The model of the webinar system for distance learning of a foreign language in a non-linguistic university

Matveeva Natalia Viktorovna ORCID: 0000-0002-4325-9739 PhD in Pedagogy PhD in Pedagogy, Associate Professor, Foreign Language Department, Russian University of Transport (MIIT) 142211, Russia, Moscow, Obraztsova str., 9, building 9 matveevanv@mail.ru

Introduction

The date of the beginning of distance learning of a foreign language in its modern form, that is, using information and communication technologies and the Internet, in Russian universities can be considered 1997, when, in accordance with the order of the Ministry of General and Vocational Education of the Russian Federation dated 30.05.1997, No. 1050 "On conducting an experiment in the field of distance education" was organized experiment in the field of distance education. At the beginning, six Russian universities became participants in the experiment, then several other institutions of higher education joined it. The process of forming the foundations of the general methodology of distance learning is described in the work of E.S. Maslakova ^[9]. This experiment was recognized as successful, and currently more than 40% of Russian universities offer training programs using distance learning technologies.

The theory and methodology of distance learning in a foreign language were developed in their works by such Russian scientists as: Polat E.S., who together with the staff of the distance learning laboratory of ISMO RAO laid the fundamental foundations of distance learning, and Sysoev P.V., who reviewed the didactic and methodological functions of various online platforms and services designed for teaching a foreign language ^[15]. The experience of distance learning is described in the articles of a large number of teachers-practitioners, both in Russia and abroad.

Distance learning of a foreign language covers many aspects, from the specifics of working with various platforms offering different modes of interaction between teachers and students, to the issues of creating electronic content. S.L. Suvorova et al. ^[14] classify the modes of interaction between teachers and students in distance learning, dividing them into synchronous, that is, conducted in real time, and asynchronous, when students study according to the provided educational materials at any time convenient for them, while feedback from the teacher is carried out in a pre-agreed form and using pre-defined platforms. N.S. Kulakova ^[8] in her work considers such forms of synchronous classes as: chat classes and web- classes. These forms of classes are based on written communication between students and the teacher, they are widely used in international educational activities, for example, on the EdX platform, where students living in different countries can study, and the language of communication between them and with the teacher is English.

We also note the article by Grubin I.V., Kudryavtseva E.V. ^[5], who consider providing the educational process with high-quality verified content to be one of the important problems of distance learning in a foreign language. Indeed, the issues of developing electronic content are complex and require a lot of effort, which is also pointed out by foreign teachers of English as a foreign language. Currently, a teacher conducting distance learning should have training in the field of information and communication technologies and have the skills to create electronic educational content. Only if you are well-versed in the above issues, namely, understanding the properties of various Internet services and platforms, and having high-quality content, you can think about what techniques and methods should be used when teaching distance students to all types of foreign language speech activity and aspects of language.

The issues of distance learning of a foreign language concerning the specifics of the discipline "Foreign language" are considered by a team of authors in a fundamental work edited by E.S.Polat ^[17]. The authors note that in distance learning of foreign languages, it is necessary to rely on the patterns developed by the methodology of teaching foreign languages over many years of complex searches and solutions. Among these patterns, the most important is the reliance on auditory motor skills, that is, as the authors decipher, oral exercises should serve as the basis for teaching any types of foreign language speech activity. Therefore, the synchronous mode of work with students is preferable.

In the work of T.M. Grigorenko and I.N. Grigorenko ^[4] it is indicated that the most common form of conducting remote synchronous classes in a foreign language is a webinar.

Currently, the term "webinar" reflects the way of interaction with students and means a synchronous lesson conducted using information and communication technologies on the Internet. In the published scientific and methodological literature on distance learning of a foreign language, the term "webinar" is understood to mean all types of distance learning, which confuses and makes it difficult to find the necessary sources when determining the concepts of distance learning. The articles mainly describe the experience of conducting webinars as classes of a certain type, the typology of webinars and the model of alternating webinars of different types are not described in the scientific and methodological literature. Meanwhile, orderliness and consistency are an extremely important organizational and methodological aspect of distance learning in foreign languages. Being involved in a structured system of training webinars, students gain a more complete understanding of the logic and structure of the course of the discipline "Foreign language", better understand the requirements imposed on them, and as a result cope more successfully with the development of the discipline. This situation determined the objectives of the study.

Research objectives

1. To study, summarize and systematize the experience of conducting webinars in distance learning of a foreign language in Russia and abroad.

2. To model a webinar system for distance learning of a foreign language for students of the Institute of Economics and Finance of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) balanced from the point of view of teaching all aspects of language and types of speech activity.

Methods and materials.

In the course of the study, methods determined by the objectives of the study were used. At the first stage, when solving the first task of research, such methods were the analysis of scientific and methodological literature, generalization of pedagogical experience, creation of a typology of training webinars. At the second stage of the study, which is an experimental training, a hypothesis was put forward about building a model of a system of training webinars, then at the Russian University of Transport, when working with distance students of seven study groups from the first to the fourth courses of study, experimental training was implemented according to the proposed model, the results of experimental training were analyzed and explained..

At the Russian University of Transport (MIIT), the admission of students to full-time and part-time education using distance learning technologies (DOT) began in 2012. A distance learning portal was created, which has private classrooms for teachers and students, a webinar format was approved, and after each webinar on the discipline "Foreign Language", students are given a task for independent work, which may include both the performance of lexical and grammatical tasks and exercises, and creative tasks that include it includes writing dialogues, writing essays and essays, preparing presentations. There is also a section in students' personal cabinets for posting teacher reviews for each completed homework. The portal has tests for conducting current, intermediate and final control.

Currently, the Institute of Economics and Finance of the Russian University of Transport is accepting students for training using DOT in the following areas of training:

38.03.01 Economy, profiles: Economics of enterprises and organizations, Accounting, analysis and audit.

38.03.05 Business Informatics, profile: Digital Economy.

The recruited groups from the point of view of learning a foreign language have a heterogeneous composition in terms of language proficiency, the division of student groups into subgroups depending on the level of foreign language proficiency for learning a foreign language is not yet carried out.

Results and discussion

As already noted above, the term "webinar" currently refers to various types of synchronous classes of a teacher with students: overview lectures on educational material, interactive lectures-conversations on a specific topic, complex classes modeled on classroom classes, classes using the technology "inverted classroom", online classes on the practice of speech: online conferences to protect presentations, online discussions, project activities, thematic communication, etc.. After analyzing the scientific literature, a classification of webinars was compiled (shown in Fig. 1). This scheme is of a fundamental nature, shows the possibility of classifying webinars depending on the type of distance learning, and can be supplemented and expanded in the future.

Figure 1. Types of webinars for distance learning of a foreign language in institutions of higher education

Let's consider the first of the listed type of online classes-webinars – an overview lecture on educational material. During this type of online classes, the teacher gradually introduces students to the educational material, introduces new vocabulary and grammar, gives examples of training exercises, examines samples of dialogues and monologue statements, reads texts and explains difficult points. Overview lectures, during which the teacher instructs students on the study of a foreign language course, are recognized all over the world. Let's pay attention to the following results of foreign research. The Indonesian researcher M. Ghufron ^[20] revealed that when teaching English online, it is extremely important to clearly instruct students on completing tasks for a clear understanding of the material being studied and the requirements for the work performed. Instructing or reviewing the educational material with detailed explanations becomes especially relevant if students with a low level of foreign language proficiency are studying in the group among other students. For example, investigating the level of anxiety when speaking Libyan students studying at the University of Malaysia, researchers Halali et al. ^[21], state that they need more instructions. This statement will also be true for distance learning. Almalki et al. ^[18] conducted a study of the anxiety level of Saudi Arabian university students in listening while teaching English as a foreign language online, which showed that the level of anxiety in listening during online training is significantly lower than in offline classes, and about half of the students participating in the study noted the importance of understanding the instructions and other instructions of the teacher. When conducting a review online lecture on educational material, anxiety can be reduced due to a better understanding by students of the structure of the educational material and the requirements.

The second type of webinar is a lecture–conversation on one specific academic topic. During an interactive online lecture-conversation, participants are introduced to the main provisions of the topic under study, illustrated by examples of tasks and exercises. I.N.Tabueva ^[16] considers the webinar simultaneously as a means of synchronous learning, which implies real-time mode, and asynchronous learning, that is, in recording. The lesson takes place in real time, and during the passage, students are actively involved in the process of learning a foreign language and there is feedback, which allows live communication, answers to questions and explanations by the teacher of difficult moments in the process of learning a foreign language. Despite the fact that modern videoconferencing programs allow for the possibility of enabling video and audio communication from students, feedback during webinars is carried out in writing in chat rooms. The webinar is recorded and posted on the distance learning portal for those students who were absent from the webinar for any reason, as well as for repeated views if certain points remain misunderstood.

In the light of our research, the work of A.G. Monogarova and A.Y. Bagiyan ^[10] is interesting, who define a training webinar in the form of a lecture-conversation as a separate genre of pedagogical discourse. The main purpose of such a webinar is to transfer knowledge in an accessible manner to the audience. Explanation and argumentation occupy a central place in the system of training webinars. Based on the analysis of a significant body of English-language teaching webinars in a foreign language of well-known online schools posted on youtube, these authors determine the typical structure of the training webinar:

1. greeting and organizational moment (the program and lesson plan are indicated, instructions on technical issues are given and the mechanism of interaction with the teacher and other students is described (if the lesson is group), in some cases a small motivational speech is made);

2. The main part (the content of the topic is revealed, depending on the author's approach, interactive tasks, comments and explanations are possible);

3. The final part (conclusions and answers to questions).

I.L. Vanina ^[2] in her work, under the webinar we understand a complex synchronous lesson in a foreign language (a combined lesson). It was complex distance learning that was widespread during the COVOD-19 pandemic. According to the definition of A.N. Shchukin ^[18], such a lesson involves the formation of a language base, its consolidation with the help of tasks and exercises and application in the process of speech communication. Thus, the combined lesson covers teaching all types of speech activity, including speaking, the pronunciation of both individual words and whole phrases, structures that make up a living language, and significantly differ from the native language, is practiced. The practical application of the studied lexical units and grammatical structures is immediately carried out in practice, when solving specific communicative tasks on a particular topic.

A.A. Ilyina, I.P. Zyryanova ^[6] indicate that the stages of conducting a comprehensive distance learning in English are identical to the stages of classroom instruction: the organizational stage, familiarization with new vocabulary on the topic of the lesson, primary fixation of lexical material, reading the text and completing tasks to the text, familiarization with new grammatical material, listening and completing tasks according to the listened passage, working out the material passed in various communication situations, explaining homework and self-reflection of the student.

However, N.A. Pozdnyakova ^[13] notes that not all traditional methods and techniques of work are effective when teaching online due to the technical features of such a lesson: it is impossible to control choral work on vocabulary, there is a loss of time to connect each participant when working "along the chain", the teacher loses control over the activities of each student during an individual survey, which leads to a decrease in students' attention to the lesson process. Further, N.A. Pozdnyakova concludes that it is advisable to abandon group online exercises and tasks when working on pronunciation and training lexico-grammatical skills, or the need to develop new techniques and methods for working with a group online.

There is an experience of refusing tasks on working out an active vocabulary and primary consolidation of lexical and grammatical material in the practice of Russian distance learning in foreign languages. For example, A.V. Kuznetsova and G.V. Ryabkova ^[6], describing the experience of conducting classes using the "inverted classroom" technology, which they use for distance learning of students, attribute such tasks to the personal responsibility of each student. During synchronous online classes with a teacher according to their system, students can clarify the least understandable material (grammatical and lexical phenomena that caused difficulties), consolidate the studied material and practice speaking.

Next, we will proceed to the analysis of publications reflecting the experience of conducting online language practice classes. Conversational practice online is not new in higher education in Russia. Russian Russian Language course for students of the Faculty of Russian Language and Literature of Tamkan University (TCU) was developed back in 2014. (Taiwan) in cooperation with such Russian universities as the Far Eastern Federal University, Novosibirsk State Technical University and the Northern (Arctic) Federal University. In the work of T.E. Naidina., Sh.Ya. Su ^[11], certain organizational and methodological findings useful for the organization of such practice are presented.

As Intan Kusumawardhani & Hernina Lestari point out ^[22], conversational skills are the main indicator for assessing the level of English proficiency. Speaking is the most productive type of speech activity through which verbal communication is carried out. The formation of students' ability to build a detailed, grammatically correct statement presents significant difficulties even in classroom work. In a remote classroom, where students are not personally acquainted with each other, speaking causes even greater anxiety. The online environment itself causes anxiety, where communication interruptions, interference, and insufficient knowledge of the rules for using technologies are possible. The task of the teacher is to provide a comfortable learning environment, to provide conversational tasks, the order of which is clear in the smallest details, when organizing the interaction of students with the teacher and with each other. The majority of students studying English as a foreign language are looking for opportunities to improve their level of English language proficiency and, in particular, improve their speaking skills, Muhammad Nur & Sultan Baa rightly believe ^[23]. The least anxiety is caused by speaking tasks that require preliminary preparation, such as: defending presentations and research projects, participating in discussions on pre-proposed issues. Spontaneous communication causes great anxiety and should be carefully prepared and thought out by the teacher. Putu Pratiw & Takahashi Toshiaki ^[24] recommend students to use additionally purposefully developed mobile applications in their independent work, for example, Speaking Test Apps., where students are consistently offered ten questions that they should answer immediately, if there is not enough time to think, then you need to download an answer that is not quite ready and move on to the next question. According to the authors, this application teaches students to think, verbally answering questions, quickly, thereby training the practice of speech.

Concluding the review of the structure and content of webinars of various types, we provide a link to the work of A.A. Andaspaev et al. ^[1], in which the authors recommend evaluating its effectiveness at the end of each webinar. Performance indicators can be both attendance and activity of students during the webinar, in particular, the ratio of the number of active participants to the number of students connected to the webinar, and fluency and correctness of speech, or with the help of special techniques, you can assess the emotional state of students.

Conclusion on the first stage of the study: currently, there is no consistency in the definition of the term "webinar" in the scientific and methodological literature. Various forms of online classes are called webinars. We proposed a classification of webinars by type of lesson: webinar-lecture (overview lecture on educational material, interactive lecture-conversation on a specific topic), during the webinars of lectures, instruction is given, examples of the use of lexical units and grammatical phenomena are given, exercises are shown, recommendations are given, the main skill being formed is listening; a comprehensive lesson, where all types of speech activity are being formed, a comprehensive lesson within the framework of the "inverted classroom" technology, a lesson in language practice (mainly, the formation of speaking skills and abilities).

At the second stage of the study, we modeled and tested a system of training webinars at the Russian University of Transport, schematically presented in Fig. 2. Let us pay attention to the fact that this system of distance learning of a foreign language is modeled for certain learning conditions, a certain contingent and taking into account the current Work program of the discipline "Foreign language". It can be corrected depending on the learning conditions and goals and preferences of the teacher and students. The main idea when creating this model is that communication in the webinar format is not spontaneous, but obeys a stereotypical scenario in accordance with the type of distance learning, the stages of each of which are regulated by the provisions of the theory and methodology of teaching foreign languages – goals, content, methods and techniques used. Each type of webinar as a type of pedagogical discourse, as defined by A.G. Monogarova, A.Y. Bagiyan ^[10], is characterized by global connectivity, and is perceived as a whole, i.e. as a unit that can be separated from similar objects – webinars of another type. In our opinion, the use of a clearly structured system of webinars, consisting of classes of different types, helps distance students to navigate the requirements, understand how many activities they expect, what they need to do to successfully complete the course of study. Students' awareness in the simulated distance learning system is better than when conducting webinars in the form of uniform complex (combined) classes that are not structured into a system. In addition, as our experience of mass distance learning during the pandemic shows, there are pauses during complex classes, cases of incorrect pronunciation are not uncommon, it happens that topics unrelated to educational moments are wedged in, and it is not advisable to record such a lesson with subsequent posting on the portal. It is quite difficult to view such a record and find a rational grain.

Figure 2. Model of the system of training webinars on the discipline "Foreign language" at the Russian University of Transport

At the Russian University of Transport, students of all specialties study English according to a single modular Work program for all. The content for distance students is compiled in such a way that the topics of the Work Program follow their logic. Each review lecture consists of three parts – a lexical topic, a grammatical topic and a professionally oriented text. The review lecture lasts about 60 minutes, and in our opinion, the fragmentation of the educational material into sufficiently independent parts lasting about 20 minutes corresponds to the psychological and pedagogical characteristics of students and improves the perception of the educational material in connection with the change in both the type of educational activity and the subject. Presentations on all the rules of their preparation have been prepared for the review lectures ^[12]. We introduce new vocabulary with translation (this is acceptable at this stage ^[3]), read samples of dialogues and professionally oriented texts, analyze grammatical material and show how to perform exercises. For each of the parts, students receive recommendations on homework, and complete the task in writing, audio or video format, which they upload to their personal account on the educational portal. The lexical topic involves performing lexical exercises, composing dialogues or preparing a monologue, the grammatical topic involves performing grammatical exercises, the section "professionally oriented text" offers a list of additional sources and sample topics for preparing presentations or educational projects or questions for discussion. The teacher checks the works uploaded to the portal, reviews them, and then their presentation or discussion takes place in speech practice classes.

Speech practice classes are held in various forms. The first form is a conference, one of the most popular forms of educational activity among students, aimed at developing both critical and analytical thinking and prepared speech skills, during which presentations or projects are defended.

The second form of language practice classes is a discussion on pre–proposed questions. We see that distance students interact with each other less than in classroom classes, they confer less, and when discussing debatable issues, you can hear a variety of points of view. The task of the teacher is to involve all students in the discussion.

The third form of language practice classes is a thematic discussion on a specific lexical topic. Russian Russian, we divide the topic into situations, and to warm up, we offer students to translate a number of dialogues on situations from English into Russian and from Russian into English from a sheet, and then complete a task on spontaneous discussion of a particular situation in the form of a dialogue or polylogue.

The fourth form of language practice classes is feedback on homework, following the example of "inverted classroom" technology classes – we discuss and clarify difficult questions and tasks that caused difficulties in performing training lexical and grammatical exercises. Currently, the curriculum for the course of the discipline "Foreign language" includes such complex grammatical topics as "Time coordination", "Indirect speech", "Conditional sentences", "Passive voice", in which students invariably make mistakes, and additional analysis is required. In addition, we introduce students to the most successful examples of completed works that, for one reason or another, were not included in the first three types of speech practice classes.

Conclusion on the second stage of the study. All webinars at the Russian University of Transport are held on the record, the records are posted on the educational portal for subsequent access to them by students as needed. The analysis of the results of experimental training is based on the data of video recordings. First of all, it is worth noting that the recordings have become more dynamic, understandable and structured, they have significantly reduced the number of pauses, as well as pronunciation errors. The proposed model of the webinar system in distance learning of a foreign language has been successfully tested at the Russian University of Transport. This system includes the following types of webinars: a webinar – an overview lecture on educational material, speech practice classes – a webinar-conference involving the protection of presentations or projects, a webinar – thematic communication, a webinar - discussion. This model also includes feedback webinars, as they are conducted using the "inverted classroom" technology. The system is built logically and understandable for students. As a result of the introduction of such a model of a foreign language distance learning system, the structure of this system has improved, the level of students' understanding of the requirements has increased, webinar recordings have become more logical and watchable, the number of pronunciation errors has decreased, the pace of training sessions has increased by reducing pauses for reflection.

Conclusion

Despite the great interest shown by the pedagogical community in the use of information and communication technologies in general and in conducting webinars in distance learning in particular, the classification of educational webinars has not yet been proposed. In scientific and methodological publications, all types of distance learning classes were called webinars, which introduced some confusion and made it difficult to read scientific articles. In this study, the classification of webinars for distance learning of a foreign language was carried out for the first time. A model of a foreign language distance learning system is proposed, which represents a logical sequence of webinars from lectures – reviews to speech output, and includes webinars of various types. The system has been successfully tested, and although it does not claim to be widely used and can be adjusted depending on the stage of training, learning conditions and psychological and pedagogical characteristics of the student contingent, it provides a direction for the development of the theory and methodology of distance learning in foreign languages.