Original Research
Changes in Primary Language Teachers’ Digital Integration as a Result of a Period of Online Teaching
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This study explores the factors influencing primary school English teachers’ integration of digital tools into their classroom practices in Hungary. Building on prior quantitative findings (N=706), this mixed-methods research is primarily based on qualitative interviews with 27 teachers. The study investigates which features of digital tools teachers find most relevant, and how personal beliefs, digital competencies, and contextual conditions affect sustained digital integration. While educators widely adopted digital tools during emergency remote teaching (ERT), the post-pandemic return to in-person instruction revealed varied patterns: some retained selected tools as pedagogical aids, while others reverted to traditional methods. Teachers emphasized the importance of learner autonomy, motivation, and maintaining a balanced role between digital and in-person interaction. The study concludes that sustainable digital integration requires not only technical training but also pedagogical and attitudinal development, underscoring the need for targeted professional development that bridges technology use with evolving conceptions of effective teaching.
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Keywords
Digital Integration; Effects of ERT; Primary Language Teaching; Language Teaching Methodology; Utility-Value of Digital Tools
Author(s) Information
Publisher’s Note
The claims, arguments, and counter-arguments made in this article are exclusively those of the contributing authors. Hence, they do not necessarily represent the viewpoints of the authors’ affiliated institutions, or EUROKD as the publisher, the editors and the reviewers of the article.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to acknowledge the contribution of the research group members in the data collection procedure: Valéria Árva, Andrea Fenyődi, Dorothee Lehr-Balló, Maya Lo Bello, Éva Márkus, Péter Medgyes, Réka Miskei-Szabó, Andrea Poros, Teréz Radvai, Éva Trentinné Benkő.
Funding
This work was supported by the Research Programme for Public Education Development of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (https://mta.hu/kozoktatas-fejlesztesi-kutatasi-program).
CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement
Gizella Baloghné Nagy: Conceptualisation, Data Curation, Investigation, Methodology, Resources, Visualisation, Writing (Original Draft, Review & Editing)
Generative AI Use Disclosure Statement
The author declares she has used Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools for the translation of citations from the interviews from Hungarian to English. These citations are located in the Results and Discussion sections.
Ethics Declarations
World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki–Ethical Principles for Medical Research Involving Human Participants
Ethical standards were maintained in the research process; an ethical license from the Research Committee of the Faculty of Primary and Pre-school Education, Eötvös Loránd University has been obtained (reference number: KE 2022/005.; date: 31.03.2023). The questionnaire was designed to be anonymous; it did not collect respondents' personal identifiable information. The interviewees consented to a data protection statement at the beginning of the interview, which is documented in writing in the transcripts of the interviews. Furthermore, participation in the study was voluntary, and the participants were informed that they can freely discontinue completing the survey or the interview at any time. This study was carried out in accordance with the recommendations of the World Medical Association (WMA) Declaration of Helsinki.
Competing Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.
Data Availability
The dataset analysed during the current study is available upon request from the corresponding author.