(586)WAYS OF ENRICHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSES AT THE UNIVERSITY: DIGITAL BADGES AND MOBILE LEARNING

摘要

The aim of the paper is to present the specific experience with the use of e-learning and mobilelearning, representing a desirable enrichment of English language courses taught at one of thetechnical faculties of the particular university in the Czech educational context, namely the TransportFaculty of the University of Pardubice. The conceptual framework of this paper is formed by the ideaof the so called micro-credentials, which might be considered one of the potential scenarios ofcertifying skills and knowledge in the education of the future. Therefore, in the area of e-learning,special attention is given to the analysis of the potential of digital badges applied within the e-learningcourses of English for specific purposes in LMS Moodle. The issues of mobile learning with regard tothe concept of micro-credentials are addressed via the analysis of the impact of the language learningapp Duolingo which is being used primarily in order to develop the students' command of generalEnglish language. The analysis is based on the data collected by means of a structured questionnaireboth in the groups of full-time as well as part-time students, including various levels of Englishlanguage competence, i.e. covering the groups of beginners (up to the level A2 of Common EuropeanFramework for Foreign Languages), the intermediate groups (comprising the levels of B1 and B1+)and the upper-intermediate groups (the B2 level).