Teacher Digital Skills in Online Language Teaching and Learning: Survey in Lithuania

Abstract

Technology driven language teaching and learning is closely related to the need to integrate digital technologies into the language classroom. The technological advances are also evident in the work of the European Commission with the acknowledgement of the use of digital technologies to empower learners and launching numerous EU-funded research projects focused on the ICT use in teaching and learning (European Commission 2020). It becomes evident that improving teacher digital skills is essential as it is also related to the improvement of the digital skills of the learner and the improvement of the teaching and learning process. Teachers’ self-evaluation of their digital prowess is a link towards teachers’ self-identification as professionals. The current study aims to overview the change in the language educators’ perception of their own digital skills in Lithuania. A digital questionnaire designed on Google Forms was employed for collecting and analysing the data in the current study. The research results reveal that educators feel the need to augment their digital skills related to language teaching and learning and see this as part of their professional identity. The study reveals that language educators possessing a higher level of digital skills have the tendency to use more complex digital resources. Most of the respondents rely on textual and audio materials with lesser use of interactive resources which indicates that there is room for augmenting language educator digital skills.