Foreign Language for Specific Purposes Courses in the Specific Circumstances Caused by the Covid-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the closure of educational institutions around the world. Policies of social distancing and restrictive movement made it impossible to teach in the traditional way in the classroom, and forced higher education institutions to organize classes using digital technologies. The transition to online teach ing was a great challenge for both teaching staff and students, but it also paved the way for the introduction of digital teaching and learning. This research aims to evaluate and compare the success of those students who attended traditional classes before the pandemic and the success of the students who attended online classes during the pandemic. The data were collected for a group of students who attended the first part of the Foreign Language Course 1 in traditional classes in the period March - June 2019, as well as data on the same group of students who attended the Foreign Language Course 2 online in the period March - June 2020. The data were processed using the IBM SPSS Statistics statistical programme. In order to get the results, i.e. to answer the main research question of whether the way of conducting and monitoring classes affects the success of students, a T-test of paired samples was conducted. The obtained results show that there is a significant difference in the success of the students who attended classes in two different ways. Given the uncertain epidemiological situation, it is necessary to adequately prepare for the next academic year. The paper presents suggestions for improving online teaching and learning.