THE EFFECTIVENESS OF TEACHING ESP (ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES) ONLINE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show how we managed to make a rapid switch from the on-site classes to the online ones because of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of teaching English for Specific Purposes (ESP – Medical English) at the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy Iasi, Romania. The major issues were to keep our students’ interest in our classes, making our courses and seminars as engaging as possible. The most important ideas that guided us throughout the process were not to forget that, while dealing with a foreign language course, we would have to try to improve the traditional skills (reading, speaking, writing and listening), while trying to find the best fitted activities to carry out such activities in the online medium.