INTERNET OF THINGS: A TECHNICAL GUIDE FOR ENGLISH (ESP) TEACHERS

Abstract

The Internet of Things connects millions of objects from our everyday life (people, street lighting, parking service, street signaling, hospital equipment, household appliances, production lines, agricultural machinery, etc.), which are equipped with sensors, processors and devices for communication, all with the aim of exchanging important data via the Internet and reacting in the most optimal way when needed. The technology behind this vision is called the Internet of Things, and is here to make hardware "smarter" and change all spheres of our lives. Objects connected into IoT are given a voice, and become part of the user experience, which is shaped by the interaction between people, places and objects, between products, nature and life, and naturally lead to step further, beyond IoT, towards the Internet of Experiences and Artificial Intelligence. In this paper, I will try to investigate their mutual influence. Since the Internet of Things is constantly developing and is increasingly present in the world we live in, gathering information from this area is of great importance. IoT is studied as part of IT study programs, and thus inevitably as part of foreign language courses, which follow the curriculum according to its plan and program. It is not easy for professional English teachers, or English for Specific Purposes (ESP) practitioners, to keep up with modern technologies and introduce continuous innovations into their educational process, especially because they do not possess enough professional knowledge in such and similar areas to adequately present it to their students, who, on their part, have high expectations regarding the digital and technical literacy of their lecturers. For this reason, the main goal of this paper is for the language staff to become more familiar with the topic, better prepare themselves for the encounter with students, and acquire the basics of the Internet of Things, so that they can analyze, discuss and exhaust this theme as successfully as possible in English language classes. Therefore, this paper can be seen as a guide for beginners in an interesting field of IoT about which students want to learn as much as possible. Research shows that IoT systems are successfully used in English language teaching, as technical support, i.e. teaching aids, so in this sense, their wider application in the teaching process should be taken into account, especially when it comes to students of IT technologies, who expect that learning takes place in this kind of a working environment.