Abstract

In the past two years and especially during the pandemic, many tutors have been facing innumerable stress-related incidents due to the ongoing pandemic, starting from teaching online to achieving the intended learning outcomes. Extremely little time was given to adapt to the recent changes, and tutors (and learners) had to come to terms with the new reality and adopt the idea of distance learning, communication, and assessment with little or no prior experience. Hence, life for teachers became extremely stressful and hectic. This study proposes a suggested strategy that could help in reducing English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) tutors’ stress levels and improving their performance in EFL and ESL classrooms. The proposed SCREAM strategy is an acronym for the following: Survive, Change, Reflect, Execute, Admire and Maintain. A descriptive research design with quantitative and qualitative data analysis is adopted as a framework to systematically describe the phenomenon of increased stress levels during the pandemic, especially for higher education tutors. Two instrumental tools were designed to collect data. The first was an observation checklist designed to record tutors’ reactions toward the new unfamiliar reality of virtual teaching. The other one was a questionnaire to collect data related to stressful situations in EFL and ESL classrooms. The data collected from these tools were statistically analyzed, and the results showed that a high percentage of tutors felt stressed and a third of them received no support from their administration.