ESP Online Learning in the Post-COVID19 Pandemic Era: A Step towards Autonomy, Intercultural Competence and Critical Thinking

Abstract

The closure of educational institutions across the globe due to the COVID-19 sanitary crisis has highlighted technology as the only tool to continue the teaching-learning activity. However, continuity should not be regarded as the sole objective of remote education. While initially conceived a measure to cope with the unprecedented disruptions, remote education revealed significant potential beyond education continuity and mere knowledge transmission. Throughout this paper, it is argued that technology-mediated education cannot be only used to continue curriculum delivery and transmit subject-knowledge, but also to develop students’ skills: autonomous learning, critical thinking, and intercultural communicative competence. The central argument is that ICTs, which have added another facet to language teaching/learning process, bring to the fore the necessity to link language mastery to autonomy, intercultural competence, and critical thinking. To this end, this study proposes an approach to ESP education based on the socio-constructivist learning theories. The principles of the proposed approach make it possible to reciprocally develop professional and life skills which are of high importance for future engineers. By aligning the socio-constructivist principles with the potentialities of ICT, this paper presents a research-informed perspective on enhancing ESP education in the digital age by making a shift in the perception of remote education from a temporary necessity to a valuable and permanent component of modern education; essential for fostering skill development and preparing Algerian engineering students for the challenges of the 21st century.