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Перспективы Науки и Образования
Международный электронный научный журнал ISSN 2307-2334 (Онлайн)
Адрес выпуска: https://pnojournal.wordpress.com/2023-2/23-02/ Дата поступления: 19.11.2022 Дата публикации: 30.04.2023
Л. Н. Пономаренко, М. М. СуслопАРОВА, Н. И. Чернова, Н. В. Катахова
Альтернативное оценивание как средство формирования навыков делового английского языка у студентов неязыковых специальностей
Введение. Согласно требованиям рынка труда современный специалист с высшим образованием должен осуществлять коммуникацию на иностранном языке в своей профессиональной сфере, т.е. уметь общаться на деловом иностранном языке. В рамках компетентностного подхода обучение профессиональному деловому иностранному языку предполагает использование не только практико-ориентированных методов и технологий обучения, но и альтернативных форм и методов оценивания учебной деятельности студентов. Цель исследования - выявить, какое влияние имеет использование альтернативного оценивания на формирование у студентов неязыкового вуза умений и навыков делового английского языка.
Материалы и методы. В исследовании принимали участие 96 студентов бакалавриата Вятского государственного университета, обучающихся по направлениям подготовки «Биология», «Биотехнология», «Химия» и «Химическая технология». Формирование навыков делового английского языка основывается на подходе "оценивание как обучение". В основу такого оценивания положены практико-ориентированные формы и методы: Case Study, электронное портфолио (iPortfolio), парная работа (We Create Activity), имитация собеседования (Mock job interview), отчеты (Reports) в виде формальных писем. Для статистической обработки результатов был использован критерий х2-Пирсона.
Результаты. Результаты эксперимента показали, что количество студентов в экспериментальной группе с низким уровнем сформированности умений и навыков делового английского уменьшилось с 37,5% до 4,2%, со средним уровнем уменьшилось с 50% до 41,7%, с высоким уровнем увеличилось с12,5% до 54,1%; х2= 18.006, p < 0,05.
Заключение. Значимость проведенного исследования заключается в использованном подходе «оценивание как обучение» к решению проблемы формирования навыков и умений делового английского у студентов. Такой подход обеспечил не только условия для развития речевых умений и навыков делового английского языка, но и для развития критического мышления, креативности, сотрудничества.
Ключевые слова: деловой английский язык, умения и навыки делового английского языка, методы альтернативного оценивания, Case Study
Ссылка для цитирования:
Пономаренко Л. Н., Суслопарова М. М., Чернова Н. И., Катахова Н. В. Альтернативное оценивание как средство формирования навыков делового английского языка у студентов неязыковых специальностей // Перспективы науки и образования. 2023. № 2 (62). С. 293-306. сЫ: 10.32744/рБе.2023.2.17
Perspectives of Science & Education
International Scientific Electronic Journal ISSN 2307-2334 (Online)
Available: https://pnojournal.wordpress.com/2023-2/23-02/ Accepted: 19 November 2022 Published: 30 April 2023
L. N. Ponomarenko, M. M. Susloparova, N. I. Chernova, N. V. Katakhova
Alternative assessment as a means of business English skills formation in non-linguistic students
Introduction. According to the requirements of the labor market, a modern specialist with a higher education must speak a foreign language in his or her professional field, i.e. be able to communicate in a business foreign language. Within the competence-based approach, teaching a professional business foreign language involves the use of not only practice-oriented teaching methods and technologies, but also alternative techniques of evaluating students' learning activities. In this regard, the purpose of the study is to identify how the use of alternative assessment affects the formation of Business English skills among non-linguistic students.
Materials and Methods. The study involved 96 undergraduate students of Vyatka State University studying in the fields of "Biology", "Biotechnology", "Chemistry" and "Chemical Technology". The formation of Business English skills is based on the "assessment as learning" approach. This assessment includes practice-oriented methods: Case Study, electronic portfolio (iPortfolio), pair work (We Create Activity), imitation of an interview (Mock job interview), reports (Reports) in the form of formal letters. Pearson's x2 test was used for the result statistical processing.
Results. The results of the experiment showed that the number of students in the experimental group with a low level of Business English skills decreased from 37.5% to 4.2%, with an average level decreased from 50% to 41.7%, with a high level increased from 12. 5% to 54.1%; x2= 18.006, p < 0.05.
Conclusion. The significance of the conducted research lies in the "assessment as learning" approach used to solve the problem of the Business English skills and abilities formation among undergraduate students. This approach provided not only conditions for the development of Business English skills, but also for the development of critical thinking, creativity, and cooperation.
Keywords: Business English, Business English skills, alternative assessment techniques, Case Study
For Reference:
Ponomarenko, L. N., Susloparova, M. M., Chernova, N. I., & Katakhova, N. V. (2023). Alternative assessment as a means of business English skills formation in non-linguistic students. Perspektivy nauki i obrazovania -Perspectives of Science and Education, 62 (2), 293-306. doi: 10.32744/pse.2023.2.17
Introduction
ccording to the UNESCO report "Rethinking Education: Towards a Global Common
Good", we must recognize the diversity of alternative approaches to life and
education. The increasing levels of social and economic complexity create a number
of challenges for the development of education policy in the modern globalized world. In addition, the growing mobility of the working population across national borders, new models of transferring knowledge and skills require new ways of recognizing, verifying and evaluating learning [18, p. 10]. The policy of the Council of Europe in the field of language education declares the need for new tools for language learning, teaching and evaluation and recognition of the importance of taking into account the linguistic contextual dimension of various education systems [6].
Today, the foreign language communicative competence of any specialist is an important component of professional competence. In this regard, Russian universities face the task of high-quality language training of specialists who are able to communicate in a foreign language in their professional field. In this connection, the need to master the features of foreign language business communication increases. Currently, there is a high demand on the labor market for specialists who are able to speak English as part of their professional tasks. The main employer requirements for university graduates include the ability to present their company in English, to make a report, to conduct business correspondence, to process information in English, to participate in negotiations. The formation of the above skills and abilities corresponds to the goal of a communicative approach to teaching a foreign language within the competence model of a specialist training at a university.
It should be noted that today there are no unambiguous, criteria-based methods for tracking and evaluating the professional communicative competence levels of students in a business sphere at the university. In this regard, the problem field of the used technologies of teaching business communication in a foreign language, contributing to the business communication competence formation and its assessment, has not been sufficiently investigated.
The purpose of the article is to substantiate the necessity and possibility of using alternative assessment when teaching students Business English.
The purpose of our study was to identify how the alternative assessment impacts the formation of Business English skills in non-linguistic students. Research base: Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "Vyatka State University" (hereinafter VSU). The study involved 96 2nd year undergraduate students of the training areas 19.03.01 Biotechnology, 06.03.01 Biology, 18.03.01 Chemical technology, 04.03.01 Chemistry. The study was conducted by Non-linguistic Foreign Languages Department.
To achieve this goal, the following tasks were solved: 1) to identify the alternative methods of evaluating students' learning activities in the process of teaching Business English at a university; 2) to diagnose the initial level of Business English skills formation among students studying in the fields of "Biology", "Biotechnology", "Chemistry" and "Chemical Technology" at VSU; 3) to conduct experimental training of students when teaching Business
Materials and Methods
English using alternative assessment techniques; 4) to analyze the obtained results using the mathematical statistics methods.
The following methods were used to solve the research tasks: 1) theoretical analysis and generalization of psychological, pedagogical and methodological works on the problem of teaching students Business English, as well as on the problem of using alternative assessment of students' learning activities in the process of teaching a foreign language; 2) experimental training of students using alternative assessment methods; 3) observation of students' learning activities during classes in Business English 4) close-ended questionnaire of the experimental group, 5) analysis and generalization of quantitative and qualitative research results.
The study of the impact of the alternative assessment on the business communication skills formation in a foreign language was conducted from 2021 to 2022, 96 students took part in the experiment.
The study involved three stages, each of which had its own tasks. The first stage task (2021) was to identify the object, subject, purpose, objectives, research methods, analyze psychological and pedagogical literature. The second stage task (2021-2022) was to carry out experimental training, the third stage task (2022) was to analyze and summarize the obtained data.
Literature Review
Business English is a form of language used for specific purposes (English for Specific Purposes). As for Business English, it is largely used for economic and interpersonal relations in companies whose main spoken and written language is not English. In a globally interconnected world, Business English is becoming increasingly important as more and more companies need their employees to speak multiple languages.
The ultimate goal of any Business English course is to enable users to communicate effectively with representatives of foreign companies in a business environment, regardless of whether this communication is within the framework of business correspondence, face-to-face meetings or other forms of communication. In this regard, recently there has been a need for the formation of such communicative skills and Business English skills as representing yourself and company members, presenting your company, conducting negotiations, expressing consent, the ability to give advice or recommendation [8]. C. Scott examined the modern model of learning, where the main skills are communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity, the so-called 4C, transferring these skills to the intercultural level, giving them meta-objective meaning and calling them the skills of the 21st century [21]. These skills can be integrated into a Business English course, as they are interdependent and work together, providing a sufficient level of English proficiency for our students to be successful in the modern world [13].
Numerous publications of recent years reflect innovative approaches and technologies for teaching professionally-oriented communication in a foreign language, in particular to teaching Business English. For example, D. Shirley and
J. Sundarsingh researched teaching Business English using CLIL technology. The paper notes that CLIL technology meets the needs of students and increases the level of Business English in the shortest possible time [22, p. 11173]. The widespread communicative approach of teaching foreign languages has also proved to be an effective tool in teaching
Business English speaking. According to N. Stojmenovic, learning to speak using a communicative approach offers the best opportunities for developing conversational skills. With such training, the emphasis is not on grammar, but on more time for free speaking and experimenting with the language [25, p. 40]. Digital technologies are becoming in demand and effective in teaching Business English. According to I. Kapralikova, one of the best ways to learn Business English is to use authentic materials published on international business websites of various corporations, mass media or podcasts, since the linguistic content of Business English is dynamic due to constantly changing trends in the economy and requires regular monitoring of the emergence of new terms, phrases, commonly used terms, often non-standard in nature [10, p. 4]. D. Gatev also pays attention to teaching the lexical side of Business English, offering to use several techniques at the same time. These techniques are based on the selection and presentation of phrases, synonyms, antonyms and paronyms, as well as words whose meaning in Business English differs from their common English meaning [9].
Training in Business English includes not only speaking, but also writing, since the business sphere is closely connected not only with oral communication, but also with extensive business correspondence. In this regard, E. Stradiotova and
R. Stefancik studied the use of weblogs in the formation of students' business writing skills. They note that the inclusion of digital technologies in the educational process is an innovative addition to traditional teaching methods, significantly improving students' business writing skills [26]. According to A. Salem, the improvement of functional writing skills in English for business purposes can be achieved using the flipped classroom approach. Flipped learning requires several learning tools, including the use of graphic organizers, video clips, lecture recordings, and infographics [20].
The high results of teaching Business English are influenced by approaches related to organizational forms of teaching students in the classroom. E. Stepanova researched in her work a team-based learning approach to teaching Business English. According to E. Stepanova, a team approach to learning is a useful and transformative tool for teaching Business English. Team learning gives students more freedom and allows students to be more responsible for their studies and knowledge, as the process involves both individual work and teamwork [24, p. 6].
At the same time, these studies note a number of difficulties in the formation of communicative skills in Business English. The main difficulty is the little experience of working with these technologies among the participants in the learning process and the lack of clear criteria for assessing the Business English proficiency levels. In addition, in the process of teaching Business English, there is students' low internal motivation, as well as fear of making mistakes during utterance. The situation is complicated by the fact that students traditionally assimilate speech forms and the statement content in the form of a given text outside the context of real situations, which does not contribute very effectively to the independence and initiative formation while speaking.
Recent studies on the problem of teaching Business English have shown that in different countries one of the ways to solve this problem is an alternative assessment of students' learning activities. The main purpose of evaluating students' learning activities is, on the one hand, to provide students with corrective feedback so that they can know their strengths and weaknesses and, on the other hand, to rank students according to their academic results. Most linguistic tests are based on tasks evaluating the four main language skills - reading, writing, listening and speaking, or in other words, they check grammar,
vocabulary and spelling. Hence it is clear that students will prepare to get good results only in certain areas of language learning. The concept of alternative testing was introduced to identify all possible types of speech activity that are not formal tests, but that can be used to evaluate learning as alternatives to traditional methods [3]. Studies have shown that the main characteristics of alternative assessment are process-orientation and authenticity, since many activities copy real communication situations [28]. According to
S. Chirimbu, alternative testing offers a teacher the opportunity not to compare levels and knowledge, but to follow the evolution of the student individually and over time [4]. Therefore, with this approach, the emphasis is definitely on what students know and are able to do, and not on what they do not know. Thus, an alternative assessment has a clear advantage, since it emphasizes the strengths of the student, minimizing his or her weaknesses. An even more advanced look at alternative assessment while teaching English is presented by I. Lee. She introduced a new concept - "assessment as learning", defined as "an integral part of the assessment for learning". In this case, the student is considered to be a link between the assessment and the learning process and have a decisive role in the assessment. "Assessment as learning encourages students to control and self-regulate their thought processes and emphasizes the importance of increasing students' ability to work independently" [12, p. 36].
In our study, assessment in students training will be considered by us as an alternative assessment of the formation of students' professional business communication skills in English. Within the framework of the competence approach, such an assessment is based on practice-oriented techniques that allow to model situations close to real life - an electronic portfolio (iPortfolio), pair work (We Create Activity), written reports (Reports), imitation of a job interview (Mock Job Interview) [19].
Special attention is paid to the Case Study method, which is complex, professionally oriented, meta-subject. A number of studies present characteristics and factors of the productive use of the Case Study (or the Case method) in teaching Business English in the university educational process. According to A. Esteban and
M. Cañado, the Case method implies the inclusion of students in activities that require a complex of cognitive and linguistic skills, as well as the fulfillment of certain stages by students: planning, research, self-assessment, creation of the final product [7]. Obviously, both the process and the product become equally important and can be evaluated by the teacher. According to A. Strelchonok, the Case Study method focuses on a communicative approach to solving problems presented in the form of authentic case studies. Being student-oriented, the Case method considers language as a communicative tool that is used to solve life situations [27]. This approach not only increases the involvement in the lesson at a higher level, but also allows you to learn beyond the transfer of knowledge, and include the development of analytical skills, decision-making and communication skills, as well as the development of self-awareness, and the ability to lead. In general, cases include 4P, which are the cornerstones of real business activity: preparation, practice, presence and performance [14]. As noted by T. Sinkus, nowadays the Case method is becoming more and more popular in professional English courses because of its transdisciplinary aspect. This method allows you to form the initial skills of an entrepreneur and promote business knowledge, as well as to link these skills and knowledge with learning a foreign language [23].
According to T. Brattseva and P. Kovalev, the possible methods of case management while teaching Business English vary, but usually the following steps are included: case
review, analysis, discussion of statistics and data; identification of the problem; proposal and discussion of possible solutions to the problem, choosing the best solution; familiarization of team members with the decisions made (written or oral) [2].
It is obvious that the inclusion of the Case method in the educational process will require certain skills and training from the teacher. T. Bekisheva at al. identified the main professional and communicative abilities that both the teacher and the student should have in the process of learning professional and business communication [1]:
a) the ability to perceive and evaluate information coming in both verbal and non-verbal form;
b) the ability to diagnose and analyze the problem;
c) the ability to formulate and logically construct a statement in compliance with the rules of the language;
d) the ability to participate in the discussion;
e) the ability to participate in collective decision-making.
Thus, the case-method method gives students an excellent opportunity to use language creatively based on their professional knowledge and allows students to adapt to real and potential situations.
In our study, when teaching students Business English, emphasis is placed on the use of Case Study as a method that forms the most important skills of business communication: discussing a project, expressing one's opinion, requesting an opinion, holding business meetings, telephone conversation, writing business letters, reports. The use of Case Study in teaching Business English is considered as an important element of learning due to the possibility of creating and checking in real time situations that students may encounter in business communication.
Nowadays, the components of business communication that are subject to evaluation are quite controversial. In most cases, as we have already noted above, only the linguistic components of business speech are evaluated: vocabulary, grammar, phonetics, spelling. However, the analysis of the conducted research gives grounds to consider the assessment of business speech, taking into account the activity nature of business communication. As N. Pokrovskaya notes, it is necessary to evaluate the ability of students to perform certain activities and speech communication, interacting in a multiethnic, multicultural foreign language environment [15].
In this regard, in our study, the foreign language communicative competence of business communication acts as a multidimensional phenomenon, which manifests itself in the process and result of its functioning. Based on the European competence of language proficiency, in our study we used the following criteria and indicators of the formation of foreign language communicative competence of business communication [5]:
Spoken Interaction - language users participate in the interaction actively.
Conversation - the conversation concerns interaction with a predominantly social function: the establishment and maintenance of personal relationships.
Formal discussion (meetings) - a formal conversation in a professional or academic context.
Goal-oriented co-operation - collaborative, purposeful work, which is an everyday phenomenon in real life, especially in a professional context.
Correspondence - formal and informal correspondence.
Based on the European language proficiency competencies, we have identified descriptors of the levels of foreign language communicative competence of business communication (Table 1).
Table 1
Levels of foreign language communicative competence of business communication
Goal-oriented co-
Levels Spoken Interaction Conversation Formal discussion operation Correspondence
They can express They can flexibly They can easily They can clearly They can freely
their thoughts and effectively use support discussion identify a question and effectively
freely and language for social even on abstract, or problem, write formal
spontaneously, purposes, including complex, unfamiliar reflecting on correspondence,
have a good for emotions topics. They can the causes or such as letters of
command of a and jokes. They convincingly argue consequences and inquiry, requests,
High wide range of can have a long the official position thinking over the statements and
vocabulary and conversation on by answering advantages and reports, with
grammatical professional and questions and disadvantages the appropriate
structures, general topics. comments. of different register, structure,
adhering to the approaches. using a wide
appropriate level of vocabulary and
formality. grammatical structures.
They can They may be They can use They can follow They can
communicate with unprepared to start the appropriate what is being said, write standard
some confidence a conversation on terminology although they professional letters,
on familiar and familiar topics. when discussing sometimes have reports, using
non-standard He can support a their area of to ask to repeat the appropriate
Average topics related conversation or specialization. They or clarify if others structure and
to his interests discussion, but can understand speak quickly or rules. They may
and professional sometimes it is most of what has for a long time. respond to the
sphere. They can difficult for him to been said, which They can briefly advertisement
use a wide range of express what he/ is related to their comment on the in writing and
simple language. she would like to say. field of activity. others' opinions. request additional information.
They can They can use They can follow They can They may
communicate simple everyday the change of communicate in transmit personal
on simple topics polite forms topic in the formal simple tasks, using information of
that require a of greetings. discussion related simple phrases to a daily nature,
simple and direct They can take to their field, which ask and provide for example, in a
Low exchange of part in a simple is conducted slowly something, get short email or a
information. conversation on a predictable topic. and clearly. simple information and discuss what to do next. letter representing themselves. They can write short emails and text messages.
Results
Ascertaining stage
At the stage of the ascertaining experiment, the primary diagnosis of 2nd-year Biology and Chemical Technology undergraduate students was carried out while studying "Business Communication in a Foreign Language" at Vyatka State University. The experimental and control groups were involved in the experiment. The purpose of the primary diagnosis was to identify the initial level of Business English skills formation using a diagnostic comprehensive test. It consisted of several stages: familiarization with the background information about an international company that was in search of a person for the position of a director of the marketing department; presentation of a problem that needs to be solved; listening to
interviews with each candidate for the position of a director of the marketing department; holding a discussion in groups, the purpose of which was to identify the best candidate for the specified position; writing a formal e-mail to the company's management, indicating the reasons for choosing one or another candidate. The level of students' Business English skills formation was assessed by conditional points. The entrance and final test scores are presented as an arithmetic mean: for each criterion of the High level - 3 points, for each criterion of the Average level - 2 points, each criterion of the Low level - 1 point. The maximum number of points for the test is 15 points. The conditional designation of the levels was adopted: 15-13 points corresponds to a high level, 12-9 points corresponds to an average level, 8-5 points - to a low level, below 5 points means that the student did not cope with the task.
Table 2
Initial level of Business English skills formation
Number of students Levels of Business English/Experimental group
Low Average High
Number of students % Number of students % Number of students %
48 18 37,5 24 50 6 12,5
Control group
Low Average High
Number of students % Number of students % Number of students %
48 14 29 26 54 8 17
The data in Table 2 show that before participating in the experimental training, all students coped with a complex task and showed almost similar results, having a small percentage point in the difference in the levels of Business English skills formation. Among the productive skills, the skills to participate in a formal discussion and the cooperation skills to achieve a certain goal turned out to be insufficiently formed. The most formed in both groups were the skills and abilities of participation in the conversation. Thus, the ascertaining experiment proved the need to include alternative assessment methods in the process of teaching Business English, so that the results of student training would be adequate to the modern requirements for student professional training.
Formative stage
The purpose of the experimental training was to improve the students' skills and abilities in Business English. The objectives of experimental training are to teach students to solve communicative tasks related to the field of business communication; to form speech behavior in accordance with the communicative situation, to motivate students to communicate in English. In addition, the teacher's tasks included focusing on the characteristics and needs of non-linguistic students, using educational technologies that ensure the development of cognitive activity, critical thinking, overcoming psychological barriers, and the development of professionally-oriented language thinking. The experimental training took place within one semester.
At the formative stage of the experiment, the control group was taught "Business Communication in a Foreign Language" according to the university program approved by the university authorities, where administrative tests were used as an assessment of the results
of students' educational activities. While teaching the students of the experimental group Business English, the following alternative assessment methods were used: Case-Study -an interactive integrated method of teaching business communication; electronic portfolio (iPortfolio) - an individual project focused on the promotion of students' independent work; pair work (We Create Activity), aimed not only at the use of a foreign language, but at the development of students' creative thinking; imitation of a job interview (Mock Job Interview) with prospective candidates for certain positions; reports in the form of formal letters on the results of work with a portfolio, or based on the results of interviews. The control group were given sessions using traditional teaching methods and approaches.
Control stage
After the experimental training of students Business English using an alternative assessment, a re-diagnosis of the business communication skills formation was carried out. The results of the control experiment are presented in comparative Table 3.
Table 3
Achieved level of Business English skills formation
Number of students Levels of Business English/Experimental group
Low Average High
Number of students % Number of students % Number of students %
48 2 4,2 20 41,7 26 54,1
Control group
Low Average High
Number of students % Number of students % Number of students %
48 12 25 28 58 8 17
Comparison of the results of the ascertaining and the control experiments indicate an increase in the levels of Business English skills formation of all students, despite the fact that the control group did not receive experiential training. The number of students in the experimental group with a low level of business English skills decreased significantly from 37.5% to 4.2%, i.e. by 33.3 percentage points. At the same time, the number of students with an average level decreased from 50% to 41.7%. The number of students with a high level increased from 12.5% to 54.1%, i.e. by 41.6 percentage points.
In the control group, there was no change in the number of students who achieved a high level, but the number of students with a low level of Business English skills decreased from 29% to 25%, i.e. by 4 percentage points, and the number of average-level students increased from 54% to 58%, i.e. by 4 percentage points.
The presence of statistically significant differences in the indicators of the experimental group and the control group at the ascertaining stage and at the control stage of the experiment is confirmed by x2-Pearson's criterion which can be found using a calculator [16]. The critical values of x2 statistics at the significance level a=0.05 and a=0.01 are x2cr= 5.99 and x2cr = 9.21 respectively. The calculated value of statistics at the beginning of the experiment was x2emp = 0.866, which is much less than the critical values, and at the end of the experiment x2emp = 18.006, which is higher than the critical values of the criterion statistics. This allows us to state with a probability of at least 95% that at the beginning of the experiment, the control and the experimental groups were statistically indistinguishable
in terms of the level of formation Business English skills, while at the end of the experiment these differences became distinguishable, statistically significant. These calculations indicate the effectiveness of our proposed method.
The experimental data revealed that in the course of studying during the semester, students managed to form the controlled Business English skills at a statistically significant level. It is worth noting that the level of Business English proficiency increased not only in the experimental group, but also in the control group. This indicates that the traditional methods of teaching a foreign language have not lost their significance. At the same time, the introduction of innovative approaches, in particular, alternative assessment, makes it possible to improve the process of teaching Business English.
In order to obtain feedback from the students participating in the experimental group, a survey was conducted. Based on its results, an analysis was made of the degree of satisfaction and the level of assimilation of the content of the academic discipline "Business Communication in a Foreign Language". The data showed that 85% of the students gave positive feedback about the course using alternative methods in teaching business English; 15% of the students considered the content of the course to be ineffective, as it turned out to be difficult for them to master and required a lot of effort.
Since the ascertaining experiment revealed that the students had insufficiently formed skills to participate in a formal discussion and the skills of cooperation to achieve a certain goal, it was interesting for us to get feedback from the students about these skills. It turned out that 67% of the students noted that they significantly improved their discussion skills, 27% of the students indicated that they became more confident in terms of language during the discussion, and 6% of the students did not notice any changes. As for the development of cooperation skills to achieve a specific goal, 72% of the students noted that they had mastered these language skills at a sufficient level, 22% - at a satisfactory level, 6% - remained at a low level.
The survey also revealed that 68% of the students noted a fairly successful assimilation of the material of the academic discipline "Business Communication in a Foreign Language". Approximately 32% of the students spoke about the need to use Russian-language teaching materials when preparing some tasks (for example, We Create Activity). The majority of respondents (87%) indicated that the use of alternative assessment methods contributes to the actualization of Business English vocabulary, increases confidence in the use of a foreign language and motivation to master a foreign language in general.
Discussion
The result analysis of the experimental training revealed a positive trend in the use of alternative assessment for Business English skills formation among students of a non-linguistic university. Thus, the results of our research have shown that the combination of different types of alternative assessment of students' learning activities when teaching Business English is an important component in the educational process. The results obtained by us confirm the conclusions made in the works of
T. Beckisheva at al. [1], D. Rus [19] that the inclusion of methods and forms of alternative assessment in the educational process provides students with an excellent opportunity to creatively apply language material based on their professional knowledge and allows students to adapt to real and potential situations. Following
E. Minasyan [14] and N.S.E Putri [17] we also argue that the use of alternative forms and methods in the process of teaching Business English can significantly expand the language and speech practice of students. Our findings are consistent with the findings of S-Ch. Kong [11] that students perceive the context of alternative assessment as supportive, which further strengthens their positive attitude towards alternative assessment. S-Ch. Kong considers this approach to be "deep" and describes it as striving for a comprehensive understanding and comprehension of the course content, and not just involves reproducing knowledge without making an attempt to integrate information [11, p. 8]. Our research confirms the conclusions of B. Teican about alternative forms and methods as interactive methods that allow students to be engaged in the active solution of communicative tasks, which contributes to the improvement of not only language skills, but also the development of critical thinking, creativity, cooperation [28]. According to C. Scott, these are the four main skills of the 21st century, which should be the basis of the modern education paradigm [21].
The results of the study made it possible to identify significant features of alternative assessment techniques in the process of teaching students Business English. Unlike traditional assessment, alternative assessment, emphasizing a deep and holistic approach to the learning process, allows students not only to develop speech skills and foreign language skills in the professional business sphere, but also to improve the skills to interact, to work in a team, to make collegial decisions. Within this approach the conditions are being created for students to comprehend the acquired knowledge and skills, as well as to motivate students to critical and innovative thinking to solve unstructured tasks. Alternative assessment has proved to be one of the best tools for a comprehensive assessment of students' learning activities, including their higher-level thinking skills, significantly increasing the objectivity of such an assessment.
Conclusion
Business English has become much in demand in the system of higher professional education due to the fact that at present there is a high demand of the labor market for specialists who are able to communicate in Business English as part of their professional tasks. Our study presents an approach to solving the problem of the Business English skills formation, which involves improving the level of foreign language proficiency through assessment, which is called alternative. This approach is focused on real situations of professional business communication and can be considered comprehensive, authentic and meta-objective. With the "assessment as learning" approach, conditions are created for students to actively participate in the development of professional competencies in a foreign language, which allows teachers and instructors to focus on assessing students' abilities to use the language holistically in real situations of professional communication.
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Информация об авторах Information about the authors
Пономаренко Лариса Николаевна Larisa N. Ponomarenko
(Россия, Киров) (Russia, Kirov)
Доцент, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент Associate Professor, Cand. Sci. (Educ.), Associate Professor
кафедры иностранных языков неязыковых of Non-linguistic Foreign Languages Department
направлений Vyatka State University
Вятский государственный университет E-mail: vsu [email protected]
Е-mail: vsu [email protected] ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5056-5446
ORCID ID: 0000-0001-5056-5446 ResearcherID: L-3310-2017
ResearcherlD: L-3310-2017 Scopus Author ID: 57195592825
Scopus Author ID: 57195592825
Maria M. Susloparova
Суслопарова Мария Михайловна (Russia, Kirov)
(Россия, Киров) Associate Professor, Cand. Sci. (Educ.), Associate Professor
Доцент, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент of Non-linguistic Foreign Languages Department
кафедры иностранных языков неязыковых Vyatka State University
направлений E-mail: maria m [email protected]
Вятский государственный университет ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2680-2533
Е-mail: maria m [email protected] ResearcherID: M-6904-2018
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-2680-2533 Scopus Author ID: 57204593337
ResearcherlD: M-6904-2018
Scopus Author ID: 57204593337 Nadezhda I. Chernova
(Russia, Moscow)
Чернова Надежда Ивановна Professor, Dr. Sci. (Educ.), Head of Foreign Languages
(Россия, Москва) Department Institute of Radio Electronics and Informatics
Профессор, доктор педагогических наук, заведующий MIREA - Russian Technological University
кафедрой иностранных языков Института E-mail: [email protected]
радиоэлектроники и информатики ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5685-9733
МИРЭА - Российский технологический университет ResearcherID: AAZ-4525-2021
E-mail: [email protected] Scopus Author ID: 57194042371
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-5685-9733
ResearcherID: AAZ-4525-2021 Nataliya V. Katakhova
Scopus Author ID: 57194042371 (Russia, Moscow)
Associate Professor, Cand. Sci. (Educ.), Associate
Катахова Наталия Владимировна Professor of Foreign Languages Department Institute of
(Россия, Москва) Radio Electronics and Informatics
Доцент, кандидат педагогических наук, доцент MIREA - Russian Technological University
кафедры иностранных языков Института E-mail: [email protected]
радиоэлектроники и информатики ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9416-5011
МИРЭА - Российский технологический университет ResearcherID: AAZ-4538-2021
E-mail: [email protected] Scopus Author ID: 57204175929
ORCID ID: 0000-0002-9416-5011
ResearcherID: AAZ-4538-2021
Scopus Author ID: 57204175929
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