Challenges of teaching maritime english in online studies

Abstract

The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the society, and, consequently, on Maritime Education and Training (MET) as well as Maritime English (ME) cannot be overestimated. The society and educational institutions have demonstrated their exceptional ability to adapt to the rapidly changing environment. In addition, this made the society more robust to the unexpected ituations, as certain patterns of reaction to unfavorable conditions were worked out. Of course, it boosted the use of IT in all areas, and especially for educational purposes. But the object of this study is the Maritime English teaching/learning process, teaching being the main focus in this study. The research is aimed at the investigation of changes, challenges and insights the online studies bring to Maritime English teaching/learning process. The distinction between distance studies and online studies has been made. Distance studies have been used in education for a long time, but total reliance on online teaching/learning has appeared just recently, which is quite a new experience for all participants in education. However, nobody can expect the world to be the same as it was and many activities that were regarded as the contact teaching have permanently shifted to the online domain. As Strelkov A.Yu. (2020) puts it, we have to get used to “the new normal” in teaching. The direct contact is replaced by meetings in webinars, and the assignments, assessment and evaluation are carried out online. The objectives of the article include the analysis of changes to the teaching/ learning process due to online studies, the forms they take and possibilities of their adaptation to online teaching, advantages of online teaching for learning Maritime English, the study of students’ exposed to online Maritime English teaching survey and insights into the further development of Maritime English teaching. Findings of the research show, that students developed such personal skills as self-discipline and self-study which are essential for life-long learning. The insights include suggestions for the compensation of lacking components of interaction in communicative teaching as well as the need for further investigation and search for more precise methods and ways of assessing and evaluating the students using online education.