A Study on the Educational Efficacy of a Maritime English Learning and Testing Platform

Abstract

According to international regulations, it is mandatory for navigators or engineers to acquire suitable skillsets before their designation as a duty officer on board. One of the most important elements is Maritime English (ME), wherein students are taught a required set of basic skills that enable them to process various documents related to accidents, ship conditions, and inspections. Students have to be equipped not only with the use of general English skills but also with the coherent use of technical terms and phrases. However, due to the unique circumstances that exist in the maritime domain, the methods used for imparting maritime knowledge and the manner in which it is evaluated are restricted. Hence, this study aims to utilize an online Maritime English learning and testing platform that can be accessed on smart devices to analyze its impact on the students’ learning process. An experiment was conducted on two groups of cadets, one that used the platform and another group that did not. After six-week, the experiment results showed a significant difference between the ME test scores of the two groups. The test scores were further analyzed by incorporating the students’ personal elements to measure the efficacy of the ME test platform. Therefore, the learning and evaluation processes are expected to be implemented in ways that are appropriate and convenient to specific circumstances and be widely used in the field of maritime education in the future.