Abstract:

Due to the rapid technological advancement and unexpected global events like the COVID-19 pandemic, English as a foreign language (EFL) courses at universities have come to be highly flexible. In the past, university teachers were prone to rely on more formal teaching methods and teacher’s books for giving lessons in traditional classrooms. Today, with the arrival of blended learning, student-centered approaches and growing pressure to efficiently develop students’ 21st century skills, a higher level of creativity and mastery is required.

The aim of the research is to explore strategies to modernize EFL courses, tailor them to students’ needs and keep students continuously engaged by allowing them to participate in the course creation. The research is based on the experience of teaching groups of undergraduate students at ITMO University, Saint Petersburg, Russia. In the qualitative part of the research, a number of methods to assess students’ needs as well as relevant teaching techniques are analysed, whereas in the quantitative part, data and feedback collected by using the Telegram app and Google forms are studied.

At the beginning of the course, students’ expectations and needs are identified by means of questionnaires and tests. The teacher sets primary education objectives and designs the English course, based on the results, which reflect the expectations and needs of students in a particular group. During the course, students are given an opportunity to vote on a list of preferred activities with the help of Telegram polls and are encouraged to suggest tasks or create tasks of their own. Thus, each group receives an authentic course that maximizes students’ learning potential and allows them to hone their language skills in the best way possible. At the end of the course, self-assessment and final assessment by the teacher are conducted with feedback collected in the form of polls and reviews.

The findings show that including students in the course creation proves to increase their level of engagement, enhance knowledge acquisition, boost their academic motivation and performance. Therefore, for the purpose of improving learning experiences, the research suggests that it is beneficial for students to contribute to the educational process, helping the teacher to choose methods and techniques to meet their learning needs. At the same time, the teacher’s goal is to create a unique learning environment and use a specific set of effective tools for each group of students. As a result, the classroom turns into a continuous experiment, fostering both students’ involvement in the academic subject and teachers’ professional development.

Keywords:

Foreign language teaching, higher education, student-centered learning, engagement.