peeling the onion: uncovering the essence of efl teachers’ challenges in online evaluation of reading comprehension

The advent of technology is shifting the landscape of reading comprehension evaluation. therefore, it is crucial to understand efl teachers’ challenges in the online evaluation of reading comprehension. in this regard, transcendental phenomenology was employed to explore the essence of efl teachers’ challenges. data were collected from narratives and interviews with 12 efl teachers and subsequently analyzed using giorgi’s (2009) five-step framework. the findings revealed that efl teachers encounter three key challenges: expanded roles and responsibilities that contribute to their negative emotions; inadequate digital literacy caused by lack of sufficient training; and dealing with students’ over-reliance on technological tools that hinder their cognitive comprehension processes. we concluded that online evaluation of reading comprehension yields two types of challenges for efl teachers: overt and covert challenges. overt challenges involve evident issues such as limited resources required for the online evaluation of reading comprehension, while covert challenges are profound but less obvious, such as dealing with students’ disengagement. the implications of the study emphasize the critical need to focus on enhancing teachers’ professional development for effective technology integration in language skills evaluation, specifically reading comprehension.