Педагогические науки/ 2. Проблемы подготовки специалистов

Senior teacher L.R. Sadykova

Almetyevsk State Oil Institute, Republic of Tatarstan, Russia

Innovative techniques in teaching English for special purposes in technical universities

Learning English plays an important role in a modern technical university and it is an important component in the training of specialists for different branches of the economy. The introduction of innovative methods of teaching English language becomes relevant and is of great practical importance.

The skillful combination of traditional teaching methods with modern technology features helps to make the atmosphere in the audience creative and enhances the motivation of students.

English for Special Purposes (ESP) is taught all over the world in different directions. In the context of the dynamic development process of international integration and exchange of information specialists in any industry, in addition to traditional training, there must be a tool that allows efficient and effective exchange of professional information. Language for special purposes appears for such a tool.

A question on a single program of foreign language for non-language high schools became vitally important which would take into account requirements for the level of foreign language knowledge of modern graduates.

Today, there exist a program recommended by the scientific and methodological council on foreign languages of Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation headed by its chairman Professor Ter - Minasova S.G. [1]. It is based on the following provisions recorded in contemporary documents for the modernization of higher education:

- knowledge of foreign languages is an integral part of training of all specialists in high school;

- foreign language course is multi-level and developed in the context of continuing education;
- learning a foreign language is based on an integrated multidisciplinary basis;
- learning a foreign language is aimed at comprehensive development of communicative, cognitive, information, socio-cultural, professional and overall cultural competence of students.

Teachers of ESP play an important role in the professional education. The main objectives of ESP teacher are the selection and organization of teaching materials, preparation of effective training programs and plans to obtain the desired results of training, support students' motivation, their investment and effort. Another important element of the work in the groups of ESP is to provide students’ feedback with a teacher as for the organization of the control of the learning process as well as for the organization of advisory assistance to students.

In compiling the course one should consider that the concept of "communicative competence" of students is not seen as the sum of their knowledge and skills, but also as a set of personal characteristics of students (axiological orientations, knowledge, skills and abilities). Evaluation criteria is their ability to solve problems and find their own answers to the questions that arise in the course of professional, educational and social, cultural and everyday communication in a foreign language.

An important element in teaching ESP is the ability of the teacher to create a classroom atmosphere for live communication and constructive debate. Students acquire stable communication skills only when they have the opportunity to use them to communicate with others, they are especially predisposed to focus on the material closely connected with their specialization, in particular, students of engineering specialties.

English should be presented in an authentic context in order to acquaint students with specific ways of using the language they need to be able to apply for their specialties or work [2].

Today, unfortunately, the teacher of ESP has very limited material to work in the classroom - it is primarily "manuals" with texts on students’ specialty with a limited set of tasks to them. Therefore, most specialists on ESP often use their own materials in teaching ESP, specially designed for the special purposes and needs of their students.

Interactive boards are actively used in the classroom for various activities, projectors, Internet communications are useful while working with the professional vocabulary and terminology, viewing training videofilms and clips, and working with internet resources.

The group discussions and project works are also effective forms of training in the work with ESP students. Another modern trend in teaching English for professional purposes is holding a debate. Even at the stage of preparation for the debate students have to mobilize all their knowledge and ability of speaking a foreign language, to use their critical thinking and develop lateral thinking [3, 4].

All these methods are useful for autonomous (self) education in order to prepare students for research activity, encouraging their motivation to demonstrate the results of the work and experience of teamwork.

Thus, despite the fact that teaching ESP is focused on the practical professionally-oriented use, as well as any other aspect of English language teaching, it is based on knowledge of the nature of language, basic knowledge on the methods and forms of teaching and learning. A combination of traditional teaching methods and new technologies, including the use of a virtual environment to support the motivation of students, is becoming one of the productive approaches in teaching ESP.

References:

1. Примерная программа обучения иностранному языку в вузах неязыковых специальностей URL: http://www.eltrussia.ru/articles_52.html (30/04/2013).

2. Using English [Электронный ресурс] URL: http://www. usingenglish.com/articles/ teaching-english-for-specific-purposes- esp.html (30/04/2013).

3. Халперн Д. Психология критического мышления. – 4-е междунар изд. – СПб.: Питер, 2000. – 512 с.

4. Боно Э. Использование латерального мышления [Электронный ресурс] URL: http://lib100.com/book/lateralnoe_mishlenie_debono(22.05.2013)