Педагогические науки/ 2. Проблемы подготовки специалиста

Ніколаєнко О.В.,

Ушата Т.О.,

Чернігівській державний інститут економіки і управління

INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES

The current stage of the civilized society development is characterized by the process of informatization. It’s a global social process, within which collection, reservation, processing, storage, transfer and use of information is carried out by means of modern means of communication. The introduction of modern information technologies into the system of education gives an opportunity to improve the mechanisms of the education system management by means of communications chain use, methods forms and content in compliance with the of student’s personality development under current conditions of the society informatization. It helps in forming the skills of acquiring knowledge, carrying out research, using computer systems for diagnostics, testing and knowledge control independently.

Higher educational establishments prefer using active methods of teaching, which are directed at forming students’ independence, flexibility, critical thinking. The most powerful source of the students’ cognitive activity, developing their creativity, interests, skills and other mental characteristics is innovative technologies. Innovative educational technologies are, first of all, information and communications technologies, closely connected with computerized education application. The main issues in innovative technologies use are the structure of computer training programs, their content and optimal arranging of Web-environment. Knowing a foreign language, especially English, which has become the language of international communication, makes a specialist of any sphere more competitive at labour-market. Educative role of a foreign language is connected with the ability to use the sources of information, timely access to which is almost impossible without knowing the language, with broadening general and professional outlook, with acquiring the skills of communication with foreign partners, with increasing the speech habits. Educative potential is realized in readiness to promote establishing intercultural relations, understanding spirituals values of other peoples. Inestimable help for students in mastering a foreign language can provide Internet. The global web gives a unique opportunity for foreign language learners to use authentic texts, communicate with native-speakers, creating natural language environment and forming the abilities of intercultural cooperation. Access to the information web Internet creates incentives to know a foreign language fluently. Internet as a means of transferring information is especially urgent for students’ independent work after classes. While surfing the Internet students acquire the abilities to gain knowledge independently, to work with big amounts of information, to analyze information, to see and solve the problems.

Nowadays teaching foreign languages at higher educational establishments undergoes great changes. New information technologies, such as Internet, audio and video complexes, multimedia training computer programs are widely used.

Multimedia technologies are a set of different means of teaching: texts, graphic presentations, music, video and animation in the interactive mode. New training environment creates additional opportunities for students’ creativity development, promotes their curiosity, and fosters their interest to the research work.

Purposeful use of the Internet materials at foreign language classes of non-linguistic higher educational establishments gives an opportunity to effectively solve a number of didactic tasks. They are:

- improving reading skills;

- enlarging the vocabulary with the modern foreign words;

- improving monological and dialogical speech skills, discussing the materials of the web;

- Forming stable motivation to foreign language activity while discussing the problems, interesting for everybody.

Great opportunities in the process of teaching foreign languages are provided by the Internet for acquiring communicative skills in written form. For the purposes of teaching foreign languages such forms of written speech are used: free communication in the web and e-mail communication.

Equipping higher educational establishments with computers enables to actively use computer programs in teaching foreign languages. It is practically proved, that they have some advantages over traditional methods of teaching. Computer programs provide huge information capacity, intensification of each student’s independent work, creating communicative situation personally significant for everybody, increasing cognitive students’ activity, and promoting motivation.

Modern multimedia programs are an effective means of mental work conditions optimization. The forms of work with computer training programs at the foreign language classes include learning the vocabulary, working on pronunciation, teaching monological and dialogical speech, teaching writing and grammar. At the English language classes we can solve a number of didactic problems using the Internet materials, enlarge students’ vocabulary and form their reading skills, improve their writing skills, create stable motivation for learning a foreign language. For students multimedia technologies are a way, by means of which they broaden their idea of their visual environment. Using multimedia technologies provides a more complete and exact information about the phenomena and objects being studied. It improves the quality of study, allows satisfying and developing students’ cognitive interests, increasing visualization of study, giving an opportunity to use difficultly available materials, or materials which are impossible to use without a computer. Students’ work becomes more intensive. It allows increasing the pace of learning training material and enlarging the amount of independent work at classes and after them.

There are teaching, training, and controlling computer programs. These programs are widely used in students’ independent and home work while learning foreign languages. During the independent work on the material using the computer provides

- free mode of operation,

- unlimited time of work,

- exclusion of subjective factors,

- maximum support while mastering a foreign language.

Computerized means of control increase the efficiency of independent work, immediacy of getting results, objectivity in giving marks.

The efficient use of multimedia technologies in the process of study is possible only provided, that these technologies are harmoniously and reasonably integrated in this process and provide new opportunities for both, teachers and students.

It should be mentioned, that using multimedia technologies cannot provide significant pedagogical effect without a teacher, as these technologies are only methods of teaching, the efficiency of which depends on the teachers’ skills of using them for succeeding in certain pedagogical aims on the basis of studying all their opportunities. It’s necessary for every teacher to understand, that a computer in the process of teaching is not a mechanical teacher, not a substitute or analogue of a teacher, but a means, increasing and enlarging the opportunities of teaching activity. Electronic dictionaries and encyclopedias, multimedia courses including audio and video materials, e-books, newspapers, magazines in the language of the original, educational sites and forums, all these give an opportunity more fully to see the social and cultural peculiarities of the subject studied, and acquire comprehensive information on this or that issues.

Using multimedia programs doesn’t exclude traditional methods of teaching, but harmoniously combine with them at all levels: familiarization, training, application and control. But using computer allows not only to increase the efficiency of study, but also to encourage students to further independent learning of the language. In order to achieve best results, it’s necessary to study carefully all components of the educational process.

In the XXI century intensification and modernization of education require the application of such innovative technologies, which tend to cultivate a creative personality in the intellectual and emotional dimensions. Such innovative technologies are: developing study, projecting, problem study, level differentiation, test system, gaming study, plunging in a foreign language culture, cooperative study, self-education, autonomy, integration, health caring, research, information communicative and personality-oriented technologies. Under such conditions cognitive versatile actions are one of the main components of educational standards. Cognitive versatile actions include:

- actions on data mining;

- abilities to orientate oneself in the system of knowledge be aware of the necessity of new knowledge;

- the ability to make preselection of information sources for new knowledge search.

The technology of problem study involves realizing cognitive and creative goals independently through critical reconsideration and multiplication of knowledge and skills. It allows realizing the conditions of forming the students’ cognitive versatile actions: creating the atmosphere of co-authorship in communication, involving students’ emotional sphere, personal students’ interests, joint search for the truth, self-estimation, self-correction, self-sufficiency.

One of the ways to brisk up the work of students while teaching foreign languages is projecting (method of projects), when a student makes independent planning, creating, defending his project; i.e. takes active part in the process of communicative activity. Training project is a complex of searching, investigating, calculating, graphic and other kinds of activity, carried out by the students independently in order to solve an urgent problem practically or theoretically. The main tasks of projecting methods are:

- self-actualization and self-perfection of the students, increasing the motivation of study, cognitive interest formation;

- implementation of the acquired abilities and skills, developing speech habits, the abilities to competently and reasonably present the researched material, to moderate debate;

- showing the level of culture, education and social maturity.

There are such types of projects:

- role games, dramatizations (TV shows, parties etc.);

- research ones (country study, generalization of scientific knowledge, historical etc.);

- creative ones (compositions, translation, wall newspapers etc.);

- multimedia presentations.

Method of projects helps develop language and mental skills, stable interest to learning a foreign language, need of self-education. Finally, it’s expected to achieve communication competency, i.e. certain level of language, country study, social and cultural knowledge, communication skills, speech habits, which enable to realize foreign communication. Realization of the research and project methods leads to the change of the teacher’s position. From the source of knowledge he turns to organizer of cognitive activity.

So, innovative technologies, having been mentioned above, significantly enrich and diversify the process of teaching foreign languages. Intellectual, creative search comes up to take the place of monotonous work. It helps to create a personality of a new type, active, purposeful, directed on constant self-education and development. Thus, information technologies favour the efficiency increase of the study process, its individualization, active pedagogical cooperation of teachers and students; create optimal conditions for creative use of information in students’ independent cognitive activity. Computers application encourages the optimization of teaching management, efficiency increase of study process, saves teachers’ time for the work with teaching material, simplifying its search, analysis, selection and gives an opportunity of application of new organizational forms of teaching.

Literature:

1. Матвеева, Н.В. Применение компьютерных технологий при обучении иностранному языку / Н.В. Матвеева // Информатика и образование. – 2006. - №6. – С.35-38.

2. Захарова, Н.Н. Педагогические технологии в медиа образовании / Н. Н. Захарова // Иностранные языки в школе. – 2006. - №7. – С.62-65.