EFFICIENCY OF DISTANCE LEARNING FOR FUTURE PHILOLOGISTS IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The article is devoted to the questions of organizing English distant classes for future philologists and verifying the efficiency of the suggested approach. Distance learning was conducted at National Technical University of Ukraine “Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute” in the third and fourth semesters of the academic year 2020-2021. Second-year students (two groups) of the Faculty of Linguistics, specialty 035 “Philology”, specialization 035.041 “Germanic languages and literature (including translation), primary – English” participated in the distance learning. The educational process in the distance mode encompassed distant classes, held through the video conferencing platform Zoom, and students’ individual work, performed at the learning management system Canvas. The efficiency of teaching English distantly to future philologists was checked by conducting pre- and post-assessments with subsequent processing of the received data by methods of mathematical statistics. The efficiency of distance learning in general was verified using the statistical criterion φ* – Fisher z-transformation. The minimal sufficient achievement rate, used for Fisher z-transformation, was identified based on the fuzzy set theory by processing opinions of a group of experts. Lecturers at Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, Department of the English language Theory, Practice and Translation were chosen as experts (ten respondents in total). The efficiency of distance learning in each group was verified using paired sample t-test. The results of the data processing by statistical methods proved the efficiency of the suggested approach to organizing distant English classes for future philologists that ensured combination of synchronous (using video conferencing platform Zoom) and asynchronous learning modes (using the learning management system Canvas). The results of the survey conducted among the participants of the educational process showed a positive attitude to the organization of the distance learning using the service Zoom and the system Canvas.