Humanizing Online Language Teaching through Instructional and Affective Moves: Reflections from an ELD Teacher

The COVID-19 pandemic has deeply impacted the field of education, shifting instruction from in-person classrooms to virtual learning environments on a global scale. To understand how language teachers engaged in online pedagogy during the pandemic, the current study examines how one expert English Language Development (ELD) teacher, Ms. Anya Mendoza, adapted her instruction to deliver lessons that met the content and linguistic needs of her students. Findings demonstrate how, using a two-stage research design with a semi-structured interview and critical reflection journal entry, Anya performed both instructional and affective moves to support students in their content and language learning. Prioritizing student engagement, she also created space to humanize and empower her language learners in her virtual classroom. As we venture into a post-COVID-19 "new normal" that considers in-person, online, and hybrid instruction, findings from this study demonstrate the importance of anchoring instructional decisions on the needs of students to meaningfully support content and language teaching.