Педагогические науки/5. Современные
методы преподавания
I.V. Meleshko
National Technical University of Ukraine “KPI”, Ukraine
Developing Writing Skills
in Technical
Students
In the teaching/learning
process of any foreign language technical students should be provided with
knowledge from different fields of linguistic science and with an integrated
approach to learning as well. Teaching the foreign language in technical institutions
is based on many effective methods. Building technical
students’ writing skills
is considered to be one of the most important issues in modern foreign
language teaching/learning process which involves theoretical and
methodological foundations as well as the synthesis of creating a theoretical
framework of lexical, grammatical and spelling knowledge and practical skills.
As a result, in the foreign language teaching/learning process technical
students learn how to create their own messages and texts in an appropriate
style according to their individual and professional needs. It should be noted
that improvement of writing skills is successful in case of combination with
other types of language activities. Using the methods and strategies of writing
skills development, a teacher must involve technical students into writing
practice relevant to other subjects.
In order to understand the
most effective strategies and modern approaches to developing writing skills in
students of technical specialties, we have analysed scientific researches and
the available literature that hold practical concepts on this issue written by
H. Voronina, T. Mykhailenko, O. Petraschuk, K. Beare, M. Bush, V. Evans, T.
Glazier, J. Hammer, P. Master, S. Sontag, E. Schlosberg, S. Wilbur, P. Wilson,
P. Ur, W. Zinsser. T. Glazier describes approaches and ways to English language
learning of core vocabulary and grammar to perform successful writing [5]. H.
Voronina formulates general writing recommendations on teaching and learning in
the language classroom for students of technical specialties [1].
K. Beare pays the deepest attention to aims and learning outcomes of
writings and states that writing is used according to certain aims [3]. P.
Wilson points out the crucial role of writing as an essential part of teaching/
learning process consistency [8]. As a matter of fact, in pedagogy and
methodology according to teaching/learning process the scientists consider the
writing differently, but they indisputably have one viewpoint in common –
students learn to write by writing.
It cannot be denied that the teaching/learning process
is not successful and completed without improving the quality of professional
writing skills. A teacher of non-linguistic higher educational institutions
should possess with many strategies for teaching writing in order to provide
technical students with successful knowledge of lasting value [5].
Writing is a complicated activity especially when it
deals with a foreign language. The certain challenge for ESL teachers in
teaching/learning process of developing skills is how to teach technical
students the basic writing essentials:
- choosing
a right word;
- spelling
properly;
- building
a structure (capitalization, punctuation and structure) [6].
And at the same time the lexical, grammar themes and
size of the theoretical materials are important factors to consider as well.
The ESL teacher should always remember that most students of technical
specialties learn foreign languages for practical purposes. That is why
teachers should deal with the most important aspects of writing in the most
common situations, theoretical information being supplied only to the extent
needed for that purpose [3].
Other important issues ESL teachers solve during the
teaching/learning process are:
- involving
technical students into activities developing writing experience;
- applying
the most appropriate strategies for the specified writing to focus on;
- whether
or not to provide technical students with all types of composition, if so, to
what extent [2].
The most difficult task for any student in the foreign
languages acquisition is to learn how to express own thoughts correctly and
logically in subject mastering. Regarding teacher’s goals it is necessary to
find the ways for creative and practical development.
All mentioned above proves the necessity of detailed
study the main peculiarities of developing technical students’ writing skills
in the process of foreign languages teaching/learning.
Literature:
1. Вороніна Г.Р.
Особливості навчання та контролю іноземного писемного мовлення студентів
технічних спеціальностей / Г.Р.Вороніна // Науковий вісник кафедри
Київського національного лінгвістичного університету Серія Філологія, Педагогіка, Психологія.
Вип.:
Зб. наук. пр. – Київ: “Віпол”, 2015. – С. 334-339
2. Beare K. Strategies for Teaching Writing / Kenneth Beare. – K. 2008. – Retrieved from
http://esl.about.com/cs/teachingtechnique/a/a_twrite.htm
3. Glazier T. The
Least You Should Know about English: Writing Skills:/
Teresa
Ferster Glazier. – College Publishers, 1998. – 320 p. Retrieved from
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2521292.The_Least_You_Should_Know_about_English
4. Harmer J. The Practice of English Language Teaching / J. Harmer. –
London: Longman ELT, 2001. – 384 p.
5. Master P. English Grammar and Technical Writing / Peter Master. – Office of English Language Programs, 2004.
– 264 p.
6. Wilson P. The Least You Should Know about English: Writing Skills. /
Paige Wilson, Teresa Ferster Glazier. – Wadsworth, Gengage Learning, 2014. –
325 p.