efl teachers' professional development needs: a comparative phenomenological analysis for face to face and online instruction

It is clear that the pandemic has spread to all countries and greatly affected education worldwide. therefore, teachers must prepare to shift from face-to-face (ftf) classes to online classes. fortunately, electronic learning made teaching a second or foreign language online possible, even without conventional face-to-face classrooms. the gradual shifts from traditional ftf classes to online classrooms require efl teachers to acquire new knowledge, skills, and competencies. professional development (pd) is necessary to assist online teachers in developing new pedagogies and competencies and coping with recent roles in online learning contexts. this study aimed to explore efl teachers' main professional development needs for ftf and online instruction. the researchers conducted phenomenological research and interviewed 18 efl teachers who had practiced online and ftf teaching. the researchers used a theoretical sampling technique to select the interviewees. semi-structured interviews were conducted, recorded, and transcribed verbatim. the interviews were analyzed using open, axial, and selective coding. findings revealed that efl teachers' pd needs could be classified into six main pd categories to teach effectively in online and ftf environments. the main categories include pedagogical(education), deigning and technological, content, psychological and lifestyle, social, and classroom management needs. results also revealed that there are differences between types and frequencies of pd needs for online and ftf instructions. it is concluded that online teaching is more demanding than ftf instruction. online efl teachers might feel uncomfortable teaching online courses because of the many roles and responsibilities. therefore, it is necessary to determine efl teachers' pd needs and competencies so that teacher developers and institutes can help design appropriate pd programs for online and ftf teachers. findings have theoretical and practical implications for electronic learning experts, efl teachers, teacher trainers, and language institutions.