Formation of lexical skills of academic literacy in future english teachers

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Formation of lexical skills of academic literacy in future english teachers

Krsek Olga Yevgenivna Doctor in Education, Docent, Head of Foreign Languages and Professional Communication Department of Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University, pr. Tsentralnyi 59-a, Severodonetsk

Modestova Tetyana Vasylivna Doctor in Education, Docent, Professor of Foreign Languages and Professional Communication Department of Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University, pr. Tsentralnyi 59-a, Severodonetsk,

Abstract

lexical skill academic literacy

The issue of formation of lexical skills of academic writing as an important component of professional competence of future English teachers is considered. Nowadays, it is becoming more relevant in the development of international exchanges, information processes, academic mobility. All these skills must meet international standards. It is emphasized that only a deep understanding of rhetorical skills allows the future specialist to enter the social space, to be competitive in the professional sphere and in international scientific communications. The development of academic writing skills occupies a significant place in modern foreign language programs of higher education institutions. It is noted that academic writing involves the formation of a complex and multifaceted set of competencies, without which it is impossible to conduct research in higher education. This complex involves the formation of both linguistic (linguistic, syntactic, stylistic, rhetorical) and meta-linguistic competencies, in particular, the ability to think logically and critically, analyze and synthesize information, analyze and summarize English and Ukrainian sources in English.

A special system of exercises is considered and approaches to the formation of lexical skills of academic writing in future English teachers are proposed. The professional competencies are defined: ability to communicate professionally and write professional texts in English; describe research in writing; presentations and reports in English; use modern information and communication technologies in writing professional texts in English, information exchange, collection, analysis, processing and interpretation of foreign language sources; write, listen, read and speak English in accordance with the standards of The Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE).

Keywords: complex of lexical skills, foreign language communicative competence in writing, academic writing, future foreign language teachers.

Крсек Ольга Євгенівна доктор педагогічних наук, доцент, зав. каф. іноземних мов та професійної комунікації, Східноукраїнський національний університет імені Володимира Даля, проспект Центральний 59-а,

м. Сєвєродонецьк

Модестова Тетяна Василівна доктор педагогічних наук, доцент, професор кафедри іноземних мов та професійної комунікації,

Східноукраїнський національний університет імені Володимира Даля, проспект Центральний 59-а, м. Сєвєродонецьк

ФОРМУВАННЯ ЛЕКСИЧНИХ НАВИЧОК АКАДЕМІЧНОГО ПИСЬМА У МАЙБУТНІХ ВИКЛАДАЧІВ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ

Анотація

Розглянуто питання формування лексичних навичок академічного письма як важливої складової професійної компетентності майбутніх викладачів англійської мови. В наш час воно стає більш актуальним в умовах розвитку міжнародних обмінів, інформаційних процесів, академічної мобільності. Підкреслено, що тільки глибоке осмислення риторичних навиків дає змогу майбутньому спеціалісту вийти в соціальний простір, бути конкурентоспроможним в професійній сфері та в міжнародних наукових комунікаціях. В сучасних програмах з іноземної мови закладів вищої освіти значне місце займає розвиток навичок академічного письма. Зазначено, що академічне письмо передбачає формування складного й багатопланового комплексу компетенцій, без яких неможливе здійснення наукового дослідження у вищому навчальному закладі. Цей комплекс передбачає формування як лінгвістичних (мовних, синтаксичних, стилістичних, риторичних), так і металінгвістичних компетенцій, зокрема, вміння логічно та критично мислити, аналізувати і синтезувати інформацію, аналізувати й реферувати англомовні та україномовні джерела за фахом англійською мовою.

Розглянуто спеціальну систему вправ та запропоновані підходи до формування лексичних навичок академічного письма у майбутніх викладачів англійської мови. Визначені фахові компетентності: здатність до фахового спілкування та написання фахових текстів англійською мовою; письмово описувати наукові дослідження; презентації та доповіді англійською мовою; використовувати сучасні інформаційні та комунікативні технології при написання фахових текстів англійською мовою, обміні інформацією, зборі, аналізі, обробці та інтерпретації іншомовних джерел; писати, аудіювати, читати і говорити англійською мовою відповідно до стандартів Асоціації Мовних Експертів ALTE (The Association of Language Testers in Europe).

Ключові слова: комплекс лексичних навичок, іншомовна комунікативна компетенція у письмі, академічне письмо, майбутні викладачі іноземної мови.

Statement of the problem in general aspect. According to the order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine “On approval of qualification characteristics of professions (positions) of pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical workers of educational institutions” , the professional competence of the pedagogical and scientific-pedagogical worker is considered as “the quality of action of the employee, which ensures the effectiveness of solving professional pedagogical problems and typical professional tasks that arise in real situations of pedagogical or scientific-pedagogical activity”. Professional competence of a foreign language teacher is the ability to succeed professionally, containing the following components: language (ideas about the foreign language system and the ability to use it to understand other people's speech, express their own opinions), speech and communication skills in order to use a foreign language as a means of communication in various fields and situations A teacher of foreign languages is a person who discovers the depth of science, life wisdom and spiritual culture, transfers activity skills to the young generation. The ability of the future specialist to solve complex problems and problems in the field of professional activity and in the learning process, which involves research and / or innovation and is characterized by complexity and uncertainty of conditions and requirements. According to the Ukrainian legal and regulatory framework [1], [2], there is the need to implement appropriate changes, in particular in the field foreign language higher education. The practical implementation of the above tasks has acquired of the particular importance for Volodymyr Dahl East Ukrainian National University (VDEUNU) since 2016 when the Year of the English language in Ukraine was proclaimed. Specialty: “Secondary education. English Language and Literature” of the second (master's) level of higher education was successfully licensed at the Department of Foreign Languages and Professional Communication. For the university, which has the status of a relocated university, the opening of a new specialty is an important event, since the national university in the eastern region of Ukraine currently has a humanitarian and peacekeeping mission - to educate young people, to train competitive specialists, worthy citizens of Ukraine.

The analysis of recent research and publications. The famous Ukrainian scientists have devoted their resarches to various aspects of professional training of future teachers of foreign languages, namely: Yu. Bezvin, I. Bilyanska, O. Bochkareva, N. Borisko, V. Chernysh, O. Datskiv, V. Gutnik, T. Kolodko,

Moskalets, L. Morskaya, L. Orlovskaya, N. Sklyarenko, Z S. Smolina,

Zadorozhna, N. Zhovtyuk, and others. Significant contribution to research of professional teacher training in academic writing were done by C. Bodnar, D. Byrne, J. Brown, T. Dudley-Evans, J. Ever, M. Cocor, P. Master, M. St. John,

T. Hutchinson, R. Howard, R. West, A. Waters, T. Hedge, A. Pincas, A. Raimes, C. Tribbleand others. Academic writing as a written foreign language competence is the subject of scientific research by G. Krivchykova, L. Nazina, V. Mishechkina, O. Kvasova. It should be noted some more researches: “Teaching academic English as method of forming students' readiness for participation in academic mobility programs ”(Yu. Andrianova); “Academic writing in English as a means of formation of competencies of future teachers of foreign languages ”(S. Parfyonova, T. Arbuzova), “Academic Writing: Articles IMRAD” (N. Popova, N. Koptyaeva).

The aim of our research is to consider lexical skills of academic writing as an important component of professional competence of future English teachers.

Main material presentation. One of the most important strategic tasks of modernization of the higher education system of Ukraine at the present stage is to ensure the quality of training at the level of international standards. The integration of higher education into the international education system, in particular in the field of foreign language teaching, is becoming especially important. Modification of the content, forms and methods of education in Europe and Ukraine is regulated by documents of the Council of Europe and the Bologna Process [1]. Academic language is defined as “a repertoire of language forms and functions that c o-occur with school learning tasks across disciplines” by P. Uccelli , C.L. Dobbs, J. Scott [12, p. 1077]. The discipline “Concept and Practice of Academic Writing in English” belongs to the list of elective disciplines and involves the acquisition of master's language competencies necessary for understanding and analyzing oral and written scientific and professional texts, for presentation and discussion the results of their research in English in oral and written forms, as well as the formation of the ability to fully convey their views to the reader. Academic writing involves the formation of a set of competencies, without which it is impossible to conduct research in higher education. This complex involves the formation of both linguistic (linguistic, syntactic, stylistic, rhetorical) and meta-linguistic competencies, in particular, the ability to think logically and critically, analyze and synthesize information, analyze and summarize English and Ukrainian sources in English. The interdisciplinary direction of the course is determined by its content and structural elements: speech issues are closely intertwined with professional, forming the ability to express themselves professionally, to create special texts.

According to the calculation method of QS World University Rankings (developed in 2004 by British consulting company Quacquarelli Symonds), the rating of a higher education institution is calculated taking into account several factors: academic reputation (40%), percentage of teaching staff and number of students (20%), approving assessment of employers on the level knowledge of graduates (10%), percentage the ratio of foreign teachers and general the number of teaching staff (5%), the number foreign students and the total number of students (5%), the ratio of scientific citations publications of the teaching staff and general number of teachers (20%), etc. [14].

So, as T. Babenko states, one of the important factors improving the academic rating directly depends on the level of formation of language and speech competencies in academic writing in foreign languages for teachers and university students [3, p. 122]. As for R. Scarcella , efficiency in academic writing is a requisite for college and career success, and students who strive to pursue a path of higher education must learn to use academic language effectively in a variety of content areas [11]. The use of integrated activities allows to develop a variety of skills and abilities of future professionals: study of educational and special terms, discussion of principles of academic integrity and related concepts (academic culture, academic ethics, academic writing, etc.), work with texts of different types and styles, speech culture, writing resumes, cover letters, annotations, abstracts, essays and other documents important for the implementation of academic mobility of students and their successful participation in grant activities.

The purpose of the discipline is to improve the skills of academic professional communication in writing, the formation of skills and abilities to produce qualitative professional texts in English and effective research activities of undergraduates, improving language skills necessary for free understanding of oral and written scientific texts, and, in particular, to study the features of the English language in scientific written communications, mastering the specifics of English academic writing through acquaintance with modern authentic scientific texts, and identifying their structural, substantive, linguistic and communicative features, as well as in the formation of skills and abilities to produce high-quality professional texts in English for effective research activities of undergraduates.

J. Flowerdew expressed the idea that originated in 2010 the new direction “English for Research Purposes” was intended specifically for the training of scientific and pedagogical workers. It was designed to help them write in compliance with international rhetorical and publication conventions, and also understand editors and reviewers, since and here there were certain methods of communication developed over the past 70 years [9, p. 311].

The expected results of successful mastering of the presented program are the formed complex of knowledge, abilities and skills within the limits of the above- mentioned competences directed on the decision of the above-stated tasks. Namely: after completing the course the students should know:

basic general scientific vocabulary and branch vocabulary on specialization; language tools that form a formal (book) register of written communication;

grammatical forms and structures that are typical of the written style of English;

stylistic features of academic texts taking into account international requirements for English-language scientific discourse;

syntactic and compositional characteristics of various genre texts of academic discourse;

differences in punctuation of texts of academic writing in English in comparison with Ukrainian;

the students should be able to:

implement a communicative-educational function, which consists of informational, motivational-stimulating and control- correcting components, i.e. the ability to apply modern principles, methods, techniques and tools of academic writing in English;

use language skills in all types of speech activities; analyze and summarize information; logically and consistently make statements;

analyze and synthesize information presented in scientific sources, use it to write their own articles;

produce coherent and consistent oral monologues with the involvement of professional literature;

perform annotation and abstracting of sources of scientific information at the appropriate level of grammatical and academic correctness;

write an article, annotation, abstract, essay, report, abstracts, etc., in compliance with international requirements for English-language scientific discourse [4; 5, 130; 7, 199; 8, 137; 11; 13].

It has been determined, that the process of the integrative development of foreign language communicative and methodological competences of future English teachers should be implemented within three main stages: 1) introductory (theoretical training) stage; 2) practical training stage; 3) productive stage. In the course of the introductory stage, future English teachers acquire knowledge of the terminology system, grammatical and stylistic features of English language, as well as methodological knowledge. At the practical training stage development, future English teachers form the skills to use terms, communicative models and grammatical structures, as well as methodological skills. Within the productive stage terms, future English teachers develop their abilities to produce English language discourse and master their pedagogical skills while teaching English.

S. Ranney considers that academic writing across various genres and disciplines shares common lexical features. A linguistic feature that is conspicuous in academic writing within and across various disciplines is the vocabulary of academic language, which is often described as “comparatively large, precise, and formal” [10, p. 563].

According to the established stages, the integrative system of exercises and tasks for the development of foreign language communicative and methodological competences of future English teachers has been elaborated. It includes 4 groups:

exercises on familiarization with the lexical units, grammatical structures and stylistic features of English language;

tasks on acquiring knowledge of methods of teaching English for the academic purposes;

exercises on lexical, grammatical and stylistic presentation of academic

writing in English;

tasks on the development of skills of teaching English for the academic purposes;

Teaching students the pedagogical specialty “Secondary education. English Language and Literature” the subject “Academic Writing” is realized in the process of mastering by students a set of relevant knowledge, language skills and communicative skills necessary to create a written text that serves as a means of communication. Therefore, the following topics for lectures and practical exercises were included in the training program “Academic Writing”:

Modern scientific written communication. Communication in the academic environment.

The main English-language genres of written communication in the field of science and education (Summary, Abstract, Review, Conference abstract, Research paper, Grant proposal, etc.).

Accuracy in writing (abbreviations, relative pronouns, punctuation, etc.). Sentence structure in academic speech.

Scientific article as a leading genre of modern English-language scientific text (Types of Research Papers. Structure of Research Papers. Submitting a Paper to a Journal). Writing an annotation to a scientific article.

Research work: formation and development of scientific speech in writing. Compiling a list of scientific literature. Writing abstracts, reviews and reviews.

Writing CVs, resumes and business letters for various purposes, research projects for a grant.

For a long time, in higher educational institutions of Ukraine, English academic writing was given the secondary importance. The writing was considered as a means of enabling students to better master the program language material, and a means of controlling the formation of language skills and abilities of students. Today, the attitude toward academic writing and teaching students the ability to express their thoughts in writing have changed dramatically. The growing importance of writing in the English language learning process is also due to the use of English as the leading language of international communication. Mastering the skills of academic writing in English is one of the most important requirements for a specialist in the 21st century, especially if his work is related to teaching English or international contacts. That is why the European Guidelines for Language Education give such attention to the teaching of writing in the foreign language being studied [1].

The teaching of the discipline “Academic Writing” is based on organically interconnected didactic principles: relevance (focus on modern requirements of society and professional needs of students); scientific (disclosure of the logic of the discipline, the use of modern scientific terminology and authentic foreign language teaching materials); connection of theory with practice (awareness of the practical significance of the acquired knowledge: the study of theoretical issues is supported by the implementation of practical tasks); activities (the student is an active participant in the pedagogical process: up to 70% of the educational material is assimilated independently and, thus, the student feels his personal responsibility for educational and professional development); consistency (skills and abilities in academic writing are formed systematically and gradually: from acquaintance with the types of scientific texts, their identification and structuring - to the independent creation of written scientific texts).

There are three main approaches to the formation of foreign language competence in writing: textual, procedural and genre. In the textual approach, writing is considered as a purposeful productive activity, the result of which is its own text/ stories, reasoning. At the stage of analysis of the sample-texts and generation of the own texts, collective forms of work are envisaged. In the procedural approach there is a turn from the product of writing - the own text as a subject - to the very process of writing, from the text - to the author of the text. Emphasis is placed on the application of existing language skills. The content of teaching writing includes the basic general methods of written expression of thought, characteristic of all types of texts. It is obligatory to write a draft, edit it and edit it together, followed by a discussion. The genre approach is aimed at generating certain genres of texts - writing letters, advertisements, short autobiographies, filling out official forms. In accordance with O. Tarnopolskyi and S. Kozhushko, it is advisable to proceed from the modern understanding that each of the types of speech activity requires its own special communicative competence in communication [4, p. 272].

Aliakbar Imani and Hadina Habil consider Academic writing as subgenres that can be categorized as those written by students who are considered novice writers - ranging from simple class assignments to postgraduate theses - as well as those written by professional academic writers such as journal articles. Besides their differences, all types of written academic texts share some common features since all are firstly written, and secondly, academic. Hence, some similarities should be expected across all academic texts in terms of lexical, grammatical, and discourse features setting standards to evaluate the quality of an academic writing text as novice, professional, etc. [6, p. 45]. The language features of Academic writing are distinctive and definite: using academic language; establishing one's position; writing in one's own 'voice'; using tentative language; clear communication, writing clear paragraphs; writing clearly, concisely and precisely; signposting, paraphrasing, summarising and quoting; editing and proof-reading the work.

Four levels of academic writing are distinguished:

Level 1: Basic Writing Skills. Basic skills and abilities related to the logic of text construction, i.e. requirements for building theses and arguments, their design in paragraphs; types and structure of paragraphs; unity of work due to connecting elements and its grammatical design (structural elements of paragraphs, thesis statements, argument, designing a paragraph, transitions, grammar requirements).

Level 2: Short Papers. Writing small written works: methods of preparing for writing, types of work, the main formats of work in English depending on the discipline, requirements for annotations as a special type of small work, style recommendations and rules of English punctuation (prewriting strategies, types of papers, article abstracts, essential formats, punctuation rules).

Level 3: Publishing in International Journals. Publications in international journals: critical assessment of information sources, editing, expert reviews, material requirements and assessment criteria, case studies, the concept of plagiarism (publishing in Peer Reviewed Journals, academic Journals Rating, Peer Reviewed Journals Requirements).

Level 4: Presentation Skills. Presentation of written work: the structure of the presentation, framing elements of the presentation (ways of attracting the audience's attention, logical connections and transitions), rhetorical techniques and classic examples from modern public speaking practice, rules for slide design, interaction with the audience, answers to questions.

In the latest edition of the book “Teaching and Reasearching Writing” K.Hyland emphasizes that academic writing continues to be asserted as “a key indicator of quality of life for millions of people around the world as a measure of successful education, academic competence, professional development and institutional recognition” [13, p. 314].

Conclusions

Thus, academic writing is considered to be a traditional form of professional competence, in a new way relevant in the context of the rapid development of information processes, international exchanges, academic contacts, widespread in the world educational and scientific communities. Currently, academic writing is the linguistic competence of successful study in a higher education institution, allowing students to develop their skills in reading, understanding, and formating their own scientific texts. To achieve the goal of introducing academic writing into the higher education more properly, Ukranian academics need to collaborate and get involved into multilateral action and interdisciplinary research. The paper concludes that disciplinary divides can be overcome through developing theoretical and conceptual issues of academic writing as rhetoric and composition studies. The process of formation of lexical skills of academic writing in future English teachers requires an approach to learning in which written competence is a key one and the overall learning process is based on the active use of written speech.

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Coxhead, A. 2012. Academic vocabulary, writing and English for academic purposes: Perspectives from second language learners. RELC Journal 43. 137-145.

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https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-universityrankings

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