Pedagogy before platforms: EFL teachers’ digital pedagogical practices, learner agency, and contextual constraints in Saudi higher education

Abstract

This study examines EFL teachers’ digital pedagogical practices in Saudi higher education, focusing on how teachers select and use digital tools, how these practices relate to learner agency and classroom interaction, and what institutional conditions shape implementation. Using a mixed-methods design, it considers both teachers’ reported perspectives and their instructional practices. Digital tools—including learning management systems, communication platforms, online assessment, mobile applications, and artificial intelligence—are commonly used to deliver content, support communication, and encourage engagement and structured practice. Their contribution to learner autonomy and participation depends on how well they are scaffolded and aligned with instructional goals. Although technology can enable self-paced learning, flexible access to resources, and communication beyond the classroom, its effects on interaction and sustained participation are uneven. Teachers’ practices therefore reflect ongoing pedagogical negotiation: they adapt, combine, or limit tools in response to learner needs, infrastructure, workload, institutional expectations, and professional judgment. The study identifies sustained professional development, reliable infrastructure, clear institutional guidance, and pedagogical rather than purely technical support as key conditions for effective implementation. By linking teacher practice, learner agency, and institutional context, the study offers an integrated account of digital pedagogy in Saudi EFL. It concludes that technology’s educational value depends on purposeful use, responsiveness to learners, and institutional support for reflective, ethical, and inclusive practice.