Overview of Online Language Education as a Panacea in the Time of Crisis

The global pandemic of COVID-19 has driven us apart, disrupted the continuity of education worldwide, and awakened the need for developing an educational environment based on kindness, compassion, and understanding more than ever before. Also, this crisis has forced the authorities to change the format of education from face-to-face to online delivery mode on very short notice. Due to this rapid transition, lack of appropriate infrastructures, and absence of proper preparation in Iran and most countries around the world, face-to-face education has switched into a kind of low-quality, temporary, and unplanned online practice, which should be referred to as Emergency Remote Teaching (ERT). This study aims to provide a discussion on the practice of this low-quality and temporary online education or ERT in the current situation of Iran and other countries around the globe during the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, this paper summarizes the literature on the history, definitions, merits, barriers, and effectiveness of online education for students and teachers from different disciplines, especially language education. The present literature review can help students and teachers grasp the current status of this low-quality and unplanned online education or ERT in Iran and other countries worldwide. Furthermore, instructors and authorities can reconsider their online teaching practices, move beyond ERT, and develop a high-quality and well-planned online education for their students based on the information obtained from this literature review and the lessons learned from the pandemic.