Teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic departments in the Eurasian environment during the pandemic

Abstract

The paper addresses the specifics of teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic departments in the Eurasian environment during the pandemic. There were described resource opportunities of internet technologies in teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic departments, including a wide range of teaching materials. Moreover, these opportunities have a motivational potential if students are given competent guidance in methodic, didactic, and technical aspects in online learning. The aim to elicit difficulties, which non-linguistic students have to face in distant learning of foreign language during the pandemic, encouraged the authors to develop a questionnaire based on the standards of the Common European Framework of Reference. This survey enabled the authors to arrive at conclusions that correlate with other researchers’ works, which allows them to determine general trends and consider them while planning their own educational products in the future. The research was conducted in the MOODLE electronic system. The authors assume that the above-mentioned electronic system is the most widespread in the Eurasian Educational Space and an efficient tool of online teaching. The specifics of the foreign language course, where the language is both a target and a means of non-linguistic learning, were determined. Basic kinds of speech activity were characterized. Moreover, ways to organize these activities with the help of internet technologies in learning were identified to facilitate overcoming certain difficulties in completing the academic course in a foreign language by non-linguistic students in distance format. It was proved that the elaboration of methodic, didactic, and technical components of distant education in teaching a foreign language to non-linguistic students during the pandemic can make distant learning an effective form of education. Thus, we underlined the practicability of introducing internet technologies in the educational process in higher educational institutions.