Online Simulations in Academic Writing Class

Abstract

The article deals with the application of online interinstitutional simulation in the English language teaching at tertiary level. The purpose of the research was to investigate the adaptability of the Project IDEELS (Intercultural Dynamics in European Education through onLine Simulation) simulation in the academic writing course at the Faculty of Modern Languages, the University of Latvia. The research consisted of two phases. The first phase included the investigation of the source materials of the Project IDEELS. The aim was to focus on the features of the project that would enable to work out the institutional strategy for the integration of the simulation activities. The second phase was piloting of the students participation in the simulation in order to test the validity of the strategy. The simulation session demonstrated that the strategy ensured the integration of the simulation into academic writing course and enrichied the course by providing the students with the opportunity to approach the learning tasks from various angles as well as experiment with innovative mode of learning.