Cognitive Assets and Setbacks of a Recorded Online English Language Conversation Course Offered to Non-Native Speakers at The World Islamic Sciences and Education University (WISE)

Abstract

The thought of preparing and delivering a recorded online English language conversation course consisting of fifteen lectures that are to be offered as an elective course to overseas students of the B.A. level in Arabic language and literature at the World Islamic Sciences and Education University (WISE) at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan seemed initially daunting. That is because the target students of this newly suggested program are not specializing in English and, therefore, may find this course extremely difficult to adequately benefit from in light of their varied proficiency levels. The nature of any conversation course obliges live interaction to achieve most, if not all, of its objectives. To explain, any conversation course, regardless of the target language and students, necessarily requires actual live interaction among the participants in that course in order to achieve satisfactory comprehension, fruitful communication, and adequate peer learning. In other words, the challenge behind the preparation and implementation of this conversation course lay in the entailed fundamental requirement of it being a recorded online one due to the target overseas students.