Features of online teaching English to Chinese students in Russian Universities

UDC 37-042.4:004+811.111`24
DOI 10.20339/AM.05-24.060

Natalia G. Sivtseva,
PhD (Philology), Docent,
Associate Professor, Department of Foreign Languages no. 2,
School of Linguistics and Intercultural Communication,
Irkutsk National Research Technical University,
e-mail: s_nataly77@mail.ru,
Elibrary (ID 684922), ResearchGate (P-1856-2017),
Scopus.com (id=57208150625),
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0345-6682

The high level of the English language proficiency is becoming increasingly significant among Chinese citizens who want to receive a quality education outside their country, including at Russian universities. This article presents the case of online teaching English to Chinese students at Baikal School of BRICS, Irkutsk National Research Technical University. Chinese students studying English in Russia have to overcome differences associated with the cultures and languages of three countries at once. This experience is considered to be valuable since the educational activity takes place in the multicultural environment where there are representatives of various nationalities at the lesson. The study is to explore the possibilities of efficient distant teaching English to Chinese students in the light of their cross-cultural peculiarities. With this object in mind, the author identified the main cultural differences that affect the quality of Chinese students’ acquisition of the English language, determined the primary difficulties in mastering English while analyzing the students’ survey, and suggested possible ways to overcome them. The students noted that they had both linguistic and extralinguistic difficulties. Among the advantages of distant multicultural interaction, they mentioned the following ones: the ability to overcome language and cultural barriers, the use of modern content and training simulators. Speaking about the recommendations for overcoming these difficulties, it is necessary to emphasize the need for a teacher to take into account Chinese students’ cultural characteristics when preparing for a lesson (their fear of “losing the face,” tendency to memorize, the unquestioned authority of the teacher, low interest in creative tasks).

Keywords: English language teaching, distant learning and teaching, teaching foreign students, multicultural learning environment, Chinese culture, cultural differences, quality of education, educational technologies

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