V. Kasyanova

Kostanay State University named after A.Baitursynov, Kazakhstan

The problem of the organization of students’ independent work in the conditions of credit learning system

The analysis of students’ independent work in teaching a foreign language in high schools shows that the main problem of the existing traditional forms of its organization is that it is focused on independent work of a reproductive type and in most cases in the learning process little attention is paid to the students' independent work and it is organized formally. As a rule, teachers use two forms of the organization of independent work in learning a foreign language: 1) "traditional" independent work, which is performed by students after practical training; 2) classroom independent work, which is conducted wholly or indirectly under the teacher's guidance.

There is no doubt that these kinds of independent work are important and effective for specific learning objectives. However, they often do not have a systematic nature and have poor motivation among students. Under an alternative approach to the organization of students' independent work we understand the form of independent work, which involves greater individualization of tasks, greater freedom of research assignments, orientation on the formation of professional competencies, the increase of creativity and initiative of students.

For successful organization of students’ independent work at the university it is necessary to have some objective and subjective conditions. The objective conditions are as follows:

§ material and technical provision suggesting the presence of required classroom fund, including specialized classrooms and reading-rooms, and a high level of multimedia equipment.

§ teaching and methodical, informational provision including the required number of textbooks, teaching materials, materials in electronic media, a large set of assignments and recommendations for their fulfillment in the mode of individual independent work, the presence of foreign language periodicals. Moreover, the training material in its structure and methodical organization must become an integral part of educational system, which should be focused on active methods of acquiring knowledge developing creative abilities of students, the transition from mass to individualized training taking into account the needs and abilities of each individual. It is important to use the experience of foreign universities where traditionally the role of students' independent work is high and to apply as a supplement in the educational process qualitative authentic textbooks based on the competence approach. And if such books are professionally-oriented then this becomes a strongly motivating factor.

§ the level of the teaching staff or in other words the presence of highly qualified teachers of foreign languages.

Subjective conditions of independent work depend on the participants of the educational process and especially on their willingness to reform and self-develop. Emphasis on the independent work requires a transition from the traditional system of teaching with the leading role of the teacher who gives "ready" knowledge and forms a reproductive kind of thinking (action "modeled") to the system of education in which a student should be highly active and highly motivated. The teacher organizes students' training activities and their management stimulating creativity so necessary for the future innovation activity.

The basis for the implementation of subjective teaching becomes a democratic type of relationship of teachers and students, based not on the dominance of the first and suppression of the second, but on cooperation, their coordination, joint creativity and mutual assistance. This approach allows the individual to realize their maximum intellectual abilities and learn to work in a team. The success of these joint activities largely depends on the choice of optimal forms and types of activities for the organization of independent work.

In teaching a foreign language the organization of students’ independent work must be represented by the unity of the three interrelated forms:

• Classroom independent work.

• Extracurricular independent work.

• Creative, including students' research work.

Choosing the best forms of organization of independent work, the teacher seeks to maximize learning motivation, precisely define the volume of tasks and calculate the optimum time for their implementation, taking into account the capabilities of each student. Backbreaking scope of the assignment and overly excessive demands greatly reduce the effectiveness of the training. In the context of learning a foreign language it should be born in mind that if the language is a means of communication or a dialogue, speech is the way of communication. The mastery of the means of communication is only possible when conditions for problematic learning situations are created. In other words, learning to communicate is the direct interaction of the teacher and the student in the course of learning that is within the framework of communicative training cooperation.

In the practice of teaching a foreign language modern personality-oriented technologies are widely used and they enable the development of the linguistic and professional competences as well as readiness for self-education. These technologies include:

• Problem-search technology, involving the creation of such speech situations that require students' skills to solve the problem and search tasks, the purpose of which is the active development and use of the language.

• Play Technology, which presupposes organizing the learning process in the form of business games or role-playing situations.

• Business game technology is a way of self-development in teaching professional communication in a foreign language; it is the interaction of people in the course of professional work, decision-making model. In addition, a business game is a powerful motivational factor.

• Another most widely used kind of effective self-study is the so-called case-analysis. Cases are often real situations of the business problem that provide the basis and subject to debate, assess the problem, its causes, the internal logic and the possible consequences (estimated cases) or involve analysis of alternatives and the selection of the optimal variant of solving this problem.

• Project technology is based on individual or collective fulfillment by students of various types of project tasks related to the functional use of the target language. In the process of working on creative projects one can use all the previously formed skills, integrate background knowledge, the most engaging creative possibilities of personality, such as the formulation of the problem, the choice of the order of its decision, the accumulation and analysis of the initial information, the definition of the main solutions of the problem, formulating findings and conclusions and designing them in a logical form, their public presentation.

All the above mentioned modern forms of organization of independent mastery of knowledge cannot be implemented without the use of new information technology, the advantage of which is the possibility of an individualization of training, handling a large volume of information, the total activation of the various channels of perception, an unlimited number of assignments, the intensification of the learning process, monitoring and correction of knowledge.

The effectiveness of students' independent work is largely determined by the presence of active methods of control, both on the intermediate and on the final level. Monitoring should be systematic, primarily in order to identify errors in the educational process and to establish a mechanism to address them, as well as to form feedback for correction learning.

Forms of control are diverse - they can be either oral or written, individual or group, sampling or continuous. Along with traditional forms, the control of students' independent work can be based on the rating system that involves regular monitoring of the quality of mastery of knowledge and skills, the implementation of the planned amount of independent work. The rating system allows to evaluate objectively the work of students at different stages of the educational process, allows to organize a more rhythmic work of students during the semester, enabling the students to improve their ranking results, their cognitive and creative activity.

However, the supreme measure of language skills, the key to cognitive independence is self-control. Self-control is the ability of students on their own initiative critically evaluate their actions. The degree of formation of the mechanism of self-control in students is different and depends on the level of their language skills, the psychological "portrait" of the student. The mechanism of self-control can be regarded as formed and optimally functioning if the student carries out training actions correctly and realizes it or he is able to make a correction in the case of realization of erroneous actions. Thus, self-control and skills of independent work are interrelated and interdependent.

Making a conclusion, we’d like to emphasize that students' independent work should become the basis of the educational process, factor in the formation of professionally significant competences. This implies the focus on active methods of acquiring knowledge, developing creative abilities of students, the transition from group to the individualized training tailored to the needs and abilities of the individual.

References:

1. Сидоренко Т. В. Самостоятельная работа студентов технического вуза в профессионально ориентированном обучении иностранному языку: условия оптимизации // Вестн. Томского гос. пед. ун-та. Вып. 1 (91). 2010. С. 127-130.

2. Верещагин Ю. В., Ерунов В. П. Рейтинговая система оценки знаний студентов, деятельности преподавателей и подразделений вуза: учеб. пос. Оренбург: Изд-во ОГУ, 2003. 103 с.