Педагогические  науки/ 5.Современные методы преподавания

Shevchenko M. V.

Lecturer

National Technical University of Ukraine “Kyiv Polytechnic Institute”

Modern Aids and Means of English Language Teaching

First of all, it is necessary to differentiate such terms as ‘technical means’ and ‘audiovisual aids’. Audiovisual aids are training or educational materials directed at both the sense of hearing and the sense of sight: films, recordings, photographs, etc., used in classroom instruction, or the like [4]. That means that audio aids are spoken words, recognizable sound effects and music. The most frequently used visual aids are videos, pictures and graphics. Whereas, a motion picture projector or a PC, for instance, are the means of presenting the aids, and not the aids themselves.

All modern technical means can be classified the following way [1]:

·        audio means (digital dictaphones and players, compact discs, speakers, etc.);

·        graphic and photographic means (electronic memory cards, slides);

·        audiovisual equipment (multimedia projectors, DVD-players and discs, television sets, monitors, video projectors; computer means for recording, processing and reproduction of sound and video, text visualization, graphics and photographic objects).

By far, among these means most widely used are video- and language laboratory equipment, as well as computers [2].

Use of technical means during the foreign languages teaching process makes possible: 1) creation of a natural speech environment as an important factor in foreign languages teaching; 2) increase of student’s interest in studying foreign languages; 3) use of the differentiated approach to study; 4) intensification of the educational process [2].

The urgency of new technical means implementation is in improvement of efficiency and quality of foreign languages teaching, and also in an exceptional importance of the formation of foreign language communicative competence with the help of complex application of modern technical means [2].

The basis of students’ studying activities is a communicative motivation that ensures initiative participation of students in communication both in class and outside of it. Taking into account in the educational process the students’ mentation, their needs, motives, interests and emotions, contributes to the appearance of the motivation needed to organize communication. In simulated conditions, additional means, including technical, are required. Basing on their integrated use, they enable the creation of an academic environment, similar to that of a real communication [2].

During the processing of training material – language and grammar, – the use of digital-video recording is effective at the lead-in stage for the presentation of educational material and modelling of educational situations, which would become bases of students’ communication activities. Video-episode reproduces language environment, illustrates how native speakers behave in certain situations, and demonstrates language accompanied by gestures and facial expressions (paralinguistic means), which is typical for the "live" speaking and cannot be illustrated in current books (printed educational materials).

The use of technical means in foreign languages teaching creates a special communicative environment in which a sound knowledge acquisition is provided, as well as a formation of foreign language competence by enhancing the capabilities of perception and information processing by students. This is achieved with the help of information perception both by sight and hearing, connection of image perception mechanisms to information processing, positive impact on the emotional sphere of students’ individualities, and involvement of voluntary and involuntary attention [2].

There are the following prerequisites of digital-video recording use, according to V.S. Pashchuk [3:56-58]:

·        psychological (the ability to produce speech material simultaneously in two modalities – visual and auditory, be an incentive to give a monologue speech, reproducing natural speech situations; provide the necessary emotional climate during studying);

·        compliance with all general didactic principles of teaching (scientific character, independence, consistency, simplicity and clarity of teaching, visualization, feasibility, students’ consciousness and activity, problem method, relation of training to life, strength of knowledge, level of skills formation, emotional studying);

·        during a film perception, not only its seeing imagery proper is presented, but also an authentic linguistic visualization that determines linguistic fundamentals of using a digital-video recording: 1) lexical (realia, the use of expressive and idiomatic means; colloquial, connotative and background vocabulary, terms, fixed  expressions, sound imitation, pause fillers, etc.); 2) grammar (inversion, elliptical sentences, shortened forms and rhetorical questions, etc.); 3) phonetic (pronunciation accuracy, tempo, timbre, intonation, pauses, etc.);

·        methodological principles (on the one hand, demonstrate objects, phenomena of the environment, parts of life; serve as the initial forms of knowledge; and, on the other hand, represent events interesting for students, evoke in them emotional empathy).

Like no other teaching aid, a digital-video recording allows the use of emotional and motivational factor in a foreign language mastering, stimulates verbal communication, enhances motivation and demonstrates authentic speech samples.

There are the following principles of authentic feature films selection for education of students of higher educational establishments [3:74]:

·       moral and aesthetic impact on the viewer;

·        consideration of adequacy of the vocabulary and semantic level of students, and a film vocabulary;

·        presence of social and cultural information in a film and correlation with students awareness of it;

·        director and executive excellence;

·        variety of genre;

·        importance for acquaintance with the culture to which a foreign language belongs;

·        compliance or non-compliance with topics proposed in a current programme of practice of verbal and written speech.

Thus, technical means and audiovisual aids of teaching greatly improve university students’ perception of foreign language materials presented at foreign language lessons, and thereby – their success. The most recurrent modern aids, used to teach students vocabulary and grammar, are authentic audio- and video recordings, reflecting a "live" foreign language, i.e. the one spoken in the country to which it belongs. However, it should be remembered that high training outcomes can only be achieved by choosing the correct audiovisual materials; thereto, exist the principles of their selection.

References:

1.     Білєр О. С. Дидактичні аспекти використання аудіовізуальних засобів навчання у вищому навчальному закладі / О. С. Білєр // Наукові записки кафедри педагогіки. – Випуск ХXVІ. – Харків, 2011. – С. 21-30.

2.     Палій О. А. Комплексне використання технічних засобів навчання для формування німецькомовної граматичної компетенції студентів (на базі англійської мови) : автореф. дис. на здобуття наук. ступеня канд. пед. наук : спец. 13.00.02 «Теорія та методика навчання: германські мови» / О. А. Палій. – К., 2002. – 20 с.

3.     Пащук В. С. Навчання студентів мовних спеціальностей усного англійського монологічного мовлення з використанням автентичних художніх фільмів : дис. канд. пед. наук : 13.00.02 / Пащук Вікторія Степанівна. – К., 2002. – 247 с.

4.     Audiovisual aids // Dictionary.com [Electronic resource]. – Retrieved from : http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/audiovisual+aids