ENGLISH TEACHERS' ATTITUDE AND CHALLENGES IN FACING IMMEDIATE ONLINE TEACHING: A CASE STUDY IN VIETNAM

Background and Purpose: Early 21st century saw great changes in all fields of life due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Education worldwide has to suffer from many difficulties when schools are forced to close down for safety. In Vietnam, online teaching has been applied in most of cities and provinces where COVID-19 pandemic has been serious. The implementation of remote teaching in a large quantity of schools was first seen in 2021. However, not many studies have been found on massive immediate online teaching. Due to the fact that a thorough understanding of online teaching in English language teaching is necessary for better online teaching to be delivered in the near future, this study aims to investigate English teachers' attitudes towards online teaching and their challenges. Methodology: This study was designed as a qualitative case study. Nine English teachers from the primary schools and high schools were invited to participate in the semi-interviews. The research instrument used was the in-depth interviews, in which the questions were adapted from the previous studies. Data were generated using codes and analysed in themes. Findings: The findings revealed that COVID-19 is the main factor forcing English teachers to equip themselves with knowledge and skills for online teaching. It was found that English teachers in Vietnam were reluctant to conduct remote language teaching due to the lack of knowledge and skills of integrating technology in education, facilities, teaching condition, and parents' interference. Contributions: The study concludes that English teachers in Vietnam experience hardship with the remote teaching and their challenges. With such understanding, it is suggested that instant support for teachers and continuous training should be provided to reduce the hardship and improve teachers' skills in conducting online teaching.