Ïåäàãîãè÷åñêèå íàóêè/ 5. Ñîâðåìåííûå ìåòîäû
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Zhanysbay Moldir Darkhankyzy
S.Seifullin
Kazakh Agrotechnical University, Astana
Developing students’
communicative competence using YouTube in foreign language lessons
Abstract: This article discusses the types of communicative
competence and the ways of its development. Communicative competence is a very important
linguistic term which reflects language learners’ the grammatical knowledge of
syntax, morphology, phonology, as well as social knowledge of how and when to
use utterances appropriately. Author selected a range of activities using
YouTube to develop language skills. At the same time, author analyzes the results of the
practical work that was held during the internship.
Key
words: competence, communicative competence, linguistic competence, sociolinguistic
competence, YouTube, modern technologies.
As the main foreign language taught and employed in communication with
foreigners, the use of English has dramatically increased in Kazakhstan,
especially in the last decade. Our President N.A. Nazarbayev said in his speech
“85% of over 10 million books published all over the world
are in English. Science, development, informational technologies are conducted
in English. 3500 foreign companies work in Kazakhstan. We speak English with
them, and with their help we develop our industry” [1]. In
this speech he encourages Kazakh people to learn English, and with its help to
study many other sciences, that are developing throughout the world.
Nowadays communicative competence is a very important linguistic term
which reflects language learners’ the grammatical knowledge of syntax,
morphology, phonology, as well as social knowledge of how and when to use
utterances appropriately. [2, p 114] In 1966 this term appeared thanks to Dell
Hymes, a famous American linguist, sociolinguist and anthropologist. After that
communicative competence became the topic for discussion among lots of
linguistic scholars.
Listening and speaking. Since YouTube and other online videos are most
immediately observed through sight and sound, creative teachers can easily find
new ways to use them in listening and speaking or English conversation classes.
This section will list a few possible activities for EFL teachers, but this
list should not be considered exhaustive by any means.
● Conversation analysis: This activity is well suited for
intermediate to advanced students, and it can create a heightened awareness of
effective conversation techniques as well as common conversation problems that
can be avoided. In the activity, students view teacher-selected clips (or
browse YouTube and select clips for themselves) that demonstrate effective or
ineffective conversational techniques to reinforce material taught in class.
For example, students can find film or TV clips featuring conversations that
suffer because of a lack of follow-up or clarification questions.
Alternatively, students might search for videos in which a conversation is
effective because the members are supportive by using phrases to elicit more
information from each other. By searching through YouTube conversations for
targeted discussion techniques, students are critically evaluating discourse
and immersing themselves in English. Student effort can be assessed by the
number of illustrative conversations found on YouTube and how well the
conversations demonstrate concepts discussed in class. Additionally, this
project can be modified into a presentation in which students share their
videos with their classmates.
● Movie trailer voiceovers: This challenging listening and
speaking project can help advanced students recognize their pronunciation
difficulties and improve the quality of their spoken English. In the activity,
students select any two-minute movie preview from YouTube. Then students
transcribe the audio in the preview. After this, the video can be downloaded
from YouTube and stripped of its audio track using a free software program
called YouTube Downloader (http://youtubedownloader.com/). With the aid of their
transcriptions, students can then record their own voices while paying close
attention to mimicry and synchronization. Different students can do the voices
for different characters as well as narrate the trailer. Once the recording is
done, students can use Apple or Windows video editors to redub the preview.
This activity involves repeated close listening to create the transcript, and
then repeated recordings in which students attempt to recreate native-like
cadence, intonation, and pronunciation. Assessment is based on both listening
and speaking accuracy.
● Famous movie scene reenactments: This is a creative project that
is best suited for intermediate to advanced learners to improve the quality of
their spoken English in a very physical and dramatic way. Students can select a
famous scene from a movie--the death of Jack in the film Titanic, for
example--and then reenact it, either as a dramatic presentation in front of the
class, or in a video clip of their own. The reenactment could focus on any number
of concepts discussed in class. For example, if students have been learning
about sentence stress, then by doing reenactments, they would focus on (and
presumably, be evaluated according to) the accuracy of sentence stress in their
mimicry. Assessment is based on the quality of the reenactment, particularly in
the ways it reflects speech and pronunciation concepts discussed in class.
● Vlogging: This is a regular spoken activity that can be
performed by any student who has achieved even the lowest degree of
conversational proficiency. The activity allows for regular and extended
extemporaneous speaking practice. Vlogging is short for “video blog,” and blog
is short for “web log.” In essence, a vlog is an online diary in video form. A
number of notable vlogs have emerged on YouTube, and students can be directed
to them for extensive listening practice or for any other listening lesson in
which authentic English realia is needed. Of greater use is the students’
regular maintenance of their own vlog. This would entail them speaking before a
web-camera for a limited period of time, watching and evaluating their recorded
statements before deciding to post, and then watching and listening to the vlog
replies of their classmates or teacher. Due to YouTube’s privacy settings,
vlogs can be uploaded to YouTube in complete privacy and made available for
viewing only to the student in question, the instructor, and any invited
classmates. Assessment could be performed in accordance to overall student
pronunciation, level of vocabulary, use of grammar, and general
communicativeness [3, p115-117].
Reading and writing. At first glance, YouTube appears to lend itself
mainly to listening activities in a foreign language, but there are also
reading and writing activities that can be improved using YouTube. This section
lists two, but elements from the two can be expanded upon and blended with
other reading and writing activities.
● Note-taking and summarizing: Although this activity could be
used for high beginner and pre-intermediate level students, it works best for
students at the intermediate level or above. The note-taking and summarizing
activity requires students to use YouTube to listen to lectures on various
topics, take notes on the main points and important details, verbally check and
expand their notes with a partner, listen again to further expand their notes,
and then write summaries from their notes. They can then look at a transcript
of the clip and compare their summaries with those of their classmates and teachers.
If the students’ summaries differ considerably from the teacher’s, then the
teacher can point out why he or she chose the information included in the model
summary. For example, by pointing out specific discourse markers that indicate
an important piece of information in a text, teachers can illustrate what
students could look for in future encounters with similar texts. A good source
of speeches on a variety of topics is TED Talks. TED Talks are generally
limited to less than 20 minutes and most have a transcript available at the TED
Talks homepage (http://www.ted.com). While note-taking and summarizing are
difficult to master, both are essential academic writing skills and necessary
for numerous standardized proficiency tests. YouTube provides opportunities to
practice these skills with engaging materials. A normal assessment of notes can
be labor-intensive for the teacher as it involves checking which points have
been included, understood, and formulated properly. A possible alternative to
checking students’ notes would be to do as Flowerdew suggests, and use tasks
that require students to reintegrate knowledge from their notes, such as
writing a short essay on the topic or giving a brief oral report that can
instead be used for evaluation [4].
● “How-to” writing: The “how-to” paragraph (for beginners) or
essay (intermediate to advanced) is a genre that lends itself well to the use
of YouTube. The teacher first models the task for the students by choosing a
video of appropriate length and complexity, writing a step by step guide to
what is contained in the video, creating a close or sequencing activity, and
having students complete the activity. Students are then instructed to find a
video that interests them of similar length, complexity level, and topic. Next,
students create their own cloze or sequencing activity. Finally, students
exchange activities and try them out. It is easy for students to understand the
genre of how-to videos and any skills learned will often be used receptively
and productively in both real life and academic settings. Student assessment is
based on accuracy of writing the important elements of the video [3, p115-117].
References:
3.
Jon Watkins, Michael Wilkins, Using YouTube in the
EFL classroom, Language Education in Asia, 2011 – P. 115-117.
4.
Flowerdew, J., Academic listening: Research perspectives. Cambridge, England:
Cambridge University Press
– 1994.