Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Online Foreign Language Interactive Tasks for University Engineering Students

  • Conference paper
  • First Online:
Integration of Engineering Education and the Humanities: Global Intercultural Perspectives (IEEHGIP 2022)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems ((LNNS,volume 499))

  • 280 Accesses

Abstract

The article focuses on characteristics of interactive tasks in foreign language education in general and their application in online teaching English to university engineering majors. The key concept that underlies a variety of communicative and collaborative tasks widely described by researchers is interaction. Educators regard interaction as one of the basic prerequisites for learning and development. People acquire knowledge, enhance their cognitive, metacognitive, and social skills and thus grow as agents and personalities through interacting with the world and others. In foreign language education interactive tasks have always been used as an essential tool for developing learners` communicative competence, being the main goal and simultaneously one of the 21st century soft skills. Nowadays, interaction in teaching and learning also occurs through computers. The authors explore the potential and peculiarities of online interactive tasks analyzing related literature and one English language online course intended for engineering majors. The target tasks in the course under analysis are classified in accordance with the instructional design strategies of interaction. The practical study also includes an analysis of the engineering students` answers to questionnaires conducted by the authors. The survey revealed a limited range of interactive tasks in the course aimed at engineering majors. The conclusion is that university foreign language teachers need to create and incorporate into related online courses more tasks based on human-to-human interaction which could promote the realization of the task teaching and learning potentials in this context.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 299.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 379.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Council of Europe, Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment – Companion volume. Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg (2020)

    Google Scholar 

  2. Moore, M.: Editorial: Three types of interaction. Am. J. Distance Educ. 3, 1–6 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1080/08923648909526659

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Hutchinson, T., Waters, A.: English for Specific Purposes. A Learning Centered Approach. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge (1987)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  4. Frendo, E.: How to Teach Business English. Pearson Longman Press, Edinburgh Gate, Harlow (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  5. Dudley-Evans, T., St John, M.J.: Developments in English for Specific Purposes (A Multi-Disciplinary Approach). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  6. Coyle, D., Hood, P., Marsh, D.: CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2010)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  7. Tomalin, B.: Key Business Skills. HarperCollins, London (2012)

    Google Scholar 

  8. Fortanet-Gomez, I., Raisanen, C.: ESP in European Higher Education: Integrating Language and Content. John Benjamins Publishing, Amsterdam/Philadelphia (2008)

    Book  Google Scholar 

  9. Rubtsova, A., Almazova, N.: Productive model of foreign languages learning: Realities and prospects. In: Proceedings of the International Conference Communicative Strategies of Information Society (CSIS 2018). Advances in Social Science, Education and Humanities Research, vol. 289, pp. 319–324 (2018). doi: https://doi.org/10.2991/csis-18.2019.65

  10. Khalyapina, L.: Current trends in teaching foreign languages on the basis of CLIL. Teach. Methodol. High. Educ. 6(20), 52–56 (2017). https://doi.org/10.18720/HUM/ISSN2227-8591.20.5

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Johnston, S., Lee, A., McGregor, H.: Engineering as captive discourse. Techn ѐ: Res. Philos. Technol. 1(3/4), 128–136 (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  12. Gural’, S., Korneeva, M.: K voprosu ob organizacionno-metodicheskih usloviyah obucheniya anglijskomu yazyku studentov napravleniya «Prikladnaya mekhanika» [Organizational and technological conditions of teaching English students of Applied Mechanics]. Yazyk i kul'tura 39, 180–186 (2017). (in Russian). doi: https://doi.org/10.17223/19996195/39/1

  13. Sidelnik, E., Melnik, O., Burenko, L.: Engineering discourse in the structure of the esp training at southern federal university. Univ. J. Educ. Res. 4(3), 511–515 (2016). https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2016.040306 https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1092340.pdf

  14. Polyakova, T.: Variety of engineers’ needs in the foreign language usage as a basis for their training diversification. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 214, 86–94 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sbspro.2015.11.598

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Chuvashova, A.: Professional English for engineering students: Relevance and importance of the course. Bulletin of the South Ural State University, series Education. Pedagogic 4, 87–98 (2018)

    Google Scholar 

  16. Borzova, E., Shemanaeva, M.: University foreign language curriculum for pre-service non-language subject teacher education. Educ. Sci. 9(3), 1–16 (2019). https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci9030163

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Barton, D., Hamilton, M.: Literacy practices. In: Barton, D., Hamilton, M., Ivanic, R. (eds.) Situated Literacies: Reading and Writing in Context. Literacies Series, pp. 7–15. Routledge, London (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  18. Jacobs, C.: Teaching students to be literate in engineering: Whose job is it anyway? J. Educ. Des. Technol. Spec. Issue Eng. Des. Technol. Educ. 10, 102–112 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  19. Federal'nye gosudarstvennye obrazovatel'nye standarty vysshego obrazovaniya 3++ [Federal state higher education standards 3++]. (in Russian). http://fgosvo.ru/fgosvo/151/150/24. Accessed 02 Jan 2022

  20. Hurst, B., Wallace, R., Nixon, S.B.: The impact of social interaction on student learning. Read. Horiz. J. Literacy Lang. Arts 52(4), 375–398 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  21. Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster Homepage https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/interaction. Accessed 02 Jan 2021

  22. Rivers, W.M.: Interaction as the key to teaching language for communication. In: Rivers, W.M. (ed.) Interactive Language Teaching, pp. 2–16. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2000)

    Google Scholar 

  23. Brown, H.D.: Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy. Addison Wesley Longman, New York (2001)

    Google Scholar 

  24. Webster, J., Hackley, P.: Teaching effectiveness in technology-mediated distance learning. Acad. Manag. J. 40(6), 1282–1309 (1997)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Bento, R., Schuster, C.: Participation: The online challenge. In: Aggarwal, A. (ed.) Web-Based Education: Learning from Experience, pp. 156–164. Idea Group Publishing, Hershey (2003)

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  26. Okita, S.: Social interactions and learning. In: Seel, N.M. (eds.) Encyclopedia of the Sciences of Learning, pp. 3104–3107. Springer, Boston (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-1428-6_1770

  27. Tareva, E., Polushkina, T.: Discourse-based approach to practicing L2 prosody in a workplace communication course: A review of recent research and instruction. In: Khalyapina, L. (ed.) Examining Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) Theories and Practices, pp. 226–246. IGI Global, Hershey (2020). https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3266-9.ch013

  28. Choren, A.: The importance of communication in the workplace. IEEE Potentials 34(3), 10–11 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1109/MPOT.2014.2331793

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Tomalin, B., Tverdokhlebova, I.P.: English for specific purposes today. Inostranniye Yaziki v Schkole 8, 5–10 (2021)

    Google Scholar 

  30. Gattis, K.W.: Importance of Student Verbalization Science Junction. North Carolina State University, Raleigh (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  31. Tompson, S.: An approach to teaching organizational skills to adults. Engl. Teach. Forum 2(47), 8–17 (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  32. Rus, D.: Creative methodologies in teaching English for engineering students. Procedia Manufact. 46, 337–343 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.promfg.2020.03.049

    Article  Google Scholar 

  33. Zakin, A.: Metacognition and the use of inner speech in children’s thinking: A tool teachers can use. J. Educ. Hum. Dev. 1(2), 1–14 (2007)

    Google Scholar 

  34. Long, M.: The role of the linguistic environment in second language acquisition. In: Ritchie, W.C., Bhatia, T.K. (eds.) Handbook of Second Language Acquisition, pp. 413–454. Academic Press, New York (1996)

    Google Scholar 

  35. Gass, S., MacKey, A., Pica, T.: The role of input and interaction in second language acquisition: Introduction to the special issue source. Mod. Lang. J. 82(3), 299–307 (1998)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  36. Zhang, S.: The role of input, interaction and output in the development of oral fluency. Engl. Lang. Teach. 2(4), 91–100 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  37. Maharsi, I.: The importance of input and interaction in second language acquisition. J. Engl. Educ. 5(1), 45–53 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  38. Hornbæk, K., Oulasvirta, A.: What is interaction? In: Proceedings of the 2017 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems, pp. 5040–5052. Association for Computing Machinery, New York (2017). https://doi.org/10.1145/3025453.3025765

  39. Bernard, R., et al.: A meta-analysis of three types of interaction treatments in distance education. Rev. Educ. Res. 79(3), 1243–1289 (2009). https://doi.org/10.3102/0034654309333844

    Article  Google Scholar 

  40. Chuang, H., Rodríguez, J., Suvorov, R., Tschudi, S.: Professional development for online language educators. In: Lavolette, E., Simone, E.F (eds.) Language Center Handbook, pp. 219–236. International Association for Language Learning Technology, Auburn (2018)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Petrozavodsk State University, Petrozavodsk, 185000, Russia

    Elena V. Borzova & Maria A. Shemanaeva

Authors
  1. Elena V. Borzova
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maria A. Shemanaeva
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Maria A. Shemanaeva .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Research Centre Kairos, Tomsk, Russia

    Zhanna Anikina

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2022 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this paper

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this paper

Borzova, E.V., Shemanaeva, M.A. (2022). Online Foreign Language Interactive Tasks for University Engineering Students. In: Anikina, Z. (eds) Integration of Engineering Education and the Humanities: Global Intercultural Perspectives. IEEHGIP 2022. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems, vol 499. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-11435-9_11

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation