Modern teaching aids and technologies in foreign languages teaching

Размещено на http://www.allbest.ru/

Modern teaching aids and technologies in foreign languages teaching

Havrylenko K., Meleshko I.

The educational process of modern universities nowadays depends on computer technologies, which possess a large educational potential for professional studying and foreign language learning in particular. A brief overview of some modern Internet technologies is given in the paper as well as their implementation in foreign language teaching is considered. Based on the scientific studies of the theory of professional education the paper specifies the relevance of effective foreign language training and the development of professional language competencies. Modern teaching aids and technologies significantly change the functions of the teacher from mentoring to assisting and supporting interactive learning.

Foreign language acquisition is closely connected with the student's ability to develop critical thinking, which stages are referred to in the paper. Active learning depends on the development of critical thinking and motivation. Computer-assisted education including interactive tasks, exercises, games, or quests in foreign language teaching is one of the ways to support active learning. Distance learning demonstrates that educational goals are highly dependent on students ' needs as consumers of educational services.

The Internet technologies in teaching foreign languages, discussed in the work, include learning platforms, messengers, and topic-based resources. These electronic means of education help to develop students' studying and self-studying abilities, and increase their motivation. Computer technologies support live and textual communication. Such types of foreign language communication as chats, blogs, emails, messengers, wikis, and mailing lists are described in the paper.

The paper underlines the main requirements for professional language learners, which would support him in further career development. The computer-mediated and traditional methods of foreign language teaching should assist in creating favorable learning conditions, developing language skills, and motivating the students to study a professional foreign language.

Key words: blog, chat, computer-assisted technologies, distance education, educational platform, mailing list, messenger, teaching aids, wiki

Гавриленко К. М., Мелешко І. В. Сучасні засоби та технології навчання іноземних мов

Навчальний процес у сучасних університетах сьогодні залежить від комп'ютерних технологій, які мають великий потенціал для професійного навчання та вивчення іноземних мов. У статті наведено короткий огляд деяких сучасних Інтернет-технологій, а також розглянуто їх застосування у викладанні іноземних мов. На основі наукових досліджень теорії професійної освіти вказано на актуальність ефективної іноземної мовної підготовки та розвитку професійної мовної компетентності. Зазначено, що сучасні засоби навчання та технології суттєво змінюють функції викладача від наставництва до допомоги та підтримки в інтерактивному навчанні.

Оволодіння іноземною мовою тісно пов'язане зі здатністю студента розвивати критичне мислення, про етапи якого йдеться в роботі. Активне навчання залежить від розвитку критичного мислення та мотивації, одним із способів підтримки якого є комп'ютерне навчання, що включає інтерактивні завдання, вправи, ігри, квести у навчанні іноземної мови. Дистанційне навчання демонструє значну залежність освітніх цілей від потреб студентів як споживачів освітніх послуг.

До розглянутих у роботі Інтернет-технологій у викладанні іноземних мов належать навчальні платформи, месенджери та тематичні ресурси. Ці електронні засоби навчання сприяють розвитку здібностей студентів до навчання і самостійного навчання, підвищують їх мотивацію. Комп'ютерні технології підтримують усне й письмове спілкування. У статті описано такі види іншомовного спілкування, як чати, блоги, електронні листи, месенджери, вікі, списки розсилки.

У роботі підкреслено основні вимоги до професійного вивчення мови, які сприятимуть спеціалісту в подальшому розвитку кар'єри. Комп'ютерно-опосередковані та традиційні методи навчання іноземної мови мають сприяти створенню умов для навчання, розвитку мовленнєвих навичок, та мотивації студентів до професійного вивчення іноземної мови.

Ключові слова: блог, списки розсипки, дистанційна освіта, комп'ютерні технології, засоби навчання, освітня платформа, месенджер, чат, wiki

Teaching a foreign language aims at the development of intercultural communication and a positive attitude towards the country and people of the studied language. It requires knowledge of a foreign language for the general interaction between specialists in their professional field. Language is an intermediary, which assists in social concepts creation, and exchange of cultural, social, political, and economic ideas. Information technologies in education provide the teaching with electronic devices and resources. The main trend in the development of electronic technologies in teaching foreign languages is the integration of a computer, mobile phone, and the Internet into a single information and communication environment.

The development of the Internet possibilities at the beginning of the twenty-first century should be characterized by the active implementation of various social services: online communities, blogs, wiki encyclopedias, and podcasts [2]. In combination with information and reference resources, online translators, and computer tests, the Internet has become an indispensable educational resource and hence, an important part of classroom and distance teaching.

Recently, in the practice and theory of professional education, special attention has been paid to language as a tool for intercultural communication (J. Jackson, F. Helm, C. Roberts, S. Thorne, H. Wolf, and others). Modern socio-economic processes increase the relevance of effective foreign language training and the development of professional language competence. According to I. Bardus, a feature of a foreign language as an academic discipline is that a foreign language is the goal and means of learning. Students first learn various types of speech activities as the goals of learning and then use them as learning tools [1].

S. Ghory distinguishes various types of Internet communicative samples (text, graphic, audiovisual materials) and resources (online encyclopedias, electronic libraries, virtual tours of famous museums and galleries, online media, etc.) [5]. In the opinion of T. Kumar, the use of various functional types of Internet resources in the educational process will allow students to develop the ability to work with various types of Internet sources to extract the necessary information and significantly enrich their language and cultural practice [6].

Potential changes in foreign language teaching are influenced by new technologies. They significantly change the functions of the teacher. The teacher-mentor was replaced by the teacher-observer and mediator. Although the personality of the teacher seems to fade into the background, his influence increases. The role of the teacher is to assist the student in knowledge acquisition by implementing interactive teaching methods and computer-assisted technologies.

Foreign language acquisition is closely connected with the student's ability to develop critical thinking, which has three stages. The first stage involves the challenge of basic knowledge actualization. In this stage, the most important is to motivate the student and stimulate interest in the material. The second stage is the period of comprehension, where the teacher conveys an idea, but only the student's efforts help him to acquire new material. The final phase is the period of reflection, rethinking, and a new system built.

Psychologically, the brain's activity intensifies in the process of solving problems of a different kind. Modern computer technologies offer different types of language games and quests for students. The implementation of games in teaching foreign languages is one of the methods of active learning. The students need to communicate with each other for solving the given task in a form of some game or quest, which encourages them to acquire the material being studied. Overcoming the difficulties, which the students face in games, assists in developing self- organizational abilities, and professional communication is practiced too. The tasks offered in games should be difficult enough but solvable for students. However, if the task is too difficult for most, then the game simply will not work. The game also should not be too long unless the students lose interest in it. The games should be achievable to all game participants, creating conditions for each one to work with maximum efficiency. The effectiveness of training, development, and educational opportunities of computer-assisted teaching aids is indisputable and therefore, should be studied regarding their potential for foreign language teaching.

In this paper, we pay attention to the consideration of the combination of full-time and distance learning and their support by various computer technologies. The purpose of the study is to identify opportunities for successful foreign language learning supported by various teaching aids and internet technologies.

Firstly, we take a closer look at distance learning. According to N. Paziura, distance education should be understood as a form of education, both full-time and part-time, when the best traditional and innovative educational methods based on computer and computer technologies are used in the educational process [7].

Scientists distinguished three main stages in the development of distance learning: distance learning with two or three off-line exam sessions per year and a given number of tests sent via email or completed on a special educational platform; interactive learning with the students by completing the special training modules and communicating with the teacher via email or messengers; virtual group training with participation in group video conferences, chats, blogs, and Internet projects [10]. modern teaching foreign language

Nowadays, distance learning in teaching foreign languages mostly supports classroom learning and is also aimed at achieving special goals following the student's needs. This system is constantly evolving. Distance education clearly demonstrates that the educational goals do not come from an educational institution and a teacher, but students as consumers of educational services. These goals are determined by students depending on their social environment as well as on the information in the virtual communities they belong.

Organizing the process of distance learning, the teachers mostly use such educational activities as material presentation, training tasks or exercises (often with prompts and repetitions), virtual group activities or conferences, and individual work under the guidance of a tutor via e-mail or in real-time, individual educational projects, training results evaluation based on objective learning tests.

Among the main educational possibilities of Internet technologies used in teaching foreign languages, we can mention various learning platforms, messengers, and some topic-based interactive resources.

They are the most effective means of foreign language teaching. In our opinion, interactive communication via various educational platforms creates favorable conditions for developing students' language skills. Special programs permit students to communicate with their peers and to take part in group discussions conducted directly by the teacher, thereby creating a language environment. In addition, students have an opportunity to follow the gestures, facial expressions, and intonation of the interlocutor, as well as observe articulation and catch the correct intonation, paying attention to phrasal stresses in the interlocutor's speech. It should also be noted that these electronic means of education help to develop students' self-studying abilities and increase their motivation.

Topics for conversation via educational platforms and messengers can be very different and the communication can be organized in chat rooms (synchronous) or as textual communication (asynchronous), which supports a special possibility to arrange meetings or topic discussions at a designated time. The chat rooms can increase interaction by providing real communicative situations, where the students practice reading and writing skills (text chat) or speaking and listening skills (voice chat). The chat rooms are beneficial for communication with different people around the world, and native speakers of different cultures and languages, which is important for the student's motivation.

Such communication helps the students to encounter the cultures of the people they communicate with, which they are unlikely to find in textbooks, where information is often either outdated or distorted. They develop the navigation skills important in their further professional life. Direct interaction can be organized with the students not only from one group but also with their counterparts from any faculty or university. Usually, the most effective work in practical lessons is in pairs or small groups. Chats, on the other hand, offer the possibility of effective communication in the whole group, where the students' writings are visible to everyone. The teacher can monitor the text discussions and a chat room permits diversifying the lesson, making it more interesting, relevant, mobile, etc.

It should be noted the use of chat rooms at the lessons have some disadvantages, too. Sometimes communication can shift from the given topic and the students start discussing irrelevant questions or personal matters, which contradict the goals of the lesson, as it can lead to a conversation about nothing and prevent the teacher to conduct subsequent tasks in the lesson. Therefore, the teacher needs to monitor and control the students' communication to keep them focused. The direct participation of the teacher in communication is also necessary for necessary corrections direction of the discussion points.

A very effective tool for learning foreign languages is a blog, which is a convenient tool and does not require any special skills for participation. The blog is a type of communication where a person reading a blog post can respond immediately giving an opinion, comment, etc.

One of the most interesting forms of blogs for students is an independent blog created by a student or a group of students, which encourages students to search for additional information and create links. Blogs can be used as a mini-project developing independent and responsible learning. The student's blogs are good for developing writing skills. However, they are also interactive activities, where the students discuss the material read, and leave their comments, suggestions, etc. Each web blog reflects the students' interests, shares their opinions, and helps the teacher plan interactive lessons.

An interesting type of distance learning resource is a wiki, which is a set of web pages edited by an individual or a group of people. The most known example of such web pages is Wikipedia, the principle of which is based on the introduction of expert materials on certain articles. A wiki is a collection of collaborative articles updated, submitted, and published by anyone, who often is not the article's author. Working with this service is very simple and does not require special knowledge of the program. For editing any page there is a button or a link, which switches the selected article into the editing mode. Wiki allows the teacher to organize students' in groups for project work. It also allows students to work autonomously and is suitable for the organization of self-study.

Another effective type of distance learning is the mailing list, which could be used as a discussion club. Any discussion has a certain topic and should be developed in a certain direction. Potential members send a request to the club and receive messages as emails sent as the leaflet at a certain time. The members can raise new issues, ask questions to leaflet members, and reply to posted messages. The mailing list is a type of forum for the exchange of ideas, and experiences. Students can use mailing lists for finding the information they need and participating in different academic and professional discussions.

Considerable attention paid to foreign language study in universities is determined by the development of cooperation in scientific and technological areas. Master students of technical universities, having received certain knowledge of the grammatical structure of a foreign language and some language skills, can receive information about the latest achievements in science and technology from original foreign sources. The main requirements for the professional language learner are to work with scientific and technical literature, be able to prepare and present material in a foreign language, and communicate with professionals around the world. Professional language requires the knowledge of specific vocabulary, special terms, abbreviations, etc. Numerous special terms appear regularly due to the rapid development of technology, which may not be presented in dictionaries, which creates certain difficulties for students. A graduate should know the subject and should be able to convey the content without losing information. At the same time, practical lexical and grammatical knowledge as well as language skills help future specialists to develop their careers in science and technology.

Conclusions

In the age of computer technology development and global access to Internet resources, it is very important to find a golden ratio between the computer-mediated and traditional methods of foreign language teaching for creating favorable learning conditions and motivating the students to study a professional foreign language. Moreover, Internet technologies provide participation in various professional training and thus, help to improve language skills, which are an important motivating factor for future professionals to develop their foreign language.

In conclusion, we should note that the implementation of distance education aids in language teaching is highly effective and permits solving educational tasks by providing communicative interaction and motivating students to study special professional vocabulary and terminology more interactively. Modern teaching aids are constantly developing, which requires language teachers to find new effective interactive technologies and apply them in teaching as well as to study their influence on the educational process.

Bibliography

1. Bardus, I., Herasymenko, Y, Nalyvaiko, O., Rozumna, T., Vaseiko, Y, & Pozdniakova, V (2021). Organization of foreign languages blended learning in COVID-19 conditions by means of mobile applications. Revista romaneasca pentru educatie multidimensionala, 13(2),_268-287. https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/13.2/421

2. Becirovic, S., Brdarevic-Celjo, A., & Delic, H. (2021). The use of digital technology in foreign language learning. SN social sciences, 1(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-02l-00254-y

3. Dudar, V L., Riznyk, V V, Kotsur, V V, Pechenizka, S. S., & Kovtun, O. A. (2021). Use of modem technologies and digital tools in the context of distance and mixed learning. Linguistics and culture review, 5(S2), 733-750. https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure. v5ns2.1416

4. Gao, Y (2021). A survey study on the application of modern educational technology in English major college teaching in the age of 5G communication. Theory and practice in language studies, 11(2), 202. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1102.13

5. Ghory, S., & Ghafory, H. (2021). The impact of modern technology in the teaching and learning process. International journal of innovative research and scientific studies, 4(3), 168-173. https://doi.org/10.53894/ijirss.v4i3.73

6. Kumar, T., Malabar, S., Benyo, A., & Amal, B. K. (2021). Analyzing multimedia tools and language teaching. Linguistics and culture review, 5(S1), 331-341. https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v5ns1.1400

7. Paziura, N. V, Kodalashvili, O. B., Bozhok, O. S., Romaniuk, V L., & Zlatnikov, V H. (2021). English teaching in distant education policy development: Ukrainian aspect. Linguistics and culture review, 5(S2), 121-136. https://doi.org/10.21744/ lingcure.v5ns2.1335

8. Shi, Y (2021). The use of mobile internet platforms and applications in vocal training: synergy of technological and pedagogical solutions. Interactive learning environments, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2021.1943456

9. Susanty, L., Hartati, Z., Sholihin, R., Syahid, A., & Liriwati, F. Y (2021). Why English teaching truth on digital trends as an effort for effective learning and evaluation: opportunities and challenges: analysis of teaching English. Linguistics and culture review, 5(S1), 303-316. https://doi.org/10.21744/lmgcure.v5ns1.1401

10. Szymkowiak, A., Melovic, B., Dabic, M., Jeganathan, K., & Kundi, G. S. (2021). Information technology and Gen Z: the role of teachers, the internet, and technology in the education of young people. Technology in society, 65, 101565. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101565

11. Tomczyk, L., Jauregui, V. C., de La Higuera Amato, C. A., Munoz, D., Arteaga, M., Oyelere, S. S., Akyar, O. Y, & Porta, M. (2020). Are teachers techno-optimists or techno-pessimists? A pilot comparative among teachers in bolivia, brazil, the dominican republic, ecuador, finland, poland, turkey, and uruguay. Education and information technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10639-020-10380-4

References:

1. Bardus, I., Herasymenko, Y, Nalyvaiko, O., Rozumna, T., Vaseiko, Y, & Pozdniakova, V Organization of foreign languages blended learning in COVID-19 conditions by means of mobile applications. Revista romaneasca pentru educatie multidimensionala. 2021. Vol. 13, no. 2. P. 268-287. URL: https://doi.org/10.18662/rrem/13.2/421 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

2. Becirovic S., Brdarevic-Celjo A., Delic H. The use of digital technology in foreign language learning. SN social sciences. 2021. Vol. 1, no. 10. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/s43545-021-00254-y (date of access: 27.09.2022).

3. Dudar, V L., Riznyk, V V, Kotsur, V V., Pechenizka, S. S., & Kovtun, O. A. Use of modern technologies and digital tools in the context of distance and mixed learning. Linguistics and culture review. 2021. Vol. 5, S2. P. 733-750. URL: https://doi. org/10.21744/lingcure.v5ns2.1416 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

4. Gao Y. A survey study on the application of modern educational technology in English major college teaching in the age of 5G communication. Theory and practice in language studies. 2021. Vol. 11, no. 2. P. 202. URL: https://doi.org/10.17507/ tpls.1102.13 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

5. Ghory S., Ghafory H. The impact of modern technology in the teaching and learning process. International journal of innovative research and scientific studies. 2021. Vol. 4, no. 3. P 168-173. URL: https://doi.org/10.53894/ijirss.v4i3.73 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

6. Kumar, T., Malabar, S., Benyo, A., & Amal, B. K. Analyzing multimedia tools and language teaching. Linguistics and culture review. 2021. Vol. 5, S1. P 331-341. URL: https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v5ns1.1400 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

7. Paziura, N. V, Kodalashvili, O. B., Bozhok, O. S., Romaniuk, V L., & Zlatnikov, V H. English teaching in distant education policy development: Ukrainian aspect. Linguistics and culture review. 2021. Vol. 5, S2. P. 121-136. URL: https://doi.org/10.21744/ lingcure.v5ns2.1335 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

8. Shi Y The use of mobile internet platforms and applications in vocal training: synergy of technological and pedagogical solutions. Interactive learning environments. 2021. P. 1-12. URL: https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2021.1943456 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

9. Susanty, L., Hartati, Z., Sholihin, R., Syahid, A., & Liriwati, F. Y. Why English teaching truth on digital trends as an effort for effective learning and evaluation: opportunities and challenges: analysis of teaching English. Linguistics and culture review. 2021. Vol. 5, S1. P. 303-316. URL: https://doi.org/10.21744/lingcure.v5ns1.1401 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

10. Szymkowiak, A., Melovic, B., Dabic, M., Jeganathan, K., & Kundi, G. S. Information technology and Gen Z: the role of teachers, the internet, and technology in the education of young people. Technology in society. 2021. Vol. 65. P. 101565. URL: https://doi. org/10.1016/j.techsoc.2021.101565 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

11. Tomczyk, L., Jauregui, V C., de La Higuera Amato, C. A., Munoz, D., Arteaga, M., Oyelere, S. S., Akyar, O. Y, & Porta, M. Are teachers techno-optimists or techno-pessimists? A pilot comparative among teachers in bolivia, brazil, the dominican republic, ecuador, finland, poland, turkey, and Uruguay. Education and information technologies. 2020. URL: https://doi.org/10.1007/ s10639-020-10380-4 (date of access: 27.09.2022).

Размещено на Allbest.ru