Open AccessBusiness English Proficiency Acquisition Facilitated by Technology: Evaluations and Implications
Author(s) -
Xiaoer Zhou
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
english language and literature studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1925-4776
pISSN - 1925-4768
DOI - 10.5539/ells.v12n2p21
Subject(s) - covid-19 , competence (human resources) , computer science , perception , mathematics education , language acquisition , business english , reading (process) , second language acquisition , psychology , knowledge management , pathology , neuroscience , linguistics , philosophy , medicine , social psychology , disease , political science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , law
Online learning prospered in recent years, so did the research in this area. The COVID-19 pandemic has made it the default option of education. The design, implementation and evaluation of a completely online education model are of universal urgency. The learning purposes of Business English encompass the mastery of business knowledge and language abilities. This paper reviews the online teaching and learning of this course and tries to assess its effectiveness in equipping students with business related language competence. Students’ performances were measured in score comparisons; their levels of participation and activeness were captured in statistics across learning platforms; their perceptions on the advantages and disadvantages of this teaching model were collected in a survey and in-depth interviews. Research results show significant progresses have been achieved in students’ reading proficiency; language production in terms of speaking and writing was perceived to have been improved; the level of engagement was high. Challenges of this model have also been summarized and corresponding modifications would be proposed, to facilitate proficiency acquisition more efficiently.