A case study of teachers’ efforts towards learning problems in virtual EFL class during Covid-19 school closure

The Covid-19 has been deemed a global pandemic affecting almost all sectors, particularly in education. Learning activities have been forced to relocate virtually due to the school closure. This study aimed at exploring teaching-learning problems felt by English teachers and their efforts to overcome those problems during the school closure in a state senior high school in West Lombok. Designed in a case study, two English teachers were voluntarily recruited using convenience sampling. The data for this study were gathered from observation, interviews, and documentation. Informed by the theory of Community of Inquiry (CoI) and previous empirical studies, the data were analysed using four stages of the interactive model. The investigation revealed that during the virtual teaching, teachers experienced considerable internal and external pedagogical glitches. It was also uncovered that the teachers disclosed some endeavours to maintain teaching, social, and cognitive presence in the instruction to surmount the nested pedagogical problems. However, their efforts were observed inadequate and left some room for improvement on how teachers could effectively serve in the virtual pedagogical practices. Some implications and future research directions are discussed accordingly.


Introduction
As in many other nations, almost all schools in Indonesia have switched from face-to-face teaching-learning to virtual mode in response to the lockdown and social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. This abrupt shift includes English language teaching-learning. Virtual learning, in this context, is a teaching-learning mode requiring the students to study remotely. A significant component of this learning mode is using a desktop, laptop, or smartphone, and the internet (Radha et al., Furthermore, the Indonesian government has significant challenges in reopening all schools in the same manner as before, making virtual or online learning more crucial to conduct. It is not only because of the numerous health consequences that school society has faced but also because of the numerous problems teachers have experienced in adopting virtual teaching, communicating learning, and supporting student learning growth during pandemics (Kemendikbud, 2020). Besides, this shift from a face-to-face system to an online system certainly brings many problems that must be solved. Yet, research that focuses on the actual learning problems and how to solve those problems in virtual classrooms during the pandemic has not been widely documented in the literature. The scholarship on these two serial questions is fundamental to search for better practices in future online teaching. Thus, this case study comes to its role in addressing this empirical need.
Likewise, within the view number, several prior pieces of research have addressed the problems that exist in online learning during pandemics, such as Saputra et al. (2020). In his study, he lensed from a qualitative perspective in the form of a case study, intending to identify and describe the obstacles that teachers and students who are new to virtual English learning experience. He discovers that the English teachers had some restrictions regarding the diversity of learning methods and the structure of student interaction. Practically, no group or pair work activity had been initiated, teacherstudent pedagogical interactions were limited, comprehensive assessments were hardly undertaken. What is more, there were three fundamental obstacles in the virtual learning; the English teachers 1) did not have enough time to prepare and convert offline to online learning materials, 2) experienced colossal disruption of the learning process due to a lack of opportunities, and 3) the students had not adequate chance to collaborate directly and freely (Huang et al., 2020).
Furthermore, several other learning problems were uncovered, such as learning dysfunction, underachiever, slow learner, less motivation, socio-economic background, and quality of instruction (Lenhard & Lenhard, 2013). In addition, Astini (2020) regards internal and external factors as factors causing learning problems. Internal factors refer to the physiological and emotional aspects, while external factors insinuate institutions and social environments such as teachers, administrative staff, and class fellows. A study mentions that in online learning, teachers found it difficult to convey the material, as the students were almost silent if they did not understand. From the student's point of view, they tend not to openly express their thoughts because they are in the same chat room as the teacher and other students (Lutviana & Mafulah, 2021).
The purpose of an educational experience is to build an educational experience to achieve defined learning outcomes, whether online, face-to-face, or a combination of both. In this context, the interaction needs to be more structured and systematic (Garrison & Cleveland-Innes, 2005). Consequently, as the central agent, teachers possess some moral responsibility to search for the solution to better serve pedagogical instruction. In this manner, teachers should exercise their creativity to exhibit better teaching-learning processes such as teaching dynamic, grouping system, enrichment activities, instilling students motivation, nurturing good learning attitudes and habits, and counselling services (Koswara & Halimah, 2008). Teachers also have a fundamental role in maintaining students' motivation to learn during the unprecedented online or remote learning (Khotimah et al., 2021). Further, on the one hand, teachers are expected to conduct distance teaching by integrating digital technology. On the other hand, students are compelled to investigate information technology and channel their creativity through an innovative learning process. In so doing, various distance communication platforms such as Google Classroom (Okmawati, 2020;Shaharanee et al., 2016), Schoology Online Class (Astini, 2020;Nurdiansah et al., 2021;Priyatno, 2017), or even Social Media platforms (Friedman & Friedman, 2013;Lailiyah & Setiyaningsih, 2020) are potential affordance to be enacted to maintain virtual learning activities. The enactment of those online learning platforms indeed is forcing teachers to become more information technology literate.
Furthermore, Garrison et al. (2001) postulate the theory of community of inquiry as a learning process model methodologically practical to surmount learning difficulties in a virtual and blended learning environment. It is a theoretical framework anchoring in the socio-constructivist perspective guiding teachers to establish quality online learning. The Community of Inquiry (CoI) framework was constructed to provide a structure for understanding the processes of computer-mediated distance education and a methodology for implementing and assessing online learning (Micsky & Foels, 2019). It covers teaching presence, social presence, and cognitive presence. Teaching presence refers to an ability to design, facilitate and direct social and cognitive processes to create meaningful learning. Social presence refers to motivating others to participate in virtual education and project their personalities through communication and identification with the community to establish an interpersonal relationship. Cognitive preference relates to students' ability to construct and verify the meaning of learning through persistent thought and dialogue, resulting in a unified CoI foundation in a course. Table 1 presents the idea of the CoI model. Against the aforementioned backdrop and given the importance of continuous learning in this unprecedented learning milieu, the researchers disclosed a solid desire to scrutinize English teachers' problems and overcome those problems in virtual education. Ultimately, this study is being conducted to fill the empirical gap and add to the body of literature on this topic in a secondary school in West Lombok of Indonesia. To sum up, this study seeks to explore learning problems experienced by English teachers in virtual learning and how they overcome the learning problems during the Covid-19 school closure.

Method
In this study, a qualitative approach in the form of a case study was enacted. According to Hancock et al. (2007), qualitative research is concerned with the developing narration of social phenomena and why things happen the way they do. A case study is designed to investigate the characteristics of particular units such as a child, a group, a class, or a school community (Gillham, 2000). A case study was employed to understand teachers' teaching problems and the solutions to the closure of the Covid-19 pandemic. This study was conducted at a state senior high school in West Lombok. The school was considered in this study due to two criteria: first, the school was implementing virtual learning methods during the Covid-19 pandemic. Second, this school had an "A" accreditation which means the highest rank of accreditation. Moreover, using convenient random sampling, two English teachers from this school were voluntarily recruited to this study after gaining access and consent from the school principal. Table 2 shows the English teacher participant's profile. The data was gathered in three ways: interviews, observations, and documentation. First, classroom observation was enacted to deeply monitor the research context/situation. The natural state of what was being researched may be effectively seen through observation (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). The researcher systematically observed the teachers' practices in preparing, giving treatment or teaching, and evaluating learning during virtual learning. It was administered two times for each teacher and with two teaching hours for each observation session. To capture the details of the classroom dynamic, with the teachers' consent, the observations were video recorded. Second, to extend the investigation, the interview was conducted with 15 questions seeking the teachers' problems and solutions. The interview was administered once for each teacher for approximately ten to fifteen minutes. The researchers utilized a semi-structured interview technique mediated in Indonesian. The process was audio recorded with the participants' agreement. Last, the document analysis was also completed by viewing and analysing the material from the teachers to inform the practiced learning activities better. In addition, the observation was utilized to round out the information and confirm the facts gathered during the interview and observation session.
In analysing the data, the interactive model guided by Miles and Huberman (1994) was utilized. It consists of four stages; data collection, reduction, data display, and drawing conclusions and verification (see Figure 1).

A case study of teachers' efforts towards learning problems in virtual EFL class during Covid-19 school closure
Muhammad Yani, Kamaludin Yusra, Khusnul Khotimah | 5 | Figure 1. The iterative qualitative data investigation model (Miles & Huberman, 1994) In the data display, the Indonesian data were mediated into English, respectively. In the analysis process, the researcher used the CoI model (Garrison et al., 2001) and previous studies to analyse the results. Further, Sugiyono (2008) argues that data analysis in qualitative research activities is interactive and takes place in a continuous loop until the data is saturated (Sugiyono, 2008). In this respect, the data saturation was taken into consideration in seeing the data adequacy.
Furthermore, the triangulation method was used to validate the data's integrity by comparing data gathered from various sources. According to Sugiyono (2014), triangulation of sources is accomplished in this study by comparing data collected through interviews, observation, and documentation.

Results and discussion
The findings of this study were structured based on the two themes of the intended research questions: 1) learning problems in virtual learning and 2) English teachers' efforts in overcoming learning problems in virtual learning.

Learning problems in virtual learning milieu
Data from interviews, observation, and documentation show that T1 and T2 often found certain types of learning problems when preparing, conducting, and evaluating virtual learning, including the factors that caused the learning problems. T1 and T2 felt constrained by specific resistances, which created the learning problems such as lack of communication media, less motivation, and too many assignments. For example, T1 asserted: There are three subjects and three assignments from one day, and it becomes a burden for the children. So that there are tasks that we give that are not done optimally or even not done at all, they feel bored with the tasks assigned by all the teachers, and in the end, the assignments given are not done. Sometimes the availability of smartphones and limited quotas make it difficult for them to take online classes. (T1, semi-structured interview) | 6 | Similar to T1, T2 stated that he had the same type of learning issues with virtual learning. He was troubled by the learning issue because it was challenging to make virtual learning lively and enjoyable. T2 said: Many students experienced the boredom of learning online, so that sometimes they answered questions carelessly. The concentration and motivation of children studying at home and school will undoubtedly be different. The main problem was that their motivation to learn was lacking in the current situation, making learning active and fun challenging. (T2, semi-structured interview) The results of the interviews and the observations agreed. T1, for example, claimed that he frequently had a variety of learning challenges. He saw students disclose a lack of desire and enthusiasm in learning, negative attitudes toward teachers, courses, learning circumstances, and bad habits in attending virtual learning. T1 also discussed some of the limits or issues during virtual learning during the pandemic, such as teachers' and students' weak grasp of technology information, insufficient facilities and infrastructure, and limited internet connection.
Moreover, from interviews based on theory, two factors that hinder the teaching and learning process during a pandemic Covid-19 include internal and external factors (Astuti, 2021). Internal factors arise from the perpetrators of teaching and learning activities. In this case, T1 and T2 found the emerging internal factors causing some learning problems were dealing with students' short attention span and lack of willingness to complete tasks. T1 said, for example: Then, the second obstacle, online learning, requires extra work from the teacher, especially encouraging children because, from language subjects, all subjects must have assignments and assignments pile up. There are three subjects and three assignments from one day, and it becomes a burden for the children. So that there are tasks that we give that are not done optimally or even not done at all, they pay less attention to learning English because they do not understand what they are doing. The second, feeling bored with the tasks given by all the teachers, ended up not doing the assigned tasks. (T1, semi-structured interview) On the other hand, external factors were also emerging, causing some learning problems. Internet quota and the unavailability of smartphones were the main problems experienced by both the teacher and the students. T2 regarded: The difficulty of learning online is that some of the children have smartphones, and some do not. So those who don't have smartphones borrow them from their friends and sometimes don't have them at all, so online learning doesn't work optimally because of low-income family factors. Moreover, if students use YouTube, the internet quota must be consumed. (T2, semi-structured interview) The problems were not limited to the inadequate learning infrastructure such as internet quota and the gadget. Students were also prone to the misuse of the smartphone. Instead of studying,  Learning difficulties affect a person's capacity to gain knowledge, abilities, and skills at the same rate as their peers (Skinner, 1968). On the other hand, the school lockdown puts instructors, students, schools, and parents in unfamiliar situations. Teachers must shift their teaching methods from face-to-face to distant learning, which has necessitated them to integrate various media and teaching tools to solve learning issues and implement new teaching and learning strategies (König et al., 2020). Based on the data, there are several learning problems felt by T1 and T2 when teaching virtual learning covering teachers and students' aspects either from internal or external factors. Furthermore, most of the learning challenges teachers have with their pupils are caused by a lack of driving motivation and poor learning patterns in some students (slow learners) (Ghufron & Risnawita, 2015;Lenhard & Lenhard, 2013). This finding can be seen when the researcher observes the teachers' pedagogical practices dealing with materials delivery and the time of materials delivery in the classroom instruction. Then, these learning problems also often occurred when the teacher was teaching in the virtual classes. In this aspect, this study discloses a similar result to Saputra et al.'s (2020) study that English teachers dealt with a lack of variety in learning approaches, a limited model of student communication, a shortage of learning time, and learning evaluation constraints. Furthermore, the data gathered indicates that both external and internal factors influence learning challenges during virtual learning. During the learning process, children were frequently exposed to internal influences. According to the findings, the psychological aspect of learning problems in students during virtual learning is a common internal factor.
Internal factors existed within the individual covering physical, psychological, and fatigue (Astuti, 2021). This aspect affects the quantity and quality of students' learning, such as their interest and motivation in education. In the same way, external factors that influenced learning problems | 8 | were certainly experienced by both English teachers and students in virtual learning. This element mainly pertained to the tools used by both the teacher and the student, such as the absence of media communication, inadequate internet connection, and the lack of technological devices affordance.
As a result, these learning issues might affect students' engagement in learning. Teachers must address these challenges within the teaching-learning processes to delve into appropriate measures to surmount the emerging problems. From the above-mentioned explanation, this study was in alignment with the previous empirical studies stating that teachers must apply their professional knowledge and skills to overcome problems in teaching and learning activities in various contexts (König et al., 2020). Moreover, teachers should pay close attention to the more comprehensive learning dimensions such as students' cognitive, emotional, and psychomotor development. In other words, teachers should not concentrate solely on one particular issue to deliver quality education (Koswara & Halimah, 2008).

English teachers' efforts in overcoming learning problems in virtual learning
Because of Covid-19, a face-to-face learning process became a bold learning process, requiring English teachers to pay more attention as the learning process progressed. In their interview frames, considering the emerging learning problems amidst the unprecedented learning milieu, T1 and T2 revealed comparable experiences preparing for virtual learning. They attempted to use learning platforms as communication media, identify learning resources on the internet, and provide instructions and guidance on using or accessing learning. The following are samples of more detailed information from both English teachers' interviews: First, we create a WA (WhatsApp) group for each class. In the group, we use it as a medium of communication during online learning. Second, we mostly take the material from YouTube. There is a lot of material you can use, such as listening, writing, grammar, short conversation, and others. Then, after we get the material, we inform the students and give directions or procedures for studying the material by using short messages using the class WA group about what they need to do a week before learning that day or the next. (T1, semi-structured interview) A week of the material was delivered. I have prepared material, sometimes taking it on YouTube. There is also a lot of English material related to the subject matter or subject matter that will be taught. So, I took a lot on YouTube about this English language material, such as grammar, writing, folk stories, songs. (T2, semi-structured interview) From the results of interviews and observation, the efforts of English teachers to prepare for online learning were: 1) English teachers created a WhatsApp Group (WAG) platform as a medium of communication during virtual learning, 2) they provided learning sources such as YouTube, Google, and teacher books, 3) before teaching, they gave directions or procedures for carrying out learning through WAG messages, and finally 4) they gave time to students and encouraged them to ask questions about the material to be studied.

A case study of teachers' efforts towards learning problems in virtual EFL class during Covid-19 school closure
Muhammad Yani, Kamaludin Yusra, Khusnul Khotimah

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Furthermore, English teachers should be responsible for carrying out learning activities, including virtual learning. They have a responsibility to conduct the teaching for any cause. In this study, teachers used a variety of platforms for virtual instruction, including WAG, Google Forms, Google Classroom, Google Drive, and YouTube. Based on the observations, it was discovered that both T1 and T2 used WAG, to facilitate learning delivery. WAG was a central platform where teachers could track student participation, transmit specific learning videos or audios, have WAG video conferences, and describe learning agendas and tasks. English teachers frequently used the class WAG to collect assignments. Giving the job via WA messaging makes it easier for pupils. Students usually photographed the assignment and emailed it to the teacher. WAG was also used to submit video tutorials created by English teachers. The pupils then went through the material with the teacher and learned from it. The interview results also revealed that the English teacher's teaching method was distributing movies to WA groups. The learning videos they had retrieved from another platform, such as YouTube, are commonly sent via WA class groups containing greetings to students and explaining the subject matter and assignments to be done that day. They insisted that WAG and YouTube were the most accessible learning platform that can be used and has any kind of learning courses or topics: The solution I gave. A week of the material was delivered. I have prepared material, sometimes taking it on YouTube. There is also a lot of English material related to the subject matter or subject matter that will be taught. So, I took a lot on YouTube about this English language material, such as grammar, writing, folk stories. So, I gave the video, and then the students immediately copied it into their notebooks, writing for them to report later the following week. So, a lot of material that can be used on YouTube as online learning material, especially listening, is also there, like song lyrics; we listen to them directly as we listen to them. We take advantage of virtual media because face-to-face is currently very difficult. So, with YouTube, it helps us as a teacher with students to make it easier for them to complete assignments and learn from them using the class WA group. (T2, semi-structured interview) We have to look for specific patterns to teach the same to children so that they receive it correctly. So far, we have only cursed simple platforms through WA. (T1, semi-structured interview) Moreover, the teachers evaluated students' progress in virtual learning by assigning them to make video projects. Even the tests that were supposed to be done could have been cancelled. This online learning also impacted the lessons that require a lot of practice during the learning process under normal conditions. As a result, assignment collections mainly were in videos, images, and documentation (summary). However, the teachers felt overwhelmed and exhausted to assess every single learning product. T1 stated in an interview: We only assess the work he did. For example, if we give a conversation or dialogue task, we must make a video conversation about giving advice or assistance. Then the practice video they do is our assessment material. (T1, semi-structured interview) | 10 | Furthermore, if students were unfortunately unable to collect assigned tasks because of a lack of a telephone or quota, the teachers provided some alternatives allowing students to deliver the tasks in person or entrust the videos to their classroom fellows. The teachers made considerable measures to anticipate the lack of submission by providing oral or written reminders; otherwise, they could not assess and score the students' learning products. T2 narrated that: And for those who do not, we give a warning in the form of a warning letter. Do not let them always not work and do not participate in learning. At least it is an effort to join in the teaching. Do not leave it alone because later, the value will be challenging to give. In the end, we will only provide the value of pity because sometimes they learn too. If they don't, they won't go to class. And the solution, we give them an additional task in the form of a remedy. (T2, semi-structured interview) In addition, it is necessary to foster students' interest in learning in teaching and learning interaction. The teachers must have such a way to establish a supportive learning environment helping students to stay motivated. The teachers' ability to motivate students has been seen as crucial in online learning, especially amidst the unprecedented learning milieu (Khotimah et al., 2021). In this study, the teachers were observed to motivate students through verbal encouragement. For example, T2 asserted: So, we give students verbal motivation to stay motivated to learn because the time to study is minimal. Don't worry about the corona. We don't even learn and miss learning materials. So, we don't learn even though we don't meet physically because of the current situation. Still, we can use existing online learning media, mainly since the government has provided quotas. We must use it as best we can to access the learning materials. (T2, semi-structured interview) Thus, the data analysis from T1 and T2 revealed that English teachers make several efforts in conducting the virtual teaching process. These efforts are divided into three stages: efforts in preparation, efforts during teaching, and evaluation. From the CoI perspective, the teachers disclosed some endeavours to maintain education, social, and cognitive presence in the instruction. Table 4 evinces the detailed teachers' endeavours or efforts to deal with problems towards a better quality of virtual learning. Table 4 shows that teachers endeavoured to exhibit the teaching, social, and cognitive presence of CoI dimensions. However, seeing the detailed indicators, it is evidenced that there are still many CoI indicators that can be advocated in their teaching practices, such as using various ways to build students' understanding in teaching presence. The teachers could use multimodal affordances to help students better understand the material, like giving voice recordings and the like. In the social presence dimension, how to create group cohesion leading to the feel of being connected with the classroom fellows was also in need of considerable attention. Similar findings were also evident in the cognitive presence. In addition to the limited variation in each cognitive presence dimension, the element of | 11 |  The rest of this discussion is devoted to the description of how the teachers' efforts were delivered. First, in practice, English teachers attempted specific ways to prepare the virtual learning: 1) they made a WA group for students in each class as the main media communication platform, 2) English teachers provided students with videos of learning tutorials from the internet, such as YouTube and Google, as the sources, 3) teachers gave the students explanations about what students should do for the learning by giving them direct messages through the WA class group. In this case, English teachers carried out their duties and functions to develop the educational experience design. Teaching presence is frequently regarded as the most challenging responsibility for teachers because it provides curriculum, approaches, techniques, direction, and concentration (Garrison et al., 2001;Micsky & Foels, 2019). This comprises course content selection, organization, introductory presentation, and learning activity design and creation. In this study, to some degree, the teachers disclosed their attempt to maintain teaching presence.
Various distances communication systems, such as Google Classroom, WAG, YouTube, and others, can be used to continue virtual learning activities while also forcing teachers to become information technology savvy (Astini, 2020). T1 and T2 did several works in doing virtual learning: 1) English teacher sent learning videos to students by providing a link, 2) made WAG Video Calls with students or giving them direct instruction by messages, 3) English teachers encouraged students to download the material and learn the material from the teacher, 4) they gave student assignments in the form of videos and student Worksheets via WAG. Therefore, to optimize virtual learning, both English teachers and students have created a learning atmosphere to maintain their roles to construct and verify the meaning of learning through persistent thought and dialogue in a course (Garrison et al., 2000). Although, some roles are not pursued, such as sharing personal meaning, focusing discussion, information exchange, defining and initiating discussion topics.

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EnJourMe (English Journal of Merdeka): Culture, Language, and Teaching of English Vol. 6, No. 2, Desember 2021, pp. 1-14 Finally, T1 and T2 have introduced new teaching and learning concepts in offering assignments and feedback to students. It has been proved that teachers with assessed competence using online examinations are highly predictive of sustaining social contact and engaging in teaching and learning activities (Astini, 2020, König et al., 2020. Form the data, T1 and T2 did learning evaluation in virtual learning by some attempts: 1) English teacher assessed students virtual learning from the practical video, photo, documents (summary in a notebook) that completed by the students, 2) English teacher granted students direct score for students labour, 3) For those who were often absent in class, a warning letter will be given, 4) students who did not have a cell phone (learning technological device) or quotas can leave assignments to their classmates, 5) for students who did not do their work will be given a remedy or additional task. As a result, in evaluating virtual learning, English teachers carried out their role as a social presence (Garrison et al., 2000) that encourages students to continue learning by motivating them verbally to project their traits onto the community.

Conclusion
This study investigated English teachers' problems and efforts in overcoming those problems during the Covid-19 school closure at a state senior high school in the context of West Lombok, Indonesia. The researcher obtained the data by observation, interviews, and documentation of the example (two teachers of a state senior high school in West Lombok). The data found that English teachers experienced several internal and external learning problems during virtual learning. Some students lacked virtual learning communication devices, and some disclosed a lack of seriousness in virtual classes; teachers experienced complexity in finding sources and learning methods and possessed a density in evaluating student learning outcomes. Thus, several efforts made by English teachers to address the experienced pedagogical issues. The teachers narrated and showed some sizable endeavours to maintain teaching, social, and cognitive presence in the instruction to surmount the problems. However, their efforts were observed as inadequate and left some room for improvement on how teachers should effectively serve in the virtual pedagogical practices. Consequently, this study suggests the urgent need for teachers to understand the theoretical or empirical underlying basis of quality education, such as the community of inquiry and some other relevant constructs. A similar suggestion also applies to how teachers could function technological devices to gain the maximum benefits for teaching-learning nested purposes.