When Business English Went Virtual

Abstract

English for Specific Purposes, differently from other academic subjects, has always been compatible with the affordances of technology. The specialised literature has acknowledged well-established branches of language education, such as Computer-Assisted Language Learning (CALL), or Mobile-Assisted Language Learning (MALL), long before the online teaching has been forced upon the systems of education throughout the world following the pandemic. The compatibility between foreign language teaching and computers is not surprising since the former has always searched for authentic immersive experiences that can simulate real-life situations, of which the latter has plenty. The present article concentrates on a particular type of English for Specific Purposes—Business English, which is currently taught at the University of Bucharest to students enrolled in Economics degrees. Beginning with the second semester of the academic year 2019-2020, all classes have been moved online due to the threat posed by the Corona virus. The seminar rooms and lecture rooms have been basically overnight replaced by a multitude of platforms and meeting spaces unknown before to a great many: Zoom, Google Classroom, Moodle, Microsoft teams, to mention just a few. Google Classroom, part of Google Apps for Education, has been one of the most frequently chosen platforms due to its friendly interface and the possibility of holding both a-synchronous and synchronous classes (following the integration of Google Meet). The article discusses the way Google Classroom has been used by language instructors for both the teaching and the final assessment of students’ progress.