers. The students must learn to
manage their time, cope with stress, build resiliency, and learn to
communicate and solve problems.
[LV: Teacher 3]

I hope students would be more open, strengthen participation in the class

and passionate in learning. Students also should understand
 6

that they have to make use of their time as much as they can or make
the most out of the pandemic, for their own advantage.
[LV: Teacher 7]
In the first utterance, the teacher encourages the students’ participation through

becoming more cooperative and responsible in their learning. According to the teacher,

being a cooperative and responsible learner must utilize their time well, they know

how to handle stress and pressure, being resilient, and know how to politely reach out

to their teachers. If students do not demonstrate these attributes, there will be no

reciprocation of the teaching and learning process between teachers and students

because it is vital for both teachers and students to work together to reach a common

goal in learning English and Language Arts.

In the last utterance, the teacher suggested the students to become more open to

new learning and passionately engage themselves in the learning process. The teacher

added that students should make the most out of their time learning despite the

pandemic because it would be easier for the teacher’s part if the students would also

exert their efforts. The reciprocation in teaching and learning process takes place when

it does not solely rely on the teacher’s duty but it also involves the student’s learning

engagement. Lastly, the teacher encourages students to build harmonious relationship

in which the teacher and students understand each other's perception and communicate

meaningfully.
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Chapter 5

DISCUSSION

Lived experience is defined as a representation and understanding of the

researchers’ or study the human experiences, choices, and possibilities, as well as the

knowledge that they gain from these factors. It is at the core of human’s experiences

(Given, 2008), and does not critique individual lives but rather serves as a testimonial

gained through direct and first-hand involvement in everyday events. In the context of

this study, the concept of lived experience is used to unearth the lived experiences of

the Senior High School teachers in teaching English and Language Arts during

pandemic. It is essential to understand the teachers’ experiences on how they approach

the teaching of English and Language Arts in the new learning set-up as the enormous

changes in the education system have caused the teachers to encounter drawbacks as a

result of the major educational disruption imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, there were also coping mechanisms and advantages that helped them to get

through all of the difficulties brought by the pandemic. Undoubtedly, these lived

experiences would serve as an eye- opener to the administration and other educational

sectors.

Herein, based on the analysis conducted, several themes have emerged. In

terms of the lived experiences of the teachers in teaching English and Language Arts,

the positive lived experiences, involved the following: Use of Online Learning

Modalities, Use of Audio-Visual Learning Materials, Planning and Creating

Learning Activities, Increases Creativity in Teaching, Teacher’s Empathy

Augmentation, and Professional Development. On the other hand, in terms of the

negative lived experiences, it involved the following: Students’

 66

Lacking Motivation to Learn English Online, Dilemma in Learning Tasks,

Instruction Preference in Teaching, Poor Internet Access, Insufficient

Technological Literacy, Quality and Authenticity of Students’ Learning,

Difficulty in Online Curriculum Demands, Curriculum Planning and

Implementation, and Consistency of Teaching and Learning Material.

Furthermore, the insights shared by the participants involved the following: Well-

established Curriculum Plan, Teachers’ Readiness in Online Instruction, and

Reciprocation in Teaching and Learning Process.

Lived Experiences of Senior High School

Teachers in Teaching English and Language Arts
To comprehensively discuss the positive lived experiences, below are the
following:
Use of Online Learning Modalities. The use of online learning modalities

as a positive lived experience is supported by Li and Lalani (2020) stating that, many

online educational platforms, videoconferencing software, and social media offered a

significant role for teachers in teaching subjects online. This is consistent with the

result for example as mentioned by Teacher 1, I use Grammarly to check their

outputs if it is copy-pasted or not and I use YouTube to reinforce learning.

The Grammarly App was used by Teacher 1 to assess the students’ learning

especially checking the overall originality score of the students’ outputs. This is

supported by Schraudner (2013), that Grammarly App can be best used by the teachers

if they want to detect the plagiarism score as this app checks writing content against a

database of eight billion web pages. Since not all teachers can prove if the students

really did their own outputs, the teacher has thought of using Grammarly App to check

if the students have plagiarized their outputs before submitting it to their teacher. This

implies that the use of online

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modality gave the teacher the assurance and the chance to experience the ease to

evaluate the originality of the students’ outputs.

The teacher’s use of YouTube was exemplified when the teacher mentioned in

his/her response that he/she has used this app to reinforce and substantiate the learning

of the students through incorporating interactive video lectures. YouTube videos are

widely used in the academic field as it reinforces class discussions and involve

students through the audio and images used (Cardine, 2008). As the teacher said, I use

YouTube to reinforce learning, can be implied that the teacher uses this online

platform to support and strengthen his/her discussions and bring their learning on a

deep enough level to help the students add to their prior knowledge and receive more

useful concepts related to the teachings of English and Language Arts. Moreover,

since it is pandemic and all of the teaching and learning processes are placed online,

YouTube has been a great of help to the teacher in order to supply more learnings and

insights that the students can gain if ever there maybe validations or questions from

what were discussed by the teacher. Thus, as shown in the result, the use of online

modalities assisted the teacher to make the learning increase and more meaningful

since the teacher rely on the help of YouTube.

Online videoconferencing platforms such as Google Meet and Zoom have been

the avenue of the teachers to deliver their classes and maintain communication among

their students when the pandemic started which can be proved by Castelo (2020) that

videoconferencing platforms have indeed become a prominent part of K–12 education

during the pandemic. The teacher has used these to reach out and communicate more

with the students as seen in the response I try to reach out to the students

more… like using Zoom or

 68

Google meet sessions or any kind of platform. This notion is supported by

England (2012), that during online learning, the online video-conferencing tools such

as Google Classroom, Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, and etc. aids the teachers to

connect and communicate efficiently and effectively to their students. In the result, the

teacher realized that it is easier to communicate with the students using such online

platforms because they want to put an end to the lack of social interaction that the new

learning set-up brought to the education system. The teacher has fulfilled the learning

despite missing in- person interactions with the assistance of the variety of online

platforms such as Google Meet and Zoom. It is important to note that these online

modalities are not solely used for classroom discussions but also to talk or catch-up

with their students during remote learning.

Planning and Creating Learning Activities. The planning and creating

of learning activities as one of the positive lived experiences of the teachers is

supported by University of Illinois Springfield (2021) that learning experiences should

be appropriately designed and facilitated by knowledgeable educators to accomplish

effective online instruction. In the result, teachers make sure that they use active

learning tasks that are accompanied with clear learning goals and to keep the English

and Language Arts class more meaningful. This is consistent with the response of

Teacher 2, I use to divide the class into breakout sessions or having a grouping

to keep the students engaged with the learning experience and using of collaborating

activities to let the students share ideas, discuss, and collectively brainstorm with their

classmates during online learning. The teacher’s design of activities that incorporating

such goals in making learning activities help students refine their own ideas as

well as help the

 69

teacher provide activities that create opportunities for interaction to make online

learning more interactive.

Teacher 7 incorporate activities that are latest and interactive when he/she

plans on what to include in the instructional and learning materials as shown in the

response I use again, interactive materials and up-to-date materials and fun

materials to be parallel to the goal or role as teachers. To be parallel to the

goal or role as teachers can be extracted that the teacher intends to include such

activities when he/she plans for learning activities as it is one of the teacher’s and

curriculum’s goal which is to produce an effective online learning and that the use of

those activities will align and assist with the aforementioned. With this, even during

online classes, the teacher is able to motivate the students to learn and let them

participate in the online English class.

The development of learning exercises that caters multiple intelligences was

the strategy of Teacher 6. As said in the response, we developed exercises that

target the students' multiple intelligences still help the teacher to build an effective

online English classroom. By allowing the diverse learners to undertake activities that

incorporates multiple intelligences, helps the teacher provide a flexible, collaborative,

and interactive online learning environment. This is supported by Krishnasamy, Lee,

and Palaniappan (2003) that in planning learning activities, it should be associated to

the individual's learning style based on Multiple Intelligences to perceive a preferred

learning mode, which in turn help the teacher to organize and produce successful

learning. If the teacher will only focus on one learning style, it would then affect

his/her teaching mode and

 70

performance because other students with other learning styles and if not catered will

possibly feel demotivated or discouraged to cooperate in the class.

Also, in planning and creating activities, it should not just focus on the

cognitive aspect but also inculcating performance-based tasks. In order to evaluate

what a learner can do in an English classroom, Teacher 5 evaluates the students

through the use of various performance tasks and not just on traditional assessments

which are only more on the cognitive aspect. This is supported by Abedi (2010), that

performance-based tasks and assessments are powerful alternative to the traditional

standardized achievement tasks. Outcomes from performance-based tasks help the

teacher to evaluate other macro skills such as listening and speaking because there is a

direct observation. It can be seen in the teacher’s response, we need to develop or to

focus more on the performance task of the students not just in reading and

writing skills wherein the teacher did not just focus on macro skills – reading and

writing, but it clearly shows that activities or tasks that favor listening and speaking

skills of the students, help the teacher achieve an online environment that provides

more in-depth information on academic needs of the students. These activities help

stimulate and supply more in-depth learning to target which students need special

attention and also keep them driven to learn online.

Increases Creativity in Teaching. The boost in the creativeness of

teachers in their teaching is supported by Anderson et al. (2021) that during distance

learning, teachers learned to integrate creative and artistic processes into their

instruction and curriculum which were accompanied with different teaching strategies

and techniques. This can be observed when Teacher 6 said in the response, despite

the difficulty we are now facing, I was able to strategize

 71

innovative activities that would help establish a conducive learning

environment for the students even in this kind of learning set-up. Teacher 6 have

established creativeness and competence in his/her teaching as he/she extracted

positive skills despite the given circumstances brought by the pandemic. In distance

learning, it is very challenging for most of the teachers to conduct classes as well as

keeping the learners motivated to learn. However, in this case the teacher was able to

significantly sync both approaches which in turn, improved the teacher’s creativity in

implementing activities and at the same time making sure that the students are

indulged to learn which can be seen in the response I also make sure that my

activities are fun and engaging so that even during pandemic, the students

would not get bored and stressed. Therefore, innovative activities created by the

teacher which is accounted to his/her increase in creativeness in teaching, helped

him/her establish a substantial overall online learning experience and organize an

online environment that is conducive for every learner.

In the response of Teacher 3, I can explore more of new strategies to apply

and re-assess my techniques in teaching English and Language Arts served as

an advantage in his/her skills brought by distance learning. There are certain

differences between traditional (face-to-face/classroom) learning and online learning.

And these differences are needed to be carefully assessed by the teachers depending on

the applicable learning mode in the given learning set-up. For example, some teachers

preferred continuing and maintaining the usual activities and teachings to replicate

traditional learning and interaction in the online class. Notwithstanding with the

aforementioned, Meyer (2021) emphasized that there should be an important

distinction between virtual and

 72

traditional learning as learning experiences in virtual are specifically designed and

allow the teachers to develop instructional knowledge and strategies needed to be

integrated with virtual learning as a pedagogical approach. This means that these

virtual learning links were designed to integrate diverse ways of learning and not to do

the same traditional approaches in the online learning set-up. That is, Teacher 3,

assessed well his/her teaching strategies and discover new applicable techniques that

are suited for online learning therefore, increases the teacher’s creativity in his/her

teaching.

Use of Audio-Visual Learning Materials. The use of audio-visual

learning materials as a positive lived experiences of the teachers is supported by

Amelia et. al (2020) that incorporating audio and visual learning materials

significantly provide special benefits in the delivery of learning materials online as

learning activities become uniformed, clearer, more interesting, and also fostered

positive attitude towards the materials being taught. This is consistent with the result

for example as mentioned by Teacher 4, I normally use PowerPoints and videos

for my English subject so that students will not get bored in learning English.

The teacher finds PowerPoint and other audio-visual materials as an alternative

learning media to bring out and strengthen students’ imagination, creativity, and

motivation when they are learning English, through using interesting pictures and

narration presented in the PowerPoint. Using of PPT by the teacher also stimulate dual

coding (audio and visual), so that the students can understand and retain better the

information they have received during online distance learning from home (Syafril and

Kurniawati, 2021).

Teacher 4 also mentioned, we could include music, movies, aside from the

literatures can be supported by Sudrajat, 2011 that audio-visual learning

 73

materials are physical means to essentially deliver and teach content through

incorporating books, films, videos and so on. Therefore, the teacher felt the

helpfulness to explain the subject matter easily, facilitate learning activities, more fun,

and increase learning motivation during online learning.

Teacher 7 integrate questions within the videos being watched by the students.

It is supported by Brame (2015) that in order for video to serve as a productive part of

a learning experience, teacher should use audio and visual materials to enhance

engagement and enthusiasm among students. In the response, I try to make use of

interactive videos, wherein they have to watch the video and then within the

video, there are questions that we have to answer, implies that active learning is

placed upon embedding questions in watching educational videos as it helps students

process the information and to monitor their own understanding. This activity also

allows lively discussion or exchanging of ideas in the class as the students critically

brainstorm and probe for deeper analysis because they can raise any questions or

clarification out from the educational videos they have watched given by the teacher.

The use of pre-recorded lessons by Teacher 1 has been his/her partner to teach

English and Language Arts online. It can be supported by Islam et. al (2020) that the

teachers use pre-recorded video lectures so that the students can watch it many times

as they want and that could also build independence among students. It is consistent

with the teacher 3’s claim I have learned how to edit video so that I can just do a

pre-recorded lesson and that all students can watch it anytime whenever they

want that the teacher produces pre-recorded video lessons to the students to have

video lectures that they can substantially use because of its “pause”, “stop”, and

“rewind” features which implies flexibility

 74

and convenience of listening to lectures at their own speed. Teachers are also able to

be considerate when using pre-recorded lessons because there are students that cannot

attend the live lectures. Having classes every day can be difficult for both teachers and

the students, hence, pre- recorded videos as an effective audio-visual material is a

good choice because there are no time restrictions. Both teachers and the students have

their freedom and control of their time as they can easily adjust depending on their

time of availability and teachers are able to disseminate the lessons as well as saving

their time and efforts. Lastly, successful learning would be more possible if the teacher

will allow students to reserve queries out from the given pre-recorded lessons and then

have another class discussion from those queries.

Teacher’s Empathy Augmentation. Empathy is one of the skills that

teachers should employ in order to enhance decision-making about the design of

remote learning experiences for students. This positive lived experience is supported

by Zinger (2020) that during this time of pandemic, teachers have become more

flexible and considerably accommodate the additional challenges that all of us are

facing especially to the students’ part. This is reflected to the response of Teacher 2,

…not all students could submit their activities on time in the online setting and

that I should be more considerate and understanding to the students’

situations which suggested that all of us, including the students have been

experiencing a lot of daily circumstances. And these circumstances might affect the

students’ performance which the teacher must keep an eye on.

The students’ feelings and situation provide the teachers information about

how they are doing in the learning environment. Perhaps the most sensible thing that

the teacher can do is to check the students if they are also

 75

under-resourced or being challenged due to the pandemic. Teachers are better

informed when they are aware of their students' feelings and situations, and they can

have open conversations with them to determine what is going well and what they can

do to improve their learning experiences and outcomes (Cipriano and Schlichtmann

2020). It is evident with the response of Teacher 2 as he/she become more considerate

to understand the students’ situations if ever they were not able to submit their

activities on time. Thus, the teacher’s augmented empathy made him/her rethink

his/her policies and deadlines in this time of pandemic.

Teacher 6 in his/her response I've become more understanding to the side

of the student because to be honest, I am this very strict teacher. Regardless of

how strict the teacher is, he/she has increased empathy and is thus more willing to

communicate with students as seen in his/her other response, I’ve also become more

open with the students through having consultations regarding with their

problems. The teacher is able to augment his/her empathy towards the students as

he/she applied positive disciplines and has built an attitude of mutual help through

extending communication with the students. Thus, learning can still continue even if

carried out in a distance due to the increase of understanding and empathy of the

teacher towards the students making the learning environment more calming and

positive.

Professional Development for Teachers. This positive lived experience

is supported by Toquero and Talidong (2020) that there have been great effects the

webinars and online workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic situation brought to

the teacher as there were opportunities to enhance their teaching performance in the

online set-up through enhancement

 76

and improvement with their digital literacy, flexibility in their teaching skills and

innovative pedagogical approach. This is consistent with Teacher 1’s response, I was

able to survive teaching English and Language Arts during the first

implementation of online learning set-up because of the immersive trainings

and webinars wherein the webinars and online trainings have paved the way for the

teacher to address the challenges in remote teaching as he/she was able to survive

while simultaneously maintaining excellence in teaching in the online set-up.

In the absence of face-to-face, webinar-based training is able to supplement the

educators’ competencies and enhance their virtual teaching strategies. Moreover,

numerous professional development courses worldwide for teachers are made possible

through webinars that also include pursuing their development innovative use of

technology to support 21st century skills development, including problem solving,

collaboration, and critical thinking (Softic, 2020). Nonetheless, webinars are indeed

reliable for ensuring better distant learning which is also evident in Teacher 1’s

response as this allow the teachers to improve their teaching practices and pedagogical

innovations that best suit their context and their own professional needs throughout

this crisis.

Negative Lived Experiences. To thoroughly discuss the negative lived

experiences, below are the following:

Student's Lack of Motivation to learn English online. The student's

lack of motivation to learn English online as one of the negative lived experiences of

the teachers is supported by Gustiani (2020) that due to the sudden transition from the

traditional face-to-face learning to remote online learning, it negatively impacted the

willingness of the students to learn. Students

 77

give various reasons to learn English online and are unable to actively participate in

the virtual class which somehow negatively affects the teaching and learning process.

This can be observed in the response of Teacher 3, … but in the context of teaching

English and Language Arts, it's very hard because students don’t answer and

participate. This implies that the teacher struggles to teach the subject online due to

the students' behavior of being uninterested and non-participative in the class

discussion which in turn, impacts the learning as well as the teaching motivation of the

teachers.

Further, the challenges to encouraging unmotivated students to learn English

and Language Arts online was the concern of Teacher 4. As said in the response, So,

it's more challenging to motivate them to learn English especially now that we

are in the online set-up. This situation compounded the teacher's difficulties in

teaching the subject online, as most students are not driven to learn English and

Language Arts. During the online set-up, a lot of students become unmotivated also

because of the different factors that affect their learning motivation and this leads to

impact their learning process during the online classes. Therefore, this indicates that a

lack of student motivation to study English online has an impact on the overall

learning process.

In the new learning mode specifically online, teachers are having difficulty

persuading learners to learn online in the new learning mode since students assert

numerous reasons for accessing the virtual classroom (Simamora, 2020). This can be

observed in the utterance of Teacher 2, …students have several reasons upon

entering the virtual class. This implies, that the teacher is uncertain whether the

students are still interested to learn English and Language Arts or not due to a variety

of reasons that the students often say to

 78

their teacher. Also, due to the sudden transition of the new learning mode to online

learning, the teacher struggles to deliver his/her lesson as shown in the response that it

inhibits the teaching delivery when the students' learning motivation to learn this

subject is lower.

Dilemma in Learning Tasks. The COVID-19 pandemic generated

upheavals in the educational system. This has resulted in challenges for some teachers

as it has caused uncertainty in their delivery of learning tasks to the students. Since it

is in an online learning set-up, some teachers are unsure if the learning tasks provided

to the students are adequate to their learning. This negative lived experience is

supported by Pokhrel & Chhetri (2020) that student learning tasks are now conducted

online, causing teachers to be indecisive of how to properly deliver to students in a

way that is compatible with their learning. This can be observed in the utterance of

Teacher 5, I am not sure if they could really understand the lesson. In this new

learning mode, most teachers are struggling in giving learning tasks that are suitable

for the learning of the students.

In this new normal education, teachers mostly incorporated and employed pre-

recorded videos to deliver course information and for additional learning resources

that the students can utilize. However, this also creates a disadvantage to the

absorption of knowledge and learnings that hinders the effectivity of teachers to the

delivery of learning tasks whether the students learn since some students are reluctant

to browse the provided pre-recorded videos. This is supported in the claim of Oracion

(2019) stated that in online- based learning, pre-recorded video lesson does not

guarantee to assess the overall understanding of the learners towards the lesson and

this leads to the barrier of

 79

teachers and developed precariousness on the suitability of learning activities towards

the students. This is consistent in the response of Teacher 5 saying,

…a lot of my lessons are mostly pre-recorded. So, I can't really evaluate if they

learn something through the video discussions that I post.

Herein, this means that Teacher 5 has developed difficulty in regards to his/her

teaching and assessment since he/she cannot guarantee that the provided pre-recorded

discussions were appropriate and caters to the learning needs of the students. In the

response of Teacher 2 activities are the most challenging to administer

because we are limited to give activities that are feasible for the students.

Teacher 2 is experiencing drawbacks in giving learning tasks to the students that are

accessible on the student's end. Due to the abrupt shift of learning mode to online,

several concerns arise especially in the arena of education. Teachers are great agents

in the transmission of learning to the students. Also, the learning tasks should not

give inconveniences to the students and the teacher must ensure that these are

effective and at the same time will aid learners to comprehensively learn. However, in

the case of Teacher 2, he/she is challenged in giving learning tasks to the students

considering their respective situations. Thus, this adds to the dilemma of learning

tasks as Teacher 2 is challenged in creating viable learning tasks that will not

interfere with the teacher's ability to teach and assess, as well as ensuring that the

learning tasks are designed and suitable to the learning needs of the students.

The pandemic greatly impacts education and it creates various concerns faced

by teachers in online education. Many teachers are experiencing drawbacks and have

impacted teacher's teaching methodologies on how they deliver and give learning tasks

to the students in an online class. In the response

 80

of Teacher 6, the online class was very challenging, and there is a need for me

to adjust and re-assess my techniques as well as incorporating new teaching

methodologies. In line with this, Teacher 6 has recognized the urgency to alter

his/her teaching methods as a result of the transition of education to remote learning or

online. In this new normal education, many teachers are not inclined to the new

learning mode since most of them prefer face-to-face mode of instructions. This is

regarded as one of the challenges on how teachers adjust and adapt to the new learning

delivery and at the same time effectively manage their teaching techniques and

methodologies that still meet the learning demands of the students. Thus, Teacher 6 is

in difficulty since he/she must adapt to the changes while also ensuring that his/her

teaching, providing learning tasks, and evaluation are in accordance with the learning

needs of the students.

Poor Internet Access. The poor internet connectivity as a negative lived

experience is supported by Ghavifekr et al. (2016) which stated that it is one of the

hurdles to the integration of new learning modes, posing great challenges in the

application of instructions in the online environment, affecting both learner and

teacher engagement. This can be seen in the response when Teacher 2 stated that, I

think the challenging part is giving full instructions to the students especially

when having an intermittent connection. In this case, the teacher is having issues in

providing instructions when students' internet connection is inconsistent. Undoubtedly,

in the realm of online teaching, issues regarding internet connection are the most

difficult part, especially when having online sessions. Thus, as shown in the results,

the teacher's difficulty is pertinent as it impedes his/her ability to deliver English and

Language Arts instructions and

 81

was limited in giving feedbacks to the lessons interaction online due to student's

internet connection concerns.

Teacher 5 experienced drawbacks in the online set-up as he/she shared how

issues in the internet connection impact the entire class as shown in the response, I

would say that issues in the internet connection really affect the entire class.

Teachers' teaching quality advancement in teaching English and Language Arts has

been influenced by the shift in education to remote learning. The efficacy of teaching

delivery online is influenced by several factors that arise in the new learning mode and

one of these is internet connectivity. In the case of the teacher, he/she is having a

difficult task in the quality instructional delivery as the impediment of internet access.

Aside from that, not only for the part of the teacher but the students cannot effectively

grasp the lesson for the fact that there is intermittent connection. When there is a

problem with the internet connection, it creates a barrier in the effectiveness of online

delivery and it also creates drawbacks on the part of the teacher. Thus, this only means

that lack or poor internet access has a significant impact on lowering the quality of

teaching delivery in an online setting.

Having high-speed internet is an advantage in online learning classes. It

strengthens the learning connection between the teacher and the students. However, if

a poor internet connection arises, this could impact the teaching and learning process.

This can be observed in the response of Teacher 3, not

all students and us, teachers have high-speed internet access making it more

challenging to meet them halfway. In this case, Teacher 3 is having difficulty in

connecting with his/her students since both of them are encountering unfavorable

circumstances due to the issues on the internet. This certainly

 82

impacts the discussion and creates a connection gap between the teacher and the

students. This is supported by the claim of Iftakhar (2016) that a virtual

classroom's disadvantage is its poor internet connection, making it difficult for both

teachers and students to create a conducive online learning environment.

In online learning, internet connectivity has a crucial role as it creates all sorts

of learning, information, and educational resources. Teachers use internet resources to

plan classes, and students use them to broaden their learning opportunities. Teachers

can provide more attention to individual students' needs and facilitate shared learning

through interactive teaching methods, which are aided by the internet. However, as

problems arise concerning the internet it could give disruptions to the learning process.

Therefore, having poor internet access could be a factor in the unproductivity of

teaching and learning. In the response of Teacher 7, I got disconnected in the virtual

class, the momentum of the entire class was affected. Teacher 7 experienced

disconnections and lagging due to his/her inadequate internet connection. Teachers

play a pivotal role in the effectivity of instruction delivery in both face- to-face and

online setting wherein teacher guides students through providing learning activities.

These experiences are frequently planned and created far in advance of the

commencement of the course so that the teacher efficiently directs students in the

learning process. However, with the sudden shift of learning to online, it is somehow

different and caused teachers with several barriers specifically when encountering

poor internet access and it is a challenging part especially when teachers experience

this circumstance. This is supported by (Gillet, 2017) that in online learning, teachers

are a great factor in the learning process of the students but teachers who are

experiencing slow internet connection affect the

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overall online teaching delivery and become an impediment in the effectiveness of

learning. There is a major difference between the face-to-face and online

modalities in terms of instruction delivery. In the online set-up, it is indeed a

struggle since internet access is the main use as to implementing synchronous class.

Thus, when a teacher's internet connection is limited, the entire class interaction

and the quality of English and Language Arts instruction will degrade. Insufficient

Technological Literacy. The teacher’s lack of

technological knowledge and skills used in teaching is supported by Khanal (2020)

which states that, teachers began in teaching online with a very little knowledge,

abilities, experience or even familiarization in the use of technology, and it became

one of their weaknesses. This can be observed when Teacher 3 said that, I'm not that

really good in technology so that's one of my weaknesses. I was completely

unprepared, and I'm not really confident and familiar in using apps. The

insufficiency of teachers’ knowledge towards the use of technology affects his/her

ability to teach virtually. This is also supported by Munastiwi and Puryono (2021) that

during COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had a hard time to deliver education due to

their lack of technological mastery. In this new learning set up, the teacher has been

asked to perform something for which he/she is unprepared and unconfident. With

the abrupt transition in learning modes from face-to-face to online learning, which

necessarily involves the integration of

technology, the teacher is obliged to adapt.

In the first implementation of the new normal set up, the teacher is having

issues in utilizing the applications used in teaching which has led in an increase in

student complaints. This can be seen in the response, during the first quarter, I was

called at the guidance office because a parent and the student actually
 84

made a complaint. We cannot blame that there are really teachers who were not

really good in terms of technology and this is also true to most of the teachers since

during face-to-face classes, there were only few technological tools and apps that the

teachers use in the class. If not mastered, some teachers don’t put enough attention on

strengthening their skills and technology. As we are technologically advancing,

teachers were encouraged to increase their 21st century technological skills for them to

be able to become more competitive and equipped in their field. One of these

evidences can be noticed in Teacher 3's response, and he/she reached to the point

where he/she was placed in a consequence. This means that a teacher's lack of

technology knowledge has a significant impact on his or her ability to demonstrate and

facilitate a comprehensive online learning.

Quality and Authenticity of Students’ Learning. The difficulty of

teachers in assessing students’ output is supported by Kearns (2012) which states that,

teachers face a variety of challenges in giving meaningful feedback to assist students

in achieving their learning objectives, particularly in the area of writing skills. This can

be observed when Teacher 1 said, It's so hard to check their paper, it's so hard to

guide them when it comes to writing. The teacher is having difficulties assessing

the quality of the students' work for a variety of reasons, including cheating or

plagiarism. This can also be seen in the response of Teacher 2 saying, I find it really

hard to assure that these ideas really came from the students. Knowing that

cheating these days are rampant, we cannot handle it in the new normal.

Cheating is now one of the most common issues in online learning, because

students may quickly copy and paste anything given that information
 85

is freely available on the internet. Students also weren’t aware that teachers are also

able to check the originality of their outputs. However, this is not true to all teachers as

not all schools and teachers use a plagiarism checker to verify students’ originality of

outputs. During face-to-face, it is somehow easy for the teacher to check written

outputs of the students especially when done in the classroom as the teachers can just

observe the students in-person. But during the pandemic and everything has been

placed to the online set-up, it is hard now to assess students’ honesty in their activities.

Thus, this problem has been still a challenge as they cannot guarantee that students'

work is authentic or that it is the result of their own efforts and ideas.

In addition, teacher 3 also expressed his/her difficulty in assessing the students’

work and this can be observed in his/her response, The most challenging part for

me is the assessment. Since I do not know if my students are honest with their

modules especially that when the pandemic started, the only activity I use to

assess their knowledge is through essay-writing. During the sudden shift of

classes due to the pandemic, teachers have thought of alternative activities to assess

students' learning. And in an online English classroom, teachers usually assess the

students’ learning through essay- writing. However, even this alternative exercise, is

no longer reliable because the teacher has no way of knowing whether the students are

being truthful with their outputs. Hence, assessing the quality and authenticity of

students' learning is a significant problem for teachers in this new learning

environment.

Difficulty in Online Curriculum Demands. The challenges in coping with

online curriculum demands is supported by Yengin et al. (2011), which states that

during the first implementation of online learning it affected the

 86

teachers’ perception of their capacity to effectively discuss the educational material.

This can be observed in the response of Teacher 3, I have a feeling that I’m useless

as a teacher, because I think my students will not learn something from me.

Teacher 3 has established doubts in his/her capabilities to teach online during the first

implementation of this new learning set-up. The teacher was concerned about his/her

students’ learning since he/she is unsure if they have learned anything from him/her or

if he/she has been effective in teaching the subject online. Thus, the rising demands of

this new normal set- up made the teacher questioned his/her capacity to become an

effective teacher.

Moreover, in the response of Teacher 7, teaching through online and

making activities through modules was very challenging, showed that crafting

modules and activities was also one of the most challenging parts in teaching online.

Notwithstanding the threats posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers continue to

assist students by creating modules that act as their learning guide. Due to the wide

range of topics that must be encapsulated in one subject, creating modules was a

difficulty for the teacher. This can be seen in the response, one of the disadvantages

I have encountered during the first implementation was the module making

because of the wide scope of English and Language Arts that need to be

included in their self-directed learning materials that target the learning

competencies. This implies that this curriculum demands brought challenges to the

teachers, especially in creating activities through modules that would target the

learning objectives.

Another demand of this curriculum that the teacher considered as quite

challenging is catering the students’ concerns beyond office hours. This can be
 87

seen in the response of Teacher 1 which states that, addressing their queries is

challenging because you need to respond promptly… I find it disturbing also

because even though it's time for you to rest, they will instantly message in the

middle of the night or even dawn. The new learning set-up made the teachers

available 24/7 to cater the students’ concerns. Teachers also have life outside their jobs

as a teacher but some students seem to be unaware of it. This merely demonstrates that

students have little regard for the teacher's personal time, causing the teacher to

become exhausted as he/she have other responsibilities aside from responding to the

students’ queries.

On the other hand, Teacher 4 expressed his/her difficulty in managing his/her

time because he/she can’t manage to set boundaries between his/her personal and

work life. This can be observed in his/her response, I had a hard time managing

my time, my personal time, putting boundary between work and home.

Teachers were bombarded with inquiries from students, to the point where the

teacher needed to set apart personal time to entertain work. This means that the

demands of this online curriculum affected the teacher in terms of maintaining

boundaries. Furthermore, in the online set-up, teachers are still obliged to continue

helping the students at all times which is still part of the curriculum demands and

this have evidently caused challenges for the teachers. Curriculum

Planning and Implementation. The difficulties in

organizing and selecting topics with broad categories is supported by the claim of Li et

al. (2021) which implies that, designing a curriculum that covers a wide range of

topics is difficult in this time of pandemic, because teachers should prepare and

present a set of activities that meet the learning objectives. This can be seen in the

response of Teacher 3 which asserts that, it’s very

 88

challenging because you cannot make use of a lot of activities especially if

your subject has a lot of unfamiliar and broad content. Teacher 3 indicated that it

is challenging to incorporate a set of activities that are connected to the subject given

that it involved a variety of subtopics. Also, the teacher is having difficulty in

discussing series of topics that are intended to be taught for 1 week, because he/she

needs to incapsulate all the topics in just an hour of class discussion. This can still be

seen the teacher’s response, so that's very challenging, because you need to teach them

the topics for one week in just an hour. This means that, the teacher had trouble in

selecting and organizing topics to be discussed.

On the other hand, teaching second language is also a challenge for teachers

because it also involved broad topics to be considered, and the macro skills of the

students should be targeted. This is evident to the response of Teacher 5 which states

that, teaching second language is quite difficult and at the same time fun. It is

difficult because there are broad categories and there are also macro-skills

that needs to be targeted. Teaching Macro skills in this kind of set up is quite

challenging because not all students are comfortable to learn. According to Lukas &

Yunus (2021), teaching language skills in this time of pandemic is difficult because

students are not comfortable with learning the skill such as writing and speaking.

Teachers have hard time teaching these skills because students are hesitant to talk in

the online discussion and for writing, students are not motivated enough to complete a

writing task. Thus, teachers experienced difficulty in meeting the curriculum demands

because of these circumstances.

 89

Another challenge that the teacher has had to deal with in meeting the

expectations of online curriculum is a lack of time and resources. This can be observed

in the response of Teacher 2 which states that, it is very challenging because of the

limited time and the limited options of activities. With this, teachers are limited in

their usage of interactive activities in online discussions due to a lack of time and

resources. Owing to the lack hours in class discussion, teachers are unable to make the

class discussion as enjoyable as face-to-face discussion could offer. Hence, the

teacher's ability to create a stimulating learning environment is hampered by a lack of

time and resources.

Instruction Preference in Teaching. The teachers’ preference to teach in

a face-to-face class rather than in an online environment is supported by the claim of

Shand and Glassett Farelly (2017) which states that, teachers want to teach in a face-

to-face setting because it allows them to elaborate complex concepts and they can

develop positive interaction with the students. This can be seen in the response of

Teacher 6 saying, I think, that this subject could be learned more better if there

is a social interaction or if the classes took part in the face-to-face learning set-

up. This means that teaching English and Language Arts in a face-to-face setting is

easier for the teacher because he/she can explain concepts more thoroughly and

develop meaningful discussions with students since there is an immediate feedback

from them unlike in an online setting, where students refuse to actively participate in

the discussion.

Also, teacher considers teaching in face-to-face because he/she is used in

seeing his/her students and interact with them. This is also observed in the response of

Teacher 4 which states that, I still complain about the lack of social interaction… I

believe I can communicate better when I am facing the person.

 90

Teachers prefer to teach in a face-to-face setting because they believe that they can

communicate more effectively with students when they are facing them in- person. As

a result, online teaching presents a difficulty for teachers who are accustomed to

interacting with students.

On the other hand, Teacher 1 believes that it is easier for him/her to teach in

face-to-face because he/she can facilitate the needs of the student especially those who

lack in mastery of the macro skills. This can be seen in the response of Teacher 1,

Teaching English and Language Arts is quite challenging particularly on the

teacher's part because some students are not exposed to reading and other

macro skills. It is clear that teaching macro skills in an online setting is difficult since

teachers cannot go straight to the needs of the students. This is supported by Hobson

(2013) that although there are many technologies or even if learning is placed online,

they only offer limited possibilities for spoken communication. Learnings may be

more often literacy- based or only focus on the receptive language skills (listening and

reading) rather than the active (speaking and writing). Face-to-face, on the other hand,

allows teachers to quickly evaluate which skills require greater attention and

remediation.

Furthermore, Teacher 2 also prefers teaching in face-to-face rather than in

online set-up because he/she encountered a significant challenge in teaching online.

This can be observed in the response, I really prefer teaching in face- to- face

rather than in the new learning set-up because I experienced a lot of

challenges in teaching online. It is undeniable that most of the teachers have

encountered variety of challenges in teaching online. One of which is connecting with

the students. The teacher cannot determine whether the students’ have learned

something from him/her since they are not interacting daily and unsure
 91

of the quality of interaction in the virtual environment. This is evident in the response

of Teacher 2 saying, I had a hard time to connect with my students because I

cannot assure if they are still learning or what part in the given lessons and

activities that they find difficult. Due to the difficulty in connecting with the students,

the teacher cannot assess what part of the lesson the students have a problem with

because he/she cannot directly tell since the class is done online. Students are hesitant

to raise their concerns for some reasons and this adds up to the difficulty of the

teacher. Therefore, teaching in face-to-face indeed is more efficient and effective for

the teachers.

Insights Shared by the Participants

Well-established Curriculum Plan. The teachers’ recommendation to the

administration to have a well-established curriculum plan is supported by Senechal

(2011) which emphasizes that policymakers must provide a strong curriculum that

provides constant instruction that will enable teachers to make proficient decisions and

impose creativity in teaching. This is evident in the statement of Teacher 1 which

asserts that, my recommendations to the administration in terms of the

curriculum planning is to set their instructions very well. In this way, it will allow

the teachers to experience convenience in delivering the learning instructions to the

students. Teacher 1 also said that at the end of the day they will be the one to

implement the curriculum plan in the classroom. This can be observed in the response,

teachers will shoulder all of the responsibilities in managing and delivering

them to the class. Thus, it is important for the administration to set a clear and well-

defined curriculum instructions to avoid any confusions and instead give assurance to

the teachers.
 92

Another recommendation for the administration is to set uniformed and

standardized curriculum instruction and this can be observed in the response of

Teacher 2, they should establish uniformity, standardized, and clear instructions

because we couldn’t perceive all of the things that they are relying to us.

Considering that the teachers are the ones who will bring the curriculum plan into

reality, it is essential for the administration to design a uniform curriculum to avoid

teacher confusion. Curriculum writers must be knowledgeable with the subject in

order to better understand how the topic is taught. This could also avoid confusion

among teachers as the instructions are well-given. In this way, it will be easier for the

teachers to administer the curriculum instructions.

Moreover, in the response of Teacher 4 which states that, the syllabus should

contain what's essential because the students will really ask if it's really

needed in their lives. It suggests that there is a need to choose essential topics

because there are tendencies that the students will raise concern about the topic being

discussed and will ask if it were all essential in their lives. Senechal (2011) addressed

that, the administration should be able to assess what is necessary and what is not, as

well as how this will affect the students' lives. Therefore, establishing a well-organized

curriculum can help teachers handle the subject more effectively.

Lastly, Teacher 5 suggests that in planning the curriculum, it should be given

enough time in order to come up with series of activities that will be included in the

class discussion. This can be observed in the response of Teacher 5 which states that,

teachers should be given more enough time in planning so that the activities to

be applied are more engaging for learners. Interactive activities are extremely

beneficial in the current educational

 93

environment because they will allow teachers to connect with their students while also

allowing students to feel involved in class discussions. The teacher recommends that

the curriculum should be carefully planned so that it does not limit the teacher's ability

to teach. As a result, if the curriculum is given enough time to be developed, it will not

result to mediocrity.

Teachers’ Readiness in Online Instruction. This insight is supported by

Coman et.al (2020) that in order to improve and maximize the process of online

teaching and learning, there should be meaningful actions from education sectors and

government intended for teachers such as improving their skills in using technology

and developing programs and trainings that would help them to reshape their teaching

style according to what is suited to the present situation and the way they connect and

interact with their students to the online environment. This is consistent to the insight

of Teacher 2 in his/her response they will also conduct seminars on how we

conduct the online class after being asked about the insights he/she can share to the

administrators. The teacher’s insight was based on his/her experience wherein he/she

shared that as far as I can remember, we did not have the chance to have a

seminar regarding on how we will conduct the new platform of learning and that

he/she has sort of called out for webinars or trainings that would help them become

fully-equipped when the educational institutions shifted to emergency E-learning.

This is also consistent to the response of Teacher 6 as he/she mentioned having

dry-run before they have implemented the new-learning set-up in his/her response as

she reasoned out teachers should be given time to attend trainings and

seminars. As schools and teachers worldwide are confronted with numerous

unexpected challenges of emergency remote teaching including

 94

unprepared teachers compelled to the new ways of providing instructions to the

students (Talidong and Toquero, 2020). That is, training sessions and online programs

for teachers that were prepared ahead of the time would be valuable for them. Indeed,

teacher training programs are required to assist teachers in adapting to changes,

understanding that the future of education systems has now welcomed the online

environment, and that existing online teaching should be attentively enhanced in the

absence of face-to-face learning. Lastly, trainings and webinars do not and should not

only exist in the beginning, but rather it should be a continual process as part of a

continual effort to preserve excellence among instructors and all educational

institutions.

Reciprocation in Teaching and Learning Process. This teachers’

insight for the students is supported by Aziz and Kazi (2019) that the whole class

should be involved and all of the students should participate in the learning process so

that there is an increase of opportunity to enhance effective learning. This can be

connected to the response of Teacher 3, students really need to be more

cooperative. They need to be more responsible. And they need to know that

students really need or really have to communicate with their teachers. During

the pandemic, students also has undergone problems which affected their performance

in their studies and they also become more distant (Blankstein et. al, 2020). However,

teachers are initiating for connection and communication to uplift them and that no

students will be left behind. This is consistent to Teacher 3’s response The students

must learn to manage their time, cope with stress, build resiliency, and learn to

communicate and solve problems. Teacher 3 indicated that increasing participation

of the students does not imply requiring every student to contribute something in the

class; rather, it
 95

means giving students opportunity to study in an environment that provide secured

learning and at the same time a supportive environment for the students. In here,

teacher has also implied that students should also extend their effort to participate in

the connection that the teacher is offering towards the betterment of the students.

For the students’ advantage, Teacher 7 also said in his/her response that

students also should understand that they have to make use of their time as

much as they can or make the most out of the pandemic, for their own

advantage. And this should be accompanied with students being more open,

participative and passionate in the learning process. This pandemic has been a

challenge for everyone but the teacher rather encouraged every student to take the

pandemic as a challenge and become more engaged to learn and communicate. Frisby

et. al (2010) also agreed the same that there should be a rapport with teacher and

students as it is allied to a strong classroom connectedness.

Implications for Practice

In terms of the lived experiences, both positive and negative lived experiences

were observed from the teachers in teaching English and Language Arts. Out from the

positive lived experiences, those teachers' practices and coping mechanisms must be

obtained and well-maintained as those deemed advantageous for the teachers despite

the abrupt shift in the teaching methods that they were used to. Conversely, despite the

teachers' negative lived experiences, other teachers who are also teaching English and

Language Arts during pandemic times will become well-aware of the demands of the

new learning platform because they will be able to extract realizations

 96

from those experiences as they will learn how to minimize or rectify those deficits and

lapses that were unveiled in the implementation of online classes, which in turn, will

help them improve their online teaching skills.

On the other hand, the insights imply that the school administrations and

educational sectors must provide online programs and trainings on the effective,

appropriate, and intentional use of technology tools in order to enhance the teaching

and learning in the in online set-up. Also, they should conduct emotional and mental

health webinars where they will be asked about the psychological status and webinars

that focus on promoting positive well- being among teachers to foster their socio-

emotional aspect and capacity. That is, despite the struggles that the teachers are

experiencing, they will be motivated as they are given the right amount of support and

attention, thereby, allowing them to maintain and promote a positive environment for

learning in the online set-up.

Furthermore, this study is not only for the benefit of private schools, but also of

public schools, which are experiencing the same concerns of this new learning system.

This will help support them in creating and sustaining a conducive learning

environment that nurtures significance, resilience, and motivation. Lastly, future

researchers may use these findings to support a potential study of teachers' lived

experiences during pandemic times.

Implications for Future Research

This study further provides and contributes to a better understanding of the

lived experiences of teachers in the realm of teaching English and Language Arts

during a pandemic. Not only for understanding the teachers' experiences in modifying

curriculum in terms of instruction delivery and their

 97

insights on the challenges and advantages of the new learning set-up, but it also helps

other educational professionals and researchers reflect on teaching and learning in

general. Lastly, future researchers should include more participants in order to further

expose the teachers' lived experiences in teaching English and Language Arts during

pandemic time. They should not limit their participants to senior high school teachers,

but also investigate the lived experiences of primary and secondary school teachers

from private and public institutions.

Concluding Remarks

This study revealed the positive and negative lived experience of Senior High

School Teachers in teaching English and Language Arts during pandemic times. The

positive lived experiences involved the following: use of online modalities in

instruction, planning and creating learning activities, increases creativity in teaching,

use of audio-visual learning materials, teacher’s empathy augmentation, professional

development for teachers. Moreover, negative lived experiences involved the

following: students’ lacking motivation to learn English online, dilemma in learning

tasks, instruction preference in teaching, poor internet access, insufficient

technological literacy, quality and authenticity of students’ learning, difficulty in

online curriculum demands, curriculum planning and implementation. On the other

hand, the insights shared by the participants involved the following: well-established

curriculum plan, teachers’ readiness in online instruction, and reciprocation in

teaching and learning process.

In the conduct of this research, we discovered that teaching in this time of

pandemic using the new learning modes has brought benefits and drawbacks for the

teachers. We were able to know how important it is to provide so much

 98

attention and support because if they lack so, they will not be motivated, thus, the

learning process will be affected. Because of the teachers’ lived experiences, it paved

the way for us to understand their feelings and we learned about a variety of situations

where teachers had a lot of concerns and that needed to be addressed. Hence, the

administration should focus on providing attention and emotional support to the

teachers through online trainings and webinars that tackles about promoting positive

well-being and strategies on how to handle and teach in the new learning environment.

Also, teachers should be given support in terms of the technological materials to be

utilized such as, laptops, secured internet connection, etc. In this way, the teaching

experience of the teachers will become easier and effective. Therefore, if the

administration will pay enough attention to the concerns of the teachers, it will make

them feel that they are not alone in facing this difficult time.
 99

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