Using breakout rooms in online language teaching: Advantages and disadvantages

Abstract

Under the conditions of the pandemic, language teachers face a variety of challenges on effective ways of teaching. Current literature has purported the effectiveness of breakout rooms being an effective method of teaching language online. The purpose of this study was to identify whether online teaching tools help students to study language and keep them being motivated, or not. To study the impact of breakout rooms application, the following participants were chosen: 3 groups of second-year IT students whose level of English is considered as Pre-Intermediate; the total number of students was 34. The study conducted classes in 2 experimental groups using the breakout rooms option, and in 1 controlling group where breakout rooms were not used. Data was collected using semi-structured interviews. The findings of this study show that students’ opinion concerning breakout rooms application was rather positive; thus, they focus on the opportunities for brainstorming in breakout rooms. Keywords: breakout rooms; business English; online learning; students’ motivation