Abstract:

The outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic has posed a new challenge for higher education of universities and colleges, so it became necessary to ensure that the pandemic did not cause a time gap in learning amongst students. As the most effective tool in educating students during the pandemic period as well as a novel development, the Application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has thus been used for the organization of online lessons. The overall objective of this research is to evaluate the effect of English teaching for non-English major postgraduates by means of ICT in terms of students’ learning experience and feedbacks. A consecutive survey was conducted among the non-English major postgraduates of 2019 and 2020 from Wuhan University of Technology who amount to be more than 3,000 to reflect how effective ICT is in English teaching during the COVID-19 outbreak and in the post-pandemic era. The results of the descriptive statistics for the study were presented in charts. Qualitative interviews were also used to examine the students’ feedbacks on a variety of ICT tools like SPOC (small private online course), social networking applications, online teaching software and online meeting apps for developing digital learning resources with the main aim of providing students with a wide range of educational opportunities in the e-learning environment. The research revealed the perceived effectiveness of online classes with the application of ICT, and other factors such as interest, engagement, participation, and problems encountered during online teaching among non-English major postgraduates in Wuhan University of Technology. The benefits and shortcomings that this research has brought to light are expected to enhance better online learning experiences post-COVID 19 in China and other parts of the world.

Keywords:

English Teaching, Non-English Major Postgraduates, Application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), Post-Pandemic Era.