Abstract:

The emerged reality of the COVID-19 pandemic has given rise to a range unprecedented educational issues teachers all over the world had to tackle within extremely short time intervals. With the view to adapting their academic material to fit in the forced new modes of instruction teachers had to undertake a great amount of creative work globally.

This paper focuses on certain aspects of a language course tailoring for online delivery and, as a consequence, on positive developments the educators’ effort entailed. The academic properties of distant learning and possible obstacles, which might become a demotivating factor for students in general and language students in particular, are analyzed with the view to most efficiently tailoring the tasks to meet language students’ needs and aspirations. The authors’ special attention is given to certain aspects of learners’ knowledge modification and their language production.

Central to this research, “Serial English” course becomes subject to modification and provides the material for further interpretation of the results with the view to offering effective directions for those engaged in online course implementation. First launched in Moscow State Institute of International Relations (MGIMO University) as an elective English course for students learning English as a second language (L2), "Serial English" is based on modern TV shows supplied by popular video on demand services. With the distinctive rise of e-learning “Serial English” was converted into a separate online institution-free initiative to include new techniques within the framework of the same edutainment strategy. While certain academic aspects of edutainment are discussed, a combination of steps taken by the course creators towards its “seamless” conversion is described with the focus on preserving its bulk of edutainment features.

The paper opens with the opportunities and challenges of moving from long-established traditional classroom techniques to new digitalized methods caused by the necessity to work and study distantly and at the same time sustain effective learning process. The research also addresses the aspect of providing feedback, the underlying idea being connected to the applicability of asynchronous (or delayed) feedback in general and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) specifically.

A number of various factors observed format-wise, the paper concludes with a series of theoretical considerations and practical tips on stimulating positive changes in students’ learning habits and establishing student-teacher rapport. The results of the research can be employed by educators in a wider context of online instruction.

Keywords:

Technology, online learning, language learning, video on demand, foreign language instruction, L2 video, L2 learning, feedback.