The linguodidactic strategies of teaching Polish as a second foreign language online for higher education

Abstract

The article highlights the peculiarities of teaching Polish as a second foreign language in online learning environments, outlines the specifics of implementation, advantages, and drawbacks of synchronous and asynchronous learning methods. The authors investigate the methods and the forms of teaching Polish and devote particular attention to the issues of teaching practice as well as some aspects of implementation and mastering of various language skills: reading, speaking, listening, and writing. They also present the results of the survey on the teaching methods, forms, and assessment of students’ performance in the Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics that learn Polish as a second language and offer their evaluation. According to the survey, the majority of respondents gave positive feedback on the online course of the Polish language, considering it to be effective and useful. However, they would like to combine online and traditional learning methods in the future and enjoy the benefits of both. The scientific research offers ways to solve the difficulties of mastering the Polish language online, taking into account the students’ perspective and the teachers’ professional experience. The basic principles are suggested for developing and implementing a modern comprehensive foreign language course that calls for a combination of innovative technological and traditional language didactic methods. The advantages and disadvantages of different types of educational activities, information, and technical means are discussed. The comparative analysis of the most popular web platforms and online resources used in the process of structuring a distant course of the Polish language is carried out. The emphasis is placed on the peculiarities of building up communicative, lexical, grammatical, and phonetic expertise of students mastering the Polish language online. The examples of exercises and techniques contributing to the improvement of such linguistic skills are given. The methodological recommendations are suggested including the outline of the linguodidactic ability of the available teaching methods and information sources, based on the extensive experience of the authors in teaching Polish online.