Investigating the readiness level of lecturers at FELTE, ULIS in synchronous teaching in the online environment

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL
STUDIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHER EDUCATION

GRADUATION PAPER

Investigating the readiness level of lecturers at
FELTE, ULIS in synchronous teaching in the
online environment
Supervisor: Khoa Anh Việt
Student: Nguyễn Minh Hiếu
Course: QH2017.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI – 2021


ĐẠI HỌC QUỐC GIA HÀ NỘI
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
KHOA SƯ PHẠM TIẾNG ANH

KHĨA LUẬN TỐT NGHIỆP

Tìm hiểu về mức độ sẵn sàng cho việc giảng dạy đồng
nhất trên môi trường trực tuyến của giảng viên khoa
Sư phạm Tiếng Anh, trường Đại học Ngoại ngữ

Giáo viên hướng dẫn: Khoa Anh Việt
Sinh viên: Nguyễn Minh Hiếu
Khóa: QH2017.F1.E1

HÀ NỘI – 2021


ACCEPTANCE PAGE
I hereby state that I: Nguyen Minh Hieu, class 17E1, being a candidate for the degree
of Bachelor of Arts (TEFL) accept the requirements of the College relating to the
retention and use of Bachelor’s Graduation Paper deposited in the library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the origin of my paper deposited in the
library should be accessible for the purposes of study and research, in accordance
with the normal conditions established by the librarian for the care, loan or
reproduction of the paper.

Nguyen Minh Hieu
Tuesday, May 4th, 2021

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to Mr. Khoa Anh Viet –
my mentor and supervisor in this graduation paper, for his detailed instruction and
valuable comments and advice on progress, which is a determining factor in the
fulfillment of this research.
Another appreciation I would like to make is to 75 lecturers at the Faculty of English
Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies for
participating in our research project by completing the survey questionnaire and
allowing us to conduct short interviews. This research cannot be completed without
their contribution.
Last but not least, I want to send our gratitude to my family members, my classmates
at class 17E1, who have provided me with financial and emotional support. Without

their understanding and care, I would not have been able to make an endeavour to
finish this research project.

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ABSTRACT
Thanks to the effects of the 4th Industrial Revolution, education is gradually
digitizing, and online teaching programs are created more and more in the time of
the technology boom. Due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, this process
was accelerated but created doubts about the readiness of teachers to implement new
teaching methods. This study was conducted to investigate the readiness level of
lecturers at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education, University of
Languages and International Studies in Vietnam in teaching synchronously in the
online environment. Readiness level in synchronous teaching was assessed on four
factors: personal readiness, content readiness, technology readiness, and
institutional support readiness. 75 teachers at the Faculty participated in the survey,
and 4 of them continued to comment in in-person interviews. The result is the
faculty’s lecturers achieve a high level of readiness in many factors, with technology
readiness and institutional support readiness having the highest consensus.
However, many shortcomings remain throughout the teaching process shared by
teachers, including skepticism about the online teaching trend, the lack of
curriculum and activities suitable for online platforms, and inadequacies in the
infrastructure to deliver long-term online education. Based on these findings,
pedagogical implications for universities and lecturers are discussed.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 The rationale of the study
1.2 Research questions
1.3 Methods of the study
1.4 Scope of the study
1.5 Contribution of the study
1.6 Organization of the study

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Synchronous online teaching
2.1.1 History of online teaching
2.1.2 Definition of online teaching
2.1.3 Types of online teaching
2.1.4 Significances and challenges of online teaching
2.2 Readiness level in Synchronous teaching in the Online environment
2.2.1 Definition
2.2.2 Factors that influence EFL teacher readiness for STOE
2.2.2.1 Personal readiness
2.2.2.2 Technology readiness
2.2.2.3 Content readiness.
2.2.2.4 Lecturers’ perceptions on institutional support
2.3 Research gap
2.3.1. Review of previous studies
2.3.2. Research gap

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CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY

3.1 Setting
3.2 Research design
3.3 Sampling and Participants
3.4 Data collection
3.4.1 Instruments
3.4.1.1 Questionnaire
3.4.1.2 Interview
3.4.2 Procedure
3.5 Data analysis
3.5.1. Analyzing the quantitative data
3.5.2. Analyzing the qualitative data
3.6 Ethical considerations

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CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS & DISCUSSIONS
Analysis of the questionnaire
Summary of survey collection procedure and Participants’ demographic
factors
Readiness level in personal factors
Readiness level in content factors
Readiness level in technology factors
Readiness level in institutional support factor
B. Analysis of interview sessions

Readiness in personal factors
Readiness in content factors
Readiness in technology factors
Readiness in institutional support
C. Discussions

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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION
5.1. Summary of the findings
5.2. Pedagogical implications
5.3. Limitation and suggestions for further research.

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REFERENCES

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APPENDICES
Appendix A: Timeline of the study
Appendix B: Questionnaire
Appendix C: Guiding interview questions

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CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1 The rationale of the study
The rapid growth in Information Communication and Technologies (ICT) nowadays
has brought remarkable changes in various fields, including education (Ismail,
Bokhare, Azizan & Azman, 2013). Over the years, thanks to the development of
information technology, the forms of distance learning have been developing at a
rapid rate, and online teaching is one such form (ULIS, 2020). Over time, online
training programs have opened up at different levels of education and in various
ways, especially at higher education levels (Tuoi Tre, 2020). For instance, student
enrollments in universities in Australia between 2009 and 2010 reflects a 5.4%

increase in on-campus study and a 25.7% increase in external or multimode study
(Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2011).
In Vietnam, online education in general and particularly in universities and colleges
exists but has not developed strongly (Laodong.vn, 2020). However, due to the
effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the social distancing period, universities and
colleges were forced to shift their curricula from in-class teaching to classes on
online platforms. Statistics show that, during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic
in Vietnam, 92 universities deployed online teaching to students (Zing News, 2020).
Online lessons, where teachers and students interact and communicate with each
other indirectly through online meeting platforms such as Zoom, Google Meet, or
Microsoft Teams, have gradually encouraged students' interest in learning during
the pandemic time, as the new teaching method provides convenience to the students
while staying at home and provokes their curiosity while studying (Tuoi Tre, 2020).
However, it is notable that the difficulties in getting used to this new form of
teaching should be considered, namely the need to renew the teaching curriculum or
the use of new tools on online platforms, not to mention the familiarization between
instructors and students when interacting online.

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The University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National
University, Hanoi is one of the leading universities in digital transformation trends
in higher education in Vietnam. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching
has been applied to students in the form of blended learning, which can be
understood as “a combination of face-to-face and technology-mediated instructional
forms and practices” (Friesen, 2012). However, during the pandemic period, many
subjects previously taught directly in the classroom were changed to synchronous
learning, which involves real-time communication between teachers and students
(Johnson, 2006; cited by Oztok et al., 2013). This situation requires teachers to

prepare for this transformation in various aspects; otherwise, it can lead to the failure
of the online teaching course (Kentnor, 2015). Derived from the general situation
across the country, simultaneously from the desire to explore and propose a direction
for teachers to be ready for digital transformation and new teaching methods in
online environments, this study is conducted to assess teachers' readiness,
particularly the ones at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education,
University of Languages and International Studies, for synchronous teaching in the
online environment.
1.2 Research questions
This study is designed to identify the factors and standards required for a university
lecturer to plan and deploy lessons in an online education environment. At the same
time, this study also investigates whether the instructors at the Faculty of English
Language Teacher Education, University of Languages and International Studies are
fully equipped and are genuinely ready for online teaching. Specifically, this study
will focus on answering two questions:
- What factors do EFL lecturers at FELTE, ULIS need to be ready for synchronous
teaching in the online environment?
- How do EFL lecturers at FELTE, ULIS describe their level of readiness for
synchronous teaching in the online environment?

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1.3 Methods of the study
This research adopts a mixed-method survey research as its design, by using
quantitative and qualitative components in order to attain an objective and
comprehensive view of the research. According to Griffie (2012), a survey research
design utilizes “to enable the teacher-researcher-educator-educator to investigate a
construct by asking questions of either fact (descriptive) or opinion (explanatory)
from a sample of a population from a sample of population for the purpose of

generalizing to the population.” Griffie also highlights the significance of this
research design, as it can produce descriptive summaries and generalize the
statements based on its large database. Questionnaire and open-ended interviews are
employed to invest the data objectively and subjectively. The population of the
research is lecturers at the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education
(FELTE), University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS) in Hanoi; they
will complete the survey and some of them will later conduct the interview session
to provide the descriptive data to invest the research issues.
1.4 Scope of the study
This research focuses on the Faculty of English Language Teacher Education
lecturers, University of Languages and International Studies. As the COVID-19
pandemic consigned all the lecturers and learners to stay at home, most lecturers in
the faculty had the opportunity to access and teach lessons in a fully online
environment. Furthermore, ULIS still applies online teaching as an alternate form in
many different cases when teachers and students cannot meet face to face.
1.5 Contribution of the study
Through this research, the author wants to identify the elements and qualities that
teachers should equip to be successful in teaching online when this form of teaching
is still relatively new, and it was only widely adopted for a short period before this
study is conducted. Moreover, this study is designed to guide and support teachers
to self-direct teaching preparation in an online environment, and at the same time,
help educational institutions orient themselves to train teachers to suit the new

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educational environment. Moreover, the author also hopes that this work will
become a theoretical basis and a reliable reference source for further research.
1.6 Organization of the study
The following sections of this research will consist of four chapters will be presented

in the order shown below:
Chapter 2: Literature review
This chapter provides the definitions of synchronous online teaching, readiness in
online teaching, factors related to investigate the readiness level and an overview of
the relevant literature on previous studies

Chapter 3: Methodology
This chapter outlines the settings of the research, the description of research
methods, the data collection instrument, and the data collection and data analysis
procedure
Chapter 4: Findings & Discussions
This chapter reports the data collected from the questionnaire and the interview. The
research questions are addressed and discussed in this chapter as well
Chapter 5: Conclusion
This chapter concludes the paper by summarizing the findings, along with the
suggested pedagogical implications. The limitation and suggestions for further
research is also included

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CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 Synchronous online teaching
2.1.1 History of online teaching
Online teaching and learning is a branch of distance learning. Ko & Rossen (2010)
defined distance education as “a process that traditionally included courses taught
through any form of learning that does not involve the traditional classroom setting.”
It can be understood that students and instructors are not required to be in the same
place at the same time. Distance education can be conducted via various platforms,
namely through corresponding radio, television, and the Internet. (Kentnor, 2015)

Though online teaching has rapidly grown since the advance of the online technical
revolution, distance education is not a new teaching method. The fact remains that
its evolution and progression have lasted over the last 300 years, parallel with
innovations in communications technology, and distance learning continues to grow
in popularity. (Kentnor, 2015)
Online educational programs emerged in 1989 when the University of Phoenix
began using CompuServe, one of the first consumer online services in the US; and
the University became one of the first to offer online education programs through
the Internet shortly after the unveiling of the World Wide Web in 1991 (Kentnor,
2015). The online educational marketplace’s move prompted many reputable
institutions and not-for-profit colleges and universities to follow the University of
Phoenix (Carlson & Carnevale, 2001). This new medium of distance education’s
vision and effectiveness were apparent (Kentnor, 2015); therefore, universities and
colleges began experimenting with online courses in the early to mid-1990s.
However, the rapid growth of online education in traditional nonprofit institutions
did not start until 1998; unfortunately, these programs did not survive long
(Arenson, 1998). By 2002, over 1.6 million post-secondary students chose to enroll
in online courses, and six years later, that number had almost tripled (Allen &
Seaman, 2008, cited by Kentnor, 2015).

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However, the situation is changing. As Sener (2012) argues, “education has been, is
being, and will continue to be cyberized.” Sener contends that the first era of online
education has been devoted to providing access. In contrast, the second era has the
potential to improve the quality of education as a whole, not just online education.
It is not about changing the knowledge being conveyed but merely shifting the way
it is “transmitted, preserved, and generated” (Sener, 2012, p. 124). Therefore, it is
now time to focus on the quality of the education we provide, both in the classroom

and online, and use the technology and innovations available today to motivate,
inspire, and educate the students of the 21st century. (Kentnor, 2015)
2.1.2 Definition of online teaching
There are several definitions of online teaching from different studies. Aydin &
Tasci (2005) use the definition from The Commission on Technology and Adult
Learning (2001), who stated e-Learning is instructional content or learning
experiences delivered or enabled by electronic technology, particularly computer
networks and standalone computers. Kentnor (2015) defines online education as a
teaching method “which uses computers and the Internet as the delivery mechanism
with at least 80% of the course content delivered online”. Alternatively, Ibili (2020)
once defines E-learning as “a way of learning, in which the interaction between
educator, student, and course content is carried out synchronously or
asynchronously via electronic communication systems such as the internet, video,
telephone, computer”. These definitions, as mentioned above, have drawn the
essential elements of online teaching but do not specify the nature of online
education. Of all the descriptions, the one stated by Ko & Rossen (2010) fully reveal
the nature of online teaching, including the origin, characteristics, and requirements
of this teaching method:
Teaching online means conducting a course partially or entirely through the
Internet. You may also see references to online education as eLearning (electronic
learning). It is a form of distance education, a process that traditionally includes
courses taught through any form of learning that does not involve the traditional

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classroom setting in which students and instructors must be in the same place at the
same time.

From the definitions, the researchers all acknowledge the uniqueness of online

teaching is the use of the Internet and technological devices as primary means of
communication and education. Ko & Rossen (2010) even depict a scenario when
online teaching is adapted to the educational field’s current situation. For instance,
the teacher can work and teach online without showing up at the same place with
the students, or regular activities in in-classroom lessons such as standing at a lectern
or scribble on a chalkboard would be eliminated. These fundamental changes are
believed to benefit both lecturers and learners; however, there exist numerous
challenges that both sides need to recognize and overcome.
2.1.3 Types of online teaching
In a fully online environment, the teaching process can be conducted by two
approaches, namely teaching with asynchronous communication (or asynchronous
learning) and teaching with synchronous communication (or synchronous learning)
(Oztok, Zingaro, Brett & Hewitt, 2012).
Asynchronous learning “occurs in delayed time, and does not rely on simultaneous
access for educational outcomes” (Johnson, 2006, cited by Oztok et al., 2012).
Typical examples of asynchronous environments are email or forums. The
comments and notes are sorted by threads, “helping the students follow multiple
simultaneously-occurring discussions” (Hewitt, 2005; cited by Oztok et al., 2012).
In asynchronous courses, naturally permit the teaching role to be spread across
individuals in student moderators or student facilitators. In contrast to face-to-face
courses, students in asynchronous courses can assume a more central teaching
presence role. (Oztok, Zingaro, Brett & Hewitt, 2012) Compared to synchronous
teaching and face-to-face courses, Asynchronous learning is dominant, including
time-independent access, opportunities for heightened peer interaction, avoidance

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of undesirable classroom behavior, and support for multiple learning styles (Oztok,
Zingaro, Brett & Hewitt, 2012).

On the other hand, synchronous learning “involves real-time communication
between teachers and students,” and it is common in the form of a text chat or video
conferencing (Johnson, 2006). Several studies suggest that social presence is higher
in synchronous chat than in asynchronous discussion. This form of online education
can tackle certain learners’ issues, such as time management since the students tend
to hold monthly “marathon” sessions on weekends in asynchronous courses
(Schwier and Balbar, 2002). However, the purpose of synchronous communication
was to give students more opportunities to discuss course content. (Oztok, Zingaro,
Brett & Hewitt, 2012) Synchronous chat contributed to the “continuity and
convenience” of the class, helped sustain regular contact, and created a sense of
urgency and immediacy; it can also create a passion for the learners.
As synchronous online teaching is widely applied in the Faculty, this research will
investigate online teaching by finding the factors that impact the teaching process
and discover whether FELTE lecturers are fully ready for synchronous teaching.
2.1.4 Significances and challenges of online teaching
There are consensus views about the convenience and efficiency of online teaching,
and these benefits of online education for both the students and their institutions are
well documented across a range of higher education discipline areas (Downing &
Dyment, 2013). One of the most significant reasons is about finance, particularly
the cost of training and improving cost-effectiveness. (Aydin & Tasci, 2005;
Akaslan & Law, 2011; Ibili, 2020). Not only the learner can take advantage of the
financial benefit, but the institutions and university can involve as well, as budget
reduction and the decrease in the number of people at the college-age create pressure
on the administrators (Friga, 2020) Buckenmeyer et al. (2011, cited by Cutri &
Mena, 2020) believe that the willingness to participate in online transitions “has
enabled universities to gain a competitive advantage in today’s higher education
marketplace”. Downing & Dyment, (2013) assures the learning opportunities for
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students, especially “nontraditional students” and “students who live in remote or
regional areas” as they can access higher education with an affordable cost. More
than widening the access to learning opportunities, online learning can also build up
a student-centered environment (Barker, 2003; Pederson & Liu, 2003; Salmon,
2003; cited by Downing & Dyment, 2013), facilitate increased student engagement
(Anderson, 2008; Herrington & Herrington, 2006; cited by Downing & Dyment,
2013), and develop students’ abilities in a technology-driven workplace (Bonk,
2009; Chau, 2010; cited by Downing & Dyment, 2013). Online education can be a
useful tool to support disabled students, improve quality of teaching and learning,
increase flexibility in teaching and communicating. (Akaslan & Law, 2011).
Moreover, institutions and universities are satisfied with the new training method,
organizations and companies can utilize the advantages of technology in employee
training and boost productivity and retention anytime and anywhere (Minton, 2000;
Bork, 2002).
However, there exist serious challenges that both the learners and the lecturers need
to overcome. Looking back at the failure of online teaching systems in the late
1990s, Kentnor assures because of the shortage of understanding about online
teaching and pedagogy in the online environment (Marcus, 2004; Bernard et al.,
2004; cited by Kentnor, 2015). Moreover, the failure is also caused by the
misjudgment of the importance of the readiness of online teaching material, and the
differences between direct teaching and online teaching (Arenson, 1998; cited by
Kentnor, 2015). This challenge is widely agreed by other researchers; and from that
lack of understanding, the investment to design well-documented material for online
teaching becomes harder to achieve. For academic staff, there are concerns about
significantly increased workload when adapting the new way to educate (Bolliger &
Wasilik, 2009; Gannon Cook, Ley, Crawford, & Warner, 2009; cited by Downing
& Dyment, 2013) and they would not recommend this mode of teaching to others
(Ward Ulmer, Watson, & Derby, 2007).

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Also, the shortage of knowledge related to this field is also caused by the lack of
research studies that focus on implementing online teaching. (Akaslan & Law, 2011)
This can negatively affect the educators; for instance, many traditional tenure-track
faculty are new to online teaching and lack formal education in how to successfully
teach online (Gülbahar & Adnan, 2020; He et al., 2014; Kyei-Blankson et al., 2019;
Mohr, & Shelton, 2017; cited by Cutri & Mena, 2020), but they are being asked to
transition, create, and implement online teaching (Allen & Seaman, 2016; Cutri &
Whiting, 2018; Rennie & Morrison, 2013; cited by Cutri & Mena, 2020).
Moreover, it appears that a large number of potential employers simply do not
perceive online education as a credible process. (Gayton, 2009; Huss, 2007; cited
by Downing & Dyment, 2013) That is a contributed reason to the collapse of online
education system in the late 1990s in the US, when the institution implemented the
system with lack of support for the faculty and lack of leadership with an
understanding of online education (Kentnon, 2015)
2.2 Readiness level in Synchronous teaching in the Online environment
2.2.1 Definition
To define the sense of readiness for teaching, Giallo and Little (2003) stated that it
is “the teacher’s feeling of being ready is important in the way she/he delivers the
lessons.

However, Baker (2002) has a more detailed definition of teaching

readiness, which is (1) a harmony combination of one’s capability and their
willingness to complete a job; (2) an important role; and (3) when teachers feel
prepared to implement their pedagogical abilities: cognitive and affective aspects.
Though the definition of teaching readiness is concise and clear, prior research
doesn't provide a detailed definition of online teaching readiness. Prior research
defines online teaching readiness by listing factors that contribute to the preparation

of the teacher to become successful in this field. Therefore, based on the definition
of Baker (2002), online teaching readiness can be defined as “the harmony
combination of teacher’s capability and willingness to implement the pedagogical
abilities in the online environment.”
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In the previous part, from the evolution of online teaching, the importance of wellconstructed courses, as well as well-documented online materials with the
constructive support from the institution is vividly depicted. These are some typical
characteristics to form the readiness in the online teaching environment. The
readiness in teaching, especially in a relatively new as online teaching, becomes
essential, as Altun (2003, cited by Ibili, 2020) stated in his study that is “an important
factor on attitudes of pre-service teachers towards e-learning”
2.2.2 Factors that influence EFL teacher readiness for STOE
To list and classify the factors that affect online teaching readiness, there are various
viewpoints in classification of criteria. When conducting their study, Aydin & Tasci
(2005) mentioned two prior frameworks conducted by Haney (2002) and Chapnick
(2000). While Haney uses 70 questions to assess the organizational readiness then
classify into seven categories, which are (1) Human resources; (2) learning
management system; (3) learners; (4) content; (5) information technology; (6)
finance; and (7) vendor, Chapnick lists 66 factors groups them into 8 categories: (1)
Psychological; (2) sociological; (3) environmental; (4) human resources; (5)
financial readiness; (6) technological skill (aptitude); (7) equipment; (8) content
readiness. The methods of two researchers are also different, as Haney uses a
checklist to ask the managers to decide the level of importance of each aspect, while
Chapnick uses multiple choices for each question and expects managers to select
only one response that represents the situation of their respective companies. These
researches have constructed the fundamental theory of assessing readiness for online
education; however, these researches didn’t specifically focus on teachers and
lecturers. Therefore, they need the following research to deploy more on the

readiness of certain groups of learners and teachers, particularly in this research is
EFL lecturers in universities.
When conducting the study about essential factors that ULIS lecturers need to
become successful in the online teaching environment, Nguyen & Nguyen (2010)
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consider the distance learning environment, teacher’s role, institution management
and support, learning condition, students-lecturer interaction and technology factor.
To measure the importance of each factor, the authors use a deep-end interview to
collect the data then conclude the important factors. Though this study can cover
most of the essential factors that are required to become a successful online teacher;
however, the classification of content omitted several essential criteria, namely the
attitude toward online teaching or the content readiness.
After reviewing prior research, the author acknowledged that Akaslan & Law (2011)
study consists of various similarities with the ongoing research, as this research also
investigates the readiness level of lecturers and it was conducted with a population
of faculty lecturers at higher education institutions. Categories of teacher’s readiness
are divided into four main groups, namely people, technology, institution and
content factors. For each group, the category is continued to be divided, as can be
seen from Figure 1. However, when studying the lecturers’ perceptions of readiness
for synchronous online teaching, as well as identifying the factors that influence this
readiness, there are a number of factors that lecturers have little to no dependence
on. Therefore, from the original model, the researcher attempts to modify certain
aspects to apply to this research, which can be described in Figure 2.

Figure 1: A model to measure readiness for online education (Akaslan & Law
(2011)

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Figure 2: Proposed model for online teaching readiness (based on Alaskan & Law,
2011)
2.2.2.1 Personal readiness
As can be seen from the evolution, the failure of the online teaching systems in the
US was considered to be caused by the lack of preparation of educators and
uncertainty to the success of the new teaching method. Therefore, the success of
online teaching heavily relies on the people, particularly the educators who are
involved in online teaching.
To investigate the people factor, Akaslan & Law (2011) consider relevant skills,
experiences, confidence levels, and attitudes of the people concerned, namely
researchers, lecturers, administrators and strategists towards elearning may have an
effect on the integration of e-learning. Nguyen & Nguyen (2010) consider that if
this process keeps implementing, eventually the role of teacher will become
unnecessary. However, at this certain time, the role of the lecturer also needs to
change, and the lecturers should be aware of that. The teacher also needs to acquire
several necessary experiences, such as the technological skills at basic level, as
Akaslan & Law pointed out, there is generally a linear relationship between
internet/software skills and confidence regarding e-learning. From those opinions,
the role of teaching and technology skills, as well as teachers’ attitude appear
vividly. Moreover, as online teachers are required to carry more requirements than
usual, the readiness of knowledge becomes more essential than ever, as they not
only instructs the learners, but now they have to play the role of a guide, a

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collaborative partner who can introduce the reliable source for the learner to selfstudy.
2.2.2.2 Technology readiness

The emergence of evolving technologies leaves a significant impact on educational
development (Ismail, Bokhare, Azizan & Azman, 2013). As the primary means of
communication and education are the Internet and technological devices, technology
becomes the fundamental factor of all. To assess the readiness in technology, the
readiness factor can be divided into three categories, namely resources, technology
literacy and ease of tool use. The resources category assesses the availability of
hardware (personal computer, smartphones or tablets), softwares (operating system
(such as Microsoft Windows, Mac OS, Linux), browsers (Microsoft Edge, Google
Chrome, Mozilla Firefox), office tools (Microsoft Office, Google Docs, Evernote)
and video conferencing platform (Skype, Zoom, Google Meet)) and IT
infrastructure (such as the availability and stability of internet connection). The
skills category assesses the literacy of computer usage and software usage to support
the teaching process in general and particularly to teach in the online environment.
This section also assesses teachers' understanding of technology and their
perspectives on the application of technology in teaching in general and online
teaching particularly.
2.2.2.3 Content readiness.
From the evaluation of online teaching, the lack of online teaching material and the
differences between material for online teaching and direct teaching are fundamental
aspects causing the collapse of the online educational system in the US. Therefore,
the content readiness of online teaching plays an essential role, as it best supplies
the learners to achieve the goals of the courses. Oketch (2013) stated that “Content
is the driving engine of any system”; therefore, According to Lopes (2003) content
readiness can be associated with the availability of existing content, its format, levels
of interactivity, reusability, and interoperability. In this study, according to Oketch,
the content will be assessed by its availability, structure and reusability; also it will

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assess the lecturers’ satisfaction with the content as well as their training needs for
online teaching content development.

2.2.2.4 Lecturers’ perceptions on institutional support
As Oketch (2013) explained, if institutions want elearning to be successful, they
must be prepared both culturally and environmentally. Hung (2016) also highlights
the importance of support from institutions, which is an important dimension for
teachers’ online learning, as it corresponds to factors that help or hinder people’s
behavior in certain environments. Because of that, according to Oketch, this factor
will assess the perception of lecturers in terms of perceived usefulness and perceived
ease of use.
Akaslan & Law (2011) consider the support should perform by offering a good
infrastructure, a supportive culture, incentives, models and resources. However, the
support in infrastructure and supportive culture is not everything. In analyzing
corporate educational environments, Joo, Joung, and Sim (2011, cited by Hung,
2016) identified three important types of institutional support: superiors’ support,
colleagues’ support, and positive organizational atmosphere. Because the support
towards the adaptation and use of elearning is essential, the lecturers’ perception of
this aspect is also included in the assessment
2.3 Research gap
2.3.1. Review of previous studies
Previously, online teaching faced many difficulties due to the lack of conditions for
teachers to access information technology, inadequate infrastructure, and lack of
investment from schools. Koo (2008) discussed the current situation of Online
Collaborative Learning in Malaysia, saying that their teachers “many of them did
not have much exposure in using computers or the Internet for collaborative
purposes as they hardly used to the Internet for teaching and learning” and “Teachers
can more successfully carry out OCL if it gains support from school's principal or
school's management.” (Koo, 2008)

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In the studies published when the Covid-19 epidemic broke out worldwide, all
countries around the world organized online teaching. In these online teaching
studies, studies have reported that online teaching experiences are pretty limited.
Coman et al. (2020) indicate that “higher education institutions in Romania were not
prepared for exclusively online learning.” According to Atmojo & Nugroho (2020),
“online learning does not run well since it lacks preparation and planning” due to
problems coming from the students, the teachers, and the students' parents, along
with valid reasons. More specifically, when Hasbi & Sari (2021) describes the
difficulties teachers have confronted while teaching English distantly using Google
Classroom, such as the effort keeping students active in the Google Classroom
sessions, managing students in the online tasks and submissions, and dealing with
technical problems such as unstable signals and limited internet access. It can be
seen that, for an extended period preparing for an online course, difficulties in
building curricula and activities suitable for the online environment will be barriers
for the trainers. Previous studies have also shown the significant influence of
technology foundation and technology readiness on online teaching. (Philson, 1999;
Lee & Zulkifli, 1999) states that access to the Internet at schools “is still the key
issue that needs to be addressed before introducing any Internet-based teaching and
learning approaches in schools.” Oketch (2013) also claims technological readiness
is “the most important factor followed by culture readiness in eLearning readiness.”
Some studies also compare each group’s readiness to correlate; however, results
between studies are not consistent. Hung (2016), when studying Teacher readiness
in Online development, said male teachers show greater readiness in the dimension
of learning-transfer self-efficacy than did female teachers, or teachers with a
master's degree “assigned a heavier weight to the dimensions of communication
self-efficacy and learning-transfer self-efficacy than did teachers with a bachelor's
degree. ” However, in another study, Soetan & Coker stated "There is no difference

between male and female lecturers' readiness to use online technologies for
instructional delivery." (Soetan & Coker, 2018). Oketch (2013) also shares his
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opinion when saying, “there is no significant relationship between age, gender, and
level of education on eLearning readiness.” However, due to the dominant gender
and academic degree of certain groups of teachers, it will not be possible to evaluate
the correlation of readiness in synchronous online teaching among the target groups
in this study.
2.3.2. Research gap
After reviewing the literature, the author notifies certain gaps that can be covered by
this research. As online teaching has just been implemented for 25 years and
developed rapidly recently due to the pandemic, the quantity of research on this issue
is still relatively limited. As Downing & Dyment (2013) stated, there is only a
modest body of research reporting on academics’ perceptions of their preparedness
to teach online and their beliefs in the online learning environment’s effectiveness.
Therefore, this leads to limitations in the search for reference resources and
definitions of terms. For example, there is no clear definition of online teaching
readiness from prior studies.
Another issue drawn from previous studies is that they focused a lot on elearning in
general audiences, such as Chapnick’s study (2000), or for students, such as
Nguyen’s study (2015); however, there is a lack of types of research conducted on
teachers. Moreover, when doing research, due to the diversity of disciplines in
higher education, research on teacher readiness is often varied and cannot be crossapplied between disciplines.
In Vietnam, there are not many studies on readiness for EFL teachers in general and
EFL lecturers at universities and colleges in Vietnam in particular. There has been
a study of this by Nguyen & Nguyen (2010), but they only outlined the essential
factors for teachers to successfully teach online, but not an assessment method to
check whether the teacher has been equipped with those factors or not.

Simultaneously, this study’s implementation will be a basis for assessing EFL

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teachers’ readiness in Vietnam for online teaching, precisely synchronous online
teaching, for many different learning levels.
With respect to the research as mentioned above, this study is designed to identify
the factors that influence teacher readiness for an online environment and measure
the factors achieved and university lecturers’ needs to teach synchronously in an
online environment successfully.

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