The “Silver Lining” of The Pandemic: The Development of English Teachers’ Technological Competency during The Emergency Remote Teaching in Indonesia

Abstract

Along with turmoil in human life, COVID-19 brought opportunities for English teachers to develop their technological competence. English teachers’ technological competence is needed to bring more effective teaching and assessment. This qualitative study attempts to shed light on the development of English teachers’ technological competence in Banyumas as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic. The research questions are: (1) How is the teachers’ technological competence before the pandemic; (2) How is their technological competence during the pandemic? and (3) How is the comparison between the two conditions? Six English high school teachers participated in this study. They were selected through a purposive sampling technique to give the needed information for the purpose of the research. Data were collected through virtual interviews, observations, and documentation. The data were then analysed through Substitution, Augmentation, Modification, and Redefinition (SAMR) model developed by R. R. Puentedura in 2011. The results exposed that the teachers’ technological competence before the pandemic is in the stages of Substitution and Augmentation. When the pandemic struck and they had no way but to integrate technology, their competency increased into the Modification stage. However, activities belonging to the Redefinition stage were not shown. The development of teachers’ technological competence is seen as the “silver lining” of the pandemic. The limitation of this research lies in the small number of samples that the result could not represent generalisation. Also, this research focuses on the performance of the teachers without investigating the factors that influence their action such as age, gender, training, and school facility.