Htqe.2022.14

https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2022.14 | 194-210 | PDF

Looking for “The Best of all Worlds”: Using Different Teaching Formats in an English as an Additional Language Program

Tatiana Ginzburg, Linda Daniela
University of Latvia, Latvia

Abstract. In spring of 2020, when the first Covid-19 related restrictions were introduced, educators were forced to rapidly look for new solutions. Most of those involved moving classes online. However, although quality was a concern for all institutions, ensuring a balance between safety and quality of education presented an additional challenge to providers of non-formal adult education. Therefore, developing a course to accommodate the new and, probably, enduring reality as well as carefully monitoring its delivery was essential. Even though different modalities have been used in education for decades, only now have they become a part of the mainstream. Most educators were used to working in either traditional face-to-face or online mode, while some students could have used a combination of both as well as other web-based resources. Thus, shifting from one modality to another or mixing them in a course presented certain challenges for both educators and students. This paper describes a blended hybrid program of English as an Additional Language for adults developed at RTU Riga Business School English Language Center in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The program has the same basic content as previous face-to-face one but incorporates various carefully analyzed modalities. Specifically, it combines a face-to-face (F2F) and remote online synchronous learning, and adds asynchronous part to the course. It has been piloted in open public groups as well as corporate courses with student feedback analyzed vis-a-vis face-to-face courses. This paper analyzes the development of a program for open groups.

Keywords: course modality, language training, F2F, English as a Foreign Language, teaching English, remote, asynchronous, synchronous, hybrid

In: Human, Technologies and Quality of Education, 2022. Proceedings of Scientific Papers = Cilvēks, tehnoloģijas un izglītības kvalitāte, 2022. Rakstu krājums
Riga, University of Latvia, 2022. 1135 p. Ed. L. Daniela
https://doi.org/10.22364/htqe.2022
ISBN 978-9934-18-911-1