Abstract:

According to the UN survey, universities are closed due to the spread of the Covid-19 virus, and the negative impact of the closures cannot be underestimated. The uncertainty of when school closures and suspensions will end due to the uncontrollable nature of the spread of the epidemic makes the task of educators even more daunting. Online teaching became a full-fledged way of teaching at universities, as well as online teaching of foreign languages.

In this context, the emergence of online educational tools such as ZOOM, Microsoft Team and DingDing has led to a new phase in distance learning of a foreign language. Many countries are now adopting digital distance education to ensure the continuity of foreign language education. Let’s take China as an example: a total of 1454 universities and colleges have introduced online foreign language courses, there are more than 950,000 foreign language teachers, 7,133,000 online foreign language courses and 18 million students have taken online foreign language courses.

Online foreign language teaching brings to life new and effective methods of foreign language education through digital technologies such as classroom recording and real-time lectures. The online foreign language teaching system allows to make targeted language learning recommendations for each student based on personal information registered in the system and foreign language level, developing the student's strengths and compensating for deficiencies, opening up a new era of foreign language teaching.

The article discusses the problems encountered in moving from face-to-face education to distance education and successful teaching cases; the challenges faced by online foreign language education and its advantages; the direction of modern digital distance education is analyzed.

In the course of the study, the authors analyze the way of building an online foreign language learning system and the advantages and disadvantages of online foreign language education compared to traditional teaching methods, and propose a new model of "digital online foreign language education" that effectively combines digital foreign language education with traditional foreign language education.

As a result of the study, the impact and changes of distance education on the foreign language education environment are:
- Easy sharing of teaching resources,
- No limitation of time and space,
- Students can get timely feedback on the effectiveness of teaching,
- Developing exclusive learning plans according to students' individual conditions.

Keywords:

Covid-19, distance learning, Online teaching, face-to-face education to distance education.