BackgroundIn a context where synchronous online teaching has become a new trend of instruction for online education due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is valuable and insightful to examine what factors contribute to teachers' satisfaction with synchronous online teaching.ObjectiveInformed by the technology acceptance model (TAM), this study investigated English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) university teachers' synchronous online teaching satisfaction in China from social (i.e., subjective norms), institutional (i.e., facilitating conditions), and individual (i.e., self-efficacy, attitudes toward use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use) levels during the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsA total of 250 in-service EFL university teachers participated in this study. An online questionnaire was adaptively developed to measure teachers' perceptions of and satisfaction with synchronous online teaching. The structural equation modelling (i.e., path analyses) was performed to find out a model that can best represent EFL university teachers' synchronous online teaching satisfaction.Results and ConclusionThe results showed that facilitating conditions, self-efficacy, attitudes toward use, and perceived usefulness are direct contributors to EFL university teachers' satisfaction with synchronous online teaching. Whereas, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, and subjective norms are indirect contributors through the mediation of attitudes toward use. Moreover, different from previous TAM research, facilitating conditions have been found to be the most significant direct factor positively contributing to satisfaction. The findings of this study are expected to shed light on how to enhance teachers' synchronous online teaching satisfaction. What is already known about this topicThe technology acceptance model (TAM) has been frequently adopted to examine teachers' acceptance of technology in various contexts over the last two decades.The TAM model identifies three key factors that contribute to people's intention of technology use: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of, and attitudes toward technology use.Although the TAM model has been extensively examined in various technology-supported teaching contexts, there has been a lack of focus on livestream technology-supported synchronous online teaching.EFL university teachers' synchronous online teaching satisfaction during the COVID-19 in China.Teachers' satisfaction with synchronous online teaching is a joint interplay of individual (i.e., self-efficacy, attitudes toward use, perceived usefulness, and perceived ease of use), institutional (i.e., facilitating conditions), and social (i.e., subjective norms) factors.Facilitating conditions, self-efficacy, attitudes toward use, and perceived usefulness are direct contributors, while perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, and subjective norms are indirect contributors to teachers' synchronous online teaching satisfaction through the mediation of attitudes toward use.Different from previous TAM research, facilitating conditions have been found to be the most significant direct factor positively contributing to satisfaction.Implications for practice and/or policyThis study offers a diagnostic measure for schools and universities to understand the status quo of their teachers' perceptions of and satisfaction with synchronous online teaching.Universities are advised to provide teachers with readily accessible support and training to enhance their self-efficacy for synchronous online teaching so that their satisfaction with synchronous online teaching can be strengthened.
