Enacting an emergency EFL course in an Indonesian disadvantaged condition

Situated in a disadvantaged condition in Lombok, Indonesia, the present study looks at the enactment of an emergency EFL course after earthquake and aftershock circumstances in a public university in the region. For such a purpose, forty-two non-English department students who attended the course in four face-to-face and nine asynchronous meetings were recruited using a convenience sampling technique. A set of questionnaire was disseminated to document participants’ responses on the course implementation. Observation and semi-structured interviews were also conducted to portray the pedagogical praxis. The findings suggest that the course delivery did not utterly reflect an effective teaching-learning process accordingly due to various factors. Barriers to using the WhatsApp tool also existed. Interestingly, the students positively reflected the course as the best way to learn in a disadvantaged condition. However, they were not confident with their attainment in English skills and components. Further considerations on how to design materials and assessment instruments and build a decent interaction are needed in learning under such disadvantaged condition. HIGHLIGHTS • The findings evince that the course delivery did not utterly reflect an effective teaching-learning process accordingly due to various factors. Barriers to using the WhatsApp tool also existed. • The students positively reflected the course as the best way to learn in an emergency learning milieu. The teacher appeared to be able to maintain students’ motivation. • Further considerations on how to design materials and assessment instruments and build a decent interaction are needed in learning under such disadvantaged conditions.