The use of ICT in teaching English for professional purposes to master’s students

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The use of ICT in teaching English for professional purposes to master's students

Nataliya Horuk

Ivan Franko National University of Lviv

The use of ICT in teaching English for professional purposes to master's students

The article highlights the issue of teaching English for professional purposes to master's degree students. It is noted that graduate students, who are usually the part-time or distance education students, can be defined as adult learners because of their "non- traditional" students' characteristics connected with their age or social roles. Therefore, they require a specific organization of the educational process and special teaching strategies. Modern information and communication technologies are of particular importance in adult education, as they stimulate independent learning and help to increase students' motivation.

One of the popular strategies that are widely used in foreign language teaching practice is the multisensory strategy, which is based on five basic human senses. It means taking into account the student's peculiarities in perceiving and processing information coming from the environment. Based on this, students can be conditionally divided by their preferred learning style into visual, kinesthetic, and audial learners. Knowing the learning style of each student, the teacher can use a variety of mobile applications, which influence the speed and efficiency of students' learning and increase the effectiveness of learning English for further usage in a chosen professional field. Mobile applications in teaching EPP help the student to independently determine the amount of information that they will learn in one class, create a list of words that they want to know, listen to native speakers' talks or see the rules on the screen with their explanations and examples. The analysis of modern mobile applications used for learning English allows us to conclude that mobile applications is an effective tool for implementing multisensory strategy in the process of teaching EPP to adult learners. A qualitative revision of the content and teaching technologies is necessary, taking into account the characteristics of adult learners, their goals and learning context.

Keywords: adult learners, information and communication technologies, English for Professional Purposes (EPP), teaching strategy.

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ІКТ У ВИКЛАДАННІ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ МОВИ ПРОФЕСІЙНОГО СПРЯМУВАННЯ ДЛЯ СТУДЕНТІВ МАГІСТРАТУРИ

Наталія Горук

Львівський національний університет імені Івана Франка, вул. Туган-Барановського, 7, Львів, Україна, UA-79005

Висвітлено питання викладання англійської мови за професійним спрямуванням для здобувачів магістерського ступеня. Зазначено, що студентам магістратури властиві "нетрадиційні" студентські характеристики, пов'язані з віком чи соціальними ролями, тому вони часто обирають навчання заочно або дистанційно, і, відповідно потребують специфічної організації навчального процесу та особливих стратегій викладання.

Особливе значення в навчанні дорослих мають сучасні інформаційно- комунікаційні технології, оскільки вони стимулюють самостійне навчання та сприяють підвищенню мотивації студентів.

Однією із популярних стратегій, яку широко використовують у практиці викладання іноземних мов, є мультисенсорна стратегія, що ґрунтується на основних органах чуття людини. Вона полягає в урахуванні особливостей сприйняття та обробки інформації, яка надходить з навколишнього середовища. Відповідно, студентів можна умовно класифікувати за стилем навчання, якому вони віддають перевагу, на візуалів, кінестетиків та аудіалів. Розуміння навчальних стилів дорослих студентів дає можливість викладачу використовувати мобільні додатки, які впливають на швидкість навчання студентів та підвищують ефективність вивчення англійської мови для подальшого використання в обраній професійній сфері. Використання мобільних додатків у викладанні англійської мови професійного спрямування дозволяє студентам самостійно визначати обсяг інформації, який вони планують вивчити впродовж заняття, самостійно створювати списки слів для засвоєння, слухати носіїв мови та бачити на екрані граматичні правила з детальними поясненнями, музикою та прикладами вживання. Аналіз сучасних мобільних додатків, які використовують для вивчення англійської мови, дає можливість зробити висновок, що мобільні додатки є ефективним інструментом для реалізації мультисенсорної стратегії в процесі викладання англійської мови професійного спрямування студентам магістратури. Якісний перегляд змісту та сучасних технологій навчання важливий для врахуванням індивідуальних особливостей студентів, їхніх цілей та контексту навчання.

Ключові слова: дорослі студенти, інформаційно-комунікаційні технології, англійська мова професійного спрямування, навчальна стратегія.

Introduction

Rapid development of international relations and information technologies require the acquisition of foreign languages for successful professional activity and orientation in global processes. Adult people are forced to constantly increase the level of their knowledge and improve their skills in order to compete successfully in the labor market. Fluency of professional communication in English is one of the basic conditions for getting a desired job or position. Moreover, the competitiveness of a modern specialist is determined not only by their qualification in the professional field, but also by their ability to solve professional problems with a use of foreign languages. english language multisensory

Nowadays, the role of English has become significant for successful career, thus it is obvious that many people are interested in mastering this language. The development of information technologies offers language teachers new instruments and opportunities in teaching foreign language to adult students. Many researchers focus their attention on the study of information technologies in the process of teaching students in higher education institutions.

Analysis of recent research and publications. The use of information and communication technologies in education is one of the steps towards its modernization and adaptation to the needs of the modern labor market and economic conditions. Competitive specialists are distinguished by the ability to quickly adapt to working conditions and the requirements of the modern information space. The introduction of information and communication technologies in foreign language teaching has been the subject of research by many Ukrainian scholars. M. Babenko, Y. Burovytska, I. Zayarna, T. Motorniuk, N. Rozhkova, N. Sorokina and others study the possibilities of using modern technical means and information resources for the development of students' foreign language communicative competence. The researchers emphasize the innovation and effectiveness of the use of information and communication educational technologies that activate the process of cognition, stimulate interest, and increase students' motivation to learn foreign languages. They propose didactical recommendation for the use of modern technologies in the educational process. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of theoretical and methodological research, determining the use of information and communication technologies in the process of teaching English for Professional Purposes to graduate students.

Graduate students, who are usually the part-time students or distance education students, can be defined as adult learners because of their "non- traditional" students' characteristics connected with their age or social roles. Due to various life situations, they often combine education with other activities su ch as work, parenting or taking care of family members etc. However, their teaching is based on traditional pedagogical principles applied in higher education institutions with no regards to these students' age, physical characteristics, social roles and responsibilities.

The process of globalization and therefore the need in effective international communication poses the question for English language teachers: "How to teach foreign languages quickly and effectively?" In the presented article, we will define the peculiarities of teaching English to adult learners; consider the possibilities of using information and communication technologies for the implementation of the multi-sensory strategy in the process of teaching English for Professional Purposes to graduate students. Thus, the purpose of our study is to investigate the possibilities and effectiveness of multi-sensory learning strategies with the use of mobile applications in the process of teaching "English for Professional Purposes" to master degree students.

Main part. According to modern adult learning theory there is a set of characteristics, which define the difference between adult learners and "traditional" learners. These characteristics determine the teaching methods that will most successfully promote learning among the older population of students. Based on characteristic features of adult learners developed by adult education theorists, K. Rubenson (2011) argues that: adult learning is selective, and they are inclined to learn something only when they are interested in; adult learners are self-directed and they take responsibility for their learning [4, p. 49, 53]; they bring their experience and previous knowledge to the classrooms [1, p. 144]; they prefer a problem-centered approach in learning and the immediate use of the new knowledge; they rather study in the context that is different from traditional schooling. Using the adult learner characteristics listed above, several teaching methodologies have been determined to be effective when teaching adult learners. These methods can be described as self-directed, active, experiential, collaborative, and narrative [4].

The research by M. Savchyn shows that adults differ from young people in short-term verbal memory according to visual and auditory modality. The greatest indicators in terms of short-term memory have people at the age of 18-30; these rates constantly decrease at the age of 31-40. At the age of 18-35, long-term memory is constant, however, its level of development decreases at the age of 3640. After 40 years, we can observe the reduction in the level of memory development. Getting older, the individual's speed of reaction and creativity of thinking decreases, however, the capacity of logical memory and thinking increases [6].

Adults are often characterized by a higher level of motivation for learning and a pragmatic approach to educational services. However, learning foreign languages could be a difficult task for them. Adults tend to quit learning foreign languages because of the anxiety, low self-esteem or a language barrier. Nevertheless, any adult can master their language abilities by having understood the peculiarities of their own perceptions, the ways they use for the memorization of the material and the ability to communicate.

According to the characteristics of an adult learner listed above, we can conclude that important prerequisites for the successful English language teaching for adults are the use of strategies that apply their unique individual experience in the educational process; offer the possibility to choose from the variety of options;

allow the individualization of the teaching; provide practical experience during the classes; develop external and internal motivation of the learners [5].

The term "strategy" in a general sense means a plan of teaching activity, or a way of achieving some educational goals. The term "strategy of teaching" provides an answer to the question "What should be done to achieve the desired goal?" So, under the term "teaching strategy" we understand the organization and content of the process of interaction between a teacher and students, as well as the rules and forms of activity, roles of participants in the interaction, etc. Teaching strategies can improve the process of learning and make it more effective for students. Teaching strategies can be used not only by the teacher, but also by the students themselves, provided they learn the language independently or choose from different tasks or options. If the students direct the process of their own learning using definite strategies, they know what they need to learn and, most importantly, how they can do it most effectively. That means, the students can learn English in the way that suits them best and achieve the goal as quickly as possible.

One of the popular strategies widely used in language teaching practice is a multi-sensory strategy, which is based on five main senses of human beings (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell) [3]. Multi-sensory strategies use the student's preferred sense for receiving and processing information coming from the environment. On this basis, learners could be divided into visual, kinesthetic and auditory categories.

Effective teachers select and use the most appropriate approach for the learning task and the individual learner's situation. The choice of strategies is based on the assumption that each student has an individual way of receiving and processing information, so in a group of students each person learns in a different way. Knowing the learning style of each student, the teacher can influence the speed and efficiency of students' learning and increase the effectiveness of learning English for further usage in a chosen professional field.

One of the tools for the implementation of multi -sensory strategies is a mobile application, which allows the use of almost all human senses. For learning vocabulary at different language levels, the teacher can use the "Words - Learn Languages" app. The application allows the student to independently determine the number of words that they will learn in one class. The app shows the students a picture, the written word, its transcription, translation, meaning and examples of the use.

The "English words practice " application is designed to improve vocabulary skills in the classroom and at home. It consists of 7 levels and more than 3 000 words. The definition quizzes are used to reinforce learning, ensuring that students understand each word in a section before they continue. This application allows students to independently create a list of words that they want to learn. Student have the opportunity to determine the degree of memorization of a word - the program will repeat it until the student marks it as one he/she knows. Such applications allow the teacher to save time writing down and translating new words on the board. Analogous applications that convert paper cards to teach new words are: Thousand words, Flashcards, ReWord, Quizlet, Bright etc.

Auditory- and visual-oriented applications allow students to develop their listening comprehension and speaking skills. Texts that students can see and hear, native speaker's talks, videos with explanations can be used both to train reading and speaking skills. For instance, a student can listen to a native-speaker reading, and then try to reproduce that part of the text on their own, imitating the speaker's pronunciation. Such apps can also be used for self-dictation, when the student writes down the text from listening, and then independently checks the text from the app. The examples of the described applications are the "English listening and Practice", "TOEFL Prep & Practice", "Special English Listening" mobile apps, which contain a great number of texts on various topics and questions to them. The advantage of these applications is that the texts are read by native-speakers, men and women, radio and TV presenters.

"Read and Listen English Stories" application presents a collection of offline stories that could be converted into audio: short stories, myths, fairy tales, and novels. The app is a support for the teacher, who no longer needs to search and print texts, just use the application in class. Students, too, can install this application, then it can be used for reading, writing dictations and independent work with texts. "English reading assistant" application with more than 1 000 stories and books is also designed for students to improve their reading skills. Working with the text, the student can see the translation of the words and the examples of their usage in a sentence. Listening comprehension skills can be developed with the help of LearnEnglish Podcasts, Babbel, English Listening apps and others.

The effective instruments for implementing sensory strategies are short videos, deployed on the YouTube website or EdPuzzle platform. For example, teaching grammar will be fast and interesting if the rules are taught using videos with sounds and music. Students pay closer attention, when their senses of sight and sound are simultaneously engaged. They can see the rules on the screen, and hear how to use them correctly. The rules could be also presented in a form of a song or a cartoon. In order to activate the kinesthetic type of students, the teacher can propose a system of movements that students will perform while listening to the song.

The invention of Internet technology has destroyed boundaries of time and space. Today students have the opportunity to see, hear and interact with native speakers through the online programs. A great methodological help for teachers are the videos created by native-speaking English teachers which can be watched during the class (English teacher channels: English with Lucy, Learn English with

Rebecca, Speak English with Christina, Learn English with Ronnie, Learn English with Emma, Learn English with Gill and others).

To effectively implement sensory strategies, a teacher can use the Augmented Reality applications, which opens up a lot of possibilities. Augmented reality is a present-day technology that brings digital content in the form of 3D objects, sounds, and text elements into a real-world environment. AR in education helps students master a subject more efficiently by creating an immersive learning space. A real-time generated image (3-D graphics) is added to a photo taken with a phone's camera. This application can be used for the following reasons: to make classes more interesting, attractive, and evoke the emotions of students, which help them to receive new information quickly and qualitatively.

Conclusion

Presented analysis of the research on the specificity of teaching adult students, with the use of multi-sensory approach and English learning mobile applications allow us to conclude that mobile applications are an effective means for the implementation of multi-sensory strategies in the process of teaching English for Professional purposes to adult learners. The use of ICT tools contributes to the construction of a new model of student -centered teaching, which is aimed not only at the transfer of information, but also at the formation of students' ability to acquire knowledge independently, to improve their English communication competence. We see the prospect of further research on this issue in studying the use of ICT tools in the process of monitoring and evaluat ing students' academic performance, which include their readiness to professional activity in the conditions of information society.

Література

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9. References

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