The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Reconfiguration of Learning Spaces for English as a Foreign Language (EFL): Students, Teachers and Stakeholders

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic transformed the educational landscape. It engendered a re-evaluation of long-established pedagogical practices and spatial norms. This study explores how EFL students, teachers, and design stakeholders in an Irish higher education institution experienced and responded to the reconfiguration of learning spaces during the pandemic. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and analysed using Braun and Clarke’s (2006) six-phase thematic analysis. Four key themes emerged: negotiating the online learning experience, reconfiguring learning spaces for personal agency, redesigning pedagogy in the digital space and re-defining learning spaces: from emergency to lasting change. The results reveal that the reconfiguration of learning spaces promoted deep reflection on space, pedagogy and agency. Participants experienced both struggle and adaptation as they navigated the shift highlighting the complex interplay of limitations and creativity. The study concludes that despite the challenges of maintaining interaction, and emotional disconnection, it also promoted personal agency, growth in digital literacies and pedagogical innovation. This suggests a re-imagination of the role of the classroom in the post-pandemic as multi-dimensional and dynamic, with implications for pedagogy, design, and training.