Reflective Glimpses of Culture in EFL Online Classes during COVID-19 Pandemic in Oman
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
The Abstract is well written- however some more information on the educational context and details on the research scheme presented. In the Introduction section important concepts could be further presented so as to enrich the conceptual framework of the research. In the last paragraph of the paper authors could include the research questions and the aim of the research. In section 2.1 authors could focus more on parameters of interculturality that absolutely relate with their research. It is not clear how intercultural conflict relates with the specific research- this could be further analysed , explained. IN the Study Design section authors need to justify their research approach (use of qualitative research) , using also references. The Data Collection and Analysis section is too short and its content could be different- in this section authors could describe the process of collecting their and data and how have they analysed it ( ie questions per form, analysis process – presented in a justified manner-. It is bizarre that no data is presented in the paper- it is important authors to include data. Table 1 just presented important themes- what about the analysis techniques of qualitative research ? Since authors present some data in the Discussion section it is important to discern the presentation and analysis of their data in the Data Collection section and present their data in comparison with existing literature in the Discussion. Since Figure 2 is poor in presentation a suggestion would be authors to include an alternative in presenting this kind of data . In qualitative research is important to present transcriptions and use of respective protocols in analysing qualitative data- authors could use that approach in order to enhance the quality of the paper. The Conclusion section is extensive- there has to be a balance between other sections of the paper and Conclusion. My suggestion would be authors to carefully revise their paper, include more data using specific qualitative protocols- the Data Collection and Discussion sections need to be better processed and presented in a richer manner.
The language is clear, and academic genre is comprehensive.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We would like to express our thankfulness, and appreciation to you for the constructive feedback you provided on our manuscript which was very helpful in completing the revisions.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
As the authors of this paper note, the onset of the COVID pandemic lead to a rapid rise in the use of online learning in many educational institutions. The speed with which this had to be undertaken often lead to a situation where educators and students were ill-prepared and lacked the resources and/or the skills to seamlessly move into this different mode of learning. This study specifically addressed cultural strategies to overcome them.
The literature review set the scene well and developed the argument well. The methodology was sound and the writing professionally done.
I would, however, have liked the authors to address a number of issues in the paper.
* The significant bias toward female participants (59 females, 16 males) should have been addressed to ensure the findings were not generalised to the entire population;
* Much of the reported research that could simply have been 'online versus face to face' issues, rather than cultural challenges. The authors might need to take care they are not attributing cultural issues with the common difficulties experienced in the online environment.
* A significant amount of discussion focussed on students' reluctance to use their web cam. This is quite a common occurrence with students worldwide and I'm not sure whether the authors are overstating the significance of this by labelling this as a 'cultural' concern.
* I would also have liked to read about all the survey questions as the only one directly mentioned was that of the webcam. I would hope the authors were not basing their findings on narrow questioning. It would be good to see how broadly the survey questions addressed the cultural issue.
* I thought Sections 6 & 7 addressed the stated cultural focus of this paper well.
* The Abstract refers to this research providing possible strategies to overcoming cultural issues of online learning. I believe these need to be developed further as they are not clearly articulated.
This paper would really benefit from a clearer focus on the cultural aspects and more clearly defining what the Abstract outlines. Overall, it is well-written and could potentially provide some valuable insight into the cultural issues that educators face when working in the online environment.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to you for the constructive feedback you provided on our manuscript. Your feedback was very much helpful in our revisions.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 3 Report
I found this an excellent paper on an extremely interesting topic which will be useful for EFL teachers working in different cultural contexts from their own. It is well strctured, well referenced and all the results are well presented and succintly discussed. I found this paper one of the best written papers I have reviewed for "sustainability". Only 2 comments: a) I think the 3rd research question is vague and generall and needs to be broken down to become as specific as the other two. b) you need to provide information in the description of context on how online teaching was carried out. When you first presented the results it seemed that online teaching was limited to the asynchronous mode. However, when discussing the webcam issue that students had, apparently there were also synchronous sessions. Please provide this information so that the results become clearer.
Comments for author File: Comments.pdf
Author Response
Dear Reviewer,
We would like to express our gratitude and appreciation to you for the constructive feedback you provided to our manuscript. Your comments were very helpful in the revisions of the paper.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
The Abstract is clear, presenting in a condense and descriptive manner, research sample and context- however some reference on qualitative indicators that have been used could be added. The Introduction presents in a descriptive manner the theoretical framework of the paper, important concepts involved in the research. The Literature Review section presents important parameters of the conducted research, in a well written manner and a well presented academic genre. In the Study Design section authors is important to refer on validity and reliability issues , related with the number of their sample. In 4.2 authors could include a table of their qualitative data, presenting responses and exact lines of the open survey protocol. In sections 4.1-4.4 authors could include more literature references so as to justify their findings and link in a more evident manner their research’s presentation with its scope which is aspects of EFL culture and respective theory ( for example what does literature say about use of Webcams in EFL?). Section 4.2.3 needs to be enhanced with the use of more data, There is not much talking about students’ cultural values when presenting the data collected- this aspect could be enhanced by filtering information under this scope. A quite large part of the Conclusion section could be included in the 4.1- 4.4. sections, since it is related with this content. Authors do refer on their limitations on their work however my recommendation would also be to include some kind of descriptive data in a subsidiary manner in order to enhance the quality of their work ( ie link the data with sample’s profile so as to reveal more patterns in data).
Academic genre is well presented and English language has been used in a clear, yet descriptive manner.
Author Response
Dear Reviewer 1,
We would like to express our gratitude and thankfulness for your constructive feedback and suggestions. Your comments have been invaluable to us. The feedback you provided has contributed to the revision process.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
