Abstract:

Nowadays, there is an increasing use of information technologies in every field of life including education. These technologies became an important resource for instruction in foreign language teaching as well. In order to motivate students to learn English, many language teachers employ various online learning platforms to achieve their goals. Moodle is an online platform that is widely used in English language teaching and learning. It provides teachers with various tools to support students to learn and communicate effectively.

The aim of this study is to examine the general attitude of students towards English language learning via Moodle. The respondents were the students of the Department of Agricultural and Food Studies Prokuplje, Academy of Vocational Studies Southern Serbia. For the purpose of the study, a special questionnaire was designed and both quantitative and qualitative research models were employed.

The obtained results show that, generally, the respondents have positive attitudes towards learning English via Moodle. As for the positive aspect of online classes, most students stated that the use of the platform was time-saving: it enabled them to participate in the educational process anytime and anywhere. Also, the advantage was that Moodle offered transparency and easier communication. On the other hand, the main disadvantage of this type of classes is the lack of face-to-face interaction between students and teachers and network problems. Finally, most of the respondents agreed that English classes should be conducted as blended courses, which implies that they should be a combination of in-person and online teaching/learning.

Keywords:

Moodle, e-learning, English for Specific Purposes, students’ attitudes.