Innovations of Teaching and Testing English to Students of other Majors Online During COVID-19 Pandemic at Mila University Centre, Algeria

Abstract

This chapter reviews the challenges and innovations adopted in distance education after the pandemic in Algerian universities. The pandemic has created a turning point around the globe in the means and methods of education due to confinement. Hence, the shift to distance education has guaranteed the continuity of online learning. Most third-world countries were unprepared for this wholly new situation as they are still struggling to obtain the bare minimum in ordinary classes, let alone distance learning and its requirements. The chapter explores the methodologies involved in the teaching and testing of English for academic purpose (EAP) and English for specific purposes (ESP) to students of other majors at Mila University Centre, Algeria in pre-corona and post-corona periods. First, it describes generally the steps followed by EAP and ESP teachers and their adaptations of the genre-specific approaches and deep-end methodology before the pandemic. Second, after the pandemic, teaching methods shifted in online education to encompass vulgarized scientific and academic texts to enrich vocabulary stock. Even the criterion of testing has become subjective specifically after using simpler and more efficient tasks with clear learning objectives, in addition to utilizing a barcode scanning system to correct exam papers automatically and unveil students’ challenges in distance education. Therefore, the testing of EAP and ESP online helped teachers overcome the challenges of distance education.