English: online or offline?
Digital technologies are developing at an incredible speed. More and more processes are moving online, including education. It is much easier and more convenient for a person living in an era of multitasking, lack of time, and now a pandemic to get additional knowledge from a laptop or smartphone monitor, and not in the usual school class. How effective is it? Is it worth it to completely abandon the classic face-to-face classes?
English: online or offline?
The main criterion is efficiency
When a person takes up the study of a foreign language, he always has a clear goal: to prepare for admission to a foreign university, to pass an interview in an international company, to travel without a dictionary, or to change his place of residence. The more he strives to implement his plans, the more diligently and systematically he works, the more obvious the learning outcomes will be, regardless of the format of the lessons, the program, and the teacher.
Only a few motivated people manage to learn English on their own, without the help of repeaters and special online services. Therefore, the choice of the format of educational activity is rather a matter of personal preferences and capabilities of the student. This factor has only an indirect impact on the effectiveness of the process of learning a foreign language.
Time
Offline learning requires a certain amount of time. Online learning is much more flexible. You don’t need to go anywhere. It is enough to turn on the laptop or open the Promova app on your smartphone, and you are already in class. At the same time, lessons can take place at any time convenient for you: before the start of the working day, at lunchtime, late in the evening, when you have already finished all your work.
Money saving
Considering the financial aspect of the issue, we often compare only the cost of classes. Meanwhile, training in the format of classical lessons involves a lot of additional costs. By studying online, you get round-the-clock access to the educational platform. All required materials are provided free of charge, and you do not need to purchase or print them to complete the assignments.
The speed of communication with the teacher
When learning English on a special online platform, you get almost round-the-clock support from English tutors. You can at any time ask a question that interests you, clarify incomprehensible information, or send a completed assignment for verification – and the teacher will respond to your message within a few minutes or hours. Such support significantly speeds up the learning process because you get the necessary knowledge on the first request without wasting time.
Motivation
Motivation is not only your internal goals and objectives. These are also external factors that make you move forward. The communicative method of teaching English is considered the most effective in the modern educational space.
In online classes, only the teacher and/or yourself can motivate you. Therefore, the teacher must constantly support your interest in learning the language. You can join a conversation club or find foreign interlocutors on social networks to motivate yourself to learn English.
Speech understanding
To learn to perceive English speech by ear, you need to communicate with a large number of different people. Each person has his own manner and speed of pronunciation, timbre, and volume of voice. By becoming accustomed to a particular accent, such as that of a teacher, the student may need more time to be ready to accept someone else’s speech.
Both online learning and offline English schools easily solve this problem: each student can communicate either with other students in the group or participate in special speaking clubs. This allows him to get used to the many accents and pronunciations.
When communicating in English with only one person, there is a risk that when another interlocutor is in front of you, you will not be able to feel as confident and easy as in ordinary lessons. This is the language barrier!
To get rid of such fears, study English in groups or supplement distance lessons with communication with native speakers and the same students.
But if your language barrier is too strong, start your classes online. It is much easier to communicate with a person on the other side of the screen than with a real interlocutor who is ready to notice your slightest mistakes.
