Mastering Listening Comprehension at Esp Classes Using Ted Talks

Abstract

The paper demonstrates the results of the experimental research conducted during the first semester of the academic year 2020/21, including the remote learning period due to the Covid19 pandemic situation, at the lessons of English for Specific Purposes (ESP) (with students of Specialties 208 “Agrarian Engineering” and 141 “Electrical Engineering and Energy”) at the State Agrarian and Engineering University in Podilia, Kamianets-Podilskyi, Ukraine. The research basically analyses how TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Talks impact university students’ listening comprehension and speaking skills. Online study support for ESP was personally created by the educators as a four-credit course due to ECTS in the Moodle Learning Management System (LMS) with the application of TED Talks, which was used for study purposes on the B1 level. The research sample is represented by 50 students majoring in Agrarian Engineering and 50 students majoring in Electrical Engineering and Energy, all of them enrolled in the mandatory subject of ESP. The subjects (students) were divided into the experimental and control groups. At the beginning of the course, the students wrote the pre-test, for their start level to be evaluated, and at the end of the semester - the post-test was done to check the achievements and probable benefits of TED Talks. The experiment results demonstrated the improvement of both groups while it was proved statistically that the experimental group showed better outcomes both in listening comprehension and speaking skills respectively. The questionnaires, distributed among the students, consisted of 5 questions, where they expressed their personal opinions about the e-learning process, and according to which the TED Talks influence on their listening and speaking skills was evaluated. The feedback of the questionnaires proved that the students mostly had a positive attitude concerning engaging TED Talks into the learning process, especially those who were involved in the experiment.

Moodle as e-learning system for esp class

“…Thus, various prominent scientists studied peculiarities of teaching EFL, namely Flowerdew and Miller (2014); distance learning challenges, Bates (2021), Knysh and Dudziak (2020), Humeniuk (2021); e-learning environment in education, Hamburg and Lindecke (2003), Liu et al (2010), Donesch-Jezo andMisztal (2012), Roliak (2019); the nature of listening, Derrington andGroom (2004), Donesch-Jezo andMisztal (2012); methods, and tool of teaching the language acquisition skill, Byrne (2007), Chaikovska, Zbaravska and Bilyk (2019), Oye, Salleh and Iahad (2012); etc. Some of the abovementioned papers influenced greatly the current research and therefore need deeper analysis.…”

“…The advantages and drawbacks of distance learning were described in the research by Humeniuk et al (2021). The author analyzed different platforms to be used while remote learning and distinguished their pluses and minuses (Humeniuk et al, 2021).…”

Methodology of Professional Lexical Minimum Exercises Use in the English Language Course for Management Students

“…We consider that the matching exercises provide students with an engaging way to learn a foreign language. It gives students an opportunity not only to learn the phrases translation, but it also challenges them to think logically in their own professional sphere [2].…”

“…Moreover, in the present situation in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Management English classes should be offered in small groups and one-to-one consultations in individual offline or distance format [2]. Hence our future investigation will be devoted to the questions of monitoring and evaluation of the management students' progress in distance language education.…”

“…3) read and memorize the following words and word combinations; 4) find the equivalents among the phrases; 5) match the words with their equivalents; 6) complete the sentences; 7) insert the appropriate word, using the following phrases [2].…”