Lecturers Perception Regarding the Effectiveness of Online EFL Teaching at English Department IAIN Langsa

The COVID-19 global pandemic has affected several billions of students worlwide as many schools and universities suggested to turn the offline classes into online ones for longer period of time. This quite sudden decision results in various reactions from both lecturers and students. For example, in IAIN Langsa, the english language learning practices have been shifting from face-to-face classes to digital or online classes for years and continued. The English lecturers‟ perception toward learning from home policy is valuable to diagnose the students‟ learning needs easier which ultimately lead to various alternative choices of learning strategy solutions that can be selected for more effective learning to all pupils, so the quality of learning process can be maintained. The aimed of the research were to find out the lectures‟ perception regarding the effectiveness of online EFL teaching and to find out the challenges faced by the lecturers during EFL online teaching and learning at english department IAIN Langsa. This study used a descriptive qualitative research. The data collection technique used are questionnaire and interview as the instruments in collecting the data. As research procedure had been carried out, it was found that most of lecturers' tend to had negative perception toward the effectiveness of online EFL learning. The negative perceptions refer to the challenges that they had to face during online teaching. Online learning still encountering many problems. Not only cultural conditions of the students that have not been able to follow online learning system, but also the technical problems such as the availability of learning facilities. Apart from being limited internet access,the lecturers also feel that online learning is not as effective as conventional learning practice. However, Due to the obstacles during online learning, the lecturers perceive that online learning offers both of positive and negative sides. The effectiveness of distance learning has more to do with who teaches, who is learning, and how the learning interactions are carried out and the support of learning technology. Distance learning will be effective if it is well prepared.