FOSTERING EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES COURSE IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Authors

  • Andreas Ahrens Hochschule Wismar University of Applied Sciences Technology Business and Design
  • Jelena Zascerinska Centre for Education and Innovation Research http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4664-8593
  • Anastasija Aleksejeva Centre for Education and Innovation Research

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.17770/eid2021.1.5412

Keywords:

COVID-19 pandemic, English for Academic Purposes Course, External Perspective, Internal Perspective, International Students, Master Degree, Sustainability

Abstract

The paper aims to explore sustainability from both the external and internal perspectives underpinning the implementation of the empirical study within an English for Academic Purposes course at a Master level in the COVID-19 pandemic. The research is based on the methodology of the development of the system of the external and internal perspectives. The exploratory type of the case study was employed. The interpretive paradigm was used in the research. The observation was conducted on the 23rd August 2020. The sample was composed of the 10 international students of the Master programme “Information and Electrical Engineering” at Hochschule Wismar, Germany. The theoretical research defines the external and internal sustainability. The empirical finding is that the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced the organizational aspect of the English for Academic Purposes course (timetable, classroom arrangements, group work organization). Another finding is that the implemented English for Academic Purposes course is partially sustainable and requires its dynamic equilibrium and localized robustness to be adjusted. Implications for higher education aimed at increasing both the external and internal sustainability in education imply the implementation of the combination of evaluation, namely external evaluation, mutual evaluation, and self-evaluation, jointly carried out by all the process participants.

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Author Biographies

  • Andreas Ahrens, Hochschule Wismar University of Applied Sciences Technology Business and Design
    Andreas Ahrens received the Dipl.-Ing. degree in electrical engineering from the University of Rostock in 1996. From 1996 to 2008, he was with the Institute of Communications Engineering of the University of Rostock, from which he received the Dr.-Ing. and Dr.-Ing. habil. degree in 2000 and 2003, respectively. In 2008, he became a Professor for Signal and System theory at the Hochschule Wismar, University of Technology, Business and Design, Germany. His main fields of interest are error correcting codes, multiple-input multiple-output systems and iterative detection for both wireline and wireless communication.
  • Jelena Zascerinska, Centre for Education and Innovation Research
    Jeļena Zaščerinska was awarded Dr. Degree from University of Latvia, Latvia, in 2011. In 2012 she became a leading researcher at Centre for Education and Innovation Research, Latvia. She received a number of research grants. In 2012-2019 she obtained expert rights from Latvian Council of Science, Riga, Latvia. In 2017 she was bestowed expert rights by National Science Centre, Krakow, Poland. Her scientific publications (about 180) indexed by such publication databases as Thomson Reuters Conference Proceedings Citations Index, DBLP, Library of Congress, etc. Since 2013 she has been actively acting as Editorial Board Member and Reviewer in international scientific journals.
  • Anastasija Aleksejeva, Centre for Education and Innovation Research
    Anastasija Aleksejeva acts as a CEIR scientific assistant. Her scientific focus is on quality management in the educational field. She delivers courses on practical use of multimedia in Latvian, Russian and English to adults and youth. She actively participates in national and international projects. She has received an extensive experience in managing international projects within Erasmus+, TEMPUS, DAAD and other programmes. Her major research results reflected in numerous publication.

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Published

26.05.2021

How to Cite

Ahrens, A., Zascerinska, J., & Aleksejeva, A. (2021). FOSTERING EXTERNAL AND INTERNAL SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES COURSE IN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC. Education. Innovation. Diversity., 1(2), 6-15. https://doi.org/10.17770/eid2021.1.5412