Transition to Online EFL Teaching in Saudi Arabian Universities during the COVID-19 Outbreak

As a result of the coronavirus crisis and the new restrictions and mandates set by governments around the globe, many educational institutions decided to suspend in-person classes and replace them with online instruction. Universities in Saudi Arabia shifted their entire delivery of teaching to the online platform and closed their doors. This unprecedented and unexpected online transition had several consequences. The present paper examines how instructors in Saudi universities reflected on this transition and the extent to which they were ready for such an unforeseen change. The current study is significant for helping instructors rise to the challenges resulting from the wholescale and ongoing transition to online teaching and learning in the wake of COVID-19 and the subsequent suspension of face-to-face instruction. In addition, this study seeks to examine the attitudes and readiness of participants from eight universities in Saudi Arabia in the broader context. The results revealed that instructors have positive attitudes towards utilising online tools and were knowledgeable of the significant advantages of integrating online tools and content into their teaching of English language as a foreign language; however, they reported that they were not adequately prepared and that they experienced distress and suffered due to the obligation to acquire new digital skills within a very short period.