Students' perception of incorporating Moodle in an ESP context

Djordjevic, D.; Stefanowicz-Kocoł, Anna

doi:10.5937/zrffp46-12229

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 3 publications

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“…У нашој средини, у литератури о употреби учења на даљину и информационих технологија, наводи се коришћење платформи као што су Moodle (нпр. Љубојевић, 2010;Silaški, 2012;Đorđević & Stefanowicz-Kocoł, 2016;Ераковић и Лазовић, 2017) и Edmodo (Ераковић и Лазовић, 2017), употреба блога (нпр. Đorđević, 2012;Lazović, 2012), а у ове сврхе се користе и друштвене мреже (нпр.…”

Section: ранија истраживањаunclassified

Students' opinions on online classes of English: Possibilities and limitations

Đorđević¹,

Pavlović²,

Pavlović³

2020

Zb Filoz fak Priština

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Online classes are not a brand-new concept in teaching languages. The use of Internet and different applications and platforms in everyday life all probably contributed to recognizing online classes as a convenient way for language teaching. There has been a plethora of research on online classes, their benefits and weaknesses, as well as on students' attitudes towards this type of learning. Since there are many benefits of integrating online materials into language teaching programmes, some language practitioners are eager to use these regularly, whereas some still hesitate and use this type of teaching rarely or not at all. However, the year 2020 forced all university teachers to conduct online classes due to the COVID-19 pandemic, since it was impossible to conduct face-to-face instruction in classroom setting. This opened up new possibilities, but brought about various problems as well. Having all this in mind, this paper aims to show how university students perceived the online classes of English during the declared national state of emergency in Serbia. These particular students attended online English classes at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Belgrade, in the spring semester of 2020. An extensive, online questionnaire designed for the purposes of the study was used to examine students' opinions on various aspects of online classes, their assessment of important technical, contextual, and psychological factors in the process, as well as their motivation to participate in online classes. The results of the analysis show that the respondents were highly motivated for this type of English language classes. They predominantly positively assessed practically all analyzed aspects of online classes, including the observed equivalence of knowledge acquired in face-to-face and online classes, as well as the equal interactivity of both types of classes. The level of self-assessed digital literacy of respondents was fairly high, which must have helped students to a great extent in successively attending the classes. As for the main advantage of online classes, most respondents stated that they were able to attend classes from home, which saved their time and facilitated communication. They also liked the atmosphere in online language classes. The most commonly stated disadvantage of this type of classes is poor internet connection, followed by the related interruptions of sound and video. The dominant attitude of the respondents was that English classes at the university should be conducted as hybrid courses, which implies that they should be a combination of face-to-face teaching and online classes. Although small-scale, the findings of this pilot research can help pinpoint the weaknesses of online classes, as well as offer useful suggestions aimed at improving them in the future. For instance, since students mostly use their mobile phones to attend online classes, it would be convenient for the class activities to be accessible and manageable through different social media apps. Still, it may be argued that the findings are limited in scope since the study was conducted on the sample of students of only one faculty of the University of Belgrade; additionally, it explored the experience with only one online course these students attended. Therefore, the research may be expanded by exploring the potential of online classes in different subject courses, as well as at other faculties.

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Section: ранија истраживањаunclassified

Students' opinions on online classes of English: Possibilities and limitations

Đorđević¹,

Pavlović²,

Pavlović³

2020

Zb Filoz fak Priština

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Learning English for specific purposes via Moodle in emergency situations: The students' perspective

Vidaković

2023

Zb Filoz fak Priština

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This paper investigates the experiences and opinions of students who learnt English for specific purposes via Moodle in the period between March and June 2020. The aim was to analyse the extent and forms of their engagement in this type of learning, explore their perceived positive and negative aspects of the course, and obtain suggestions for integration of this educational platform into English language classes in future. In addition, the paper aimed to investigate if there were any statistically significant differences related to the respondents' use of the platform and their participation in the course according to the level of their English language knowledge and digital competences. The sample comprised 107 students who completed an anonymous questionnaire. Quantitative and qualitative data were analysed using the descriptive statistics and content analysis. Kruskal-Wallis test was employed to detect the correlation between dependent and independent variables. The obtained results showed general satisfaction with the English language course run on Moodle, but also revealed the students' observation that the platform should accompany face to face classes in order to make learning more effective. The positive and negative aspects of the course identified by respondents were mostly in line with the existing research within the field of emergency remote teaching. Students pointed to the advantages of learning English via Moodle in terms of flexibility, accessibility of teaching materials, functions of tools such as tests, glossaries, forums. They also highlighted drawbacks, such as absence of real-time communication, work overload, and lack of self-discipline. It was interesting to discover that although research participants recognized the benefits of communication and collaboration tools, they did not engage with them to the anticipated extent. The fact that the mentioned issue has been identified in online learning in general suggests that the cause might lie in traditional, teacher-centred approach to teaching, which is still widespread in the educational system in Serbia. The obtained data carry important pedagogical implications for both learners and teachers in terms of incorporating digital tools in classes and devising a strategy for implementation of remote teaching in times of crisis. Students should be acquainted more thoroughly with virtual educational environment, which would, in turn, lead to the increased engagement and development of learner autonomy. In order to achieve this goal, teachers should strive to enhance their technological and pedagogic competences. This would also help them keep pace with technological educational innovations and encounter potential future educational emergencies better prepared.

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Students' perception of incorporating Moodle in an ESP context

Cited by 2 publications

References 3 publications

Students' opinions on online classes of English: Possibilities and limitations

Students' opinions on online classes of English: Possibilities and limitations

Learning English for specific purposes via Moodle in emergency situations: The students' perspective

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