Педагогические  науки/ 5.Современные методы преподавания

Teacher Utegulova G.

Teacher Akeshova N.

A.Yasawi International Kazakh-Turkish University

Turkestan, Republic of Kazakhstan

THE WAYS OF FORMING СOMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN TEACNING FOREIGN LANGUAGE ON THE BASE OF COMPETENT APPROACH

The globalization era has affected peoples’ lives which demand people to build networks across nations and languages as well as to build interdependencies. This era of information is not only occuring in terms of knowledge and technology but also in terms of politics, social economy, culture as well as education. These development challenges give implications towards the important roles of education to produce qualified human resources.

The idea of «competence» is not a new one in methodology of teaching foreign languages. Competence is a totality of interrelated qualities of a person (knowledge, skills, experience, command of methods of working), assigned with respect to a certain sphere of objects and processes and necessary for efficient and productive activity in respect to them [1]. Competence is translated from the Latin «competentia» means a subject a person is versed in, a special area of knowledge and experience. A person who is competent in a certain area possesses a certain standard of knowledge and skills which makes it possible for him to judge soundly about this very area and act efficiently in it. Level of Competence refers to the possession of a relevant competence including a personal attitude towards it and towards the object of activity. Competence is understood as a requirement (norm) relation to the standard of achievement of a pupil and Level of Competence is understood as his personal quality or totality of qualities and a minimum experience in the relevant activity. A level of competence achieved is always something which has a personal dimension to it, which is reflected in a pupil’s personal qualities [2].

Communicative competence is ability for successful professional activity. Communicative competence is an ability to solve by means of foreign language communicative problems important for an individual and for society, arising in the everyday, educational, professional or cultural spheres of life. It is an ability to realize linguistic competence in different situations of communication. The pragmatic aspects of communicative competence are those that have to do with how language is used in communication situations to achieve the speaker's purposes. It includes knowledge of didactics, psychology, linguistics, psycholinguistics, theory and methods of teaching foreign languages and other sciences which are important for a successful and effective activity of possession of professional skills (constructive, organizational, communicative) and skills in organizing students’ activity and in the management of this activity. Communicative competence is one of the main goals of teaching foreign language. And this competence includes: linguistic competence, speech competence, discourse competence, cultural competence, linguo-cultural competence, strategic competence, social competence, sociolinguistic competence, functional competence, socio cultural competence and others [3].

Nowadays there is a great variety of methods of forming communicative competence of future ecologısts in teaching foreign languages (TFL) on the base of competent approach. Some have had their heyday and have fallen into relative obscurity; others are widely used now, or have small following, but generally accepted mix, still others are just appearing to be adapted and approved by teachers in various teaching contexts. We present an overview of some modern methods and techniques used in TFL to form communicative competence such as the case study method, language portfolio, writing essays and doing research, designing and delivering oral presentations and team teaching. The choice of the teaching practices described was determined by their accordance with the following pedagogic concepts: competent approach; problem-solving approach; vocational orientation in TFL; learner-centered approach.

One of the most well-known, though still receiving little use is the case study method, which appeared as a distinctive approach as far as in the beginning of the 20^th century. Case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit (as an event, a person or type of behavior, institutional group or culture) stressing developmental factors in relation to environment. This is a method of method of research by which accumulated case histories are analyzed as primary authorities instead of textbooks [4]. Normally in FLT to form communicative competence the text of a case study is up to 2 pages long includes such sections as: background or introductory information, description of an event or problem definition, and a presentation of issues for group discussion.

Case studies for communicative competence should be based on realistic professional or everyday problems and situations, and designed to motivate and actively engage future ecologists. Typically learners are involved in discussions on particular problems and work out solutions or recommendations through their active group work. Case studies are also excellent topics for dialogues. It is common that each case study ends with a realistic writing task reflecting the real world of professional correspondence [5].

To be successful in using case studies a teacher should take into consideration the level of future ecologists’ language knowledge. The best choice would be using it with the learners groups of intermediate or advanced level, who may have certain problems in grammar, pronunciation or vocabulary use, but for the most part are at ease with speaking the FL.

Classroom applications of the case study method include: free discussions; directed discussions; group research work; written task, and other types of activities.

Language Portfolio is a set of documents that contains information about future ecologists’ language skills- writing, reading, speaking, listening, and translation, and samples of those skills. It promotes language learning and the development of cultural competence. Most often it consists of three parts: a language passport, a language biography and a dossier. Its language passport allows language learners to summarize their language experiences and to describe them in a meaningful way using the terminology of an international rating scale. The language biography focuses on the five C’s of language learning: Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons, and Communities. It provides learners with an opportunity to assess for themselves their language learning progress in five skill areas. It also encourages them to set personal goals in language learning and intercultural competence development, and to plan strategies to meet their individual goals. The dossier both stores samples of a learner’s speaking and writing, and documents results of the learner’s language tests and other professional certifications.

Teachers can use the Language Portfolio technique to help their students become more autonomous. Universities can use it to develop a whole-school language policy and approaches to LT. Besides the Language Portfolio can be used in programmes of teacher education and development (pre-service and in-services) to encourage reflective, learner-centered approaches to language learning and promote awareness of the international language assessment criteria. While the language passport provides a summary in the owner’s proficiency in a FL, the language biography and dossier provide employers with a more detailed picture of his or her language and intercultural skills. Thus the Language Portfolio can later be used in recruitment and workplace language training.

An essay is usually a short piece of writing, which is often written from an author’s personal point of view and requires an independent research. In each vocational course future ecologists should be advised to read books in a FL and complete the given tasks related to their study in the essay format. The reading of both exclusively professional and non-professional texts in FL selected according to the students’ level and the progress in the study programme is of great significance and should be widely accepted in TFL at technical universities.

Essay is a good introduction to patterned writing which is the basis for much more complicated writing that is done later in personal and professional life. Future ecologists are taught to produce generative essay writing, developing the plan, drafting, seeking and receiving feedback, revising, proof-reading, and reflecting along with the development of the skills to searching and selecting information form additional sources such as the internet, specialized journals and other special publications. Teachers should not mark errors at all on early drafts, especially with non-linguistic students. Even on later or final drafts not every error should be marked in order not to make the process of writing seem too difficult and de-motivating.

It is recommended that the major writing assignments had links between them, that is a project begun in an earlier essay should lead in some way to a later essay. Future ecologists should self-assess their works repeatedly-they should be asked to write reflections about their essays on the days they turn them in. Their reflections should be not only evaluative but also descriptive: they should show the understanding of how they write, and putting it in writing will help them. Learning to write essays improves future ecologists’ critical thinking skills, develops their ability to systematically compare and contrast subjects, and encourages creativity and originality.

Making oral presentations is one of the important components of a FL course as it develops student’s oral presentation and public speaking skills. Asking future ecologists to give presentations gives the following benefits:

- it gives the presenting learner a good opportunity to practice unaided speaking;

- it gives the other students good listening practice;

- it increases the presenting student’s confidence when using a FL;

- it can be a good diagnostic and assessment device;

- it can be good practice for the real situation when students may actually need to give presentations in a FL in their professional lives;

- it is an excellent generator of spontaneous discussion and\or essay topics.

The presentation task usually follows the tasks on conducting research and writing essays, but sometimes it needs an independent research to be done. In accordance with the problem-solving approach tasks on designing presentations require student’s independence and responsibility. However the teacher should assist students in going over the stages of preparation for the presentation, working on its different parts, discuss possible problems with delivery and evaluation of presentations. After all students have to present collected information alive, in front of their peers being ready to give additional comments and answer questions. Using the visual presentation as a support, students talk on professional, specified topics providing the listeners with greater knowledge and clearer understanding. This can not only increase the student’s awareness of public speaking in a FL, but also invite other students to provide feedback, thus promoting communication.

Team teaching in the most general sense encompasses a wide variety of arrangements. One specific form, which has become quiet prevalent in recent years, is having two teachers in the classroom teaching simultaneously. Very often these are FL teachers accompanied by the native speaking assistants of the target language. Besides, there is another type of teachers’ cooperation-interdisciplinary teaching, which is organized across different curricular disciplines.

For example, a FL and a computer science teacher might work together to form an interdisciplinary unit on professional communication in IT industry. The professional communication would be unifying idea , but the English teacher would link it to Language Arts by studying vocabulary and formats, and teaching students how to design letters, faxes, documents, etc. The science teacher might teach students about the real communication systems that exist at enterprises in IT industry, present the service hierarchies, highlight the communication flows, and help them research the local companies.

One of the advantages of team teaching is that it inevitably produces a lower teacher-student ratio, but having two teachers in the class sharing turns speaking does not accomplish this. Only by running separate activities, dividing the class into two teams-having both teachers circulate and interact with students is the ratio effectively lowered. Ideally, both teachers should be actively involved in managing and teaching most of the class time.

There are six ways to implement team teaching into a classroom:

1. both teachers are teaching together (teachers act simultaneously);

2. one teaches, one observes;

3. subgroup teaching-subgroups are set up and cover specific topics simultaneously being moderated by the teachers. The other groups, without teachers, are doing work being self-directed by the students;

4. parallel teaching- teachers act separately, but in one classroom;

5. alternative teaching- one teacher a smaller part, usually those who are behindhand;

6. one teaches, one assists answering specific questions on the subject.

Clear communication on the part of both members of the teaching team is essential to the success of the relationship and the realization of teaching objectives. Communication is perhaps rendered more difficult for teams made up of teachers from different cultural backgrounds which value radically different communication styles. Personal conflicts, whether they are gender-based, cultural or personal have no place within classroom. Despite any differences of opinion, each teacher should remain respectful and professional towards the other in the classroom. Students will be quick to pick up on any tensions and may try to exploit them. In the classroom, the most important people are the students-teachers should set aside personal difficulties and make teaching their number one priority.

Team teaching in FL instruction requires thorough planning and preparation as well as following some rules and requirements:

1. flexibility of the teachers, their being ready to change the class planning according to the current situation;

2. compatibility of the teachers, both personal and professional, implying trust, cooperativeness, conciliatory spirit, and commitment to collaborative practice;

3. equal status of the teachers and their responsibilities, regardless of their age, experience and education;

4. common goal orientation and joint coordination of activities;

5. using teaming approaches for problem-solving and programme implementation;

The advantages of the teaching methods and techniques mentioned above are numerous and their employment contributes to the development of the following student’s skills and abilities:

1. Language learning and intercultural skills.

2. Communication skills: written, oral and non-verbal.

3. Critical thinking skills.

4. Reflective learning abilities.

5. Organizational skills and professional knowledge.

6. Collaborative learning and team working skills.

7. Life-long learning habits.

8. Managerial and workplace communication skills such as holding a meeting, describing a project, solving a problem, negotiating a contact, giving a presentation, etc.

All of these methods and techniques force future ecologists into real- life situations and require them to get involved into managerial and workplace communication.

It should be noted that one of the main ideas of introducing these methods and techniques into FL courses is to provide opportunities for realistic learning situations, in particular to enable students to learn and use a EL in tasks related to and facilitating their study of other university courses. The case study method, language portfolio, essays and research, oral presentations and teaching in teams are the areas of the most pronounced collaboration between a FL and other university courses as the tasks should be set in such a way to include the content covered as assignments or projects in professional courses. This not only enables the connecting of the professional knowledge and language knowledge in a meaningful way , but also promotes peer and collaborative learning in a realistic environment, which is one of the key methodological recommendations in contemporary FLT.

Summarizing from the findings above, it can be stated that competency-based curriculum is not entirely applied by most of the teachers under observation. The ‘competency’ is applied in the level of lesson plans and even though it is applied in the classroom, the application only touched the ‘surface’ level and did not really touch the intended level expected by the curriculum, yet. Based on this reality, it can be stated the communicative competence of learners was not adequately performed. For that reason it is suggested that the learners competencies need to be continuously improved not by theoretical training only but also by providing them with concrete models and examples through their professional activities.

References

1. Webster’s Third Edition International Dictionary of English Language, unabridged. - Merriam Webster Incorporated, 1993 - p. 346.

2. Widdowson H.G. Aspects of Language Teaching.-Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990. - P. 218-260

3. Standards for Foreign Language Learning in the 21^st Century, 1999. Borrowed from: http//

Global teaching learning. Com/standards/5cs.shtml on August 20, 2009 - p. 135

4. Brown G., Malmkjaer K., Williams J. Performance and Сcompetence in Second Language Acquisition - Cambridge University Press, 1996. – p. 25-34

5. Suntsova, E. N., Burmakova, E. A. The Use of case Study Method in Foreign Language Teaching // Прикладная филология: идеи, концепции, проекты: Сб. ст. Межд. научно- Практич.конф.,Часть 1. -Томск: Издательство ТПУ,2008. – C. 87-94.