Optimizing Online English Language Learning and Teaching

This book focuses on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and provides advice on how to approach EFL teaching in the online context. Coronavirus has accelerated e-learning significantly and has highlighted the need of appropriate web tools that will allow teachers to present their material either synchronously or asynchronously, while also adequately assess their students. At the same time, there is a need of tools that can engage the students and motivate them to actively participate in the lesson.

With e-learning being a rather new challenge for both teachers and students, this book provides research- and practice- based chapters with strategies, techniques, approaches, and methods which have proven to be successful in e-learning environments, maximizing their impact . Apart from presenting research results with strong pedagogical implications on online or blended English language learning and teaching, the book also trains educators on utilizing online tools and managingonline learning environments and platforms.

Maria del Mar Suárez holds a PhD in Applied Linguistics by the Universitat de Barcelona. Winner of the National Award of Young Researchers of the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (AESLA), she is an associate professor at the Universitat de Barcelona, where she also does research into second language acquisition, multimodality, learner autonomy and individual differences in foreign language learning, focusing on language aptitude. She is also the editor-in-chief of Didacticae. Journal of Research in Specific Didactics. Her most recent publications are ‘Technology and music production in different genres: Key issues for a significant music education’, ‘A need for an aptitude test for young learners in Catalan: The case of the Modern Language Aptitude Test - Elementary in Catalan’ and ‘Individual differences in young learners and L2 vocabulary development: The case of language aptitude and exposure to subtitled TV series,’ among others.

Walaa El-Henawy, Ph. D in Education (Curriculum and Methods of Teaching English), currently works as a lecturer of Curriculum, Instruction (EFL), and Educational Technology at the Faculty of Education, Port Said University. Walaa does research on teachers' instructional communication skills, self-regulation, writing self-efficacy, writing metacognitive awareness, literary reading skills, brain-based learning, project-based learning, educational assessment, innovative strategies for TEFL, and educational technology. Her most recent publications are ‘Examining the Impact of Brain-Based Professional Development on EFL Novice Teachers’ Pedagogical Perceptions and Practices’, “Media Literacy in EFL Teacher Education: A Necessity for 21st Century English Language Instruction”, "Assessment Techniques in EFL Brain-Compatible Classroom" and "Using Brain-Based Instruction to Optimize Early Childhood English Language Education''. She is a reviewer and a member of the editorial board of some high-ranked journals related to her fields of interest and she is the managing editor of Port Said Journal of Educational Research (PSJER).