Abstract
The article presents an empirical analysis of technologies used in informal language education. The availability of online technologies in education increases the opportunities for learning English. However, despite existing studies on using digital technologies, limited research has been conducted on how students of nonlinguistic specialties evaluate the provision of foreign language practice through informal online learning. The present study argues that informal online learning deserves more careful study, and is empirical research that reveals the use of online technologies for learning English by students of non-linguistic specialties, as well as their preferences regarding the variety of online technologies and their capabilities. The opinions of participants in the empirical research regarding the perceived value of online technologies for informal English language learning are analyzed and compared with their opinions regarding the use of online technologies in formal learning settings. The results of the empirical research demonstrate that students give a clear preference to, let us say, online learning tools in informal learning settings tested with time. These are films, YouTube videos, online dictionaries and thesauri, email. The results of our research also present students’ divergent views on using online technologies in the framework of informal learning.