Today, the high demanding global market has urged Higher Education Institutions (HEI) worldwide to start thinking of bridging the gap between education and the job market needs. In this regard, one of the main objectives of ESP teaching and learning is to prepare learners to perform communicative tasks thrivingly in their future workplaces. Nevertheless, having a high language proficiency level is not sufficient to meet the demands of current local and global markets, other skills and competencies are needed to secure a successful career development. Relatedly, the revolutionary emergence of Virtual Reality (VR) platforms and their growing integration in professional contexts, unleashed creative ways of fostering students’ employability skills for a future workplace characterized by an increasing human-AI collaboration. In the same vein, to investigate the synergy between AI and employability skills development in ESP contexts, the study has followed mixed SWOT analysis approach (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats), using a systematic review of literature of thirty peer-reviewed articles selected from international scientific databases namely Springer, Emerald Insight, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar, and a close-ended survey questionnaire sent to 40 Moroccan ESP teachers. Subsequently, the current study revealed the potential benefits of the use of Virtual Reality (VR) for employability skills development in ESP contexts, but it has also highlighted a number of threats that can hinder its effectiveness. Eventually, a set of strategies and recommendations were suggested to support AI integration in vocational education.

Authors:
Souad Belabcir, University of Moulay Ismail, Morocco

About the Presenter(s)
Mrs. Souad Belabcir is currently a Ph.D. student at the faculty of Arts and Humanities ,Meknes, Morocco ,and she is also a part time teacher at the same institution.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/souad-belabcir-23a715313/

See this presentation on the full schedule – Wednesday Schedule

Bookmark