"Pedagogical sciences" / 2. Problems of training of specialists

 

Kurtas H. V.

Communal establishment of Sumy regional institute of postdegree pedagogical education, Ukraine

 

FOREIGN-LANGUAGE RETRAINING OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND PEDAGOGICAL STAFF IN THE SYSTEM OF POSTDEGREE EDUCATION

 

Currently in the process of integration of the higher school of Ukraine into uniform European educational space special significance is attached to the strengthened foreign language retraining of the teaching staff of higher educational institutions. The main objective of language education in system of postdegree pedagogical education is professional and foreign-language retraining of teachers to active cross-cultural communication in the context of the professional and scientific activity. The knowledge of a foreign language admits today by one of the main common cultural competences of the modern teacher that is reflected in the state educational standards of higher education. However in practice the foreign-language preparation of the scientific and pedagogical staff which is carried out within traditional system of training is insufficient for the solution of pedagogical tasks in modern conditions. Need of development of model of foreign-language retraining of teachers of the higher school which could correspond to the social order of society and real needs of the expert for knowledge of a foreign language is obvious.

We note that at the present stage of social development the teacher has to fill up constantly the volume of knowledge and improve skills. Successful professional activity is impossible without analysis of foreign scientific researches, exchange of information and practical experience, therefore, the knowledge of a foreign language belongs to the general, nonspecific requirements that in general confirms need of high-quality foreign-language preparation.

The purposes of foreign-language retraining of the teaching staff in the system of postdegree pedagogical education depend primarily on the requirements of modern society to the level of education of the individual teacher. It is also necessary to note that the new understanding of the purposes of foreign-language training is connected with the main postulates of a modern paradigm of education, namely: orientation to education continuity, priority of independent work, self-checking and a self-esteem, readiness to work with modern sources of information, a training orientation on mastering communicative skills and abilities. The modern understanding of the purposes of training in a foreign language is also presented in documents of the Council of Europe: the development of skills of communication in language for the solution of daily questions, exchange of information in a foreign language, ability to pass the thoughts and feelings in the course of communication, to understand culture, a way of life of other people.

In the course of foreign-language retraining the purpose definitely influences the content, methods and forms of education. As a rule, in the process of learning a foreign language the following interconnected purposes are realized: practical, educational, educative and developing. In foreign-language retraining of teachers the practical purposes are directed, first of all, on language acquisition in the context of professional communication; the educational purposes are directed on increase of the general culture, on receiving subject and intersubject knowledge, on mastering various skills; the developing purposes are aimed at the development intellectual, emotional and motivational spheres of the personality, at formation of consciousness and a personal reflection; the educational purposes – on formation of scientific outlook, responsibility, tolerance, moral of the identity of the expert. In the course of foreign-language retraining of teachers the practical, educational, developing and educational purposes are defined by the social order of society: formation of such level of communicative competence of the expert which would allow carrying out effectively professional activity in the foreign-language environment of communication. This task is feasible by means of introduction to curricula of higher educational institutions of system of postdegree formation of a new subject matter "Foreign-language mobility of the teacher" which purpose is practical minimum mastering a foreign language, and successful development will allow to use it not only in daily communication, and mainly in the context of professional and scientific activity. The specific goals of this discipline are the achievement of the following results of foreign-language retraining of teachers:

1. The nobility at the level of representations: the main lexicon of general scientific style, and also basic terminology in the field of narrow specialization; the main grammatical phenomena, characteristic for the general scientific and professional speech; requirements to the written professional text, requirements to the public speech, modes of work with the scientific and professional text; methods of preparation of a public statement; content of the concepts "speech etiquette", "politeness"; at the level of reproduction: to reproduce the main lexicon of general scientific style, and also terms of area of specialization in the speech; to reproduce in the speech basic grammatical designs, characteristic for general scientific and professional styles of the speech; to state personal and others' thought in an oral and written form according to requirements to this type of the text; to participate in scientific discussion; at the level of understanding: to understand the oral monological and dialogical speech on subjects of general scientific and professional character; to understand the main information of texts professionally of character on a wide and narrow profile of the studied specialty;

2. To be able: to work with primary (the scientific article, theses, the report) both secondary scientific and professional texts (the plan, theses, the abstract, the bibliographic description, the summary, an essay); to use directory literature and the Internet sources; to participate in scientific discussion, to do presentations and reports on professional subjects; to respect the rules of speech behavior in various spheres and situations of professional communication;

3. Mastering the skills of all types of speech activity of oral and written communication for communication in situations of general scientific and professional character: 1) possession of all types of reading original literature, including: fact-finding reading with a speed of 180-200 words/min. without dictionary; the number of unknown words doesn't exceed 4-5% in relation to total number of words in the text; the studying reading; the number of unknown words doesn't exceed 8% in relation to total number of words in the text; use of the dictionary is allowed; 2) possession of  of speaking skills: participation in dialogue, expression of certain communicative intentions (inquiry/reporting of information – additional detailing, specifying, illustrating, estimated, clarification of opinion of the interlocutor, expression of own opinion on the received information, expression of approval / discontent, evasion from the answer); the message (the monological statement of professional character in volume of not less than 15-18 phrases in 4 minutes in normal tempo of speech); 3) possession of skills of audition: understanding of the oral message of the professional character (in a monological and dialogical form) relating to the sphere and a situation of professional communication in normal tempo of speech; 4) possession of skills of the letter: possession of the main skills of written communication in the professional and scientific purposes; possession of the main methods of annotation, summarizing; 5) possession of skills of an adequate translation of literature in the specialty.

Monitoring should be carried out in the form of written testing and offset which structurally consists of three parts: 1) reading and translation from a foreign language in Ukrainian of the original text in the specialty using a dictionary; the volume of the text is 1000-1200 printed characters, execution time – 45 minutes; a check form – reading aloud a fragment from the text, check of the translation prepared in writing; 2) fact-finding reading the original text of general scientific character without use of the dictionary; the volume of the text is 1500-2000 printed signs, time of reading 10-12 minutes; reading comprehension is checked in the form of oral summarizing in English and answers to the examiner's questions which can concern both concrete contents of the text, and interpretation and its assessment; 3) conversation in English on subjects: chosen specialty (maintenance of a subject; history of development of this area of science; outstanding scientists of the corresponding area of science; the latest developments in the chosen area); scientific research of the master (problem, condition of a problem, purpose, task, research method, equipment, results, conclusions).

Besides, an important way of optimization of foreign-language retraining is the use of modern information and communicative technologies and the organization of independent work of teachers as they promotes the solution of general educative and educational tasks: improving the skills of foreign-language communicative communication, increase motivation to learn language, all-round development of the identity of the teacher, and also answers an ultimate goal of foreign-language retraining in system of postdegree education – improving the skills of foreign-language communicative competence. In summary we will note that foreign-language retraining of teachers in system of postdegree education possesses high educational potential: it promotes the solution of a problem of continuous development of the personality and is a source of replenishment of its professional knowledge, a basis of formation and development of communicative skills; fills a great demand of society on highly qualified specialists.

References:

1.                               Evdokimova M.G. Problems of the theory and practice of information and communicative technologies of training foreign languages: [monograph] / M.G. Evdokimova. – M.: MIET, 2004. – Page 312-314.

2.                               Solovova E.N. Methods of training foreign languages: the advanced course: [manual for students and teachers of pedagogical higher education institutions] / E.N. Solovova. – Moscow: AST: Astrel, 2008. – Page 272-274.

3.                               Tyurina S.Yu. Foreign-language component of training of undergraduates of technical college / S.Yu. Tyurina//Basic researches. – 2012. – ¹. 3-2. – Page 315-319.