Unveiling Indonesian Pre-Service Teachers’ Perceived Competencies and Readiness for Online English Language Teaching: A Mixed Methods Study Daflizar English Education Department, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci, Indonesia Toni Indrayadi English Education Department, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci, Indonesia Yoki Irawan English Education Department, Institut Agama Islam Negeri Kerinci, Indonesia Abstract—There has been a great deal of research into teacher readiness for online language teaching conducted in many parts of the world. However, scarce inquiry on this topic has been published in the Indonesian context. The purpose of this study was twofold: (1) to investigate Indonesian EFL pre-service teachers’ perceptions of their technological, pedagogical, and evaluation skills in online language teaching, and (2) to explore their perceptions of online English language teaching. The study employed a mixed methods research approach. The quantitative data were collected using a questionnaire from 92 pre-service teachers majoring in English Education at a state Islamic institute in Jambi province and the qualitative data were collected through WhatsApp messenger from six of the participants. The data obtained through the questionnaire were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The results showed that the participants had positive perceptions of their technological, pedagogical, and evaluation skills in online English language teaching. However, the qualitative data demonstrated that the participants had a strong inclination toward classroom face-to-face teaching rather than online teaching for a number of reasons, indicating that they were not ready for online English language teaching. Some practical suggestions for the EFL teacher training programs in Indonesian tertiary education institutions are given. Index Terms—pre-service teachers, perceived competencies, readiness, online English language teaching, the Indonesian context I. INTRODUCTION The recent worldwide outbreak of Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) means unprecedented changes in many aspects of life, including education. The need for social distancing has triggered educational institutions to change the basic way they work. Many schools, colleges, and universities have abruptly adopted online teaching in place of face-to-face classroom teaching. This sudden shift may cause ineptness for many teachers since they are not used to this modality of teaching. In Lamie’s (2005) educational innovation classifications, this imposed shift constitutes a power-coercive unintentional innovation, a kind with one of the lowest possibilities of being successful. Coupled with the proliferation of the internet and computers, nevertheless, trends in online teaching and learning will likely continue. Relevant research highlights the demands and shortcomings of online teaching and learning. According to Koehler and Mishra (2005), online teaching entails an integrated knowledge of content, technology, and pedagogy beyond that anticipated by teachers who teach only face-to-face courses. Baralt, Gurzynski-Weiss, and Kim (2016) argued that online learning may be less effective than face-to-face classroom learning because students are less engaged. Although educators seem to recognize the prominence of ICT in schools, they continue to encounter problems during the process of embracing the technologies (Balanskat, Blamire, & Kefala, 2006). Many teachers do not know how to incorporate educational technology into their curriculum (Townsend, 2017) and have problems in finding suitable activities that can stimulate student interest and in marking student assignments (Todd, 2020). Since online teaching demands different roles of the teacher, it inevitably prompts the need for new teaching approaches and competencies (Hampel & Stickler, 2005; Ko, & Rossen, 2017; Wray, Lowenthal, Bates, & Stevens, 2008). Online language teaching competencies are crucial since the focus is on instructional time and space, online management techniques, and the ability to involve learners through online communication (Easton, 2003) and, particularly at the lower level, there is a ‘need to focus on the form of interaction as well as the content’ ( Hampel & Stickler, 2005, p. 312). The teacher is expected to become a facilitator (Frese, 2006; Jaffee, 2003) and is required to ISSN 1798-4769 Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 13, No. 2, pp. 392-400, March 2022 DOI: https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1302.21 © 2022 ACADEMY PUBLICATION