Communicative strategies of English within the framework of the learning discourse

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Poltava State Agrarian University (Poltava, Ukraine)

Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Communicative strategies of English within the framework of the learning discourse

Viktoriia Liulka

Candidate of Philological Sciences

Associate Professor at the

Alla Dedukhno

Candidate of Philological Sciences

Associate Professor

Abstract

The article is devoted to the strategies of teaching a foreign language for the implementation of professional activities. A classification of teaching strategies is given, taking into account the principles of the competence-modular organization of the educational process. Language skills involve the accumulation of special terminology in the specialty; active development of grammatical structures characteristic of business style. Communication skills are the ability to process and interpret information; own speech etiquette, conduct correspondence in English; use regional and cultural background knowledge. Integrative skills consist in the ability to independently find various sources of information in a foreign language; process, interpret information; to sell the product using communication and information technologies; communicate effectively with the consumer, colleagues, representatives of higher organizations.

In order for foreign language teaching to become effective, it is first necessary to take into account the natural mechanisms of learning the native language in combination with the features that appear when mastering a second or more languages.

This scientific article discusses the effectiveness of communicative methods used in the study of the English language. It was found that the communicative technique has many advantages: it helps to quickly learn a foreign language for communication and actively use speech material, develops not only language and grammatical skills, but also expands knowledge about the culture, traditions, customs of the country, and also makes it possible to conduct a comparative parallel between foreign and native languages.

It is concluded that communication is necessary in the learning process, since it serves to ensure that communication takes place in adequate conditions, such as taking into account the individuality of each student, the speech orientation of the learning process, the functionality of learning, the situational nature of communication, the constant novelty of the learning process.

Key words: communicative strategies, language, teaching methods, communicative approach, foreign language professional activity.

Вікторія Люлька, кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, доцент кафедри гуманітарних і соціальних дисциплін Полтавського державного аграрного університету (Полтава, Україна)

Алла Дедухно,кандидат філологічних наук, доцент, доцент кафедри гуманітарних і соціальних дисциплін Полтавського державного аграрного університету (Полтава, Україна)

Комунікативні стратегії англійської мови в рамках навчального дискурсу

Анотація

learning strategy professional education

Стаття присвячена стратегіям навчання іноземної мови для провадження професійної діяльності. Дається класифікація навчальних стратегій з урахуванням принципів компетентнісно-модульної організації навчального процесу. Мовні вміння передбачають накопичення спеціальної термінології за фахом; активне освоєння граматичних конструкцій, що характерні для ділового стилю. Комунікативні вміння - це вміння обробляти та інтерпретувати інформацію; володіти мовним етикетом, вести листування англійською; використовувати країнознавчі та культурні фонові знання. Інтегративні вміння полягають у здібностях самостійно знаходити різні джерела інформації іноземною мовою; обробляти, інтерпретувати інформацію; реалізовувати продукт із використанням комунікаційних та інформаційних технологій; ефективно спілкуватися зі споживачем, колегами, представниками вищих організацій.

Для того, щоб навчання іноземної мови стало ефективним, необхідно спочатку враховувати природні механізми навчання рідної мови у поєднанні з особливостями, які виникають при освоєнні другої і більше мов.

У науковій статті розглядається ефективність комунікативних методик, що застосовуються у вивченні англійської мови. Було виявлено, що комунікативна методика має безліч переваг: допомагає швидко засвоїти іноземну мову для спілкування та активно використовувати мовленнєвий матеріал, розвиває не тільки навички володіння мовою та граматичним матеріалом, а й розширює знання про культуру, традиції, звичаї країни, а також дозволяє провести порівняльну паралель між іноземною та рідною мовами.

Зроблено висновок, що комунікативність необхідна у процесі навчання, оскільки служить для того, щоб спілкування відбувалося в адекватних умовах, таких як урахування індивідуальності кожного студента, мовленнєвої спрямованості процесу навчання, функціональності навчання, ситуативності спілкування, постійної новизни процесу навчання.

Ключові слова: комунікативні стратегії, мова, методи навчання, комунікативний підхід, іншомовна професійна діяльність.

Introduction

The intensive development of international cooperation focuses on the targeted training of highly qualified specialists who speak a foreign language as a means of communication, knowledge of linguistic culture and an instrument of intercultural communication. Currently, the system of linguistic education in higher education institutions is determined by social and economic factors that make up the context of the content of education. Learning and teaching a foreign language involves a multifaceted training of specialists for intercultural communication, requires them to know the norms and values, communicative and behavioral qualities of everyday and professional spheres of communication inherent in representatives of a different linguo- cultural community.

In the second half of the 20th century, in parallel with a variety of approaches, theories and teaching technologies, a new subject area began to form in the methodology of teaching a foreign language. The focus is on language teaching strategies aimed at improving the quality of education, at finding more effective ways and means of developing foreign language communication. They become the subject of a lively discussion, based on different criteria for their selection.

The aim of the article is to identify and substantiate the factors of significance in the formation of communicative strategies for learning English in higher educational institutions.

Research analysis

Theconceptsofcommunication and learning strategies have become the object of research by many scientists: E. Tarone, K. Faerch, J. Kasper, R. Ellis, L. Selinker, A. Wenden, J. Rubin, J. Richards, A. Chamot, R. Oxford, J.M. O'Malley, W. Ya-Ling, L. Schachter and others.

It is necessary to give some definitions of the term foreign language learning strategy. In the work of A. Wenden and J. Rubin, a strategy is understood as any set of actions, steps, plans, routines used by a student to obtain, store, access and use information (Wenden & Rubin, 1987); J. Richards, J. Platt and Н. Platt interpret the learning strategy as purposeful thinking and behavior in order to memorize and understand new information in the learning process (Richards, Platt & Platt, 1992: 209); Ya-Ling W. talks about strategy as an attempt to develop linguistic and sociolinguistic competence in oneself by means of the studied foreign language (Ya-Ling, 2008). It is especially important for us that J. Rubin distinguishes among language learning strategies such types as language learning strategies (directly teaching strategies) and language use strategies (communicative and social strategies).

Modern researchers propose to single out strategies taking into account the activity-based nature of learning:

activity strategies for teaching a foreign language involve the interaction of a teacher and a student, aimed at the comprehensive development of the student's personality in the process of mastering speech activity, namely, the development of communicative, cognitive, regulatory functions of the student's speech activity, improvement of the emotional-volitional and mental spheres of the personality;

personal-activity strategies are declared as a way of organizing an ordered interconnected activity of a teacher and a student, as well as students within a group in the process of speech activity;

interactive strategies aimed at increasing the efficiency and intensity of teaching a foreign language through continuous communication between participants in the educational process, including the use of computer and Internet technologies.

Results and discussion

Based on the available approaches to the description of strategies and the well-known principles of learning in the competence- modular organization of the educational process (parity, consciousness and responsibility of the student for learning outcomes, individualization of learning), we propose to single out the following strategies for teaching bachelors in English: linguistic, communicative, integrative creative strategies. It should be noted that in the process of teaching English at a university, all the teaching strategies we have identified are professionally oriented. The language strategies used in teaching English for the formation of language competence occupy a leading place in the process of achieving the main goal of teaching a foreign language - the ability to communicate in a foreign language.

It is indisputable that communication is possible only if there is a language competence, which is based on lexical and grammatical skills and abilities. Communicative strategies must be applied in the formation of foreign language communicative competence, that is, attention should be paid not only to the formal side of the grammatical skill, but also to the functional side: certain lexical and grammatical phenomena should be chosen and included in speech adequately to the set communicative tasks. Therefore, the use of language strategies for teaching English is unthinkable without the introduction of communicative strategies, they form a single whole. Integrative creative learning strategies are aimed at the formation of competencies necessary for the independent solution of the tasks (cognitive, practical, and creative), through critical rethinking of the information received and the accumulation of knowledge and skills. The use ofthese strategies allows students to acquire and apply universal cognitive actions in learning situations through creating an atmosphere of co-creation in communication, by including the student's emotional sphere, personal interest, self-evaluation and self-correction.

The main issues of modern applied linguistics, pedagogy, didactics include the effectiveness of the use of various methods of teaching a foreign language, among which are the methods of communicative, intensive, student-centered learning. These methods are expressed, first of all, in cognitive strategies that students use in the course of vigorous activity, thereby increasing their overall level of development, and in communication strategies that teachers use to increase the effectiveness of learning.

The communicative method refers to the traditional methods of teaching foreign languages. It is based on a communicative approach, which suggests that the learning process should be based on the content side - real communication. To do this, it is necessary to use genuine communicative tasks that are adequate to the goal.

The concept of “personally-oriented learning”, in our opinion, is based on such categories as personality, language personality and communicative personality. In this case, special attention is paid to the subject of speech activity, that is, the linguistic personality, and language as one of the main forms of human cognitive activity and a necessary tool for reflecting reality. The concept of “linguistic personality” is formed by the projection into the field of linguistics of the corresponding interdisciplinary term, in the meaning of which philosophical, sociological and psychological views are refracted on a socially significant set of physical and spiritual properties of a person that make up his qualitative certainty.

In other words, a “linguistic personality” is understood as a person as a native speaker, taken from the side of his ability to speech activity, that is, a complex of psychophysical properties of an individual that allows him to produce and perceive speech works. Also, the “linguistic personality” can be understood as the basic national-cultural prototype of a native speaker of a certain language, fixed mainly in the lexical system, compiled on the basis of worldview attitudes, value priorities and behavioral reactions reflected in the dictionary (Vorkachev, 2002).

It is known that the most common approach used in teaching a foreign language at a university is communicative. Practice has shown that this technique helps students to learn a spoken foreign language quickly and efficiently, and also comprehensively develops students. It should be noted that at first a comparative method of teaching foreign languages appeared, in which a foreign language was studied in comparison with the native one. In the 70s, a communicative method of teaching foreign languages appeared which is still considered one of the most effective ways of teaching a foreign language.

The communicative methodology puts forward the position that communication should be taught only through communication, i.e. communication is the main source of education, knowledge and development. Thus, we can conclude that the communicative method helps to quickly master a foreign language for communication, and also allows students not only to master the language and grammatical material, but the culture, traditions, customs of the country whose language they are learning.

The communicative method has another advantage: from the first lesson, communication in the group is carried out only in the language being studied. This method makes the lesson richer, as each student is constantly involved in the work and has more opportunities for practice. Students get rid of the stiffness that may appear when speaking in front of an audience. The teacher has the ability to control the speech of each student: correct in time, pay attention to their mistakes, and give recommendations. In addition to working in pairs, there are also role-playing games in the target language. They significantly increase the effectiveness of teaching a foreign language. The communicative approach involves conducting classes entirely in the target language, without using the native language as an intermediary. To learn a foreign language, you need to learn how to think in it, mentally translating words from your native language into the one being studied.

The communicative method includes gestures, facial expressions, which are a factor in memorizing new material. With the increase in the vocabulary of students, the volume of vocabulary used by the teacher in the lesson also increases. Thus, the foreign language is studied without cramming. The purpose of this approach is to teach students to qualitatively use the knowledge and skills that they currently possess through constant live communication, in which the student uses all the available vocabulary. The more independence a student shows, the more effectively the material is absorbed.

Therefore, the communicative method has many positive aspects that should be actively used when working with students. The teacher participates in the formation of the personality of the student through the relationship and development of all types of activities, namely speaking, listening, reading, writing, etc. Communication between the teacher and the student should take place in such a way that students gradually master the speech material.

Thus, the representative of the communicative method of teaching E.I. Passov believed that when applying the communicative method, training should be organized in such a way that, in terms of its main qualities and features, it would be similar to the process of communication (Passov, 1991).

The main feature of the communicative method, aimed at the development of oral communication, is that in it speech activity is considered in a social context, taking into account the topic of conversation, relations between communication partners, place and time of action, taking into account prior knowledge about your interlocutor, which helps to bring the learning process closer to real life.

Of great importance for the successful use of the communicative method is how well the teacher can prepare students for various forms of classes. In this regard, we refer to the following recommendations of L. Schiffler: 1. It is necessary to create an environment that will free students from the fear of public speaking; 2. Teachers should take part in the preparation of the lesson, in which they should identify themselves with the students; 3. The behavior of the teacher must be extremely correct and restrained in any situation, including conflict one; 4. Teachers should show the students that they appreciates and respects them not only in words, but also by giving individual tasks, entrusting them with the independent organization and conduct of various forms of communication; 5. They should organize the work in an interesting and varied way (Schiffler, 1992).

We believe that the use of these rules contributes to the improvement of relations between students and the teacher, since there are conditions for creating a creative environment and maintaining a lively interest; the time for speech practice increases, students express their own opinion more and more often, compared to other forms of education; great opportunities are created for expanding the horizons of students by getting to know the history, culture, traditions and staff of English-speaking countries.

A. Chamot (Chamot, 2005) attaches great importance to communicative games. The scientist is sure that for the successful conduct of any communicative game, it is necessary to correctly select the material and conduct thorough methodological preparation. Communication games teach communication in the form of reproductive and productive spirits. They are situationally determined and associated with the implementation of one or two speech intentions. The presence of roles in these games is optional, although they are not excluded. Most often, imaginary situations are used, which in the English-language methodological literature are usually called simulations. The more students communicate, the more effectively the material is absorbed. Communication between a teacher and a student should be built in such a way that students gradually master the speech material.

Despite the lack of novelty of the communicative approach, today it is one of the most effective ways of teaching English. Thus, we can say with confidence that the communicative method of teaching English is suitable for absolutely everyone, and especially those who already had experience in learning the language from outdated textbooks will appreciate it.

Mastering any language, both native and foreign, from our point of view, requires the involvement of almost all aspects of the individual's subjective experience. In order for foreign language teaching to become effective, it is first necessary to take into account the natural mechanisms of learning the native language in combination with the features that appear when mastering a second or more languages. At the same time, it is necessary to take into account the personal component in training, which is expressed, first of all, in individual cognitive, communicative strategies and cognitive preferences.

According to T.A. Baytukalov, there are four main stages of learning a foreign language: 1. First acquaintance with the language, using audio materials; 2. Modeling of native speakers on video courses; 3. Media modeling based on films and audio books; 4. Mastering additional vocabulary and getting to know social realities (Baytukalov, 2009).

The first stage is modeling mainly in one modality - auditory one. At this stage, students implement the following cognitive strategies: assimilation of vocabulary from the socio-cultural space (word pick-upping) (O'Malley, 1994), which contributes to the direct expansion of vocabulary; guessing the meanings of words from the context/ semantic guess helps to cope with the communicative situation when perceiving the text by ear. A feature of this strategy is that it is productive at any stage of learning English. This strategy is accompanied by another compensatory strategy: the use of synonyms and gestures to convey meaning (Oxford, 1990). The teacher, in turn, uses the strategy of reducing emotional anxiety, overcoming the “language barrier”; memory-related strategies (grouping, imagination, rhyming, physical movement, structured behavior) that contribute to the effective memorization of new educational material.

The second stage involves the inclusion of visual material - video courses. We believe that, in addition to video materials, it is necessary to provide the student with additional material - journalistic articles, excerpts from works of art.

At this stage, teachers pursue their goal - working out and consolidating the studied material, so they should carefully approach the selection of material. The video course should include acting out situations by native speakers. It is desirable that the rate of speech of the actors be slow, but at the same time the natural intonations of colloquial speech should be preserved. And the subtitles will be in the nature of the reference material. Thus, the teacher tries to organize the activities of students so that they can implement several cognitive interaction strategies: both individual, concerning the organization of the experience of one person, and group, which concerns the organization of the experience of several people. In this case, pedagogical strategies for organizing interpersonal interaction are actively used. Students implement a number of universal strategies that are actively used throughout the course of learning a foreign language. These strategies include: strategies for extracting information about the language; repetition and working out the structures of the studied language.

At the third stage (watching movies, reading fiction, listening to audio books), students actively use the above strategies, communicate in the language, despite the problems that arise due to insufficient language proficiency. The teacher actively uses communicative strategies for recognizing the emotional state of students, realizing personal potential and the strategy of the language game. These strategies motivate and stimulate students to be active, and also contribute to the active use of educational material.

And at the final stage of mastering additional vocabulary and getting to know social realities, the strategies of organizing independent, search and creative activity and the strategy of personal-reflexive awareness of motivation and the development of interrelated skills of introspection prevail among students.

Conclusions

In conclusion, it should be noted that modern methods involve a large number of strategies used in the process of teaching and learning a foreign language, and it can be argued with a certain degree of confidence that these processes can be seriously facilitated if not only the teacher, but also the students are aware of these strategies, will be able to choose the most suitable for themselves and use in the process of working in a group and independent work.

Language skills involve the accumulation of special terminology in the specialty; active development of grammatical structures characteristic of business style. Communication skills are the ability to process and interpret information; own speech etiquette, conduct correspondence in English; use regional and cultural background knowledge. Integrative skills consist in the ability to independently find various sources of information in a foreign language; process, interpret information; to sell the product using communication and information technologies; communicate effectively with the consumer, colleagues, representatives of higher organizations.

The communicative method, despite the lack of “novelty” and “innovative approach”, has many advantages. Today it is undoubtedly the most effective way to learn English. Thus, we can say with confidence: the communicative method of teaching English is suitable for absolutely everyone, and especially those who had a not very pleasant experience of learning a language from old textbooks will appreciate it. The communicative technique is focused on the possibility of communication. Of the four pillars on which any language training rests (reading, writing, speaking and listening comprehension), special attention is paid to the last two. The communicative method is designed primarily to remove the fear of communication. Communication is manifested in the functionality of learning. Functionality implies that both words and grammatical forms are assimilated immediately in the activity, on the basis of its performance. Based on the foregoing, we can conclude that communication is necessary in the learning process, since it serves to ensure that communication takes place in adequate conditions, such as taking into account the individuality of each student, the speech orientation of the learning process, the functionality of learning, the situational nature of communication, the constant novelty of the learning process.

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