Huseinova Z.N.
Azerbaijan State Agrarian
University
TEACHING ENGLISH IN UNIVERSITIES WITH
AGRONOMIC PROFILE
Key words: English for specific purposes, teaching and learning, vocabulary
awareness, differentiation criteria
Learning English
in universities with agronomic profile has a
number of features determined by
the variety of
the vocabulary, different number
of hours for
the specializations and different
degree of assimilation of English during high
school studies. For higher education students, who study at a university with
agronomic profile, learning English has some peculiarities due to the variety
of specialized knowledge they need to possess. This involves some specific
methods of teaching and learning.
Teaching English in universities with agronomic profile is necessary for
exceling in science. First of
all methods used for teaching the technical vocabulary to the first year
students must be determined. The technical texts that are studied during the
first year are those related to different types of cereals, such as wheat,
maize, oats, barley, rice and millet. There is also a unit that deals with the
history of food processing and types of preserving foodstuffs [1-3].
The vocabulary awareness has in view various
types of exercises, such as: true or false exercises and answering questions
synonyms and antonyms, matching words,
word-building types of
exercises, find the
mistakes in a
given text, translation
of technical texts. Typical mistakes have been found and
we propose ways of correcting them.
We noticed that
during the students’
performance the most
frequent mistakes were
those related to pronunciation. When learning the new
vocabulary, the students confused words, trying to use the more common one;
moreover, they misspelled and misused words.
First of all we must conduct a survey of the first year students, their
level of language and their method of learning. Analyzing the initial
tests handed in
to the 1-st year students
we can state that, even
if they studied English both
during secondary school and during high school, the
majority (60-70%) do
not master the basic
grammatical structures and
vocabulary. The differentiation criteria are varied: the knowledge they possess,
the power of assimilation, motivation, interest in
research in general and
English in particular,
temperament, imagination, effort, socio-cultural environment etc.
We thus conclude
that all these factors create distinct individuals who are equal in number to
the students in a group. Agronomy program combines classroom instruction with
hands-on, practical experience. Students gain an academic foundation in
genetics, chemistry, biology, and other scientific fundamentals. They also have
the opportunity to work on farms, while participating in extension programs and
research projects. In these real-world learning environments, students get a
practical first-hand education in all aspects of the plant sciences. Many of
the students take advantage of internships with some of the top companies in
the agricultural industry. So it is necessary to teach the students not only
general knowledge in English but also professional one in order to realize all
their plans. All mentioned above lead us to the idea that for
teachers of English
the most important factor
should be the
students: their needs, reasons
for wanting to
learn, the special skills or their lack, their method
of learning. One of the tasks of the
teacher in preparing
lessons is to establish clear
learning objectives, appropriate to
the content of
teaching, students' knowledge level, their interests, behavior and what
they need to
know until the
end of the course. Teach students how to learn means to form skills,
abilities and intellectual work techniques that ensure higher efficiency in
education. Developing projects on subjects
of their own specialization will require students
to consult dictionaries, use
specific vocabulary both
in writing and in
speech when they
presented their projects in
front of their colleagues. With the
help of the teachers and by
learning how to
learn, the students will acquire
the English language as they work
with materials they
find interesting and relevant as they can
use them in
their work or further studies [2-4].
The
investigations conducted on the first year students show that over 65% of them
present little information on the acquisition of English vocabulary and
structures. Of the methods we
tested in order
to motivate them to
thoroughly learn the
English language, we found out that the students agree the eclectic
method.
References:
1.
Basturkmen,
H., (2006) – Ideas and Options in English for Specific Purposes.
2.
Fiorito, L.,
(2005) Teaching English for Specific Purposes.
3.
Hutchinson,
T., A. Waters, (2006) – English for Specific
Purposes: a Learning-Centered Approach,
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
4.
Mihalache,
R., (2010) – English for 1st Year Students in Technology of
Processing Agricultural Products, EdituraTehnopress, Iaşi.