Filipino Neophyte ESL Teachers amidst Covid-19 Pandemic: A Phenomenological Inquiry

This phenomenological study investigated the lived experiences of Filipino neophyte ESL teachers amidst Covid-19 pandemic. Data were collected from seven (7) ESL teachers who already have three (3) months to one (1) year teaching experience in handling non-native speakers of English language. Based from the thematic analysis, the experiences of the identified participants were anxiety as initial reaction, fear of committing grammatical and pronunciation errors, difficulty of motivating students, students’ lack of knowledge on the target language, difficulty on students’ pronunciation and grammar, improves teachers; communicative competence and evaluating students’ four macro skills. Moreover, the different teaching strategies used were using reinforcement, various teaching methodologies, utilizing interactive materials, building rapport, tracking students’ performance and scaffolding. The findings of this study are valuable in the field of language teaching and applied linguistics to understand the various strategies that can be employed to address the needs of non-native speakers of English language. Further, this can be used by future ESL teachers in improving their pedagogical competence in handling ESL synchronous classes.