MOOC as Remote ESP Learning Tool at University in Quarantine: Focus on Students’ Attitudes

Abstract

In a completely new reality of the Covid-19 pandemic, when educational institutions are closed due to quarantine, it is often challenging for teachers to decide which of the wide variety of educational technologies may be most appropriate for their students and best address their learning needs. With this in mind we aim to share our experience of using MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) as remote learning tool for teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP) at university and make a particular focus on students’ attitudes to studying them in quarantine so that necessary adaptations and changes could be made to enhance the learning process. The positive attitudes of the students to learning MOOCs, expressed by them in the survey, testify to the appropriateness of their use in ESP instruction during quarantine. However, since students pointed to the limited possibilities of communication between learners and lack of ability to get help from the teacher or peers, we find it appropriate to use video conferencing technologies as additional learning tools besides MOOC to compensate for these limitations and address students’ needs more fully.