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Оценка влияния дистанционного обучения на успешность изучения иностранного языка в неязыковом вузе
The article focuses onassessing the effectiveness of foreign language teaching in online learning environment compared to traditional face-to-face educational environment. The literature review shows the main directions of modern online teaching in relation to the use of distance education technologies. Among the popular technologies are online courses on digital platforms, a hybrid format of learning and electronic textbooks. The study was conducted in 2018-2019 and 2019-2020 academic years at National Research University Higher School of Economics in Perm. The results were based upon empirical data obtained through pre-tests, mid-term tests and post tests of the first-year students of Economics at the age of 18-20 (n=79) who enrolled for an EGAP course. The students of the 2018-2019 academic year formed a control group (n=37). The students of the 2019-2020 academic year formed an experimental group (n=42). In the 2018–2019 academic year the foreign language course was conducted in the traditional format, including contact work (144 hours) and independent work (160 hours). 20% of independent work was organized by using LMS. In the 2019-2020academic year, the first semester was organized in the traditional format, including contact work (60 hours) and independent work (67 hours). Starting from the second semester, the students studied onlinewith contact work (84 hours) and independent work (93 hours).Teaching methods and teaching materials in the second semester of the 2019-2020academic yearwere tailored to the peculiarities of the computer-mediated learning and needs of students in such an environment. The study aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of distant teaching the English language with the focus on listening and reading skills. The statistical analysis revealed that the experimental group showed no advantage over the control group. Provided that teaching methods and materials were tailored to the computer-mediated communication between teachers and their students, the learning outcomes of the two educational formats were identical. The study suggests that foreign language listening and reading skills can be effectively developed in both traditional and online foreign language teaching. The results of the research can help to determine the ratio between traditional and online learning in the future.