=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-3171/paper86
|storemode=property
|title=Digital Technologies for Communication Simulation in Foreign Language Learning under Pandemic
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3171/paper86.pdf
|volume=Vol-3171
|authors=Antonina Badan,Nataliia Onishchenko,Oleksii Zeniakin
|dblpUrl=https://dblp.org/rec/conf/colins/BadanOZ22
}}
==Digital Technologies for Communication Simulation in Foreign Language Learning under Pandemic==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-3171/paper86.pdf
Digital Technologies for Communication Simulation in Foreign
Language Learning under Pandemic
Antonina Badan1 , Nataliia Onishchenko1,2and Oleksii Zeniakin 1
1
National Technical University “Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute”, Kyrpychova str. 2, Kharkiv, 61002, Ukraine
2
Vasyl Karazin National University Kharkiv, 4, Svobody Sq, Kharkiv, 61022 Ukraine
Abstract
Foreign language acquisition presupposes building up communication skills in audition and
speaking by way of using special communicative simulation. With the lack of an authentic
foreign language environment it’s important to bring about similar to real-life multimedia
simulations that substantially speed up and facilitate language acquisition simultaneously
raising the students’ communicative competence. The research offered is the first integrated
scientific investigation in the field of multimedia simulation put into practice at the time of a
global-scale pandemic. It presents theoretical background of simulations and empirical results
achieved during the experiment phase of the research.
The paper highlights the use of modern digital tools and their impact on students’ progress. In
addition, the authors emphasize the appropriate combination of traditional and multimedia
technologies that acquired a special term “blending” in the frame of the student-centered
approach.
Keywords 1
Multimedia technologies, communicative simulation, blending, student-centered, educational
toolkit
1. Introduction
Information techniques found their way into the classroom activities related to teaching and
learning foreign languages as early as the 90s of the past century and brought about crucial
transformation both in the educational process and students’ achievements alike. There followed
numerous publications on methods and teaching techniques based on students’ surveys and
questionnaires.
The introduction of digital tools into foreign language learning at university level as far back as the
90s of the past century was going side by side with its penetration into nearly each field of academic
activities in other majors, both technical and liberal arts.
Information technologies (or digital tools, or multimedia technologies that are used here
interchangeably) turned up in university classrooms as a result of their wide-spread penetration into
the spheres of human activity and were further developed by the academic community to suit their
own needs in the classroom and beyond. For readers’ convenience we will stick to the following
abbreviations related to the subject: MMS – multimedia simulations; PEMT – Pearson educational
multimedia toolkit; BYOD – Bring Your Own Device technique; DT – digital tools.
Foreign languages as an educational field, however, had a special demand for this kind of
technology to deal with the lack of authentic native language environment in Ukraine as a post-Soviet
developing country badly in need of professional tools for teaching listening & oral communication.
In other words, until the 1990s followed by the collapse of the totalitarian regime there was a constant
COLINS-2022: 6th International Conference on Computational Linguistics and Intelligent Systems, May 12–13, 2022, Gliwice, Poland
EMAIL: tanger@meta.ua (A. Badan); naonishc77@gmail.com (N. Onishchenko), aleksej.zenyakin@ukr.net (O. Zeniakin)
ORCID: 0000-0001-5898-4397 (A. Badan); 0000-0002-9387-4991 (N. Onishchenko), 0000-0001-8937-6044 (O. Zeniakin)
©️ 2022 Copyright for this paper by its authors.
Use permitted under Creative Commons License Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
CEUR Workshop Proceedings (CEUR-WS.org)
“hunger” for the authentic communication environment. There were no TV channels in foreign
languages, no papers or even signs in English in the city streets, therefore foreign languages were
taught mostly with the help of locally written textbooks, by teachers struggling for any bit of native
communication recording.
With Ukraine’s independence the country was flooded with all types of written matter, magazines
& papers alike, course books with recorded speaking material, videos etc. Nonetheless, the process of
breaking through seemed too slow to crucially change the situation until the introduction of the
Internet. This fact immediately resolved the need for creating native-speaking environment to fill in
the gap for teaching authentic audition & oral communication in foreign languages.
It’s obvious that the newly created environment be termed a “communicative simulation” which
has been around for decades and found their way into foreign languages as well.
Nonetheless, the introduction of multimedia technologies into the classroom not only facilitates
student’s interaction but in multimedia projects makes the borderline between reality and simulation
blurred. In this study “simulation” for fostering foreign language communication is viewed as a
special type on the border with transgressed real-life pieces.
Thus, the goal of the present research is to sum up the discussion of why simulation is
indispensable in modern methods of teaching foreign languages as a technique to close the gap of
native speaking environment through multimedia technologies, both in the classroom and beyond. It is
the article’s aspiration to describe how success in studying English can be achieved through the use of
MMS, BYOD & PEMT. Such a goal requires in-depth description of all the tools used and provides
for a broad discussion of the results gained. It is not the comparison of all the three educational
environments but the insight of their practical application within the research in question.
The research project is a joint effort of the two universities, National Technical University
“Kharkiv Polytechnic Institute, Kharkiv, Ukraine, and Vasyl Karazin National University, Kharkiv,
Ukraine continued from the previous study by the same foreign language departments and presented
in 2021 1.
2. Related Works
The issue of multimedia technologies for foreign language learning received a wide coverage
worldwide in scientific papers [2, 3, 4, 5, 6] to be immediately supplemented by a number of research
projects in online learning with the introduction of Covid-19 quarantine [7, 8, 9, 10, 1].
In recent studies of simulations [11, 12; 13] the authors stress their importance of creating the
authentic, realistic setting where they “… mimic real life situations” [12, p.1]. Glenn S. Levine goes
as far as coining a new term “Global Simulation” – GS – to meet the needs of cultural literacy in
teaching students the target culture and language (in this case German spoken in a number of German-
speaking countries) [13]. He also emphasizes that simulation can foster the acquisition of
communicative competence and stresses the fact, that, “In some regards, all language learning
involves a level of simulation” [13].
The problem that digital tools can easily solve is building up communicative competence skills.
The subject has been widely covered in connection with digital tools & simulation effects [11, 13] and
the main idea why it is so important is presented by Angelen McLaren in [11] as a person’s ability to
use a language in an appropriate way. Moreover, the author goes further to find similarities with
natural language acquisition: “Contemporary applied linguists are inquiring into ways native speakers
acquire first language” [11]. We would like to add here that “artificial” language acquisition of
automated skills by means of multiple repetitions in its turn can be achieved by extensive use of
digital tools. (More on “repetition” as an artificial type of language acquisition in [1]).
It seems to be advisable to emphasize the difference between digital tools for personal (out-of-
class) learning and those used for classroom activities. The former include the whole set of electronic
communication devices: PC, tablets, I-phones, laptops etc., while classroom activities require special
equipment with either plasma screen or overhead projector for group work.
Quite recently they have been supplemented by special smart-phone applications (BYOD-
technology [1]) for both team work and individual projects in classroom activities.
In the present study we predominantly focus our discussion on the frame of multimedia
communicative simulations via screens of plasma TV, BYOD and the most recently introduced
technologies on interactive platforms developed by Pearson. In this respect we are to concentrate
primarily on the essence of an interactive educational platform. The usage of such DT has been
covered in numerous researches [14, 15, 16] focusing primarily on high achievements and efficacy of
these platforms that are of much help both under pandemic and in terms of global sustainable
development aspiration aiming at supplying everybody with quality knowledge and ensuring lifelong
learning. We define an online interactive educational platform as a multimedia educational space that
is based on computer algorithms and that enables its users to hone their skills via communicative
simulation.
The authors of [12] study point out the importance of communicative simulations as a
“representation of reality” where students are assigned predetermined rules. And here is the big divide
between common communicative simulation and the subject of the present study that we term MMS –
multimedia simulations. In our case they play the role of representing reality itself by means of
Internet search for appropriate video pieces, “the magic flash drive” to bring the video to the
classroom, and the necessary equipment to “play it out” in the classroom.
What follows is student’s discussion and active participation in the event monitored by the
“master-of-the-proceedings” who is supposed to highlight the new active vocabulary, prepare
questions and organize the discussion. Therefore the MMS technologies, unlike a common
communicative simulation, is not a planned action, they themselves create the communicative
environment that involves further expansion of real-world system, be it a CNN interview or a genuine
Harvard lecture, no matter how long ago it was recorded and later played out for the student to
“expand” the topic in MMS.
In other words, the event can be described as “disrupted in time” (recording as “real-life” plus
classroom activities as “real-life” as well). MMS are ready-made situations to be extended beyond the
audition material where students get involved in a spontaneous discussion on a given subject. Thus
the borders of the traditionally practical methods of role-play, planned simulations and MMS are
erased and fluency is achieved as a result of “real-life” simulation when students forget which
language they are speaking. No wonder the students choose “fun, excitement, relaxation” as words to
describe MMS in our questionnaires.
However, here arises the question “Do traditional methods disappear?” And this is the right
moment to introduce the “blending” matter. The term has been in existence for decades in the domain
of foreign language teaching 17]. For Blended Learning Definition we will stick in this study to
Stefan Hrastinski’s thorough research of the other papers on the subject [ibid] who stress the
ambiguity of the term and the general idea that “… all types of education that include some aspects of
face-to-face learning and online learning may be termed as blended.” The present study specifies
“blending” as a combination of traditional instruction and any kind of MMS.
No modern technologies can do away with traditional instruction of foreign language altogether,
for teaching any course undergoes three main phases: presentation of the material; practice and
building automatic skills in listening, reading, writing & speaking communication (both written &
oral)
It’s only the final stage of communication simulation of MMS in our case that requires mass
exploitation of all kinds of digital tools for building speaking fluency and automatic skills. The other
two require only limited use or just traditional instruction (rules, patterns, active vocabulary included).
There is no way to avoid traditional presentation of elementary patterns, usually in a course book
duplicated in an audio/video recording. The “board & chalk” pattern is still in existence and there’s no
harm in its combination with books, rules and schemes. Based on this point of view we may not agree
with the opposite statement by A. McLaren in [11] that teachers are doing away with grammatical
rules and skills. One fact in favor of “drills” is that however advanced the present-day techniques of
communicative simulation are, they still rest on the second phase of building automatic skill (which is
repetition!).
Nonetheless we completely support the idea of approaching the natural way of language
acquisition by babies which in teaching a foreign language can be achieved by endless drills in the
second phase (practice & drills) facilitated by real-life environments, to be more exact, by acquisition
of customized skills through multiple repetition. Later on these bricks would become the building
material for the third, communication phase. The same statement of the question has a modern
approach with the simulation of the language environment named BYOD 2, 18, 19.
In any format of MMS use the learners acquire skills of autonomous learning [8] which are viewed
nowadays as the most essential skills that serve the basis of student-centered approach.
In addition to that, leadership acquires traits of a shadow guidance behind the scenes. In the new
format the teacher is supposed to push them to a self-directed, self-initiated, self-planned & self-
regulated learning [8]. And indeed, being assigned a task of Internet search outside of class, the
student is required to take the initiative in selecting video pieces and their description without
anybody’s interference. Later on, in class, the student is faced with evaluating the project by the
teacher and the peers. The gap between the two points is termed here as “disrupted” multimedia
communication simulation.
According to G. S. Levine [13], simulation itself is not a reality, but the participants must act
within the simulation as if it were/As the authors of [12] put it, the MMS under discussion
“dismantles” the previously common teacher-student relationship and “declassrooms the classroom”
which leads to erasing the traditional borders to achieve native-speaking fluency.
Such fluency nowadays can be reached by way of using multimedia tools that provide not only for
efficient learning but for students’ interest in the process of education as well. These tools boost
students’ activity in and beyond the classroom just because of one reason: they involve using
something modern learners cannot imagine their life without (PCs, smartphones, tablets, etc.).
Moreover, the new world we are living now in, the epoch of pandemic, demands from us more in-
depth analysis of digital literacy, for we need to develop students’ digital skills throughout their
studies [20].
Moreover, under such circumstances usage of multimedia sometimes becomes one of ways to
avoid spreading diseases and has a number of advantages as it was stated above. In addition, usage of
the cutting-edge technologies helps to save the environment as it involves fewer resources for material
goods production providing an alternative way to avoid the constant aspiration towards economic
prosperity based on non-eco friendly practices [21]. So, MMS is an eco-friendly way of teaching and
learning.
Students of Ukrainian higher education institutions and language courses often face difficulties in
mastering the rules of English grammar, as well as the syntagmatic and paradigmatic organization of
vocabulary in the speaker's linguistic consciousness. Hypothetically, this is due to a) the shortcomings
of the school curriculum, b) the lack of adaptation of the European standard competencies (A1-C2)
for a long time due to the formation of ESL competencies in vocabulary and grammar only by typical
drilling test exercises.
In the experiment described below, based on the first module of the Cutting Edge Intermediate
Textbook, we encountered a situation where students have difficulties using a number of grammatical
phenomena and choosing the right vocabulary. The problems we have identified are also confirmed in
the world ESL practice and are described in a number of studies:
• Auxiliary verbs, especially in tag questions. English auxiliary verbs, as the name implies, are
simply called helping or supporting verbs. They are so called because of the functions, which they
perform in communication. They help to make up the verbal group in sentences, that is, they
support the main verbs which could either be transitive or intransitive. This is meant to
communicate meaningfully in sentences where they are used [22]. Several errors that occurred
were error of omission, addition, misformation and misordering [23, 24].
• Present Simple and Present Continuous, the difference between them - both for oral and written
speech. ESL learners face a number of difficulties in their attempt to master English tenses
appropriate. Typical mistakes seem to be international as it is shown in the research of M. I.
Fowzul Kareema, Z.A. Hoorul Fhirthouz from the University of Sri Lanka. The list of tenses
mistakes includes: addition of the morphemes ‘s’, ’es’, ’ies’, omission of the morphemes
‘s’,’es’,’ies’, substitution of other tenses, substitution of other tenses with the addition of
morpheme ‘s’, forming negative and interrogative statements. The students often misuse the
Present Continuous confusing it with the simple present tense. It comes in the following forms:
confusion in the addition of auxiliaries, omission of auxiliaries, difficulties in adding ‘ing’ forms,
forming negative and interrogative statements [25].
• Word order in an interrogative sentence. According to G. Clark [26] three typical errors in word
order come from a violation of the connection between the sentence actants, e.g. “*I don't know
very well Manchester.” There is also interference with the word order of the native language,
which was investigated, in particular, by the example of speakers of the Yi and Mandarin dialects,
e.g. “*Tony last Saturday basketball played?” [27]. From the point of view of neurolinguistics, the
fact is also important, to which neural category the student's native language belongs - left
hemisphere or right hemisphere 28. In this context, Ukrainian students are in an advantageous
position, since L1 and L2 are left-brained, thus they have a lot in common in their word order.
Problems with memorizing and reproducing new vocabulary are also associated with many factors.
First of all “English language learners have a limited vocabulary. Therefore, students find themselves
repeating the same words; this hinders creativeness. The students couldn’t give voice to their thoughts
because they lack the adequate stock of vocabulary” [29].
According to studies, e.g. Herri Susanto [30].the difficulties faced by the students are: difficulties
in pronouncing the words, writing and spelling, the different grammatical form of a familiar word,
choosing the appropriate meaning of the words, inappropriate using the word based on the context,
finding words or expression idiomatic.
Vocabulary in the textbook Cutting Edge Intermediate, Module 1 37, 38 which the current
research is based on contains a topical problem – relatively complex lexico-semantic groups as Sports,
Games, Creativity etc.
3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Research Design
The design used for this research study is mixed method approach based on modeling language
environment with the help of MMS, PEMT and BYOD by creating proper exercises and creative tasks
for students and learners. The survey results contain quantitative data obtained from 2 questionnaires.
3.2. The Context Of The Study
The context of the study is the phenomenon of blended learning of English as a foreign language
during a pandemic. We are talking about both professional training in the specialties of Philology and
Translation Studies at Universities, and learning the language as a communication tool in the courses.
As part of blended learning, the role of multimedia resources, learning platforms and separate tools
available at any time both online and offline on smartphones and tablets (BYOD) was considered.
This research study took place at two Universities of Kharkiv, Ukraine and at a monoschool led by
Oleksii Zeniakin. All the participants were selected according to their proficiency level and
experiment material (Pearson’s printed and digital resources).
3.3. Focus Group
The focus group of the study consisted of students at two Universities in Kharkiv, Ukraine,
studying English as the first or second foreign language, majored in Philology or Translation Study,
and English learners at a monoschool in Kharkiv, Ukraine
3.4. The Sample of The Study
All the samples (total 93) from both focus groups study or learn English as a foreign language.
There were 57 1st year students in the first year of the National Technical University “Kharkiv
Polytechnic Institute”, aging 17-18, (English as the first foreign language), and 11 3rd year students of
the Vasyl Karazin National University Kharkiv, aged 19-20, (English as the second foreign language).
47 of them were from high proficiency level and the other 21 from a low proficiency level groups. All
students from the selected years were taken as the samples for this study. Another part of samples
contains English learners at a monoschool. A part of them, aged 45-60+, has been involved in using
PEMT for almost three years (Intermediate level). The other group, aged 18-50+, of the level has been
studying English using Pearson resources for two years already (Pre-Intermediate level). The total
number of learners in both groups is 25.
3.5. Research Instruments
The main instrument of the first part of the research is constructing exercises or tasks based on
MMS, BYOD or introducing functions of multimedia platforms. The second part involves
quantitative instruments as questionnaires to collect data.
Questionnaire 1 consists of 11 yes-or-no questions to evaluate the comfort of the MMS+DT
system. Questionnaire 2 contains 4 questions for the students and learners to evaluate their own
competence in English grammar and vocabulary (Pearson’s Cutting Edge Intermediate, Module 1)
and in DT usage 33-36, 39-42, 45. Focus group interviews took about 15 minutes before using
MMS+DT (September 2021) and 25 minutes after (December 2021). All the data are used with the
permission of the participants. All the interviews were taken by the authors of the research.
4. Experiment
4.1. Pearson educational multimedia toolkit
Right now, the educational market is experiencing a huge increase of competition amongst
publishers and education companies to win the support of their direct consumers – students and
educators. One of the leading Western corporations whose main area is spread of knowledge is
Pearson plc. Having its headquarters in the UK, it collaborates with universities, language schools,
and private educators all around the globe.
Pearson is known at the market as a reliable supplier of cutting-edge educational products that help
teachers enhance the overall academic performance of their students. For instance, such canonical
textbooks like ‘Round Up’, ‘Cutting Edge’, or ‘Speak Out’ were created by Pearson language experts
and had proved their efficacy [36, 37, 38, 40, 43, 44] by being demanded products for decades
already.
What is more, the corporation managers keep in touch with professional linguists and market
analysts allowing them to create not only printed, but what is more valuable now, especially under
COVID-19 pandemic, digital tools for learning and teaching. This toolkit, that can be easily accessed
via Pearson English Portal, comprising both teachers’ and students’ pack of applications and online
platforms, such as “ActiveTeach” for educators and “MyEnglish Lab” for learners, was taken as a
core input for conducting an experiment at the monoschool of English “English Level”.
A monoschool is a new term in contemporary EFL/ESL methodology seen as an educational space
of a taken single specialist who creates efficient education content within the framework of one single
discipline and enables others to get quality education in this field. The first and the only monoschool
so far was founded by the author and became the testing ground for PEMT.
The topicality of the research is also enhanced by using a new EFL/ESL teaching method
“Equilibris” and is being patented now. The three main postulates of the method derive from the
frame theory, ecolinguistics (hence comes the importance of MMS as an eco-friendly teaching
practice), and pedagogical philosophy. Thus, it is not only the outcome of using PEMT, but a result of
applying a new teaching technique as well.
4.1.1. Teacher’s only digital tool
“Speak Out 2nd Edition” was selected as the main teaching product by Pearson plc with all the
digital components that it is accompanied by. The first one is “ActiveTeach”. It is a downloadable set
of programmes that altogether create an application that provides for efficient teaching under
pandemic or in blended learning surroundings.
In general, “ActiveTeach” is an interactive Student’s Book and Workbook with all its components
(both audio and video) integrated into one application with immediate access. By immersing into this
programme, an educator can find that it is possible to zoom in or out the page so that it fits perfectly
the screen when one is being shared with students.
Figure 1: The general view of “ActiveTeach”
The two additional functions are also of much help when teaching online: an English-English
dictionary with all the words from the course that are shown with transcription and an opportunity to
hear the word being pronounced by the native speaker, and a Phonetic Chart with sounds grouped
altogether. The majority of above-said functions are illustrated in Figure 2.
Figure 2: A range of “ActiveTeach” tools
However, it is not the situation when the potential of a teaching tool is over; the other set of tools
becomes available when educators begin to work with a page he has chosen. There they can draw,
write, highlight, erase, and clean everything and everywhere on the page like it is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: A space for teacher’s creativity
One can undo their activity on the page or add a link to the Internet resource. If some file is
available on the teacher’s computer only, an educator can attach a folder with a file to the page. Also,
it is possible to pin a game or hide some part of a page if such is needed.
Another efficient tool almost all teachers under pandemic were aspiring for is a whiteboard: here it
is a part of a tiny page menu that can be easily hidden or placed anywhere the teacher finds it
necessary to be.
4.1.2. Students’ and teachers’ digital tool
It is of paramount importance that not only the educator but the student can access their digital tool
as well. It is called “MyEnglishLab” 32, 36, 40, 43, 44. Generally speaking, it is an online platform
that enables students to cope with the exercises assigned by the educator, complete tests etc. To get
“MyEnglishLab” a student needs to buy a product (textbook) with the digital code inside. Then, by
registering and activating the code the students enrolls in the course and gets access to
“MyEnglishLab”. It is displayed on Pearson English Portal that provides a unique opportunity for
both teachers and learners to keep everything at hand: both exercises and additional materials. The
latter include audio and video for learners and professional development section as well as the link for
downloading “ActiveTeach” for educators 33.
The main features of “MyEnglishLab” are: 1. the combination of an interactive Student’s Book
and Workbook; 2. students’ full independence of paper-based materials as all the elements are built in
the platform.
Figure 4: The menu of the online platform
Figure 5: Colour indication of the task results
Figure 6 shows a standard menu of the platform where a student can even choose the appropriate
language of elements’ display, so it is a multilingual platform designed to simplify the learning of
English.
Figure 6: Teacher’s gradebook
Depending on teacher’s preferences or students’ performance there is a possibility to set a number
of attempts to complete the task or set the time period if it is a test. The exercises here have a various
nature, starting from gap-filling and finishing with recording your own voice as you speak sentences.
The system that is equipped with artificial intelligence can grade automatically the majority of
exercises in no time, leaving for an educator only two tasks to be checked in personal: marking and
grading written exercises or listening to students’ pronunciation or intonation. This greatly expands
the teacher’s free time that can be used for getting prepared for new lessons and decreases the time
period for checking the homework in class as students discuss only the problematic points with the
lecturer.
Provided an exercise is done correctly, the system indicates it with a green tick, if not – with a red
cross (Figure 5). If a student feels the necessity to repeat the exercise once again, but they have no
assignments, it is always possible to do it independently in the “Course” section of a menu where one
can practice on their own or look what is awaiting for them in the nearest classes. Both teachers and
students can control the performance in the “Gradebook” section (Figure 6). The only difference is
that a student sees their progress only whilst an educator can control the whole group. What is more,
the system provides the teacher with a detailed analysis / diagnostics of how long a student was
completing the assignment, or what skills were developed more successfully in the correspondent
module of a course.
When it is necessary to communicate with students (for educators) or with teachers (for students)
in a written way, “MyEnglishLab” provides for messaging amongst the participants of the course and
thus creating an online ecosystem of communication 21 that is crucial in terms of ecolinguistic
nature of the “Equilibris” ESL/EFL teaching method that is used as the key theoretical input when
working with PEMT.
4.2. Elaboration of Grammar and Vocabulary Difficulties with the help of
BYOD
4.2.1. BYOD for Grammar Training
Module 1 starts with the revision of grammar terms because lack of this kind of knowledge creates
misunderstanding throughout the whole teaching course. The skill of word type identification can be
trained by BYOD tools like Quizziz 41 as illustrated below in two different interfaces (Figure 7).
Figure 7: Words and Terms in Quizziz
The same skill of recognizing grammar terms can be mastered in Quizlet 42: after making
matching cards, e.g. he – pronoun the teacher starts a game. There are 2 technical conditions needed:
students’ devices with an internet connection, and 8, 12 or 16 students to make several teams of 4.
When the game starts, one of the students gets one of the 2 matching words highlighted. The
challenge is, another team member has the second word of the matching pair. This game not only
trains some grammar or vocabulary material but also upgrades blitz reaction needed for the job of an
interpreter and develops team spirit – one of the most necessary soft skills for every person. The
students can also train this kind of matching alone with the help of the Quizlet “time test” (Figure 8).
Figure 8: Time test Matching Words and Terms in Quizlet
As mentioned above, it is sometimes difficult for Ukrainian students to put an English verb into
proper form, e.g. the 3rd person singular with its ending -s. LearningApps 34 (as well as LingoFox
35) offers a wide typology of exercise templates, among them puzzles, “Millionaire” quiz, matching
words, crosswords, filling in gaps. The latter combines training vocabulary (verb semantics) and using
the correct verb form (Figure 9).
Figure 9: The product of the “filling in gaps” exercise in LearningApps
Another type of exercises possible to create with the help of LearningApps is one for word order
(“Making questions” in Module 1). E.g. Which part of Ukraine do you come from?
Figure 10: Making questions in LearningApps
4.2.2. BYOD for Vocabulary Training
As mentioned above the specifics of the vocabulary in New Cutting Edge Intermediate is a wide
range of nouns presenting people in their different social roles determined by their relations,
occupations, hobbies, situations etc. The method of visual memorizing words and their meaning is
well known and proved. The students can make their own memory cards in Quizlet 43 choosing
pictures they like or find proper, e.g. a photo of their own brother or sister for the word “sibling”.
Quizlet offers teachers a wide base of suggestions for vocabulary notes and proper pictures for
training the active vocabulary testing it by matching cards and pictures, Figure 11).
Figure 11: Training and testing vocabulary with cards and pictures in Quizlet
It is necessary for language learners to be aware of paradigmatic relations in the active vocabulary.
LearningApps 34 makes it possible to create exercises involving synonyms, antonyms, hypo- and
hyperonyms, LS-groups etc. An example of a LearningApps exercise for classifying words according
to their semantic categories can be found below (Figure 12).
Figure12: Classifying words according to their semantic categories in LearningApps
The students’ vocabulary training done with the help of Quizlet and LearningApps can be checked
by different types of tests in Quizziz 41. This tool offers not only the possibility to create drill
exercises and tests, but also to conduct post-topic (exit) surveys, to save individual and group test
results in a data base, to contact parents or tutors for discussions. Quizziz allows the students unlike
such a similar tool as Kahoot to work autonomic via their own gadgets and with their own tempo
independent from the class progress and the beamer in the classroom. Hereby the team work is not
excluded. So Quizziz offers a modern and student-centric model of inner differentiation for the work
in the classroom and beyond.
Taking into account the fact that upcoming translators and interpreters are trained, the teacher can
create an exercise or a test involving translation skills within vocabulary training. E.g. a multiple
choice exercise to find proper translation for family relations (Figure 13).
Figure 13: Translational vocabulary test (multiple choice) in Quizziz
4.2.3. BYOD for Training Communication Skills
Padlet 31; 39 and ThinkLink 45 are the most complicated and multimedial tool for training
communication skills via creating an artificial “native speakers’ environment”. This is provided by the
conception of Padlet as a multimodal notice board featuring images, links, videos, and documents, all
collated on a “wall” that can be made public or private” [2]. The teacher can choose the mode the
students work with the “wall” by opening access, providing functions of creators, editors or
commentators for the students. The whole features an interactive collaboration with the students both
in a real-time mode and a prolonged one with a remote access.
A padlet wall combines text posts, images, hyperlinks and other media [26], so the students can
post their small essays. New Cutting Edge, Modul 1 involves the topic “People around you”. The
teacher is able to create a Padlet wall with a photo to comment on (Figure 11) with some restrictive
questions (part “Questions” in the centre of Figure 14) as follows.
Figure 14: Communication impulse “Photo description” in Padlet
An advantage of ThingLink is a wide range of forms for presentation of interactive contents: 360°
images and virtual tours, showrooms and galleries, maps and aerial views, infographics, floor plans,
presentations, product demos, virtual reality experiences, introductions, CVs, timelines and even 3D
models. All the interactive forms can be used for the development of student’s communication skills.
To those belong among other things finding and identifying proper questions for a typical
communicative situation which is an essential part of successful communication.
The situations according to New Cutting Edge Intermediate are e.g.: job interview, sending a
parcel at the post office, arranging for removals men to come, immigration, airport check in, airport
security check, medical check up, blind date/ speed dating, dating agency, joining a gym, chatting
with an old friend, chitchat before a business meeting, meeting your boyfriend’s or girlfriend’s
parents for the first time, placement test for a language school, television chat show, radio news
interview, speaking exam, opening a new bank account, a telephone questionnaire on work and
leisure.
So the students can be asked to choose one of the situations and create a ThingLink tour or
presentation etc. viewed by the group or just one communication partner. The ThingLink product
must contain typical questions for the chosen situation and the viewers have one guess about which
situation the author is thinking of. An example of a ThingLink virtual tour shows the communicative
situation “Airport check in” and contains such questions as “Can I see your passport, please? Would
you like an aisle seat or window seat? How many bags do you have to check in?”. The viewers can
see the questions by clicking on the central start button which makes the first step of the exercise.
After the communication partner has expressed his or her suggestions about the type of the
communicative situation (the choice may be restricted to a list by the teacher/moderator) comes step
2. By clicking the button one more time the viewer can see a picture or a video downloaded by the
author illustrating the correct answer.
Figure 15: Virtual tour in ThingLink. Situation Airport check in, Step 1 and 2
All the BYOD tools can be used in the educational process both online and offline in the mode of
blended learning.
5. Results
To prove all the theses that are set forth above, there were conducted surveys featuring
questionnaires 1 and 2 among two groups of participants that have been studying both at the
monoschool of English “English Level”, at Kharkiv National Polytechnic University and Vasyl
Karazin Kharkiv National University for more than 1 year. In order to simplify the description of the
results obtained, we will call those who study at universities students, and those who attend language
courses learners.
They were asked to complete a questionnaire featuring 10 questions in the form of statements
about the efficiency of digital tools (DT). The results are shown in percentage in Table 1.
The other groups consisted of students who are much younger than the learners (in this context it
becomes even more interesting how the respondents answer the questions posed as their age and
world perception vary in a great way, correspondingly).
Table 1
Questionnaire 1
No. Thesis Learners Students
1 Usage of MMS+DT saves students’ time 100% 97%
2 It is convenient under online or blended learning to watch, listen to, 100% 100%
or see the answers to the material under study
3 MMS+DT enhances the demonstrativeness of the material under 100% 100%
study
4 Built-in games, flashcards, and a dictionary provide for efficient 98% 95,5%
learning
5 MMS+DT improves learner’s digital literacy 80% 97%
6 MMS+DT creates a space for honing skills 76% 70%
7 Usage of MMS+DT is relevant under online or blended learning 100% 100%
8 Interactive exercises trigger students’ interest in learning 84% 95,5%
9 Students’ level of knowledge has increased thanks to usage of 88% 82,5%
MMS+DT
10 It is possible to continue learning without MMS+DT 36% 70%
The second table represents results of the second questionnaire that was focused on “before/after”
allocation of results. Thus, in all cases the younger groups showed a moderate increase whilst the
older group said that their results improved sufficiently. We do believe it can be accounted for by the
age gap in-between two focus groups and the initial level of multimedia proficiency. Nonetheless,
they both agreed that usage of MMS and DT enhanced their language proficiency in the aspect of
grammar and active vocabulary, too.
Table 2
Questionnaire 2
No. Thesis Learners Students
(0-10) (0-10)
average average
1 How do you rate your knowledge of grammar before using 5,8 6,3
MMS+DT?
2 How do you rate your knowledge of grammar after using MMS+DT? 8,4 7,2
3 How do you rate your knowledge of active vocabulary before using 2,6 5,1
MMS+DT?
4 How do you rate your knowledge of active vocabulary after using 6,3 7,5
MMS+DT?
5 How would you rate your DT skills before the start of the course? 1,4 4,6
6 How would you rate your DT skills after completing the course? 5,2 9,1
6. Discussion
Both learners and students answered almost unanimously that MMS and DT save their time,
provide for convenient immediate access to all learning materials and amplify the demonstrativeness.
They also agree that it is more than relevant to use these tools under pandemic or in blended learning.
Interestingly, the older groups argued that their digital literacy didn’t grow that much in comparison
to the younger, student group of respondents whose position on the possibility to continue learning
without MMS and DT is stronger (70%) whilst the older participants disagree (36%).
The majority of those who answered (the options were “yes/no”) said that the authors’ hypothesis
about high efficacy of MMS and DT as instruments that trigger students’ interest is right and all of the
points presented in sections above have a strong empirical support as the least majority comprised
70% reaching much further than trivial 50%-barrier.
Survey results. Questionnaire1
100 100100 100100 100100
97 98 97
100 95,5 95,5
88
90 84 82,5
80
80 76
70 70
70
60
Learners
50
Students
40 36
30
20
10
0
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10
Figure 16: Survey results, Questionnaire 1
The demonstrativeness of DT provided for a high level of active vocabulary knowledge rate
amongst the learners (6.3 points out of 10). This can be explained by the thesis that DT enable a
bigger visual comprehension of abstract things that can be found everywhere right now, but could be
just impossible two decades ago. This interactive nature of multimedia is the thing the younger
generation of students has already encountered, yet the older generation has not. Hence, comes this
reliability of visual information as a core input for vocabulary learning. Another thing that both
learners and students have in common is their rate of DT skills comprising 5.2 points for learners and
9.4 for students respectively. Compare this with the initial rate of 1.4 for the former and 4.6 for the
latter. We can observe an increase of approximately 5 points in each situation that helps understand
that DT skills boosting is also another important point that can be used in other spheres of learning
beyond language analysis only. Interestingly, the media literacy amongst students rendered by DT
skills index has sufficiently increased in comparison to results before pandemic (c.f. 1] reaching 9.1.
points in the present study.
Survey results. Questionnaire 2
10
9 9,1
8,4
8
7,5
7 7,2
6
6,3 6,3
5,8
5,1 5,2 Learners
5
4,6 Students
4
3
2,6
2
1,4
1
0
Q1. Q2. Q3. Q4. Q5. Q6.
Grammar Grammar Vocabulary Vocabulary DTskills DTskills
before after before after before after
Figure 17: Survey results, Questionnaire 2
7. Conclusions
Language acquisition requires communicative competence of the target language. In the case of
foreign language learning in the absence of native-speaking environment it is of paramount
importance to create similar surroundings that would mirror the “natural way” of a language
acquisition. It is called communication simulation that has been around for some decades.
With the appearance of digital tools communication simulations were rapidly expanded to what we
term here as MMS. These are broader and more exciting then “artificial” simulation, since they
possess the whole world of resources and real-life itself to be used for either individual or class
learning.
With the introduction of MMS the traditional forms of foreign language learning have undergone
crucial changes and had to be adapted to and incorporated with the multimedia techniques. The term
coined for such combination is “blending”.
Blended teaching technologies called for restructuring the teacher-student relationship in favour of
student-centered approach. The role of the teacher as guide and instructor has acquired new forms of a
problem-setter prompter, facilitator, initial material provider, evaluator. The student enjoys substantial
freedom in surfing the Internet, search of the necessary reading & video materials, procession &
compression of the material, organizing in-class discussion and then evaluation by peers.
The same MMS are easily transferred into online learning under pandemic with video and oral
presentations delivered on their computer screen. Even more so MMS brings more fun and excitement
compared to purely traditional learning and gives the student the new freedom of being the master of
online class proceedings. These techniques have proved more efficient in teaching audition and
speaking compared to traditional ones.
The present-days mode of MMS embraces classroom activities with the use of a plasma screen, the
BYOD technologies, DT, and PEMT that provide for a sufficient increase of learners’ academic
performance and simplify educators’ role within the framework of quality philological education.
A monoschool (with “English Level” as a testing ground) as a new type of education institutions
has a right to exist for the method “Equilibris’ that has been introduced there has proved to be of real
efficacy when using PEMT under blended learning. This new experience shows that provided an
educator uses an integral multimedia toolkit comprising both teachers’ and students’ applications as a
part of a course/level/topic that is being studied, the academic performance of learners will increase.
The advantages of the methods used are explicated in two main strands: firstly, it is the students’
and learners’ success in studies that conditions the truthfulness of the stance taken; secondly, this
approach is very productive in both theoretical and practical spheres for “Equilibris”-and-monoschool
technology is the product of setting MMS and use of PEMT & BYOD as the key basis for new
teaching techniques evolution. This paper is pioneering in disclosing the theory of MMS resulting in a
real experiment when a great contribution to the both students’ and learners’ success was made with
the help of multimedia tools (PEMT and BYOD) backed by “Equilibris” EFL / ESL teaching method.
Deriving from this, the research has a number of prospects amongst which it is crucial to set down the
following future tasks: 1. comparing students’ and learners’ results in terms of “before pandemic /
after pandemic” ratio; 2. presenting a solely-dedicated research of “Equilibris” EFL / ESL teaching
method and a monoschool as a new example of educational space organization; studying the use of
national multimedia technologies.
8. Acknowledgements
The authors greatly appreciate the possibility provided by Pearson Ltd. to use the company’s both
printed and digital tools when conducting the experiment. We express our sincere gratitude to Aliona
Zarakhovich, Higher Education and Business Development Specialist for Ukraine, Pearson, and
Agnieszka Krajewska, Goethe-Institute, whose consultations were of much help when writing this
paper.
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