Advantages and Disadvantages of Online Lessons from the Perspectives of

comments about the differences between face-to-face and online education based on their experiences. The summaries of positive and negative dimensions of online education from the perspectives of the instructors are represented in Table 11 and Table 12 respectively. Similar to the data gathered from the students, participant instructors’ views involving online and face-to-face preferences concerning four main skills, grammar and vocabulary teaching are scrutinized in detail in the next section.

Table 11

Main advantages of online lessons according to the instructors

Codes N Sample Excerpts

Practicality of some online tools and materials

7 I think, writing something on Google Docs, for example, instead of the

whiteboard, is quite easy. You can use different font types, different colors, it looks good for me and students as well.

Instead of writing on the whiteboard, I prefer writing on a Word document to make it easier to edit, to color... And it's neat, after the class, I upload them, they don't have to write it. (Ins9)

Better time management 7 It is easier to organize the time here because you do everything as a teacher.

Therefore, it is much easier to control time.

And, you can always see how many minutes have passed right at the top corner of the screen and you can give your break.

(Ins8)

No locational limitation 7 I think it saves time and effort. You know, if you are teaching from home, you do not spend time on the road to go to the

workplace. This is the first advantage for the teachers as well. And you can get enough sleep thanks to this fact. (Ins9) Better classroom management 6 In real classrooms, classroom management

was much harder, but in the online classrooms, there is a feature you know, you can mute students if you want to say something important. (Ins9)

Students- less distraction 6 They are not in a group, so they are not going to be distracted by some other irrelevant things. (Ins10)

Self-improvement 4 I am more aware of technical tools now and I am searching for some technical tools, some technological things to foster collaboration. I feel more confident in using technology, and even after online teaching, I will use that. (Ins5)

Lesson recording 3 Let's say that someone cannot attend the lessons, they can watch the lessons later.

This is something that cannot happen in face-to-face. (Ins7)

Students- being more self-confident 2 Maybe if they are not confident enough to talk to people, or to show themselves in front of people, it might be advantageous for those students, like introverts. In virtual classrooms, they don't have to show

themselves, but they can still talk, or they can still write something to them to communicate, but in the real class, if they're too shy, they generally don't communicate much. (Ins9)

Better for the environment 2 It is much better for us to learn how to use an online book before a printed one, because it is not environmental. While you have an online book, why would you carry the book with you everywhere? It is not practical as well. (Ins8)

Students- meeting social needs 1 It is not solely based on online teaching, it is much more about the period that it took place. We were using it during quarantine, they had a need to communicate with people. So, it met their needs, it was the

only time they could socialize with people.

(Ins2) Establishing the distance between teachers

and students

1 Maybe it can be a bit easier to establish the teacher-student relationship because in face-to-face teaching, sometimes I can be too friendly. Since there is already a natural distance between the students and the teacher, it may be a bit easier to protect your position as a teacher. (Ins4)

Table 11 shows that practicality of online tools and materials, to be able to manage time easily and not having locational limitations are the most mentioned advantages of online lessons by 7 instructors. Enhancing a better classroom management and the idea that students have less things to get distracted while they are in a virtual environment was mentioned by 6 instructors. 4 instructors claimed that online lessons led to self-improvement in technology and in the field. 3 instructors touched upon recording of the lessons and talked about its benefits for the students. 2 instructors mentioned that some students, particularly the introverted ones, might be more self-confident in a virtual environment and might express during the lessons. Another 2 instructors reported the fact that online lessons might help environmental protection by taking into

consideration the less consumption of some printed sources. Even though the last two codes were mentioned by one instructor, they were included in the table considering that they might be noteworthy. One of the instructors pointed out that having online lessons especially during the lockdown process was an opportunity for students to meet their social needs to some extent. The last but not the least, one of the instructors highlighted that it was easier to keep her/his distance from the students, in other words, it was easier to protect the teacher position without being too friendly.

When it comes to the disadvantages, Table 12 reveals the negative aspects of online lessons in the instructors’ eyes. It is conspicuous that all of the instructors mentioned technical disadvantages such as problems with the equipment, sound system, internet connection and software programs, which were being used, by pointing out all of them faced with so many

breakdowns which affected the flow of the lesson substantially. Likewise, all of the instructors reported that they were unsure about the students in various aspects both during the sessions and out of the sessions; to make it clear, they did not know whether their students attended the lessons or did the exercises, homework and exams on their own. All of the instructors stated that they could not use some strategies, methods and activity types which worked in face-to-face lessons, even when they used them, they were of the opinion that they were not as efficient as in face-to-face lessons. Having interaction problems during lessons is another issue addressed by all the instructors. Interaction problems, which is a broad concept, reported by the instructors

involve the troubles in having smooth teacher-to-student, student-to-teacher, student-to-student and whole class interactions, which leads less rapport among all the people in a classroom, as well as the inability to use body language during the lessons. Instructors also highlighted that lessons were too teacher-oriented because of these limitations in interaction types. Some examples can be examined below.

“I think I'm a very active teacher, I use my voice, my body like my mimics and gestures, and sometimes like getting closer to them or leaving. Now, I cannot do anything, even if I move my body here, they don't really see it that much. So, they can't really be affected or influenced that much.” (Ins4)

“I believe the online one is more teacher-oriented. Even for pair work or group work, we basically have to skip them and there is no interaction between the student and the student. ” (Ins8)

“I cannot really connect, talk to students and see what they're doing and intervene in a helpful way.” (Ins10)

“When we are face to face, we have a lot more of interaction because students can interact with each other and they can do so many things because it is a language, it's about practicing.” (Ins7)

9 instructors talked about the lack of motivation in students and instructors during the online teaching process. Some solutions were sought for the lack of motivation in students and they are going to be examined under another title. Similar to the data gathered from the students,

the fact that there were inequality of opportunities in terms of access to the internet which involves the capacity and some basic equipment for distance education among the learners and even for instructors were mentioned by 8 instructors. 7 instructors reported that they had some difficulties in managing time in online sessions. While some of these time-related problems resulted from finishing the materials earlier since their students did not contributed enough, some of them stemmed from not being able to cover all the parts in the materials that they were

supposed to cover since the time was relatively limited. 6 instructors complained about psychologically demanding nature of online lessons in various aspects and stated that they sometimes felt overwhelmed because of the increased workload that they had. While talking about the negative sides, 6 instructors made their comments about adjusting some materials and activities and stated that there was an extra effort to change or skip them during online sessions.

Lastly, 4 instructors suggested that some students might not have an appropriate setting for online education at home and some potential sources of distractions might inhibit an effective learning.

Table 12

Main disadvantages of online lessons according to the instructors

Codes N Sample Excerpts

Technical disadvantages 10 During face-to-face teaching, everything is the same for all the students and the teacher. The same walls, the same desk, the same cable… In online education, everything is different. Everyone uses different computers, they have different internet speed, they have different load on their internet connection. Some of them have very crowded families and they want to use internet at the same time. So, it can create

connection problems. (Ins2) Uncertainty about the

students

10 I don't know whether they are there or not, or whether, even if they may be there physically, I don't know whether they are following the content or not. I don't

know whether they are attending the class. That is the most important difference. (Ins3)

Not being able implement some strategies, methods and activities

10 There are lot of pair works, group works and interpersonal interactions in face-to-face, but online education really decreases that opportunity. On Zoom, there is a section that you can really assign them as groups. I know and do that, but it's not the same because when they're all together, and I am there to observe them and take notes. They somehow do it in a better way, do it in a more communicative way, collaboratively in face-to-face. (Ins4)

Interaction problems during lessons

10 In online teaching, you are just asking them to do some tasks and to answer your question, so it requires less time, but the students are less active in working with other students, they are just talking with the teacher. There is just teacher-to-student or teacher interaction. So, in terms of the student-to-student interaction, it's a bit disadvantageous. (Ins9) Lack of motivation 9 It is kind of a negative aspect actually for both sides

because the teachers and students are not as motivated as they would be in the classroom. So being in a classroom doesn't push them, but still they could feel that urge to speak because I'm waiting for that person to speak and other students are also waiting there, being in a peer pressure maybe. I think it's more difficult to motivate them here. (Ins10)

Inequality of opportunities 8 There are a lot of students who still don't have a computer or a Wi Fi, or a better connection. Even as a teacher, I have a lot of problems about connection.

(Ins8)

Time management problems 7 The classes may sometimes end in a shorter time than you expected because there is less communication and more lecturing if they don't really attend. You already finished your materials, so you will have to find something else because you have to use the rest of the time that is given to you as a teacher. (Ins4)

More demanding for teachers 6 For online classes, you need extra preparation. The teachers are overwhelmed with students’ assignments and giving their feedback by following some kind of online procedure. So, at the expense of not missing them, you are sacrificing the student's motivational activities, let me say. (Ins1)

Extra effort to adjust activities and materials

6 For the applicability of the activities, you need to think twice if you are going to use them in online teaching.

The things that we are using in face-to-face teaching are sometimes not okay with online teaching. You need to change something with them and you need to put something else or you need to separate them into different components, lots of things. (Ins6)

Distractions at home 4 We do not have any background noise at home but sometimes that could not be valid for the students.

They are living with their parents, and maybe they have sisters, brothers or someone else at home. So, they need to have a proper environment to join to the sessions in the most beneficial way as possible. (Ins6)