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Investigating E-Learning Readiness During the COVID-19 Pandemic Among Malaysian ESL Teachers: What are the Limitations of Current Scales?

The quick spread of the COVID-19 pandemic across the globe has seriously affected all aspects of individuals’ lives including the educational sector. In response to this pandemic in Malaysia, the government implemented a Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March 2020, where the whole country was put on lockdown. Yet, the teaching and learning activities had to continue during this period, a process that was carried out through a full reliance on e-learning. This paper attempted to investigate the level of e-learning technological readiness among English language teachers to utilize e-learning in teaching during the MCO in Malaysia. A total of 68 English language teachers responded to an online cross-sectional survey that measured technological skills readiness based on Chapnick’s (2000) e-learning readiness model. Results showed that during the MCO in Malaysia, English language teachers were technologically ready to use e-learning in teaching. However, these findings contradict the latest reports that highlight a number of challenges faced by Malaysian teachers in conducting online classes. This inconsistency could be attributed to the limitations identified in the existing e-learning surveys and questionnaires that deal with extremely limited aspects of technological readiness. Hence, this research stresses the urgent need to develop up-to-date scales that can comprehensively address the various aspects of the advanced technological skills that should be mastered by teachers and educators, especially in this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (IR4.0)


Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 (previously known as the novel coronavirus disease) a pandemic on 11 March 2020. The pandemic has led to global disruption affecting all aspects of life socially and economically as well as ICADECS educationally. In response to this pandemic in Malaysia, the government implemented a Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March 2020, where the whole country was put on lockdown. Nevertheless, the teaching and learning activities had to continue during this period, a process that was carried out through a full reliance on e-learning. Thus, in such a critical and urgent situation, teachers had no option but to conduct their classes using online platforms.
Meanwhile, the Malaysian Ministry of Education has been promoting e-learning at schools for many years now, while the importance of integrating e-learning in the teaching and learning process has been clearly stressed in the Malaysia Education Blueprint (2013-2025). Regrettably, however, reports released during the implementation of the MCO revealed that "teachers are ill-equipped for the shift to remote learning. They lack the skills, training, and tools required for successful online teaching and learning." [1] Thus, it is of paramount importance to investigate e-learning readiness during this exceptional period of time, particularly with ESL teachers in order to assess the interaction process as well as the efficiency level that is urgently needed when using a language other than the mother tongue in virtual classrooms.
On the other hand, following the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of studies concerned with the theme of Covid-19 have been conducted in a short period.
However, many of these studies are not research-based articles and are not related to the field of education (e.g. [2][3][4][5]

E-learning Readiness Model [6]
The E-learning Readiness Model introduced by [6] assesses individuals' readiness towards the use of e-learning within an institution or organization. Though [6] proposes eight constructs in his model, the current paper is concerned with Technological Skills Readiness as it is relevant to the exceptional situation caused by the COVID-19 DOI

Method
This section sheds light on the methodology adopted in the study, the research approach, the respondents, the instruments utilized, as well as data collection and analysis procedures.

Research Approach
A quantitative approach using a cross-sectional survey design is adopted by the present paper. The survey was randomly distributed to the respondents through an online survey platform during the MCO in Malaysia.

Respondents
A total of 68 Malaysian ESL teachers responded to the online survey. They are all in-service teachers teaching the English subject in Malaysian government schools.

Research Instrument
The present paper employed A five-point Likert scale questionnaire that was adapted from [7] to measure the technological silks readiness among Malaysian ESL teachers based on [6] e-learning readiness model. As shown in Figure 1 below, the mean scores of e-learning readiness were calculated based on guidelines proposed by [8] as a measurement of the E-Learning Readiness score (ELR).
As shown in Figure 1 above, the level of e-learning readiness is divided into four levels. While the scores between 1 and 2.6 mean that the respondents are not ready and need a lot of work, the range between 2.61 and 3.4 indicates that they are not ready and need some work. On the other hand, the level between 3.41 and 4.2 shows that there is some readiness but it needs a few improvements. Finally, the scores between 4.21-5 confirm that the respondents are ready to go ahead. Thus, a score of 3.41 and above is the minimum index of the expected level of readiness [8].

Results
It took nearly one month to collected data from Malaysian ESL teachers during the period of MCO lockdown staring on 18 May 2020 in Malaysia. The collected data were processed through a descriptive statistical analysis using SPSS version 26 to answer the research question proposed in the study as mentioned previously. 53 (78%) of the respondents were females, while 15 (22%) were male teachers.
The reliability analysis for the items employed in the questionnaire was measured using Cronbach's alpha. The minimum accepted value of Cronbach's alpha for educational research is 0.70 [9]. Cronbach's alpha value of the items used in the current research reached 0.81, which indicates that the questionnaire adapted is highly reliable.
Regarding the results of the main question proposed by the current research, Table 1 below shows that the respondents' technological skills readiness was generally found to be ready with a mean score of 3.96. While it is not hard to find that the respondents have essential skills to manipulate a computer, but surprisingly, item 3 pertaining to technological skills construct scored a mean value of 3.35, which is less than the expected readiness level of 3.41.

Discussion
Respondents' technological skills readiness is concerned with the mastery level of the

Conclusion
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the educational landscape in the world and moved the utilization of e-learning from an integration level to a full reliance one. With such a situation, issues that have arisen concerning the implementation of e-learning should be investigated using comprehensive surveys that address all aspects involved in this unprecedentedly complete dependence on e-learning in education. This is a call to develop scales and questionnaires that can cover the unique side of this matter together with the technological part.