Developing Elementary EFL Learners' Procedural Knowledge and Strategic Awareness in Reading Classes during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Algerian Teachers' Challenges

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected educational systems worldwide, leading some scholars to scrutinise the consequences of lockdown and school closure on learners' learning habits and teachers' teaching practices. In this regard, this paper aims to explore the teachers' challenges while implementing a reading strategy-based instruction for beginners during the COVID-19 pandemic, taking the Algerian middle schools as a case in point. It highlights the difficulties to achieving quality in developing learners' procedural knowledge and strategic awareness in EFL reading classes. The leading approach to the issue is the interactive approach. To attain the objective of the research, the qualitative method was adopted. Classroom observation and structured interviews were used to collect data. The population targeted was composed of 20 teachers from 16 middle schools in Tizi-Ouzou. The collected data were subjected to qualitative content analysis. The results of the study reveal that most teachers are aware of the importance of reading strategy-based instruction. However, they do not teach them systematically or consistently. Indeed, lack of targeted teacher training, time constraints, and disregard of metacognitive instruction are likely to be obstacles to the efficient implementation of reading strategy-instruction. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has thrown up several psychological and cognitive learners' difficulties, including decreased motivation and lack of cognitive focus, making the teaching process more challenging. The results imply a need for a revision of teachers' professional development programs and a re-consideration of the elementary EFL courses.