The Digital Testing of Undergraduate Students’ Awareness of Business English Vocabulary

Nowadays, digital educational platforms do not only provide a variety of online assignments to boost students’ productivity, but also test and analyze the results received after completing the assignments. The research aimed to test undergraduate students’ awareness of Business English vocabulary terms via the digital educational platform Online Test Pad. In the testing from September till December 2019, there were involved 47 first-year undergraduate students majoring in Economics, Management, and Business Informatics (Saint Petersburg, Russia). The digital testing was performed via Online Test Pad; its customizable electronic tools included testing learning outcomes (one entry vocabulary test and one exit vocabulary test) and making surveys (one questionnaire). The results of the digital testing demonstrated an increase in the students’ awareness of Business English vocabulary terms and progress in learning them, which explained understanding the content of the Business English topics to study. The digital testing was compared to the paper-based testing of learning outcomes; its tools (four progress vocabulary tests and one end-of-term vocabulary test, Microsoft Excel charts and tables) revealed a rise in the awareness of Business English vocabulary terms. The digital testing enabled test instructors to identify the easiest and most difficult questions in the entry and exit vocabulary tests, as well as visualize the students’ answers to the questions. As a result, the digital testing proved to be more effective than the paper-based testing due to capabilities of the customizable electronic tools to test learning outcomes and make surveys.

I. Introduction

Digital education has been extensively implemented in different types of educational establishments in order to continuously satisfy societal demand for providing the quality training of specialists [1] . The sphere of economics and management demands specialists able to discharge responsibilities across the globe so being proficient in Business English is a must in the business world. The successful business collaboration across countries and cultures contributes to the growth of businesses [2] . The quality training involves studying Business English topics and acquiring Business English vocabulary skills, which should be improved during in-class and out-of-class hours. This improvement is possible due to digital-based services that help students meet their learning goals in grasping the studied content when they practice using Business English vocabulary terms on their own.