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43. Ershova, O. (2014) "Classroom Students' Pair Work as a Part of Educational System", Modern European Researches, No. 3. Page 24-26.
COMMUNICATION AS THE MAIN FEATURE OF A MODERN LESSON
Abstract
Communicative approach focuses on formation of skills of speech activity, i.e. skills of constructing verbal statements or chain of utterances. In other words, it is about the development of students' lexical, grammatical and phonetic skills as a psychological component of foreign language in writing and speaking. The communicative approach involves the assimilation of a foreign language directly in the function of communication. Communicative competence means the ability to work together with other people, knowledge of psychology and ethics and the ability to an accurate perception of other person. When constructing a model of communicative competence special attention should be paid to its components. The division of all the components of the model of communicative competence into structural and functional is logical and quite natural. The list of communicative qualities may vary in any range depending on the number of subjective and objective factors. The essence of the communicative approach to language learning lies in creation of special circumstances in the process of training sessions in which the learner basing on the acquired knowledge independently solves communicative tasks by means of a foreign language in the process of communication or in the process of finding solutions when reading literature. In this case reliance is placed on the technique of learning through active methods and motivation development to form foreign language communicative competence of the learner. Discussing the types of speech activity at foreign language lessons (speaking, listening, reading, writing) it should be noted that teaching has to be communicative oriented. All these kinds of speech activity should be presented in special communicative exercises. Under communicative exercise, we can understand the performance of students of certain repetitive actions aimed at the production (formation) of their communicative skills for their professional life. The scope and nature of the exercises depend on several factors. There is no urgent need to use all types of exercises in each session and in relation to each type of speech activity. Each stage of training must meet certain communicative exercises that stimulate the students' speech. In conclusion, we can say that nowadays the communicative method of teaching foreign languages is considered to be the most effective.
Keywords
communicative approach, communicative competence, communicative skills,
special communicative exercises, model of communicative competence and its components
Author
Serafima Zaitseva
PhD in Education, Associate Professor National University of Science and Technology "MISIS" Moscow, Russia sima-zaitseva@yandex. ru
Communicative approach became widespread in Russian schools from 1960-ies. This approach is aimed at developing skills of speech activity. In the context of this approach the focus is on learning the skills to operate the linguistic material. In other words, it is about the development of students' lexical, grammatical and phonetic skills as a psychological component of foreign language in writing and speaking. The communicative approach involves learning to communicate through communication. One of the key concepts of this approach in foreign and domestic theories of teaching foreign languages is communicative competence reflecting the person's ability for voice communication.
In order to carry out speech activity, the learner should be able to use the language, practice social, national-cultural rules and values that define cultural knowledge, to be able to realize his/her communicative intentions in typical communicative situations within the relevant themes. Consequently, the set representing the unity of language, speaking and cultural competence is communicative competence.
Language competence is defined as "knowledge of the information about the target language by its levels: phonetics, vocabulary, structure of words and word-formation, morphology, syntax of simple and complex sentences, fundamentals of stylistics of the text".
Speech competence is defined as "knowledge of the means of formation and formulation of thoughts through language and the ability to use such methods in the process of perception and speech production".
Cultural competence is the knowledge of social, national, regional and other characteristics.
As for the terms "communication" and "competence" in combination "communicative competence", we should say that the American linguist Dell Hymes was the first who used this concept. This concept was developed as an alternative to then-existing notion of the perfect participant in communication (or the perfect communicant) in the theory of structural linguistics, which was suggested by Noam Chomsky. The concept of an "ideal communicant" was understood as correct, competent, faultless use of language. In other words, this concept was supposed to be an indicator of a speech perfection of a communicant, his linguistic competence. Pointing to the failure of the concept of "perfect communicant" D. Hymes introduced the notion of "communicative competence" which refers to the human ability to use language flexibly, accurately and fast in different social situations. D. Hymes's idea is that the communicant must have more skills than just linguistic competence, i.e. the communicant needs to know how a particular language is used by other members of the linguistic community. To know the language, its system, the communicant also has to know how to use it depending on social context, i.e. socio-cultural conditions of realization of a communicative act.
Let's dwell on the meaning of "competence". Generally, the term "competence" means the ability of a specific type of activity. And communicative competence means both the ability to work together with other people, knowledge of psychology and ethics and the ability to an accurate perception of another person. In the future we will rely on the definition of communicative competence as an integrative ability to interact with others at their levels of training, education, development, on the basis of humanistic personal qualities (sociability, sincerity, humanity, empathy, reflection, etc.) and taking into account the communicative possibilities of the interlocutor.
When constructing a model of communicative competence special attention should be paid to its components. The division of all the components of the model of communicative competence into structural and functional is logical and quite natural.
The structural component includes cognitive and reflexive components and motivational value. The cognitive component is associated with the cognitive processes of the individuals, peculiarities of their development, the formation of specific and cultural knowledge, communicative skills, etc. Reflexive component shows the interest in introspection communicative activities, self-search, self-knowledge, etc. And the last structural component of communicative competence is motivational value. The basis of motivation is the need that many people consider to be the decisive factor of human behavior. The motive can be conscious and unconscious at the moment, but it is always genetically related to any components of communication.
Motivation of communication is a determining factor not only in the development of competence in communication, but also in professional activities in general. The presence of orientation to humanistic communication is considered to be the highest manifestation of preparedness of students for competent communication in the process of studying the discipline "foreign language". The basic guideline of humanistic communication is the value attitude to the communication partner. In the end, the process of communication becomes a great value, and these human values constitute the subject of the conversation.
The functional structure of communicative competence includes the following components.
The perceptual component of communicative competence involves the knowledge by people each other on the basis of the process of perception, correlating the detected characteristics with the characteristics of the personality, assessment, interpretation and prediction of the actions of the interlocutor. This aspect of communicative competence is characterized by an adequate understanding of the situation and adequate perception of the interlocutor.
Speech (communication) component of communicative competence is characterized by an adequate exchange of information with the relevant norms and patterns of communicative behaviour.
Interactive and practical component of communicative competence is described through the following characteristics: adequate setting of the goals of communication and efficiency of their performance, the correlation between rational and emotional communication, the ability to take an adequate role position, to support, to constructively resolve communication conflicts. This aspect reflects the interaction of people on the basis of their communicative skills and the methods of organization of their joint activities.
Realizing that such allocation of communicative skills is not universal in the structuring of communicative competence of the individual, we emphasize that the listing of communication qualities may vary in any range depending on the number of subjective and objective factors.
Speaking about the communicative approach in teaching foreign languages, it should be noted that communication is one of the indispensable conditions of development of society, personality, and interpersonal relationships. Language and speech are combined together as the means and ways to implement different types of speech activity for communication and interaction of people.
The methodology of English language teaching exploring ways that lead to language acquisition, considers the form and content of linguistic phenomena, as well as their function, primarily communicative, and seeks to teach students to exchange information in the target language, to participate in language communication. Learning to communicate in English means training of speech activity which includes all manifestations of the speech behaviour of native speakers.
The essence of the communicative approach to language learning lies in creation of special circumstances in the process of training sessions in which the learner basing on the acquired knowledge independently solves communicative tasks by means of a foreign language in the process of communication or in the process of finding solutions when reading literature. In this case reliance is placed on the technique of learning through active methods and motivation development to form foreign language communicative competence of the learner.
Communicative linguistics has had a great influence on the methodology of teaching foreign languages, putting the spotlight on issues such as situational-driven learning oral language skills, types of texts and situations, development of communicative-oriented exercises, extensive use of role-playing games, etc.
In real communication all kinds of speech activity (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are interrelated.
Discussing the types of speech activity at foreign language lessons (speaking, listening, reading, writing) it should be noted that teaching has to be communicative oriented. All these kinds of speech activity should be presented in special communicative exercises. Under communicative exercise, we can understand the performance of students of certain repetitive actions aimed at the production (formation) of their communicative skills for their professional life.
V. L. Skalkin identifies the following main types of exercises: responsive, situational, reproductive, descriptive, discursive, composite and initiative.
The scope and nature of the exercises depend on several factors such as the stage of learning, the level of proficiency of the learners, the nature of the studied material, etc. Therefore, there is no urgent need to use all these types of exercises in each session and in relation to each type of speech activity. Each stage of training must meet certain communicative exercises that stimulate the students' speech contributing to the development of imagination, the culture of the other languages, the formation of their creative abilities, thought-provoking.
So, we can say that the communicative method of teaching foreign languages is objectively the most effective and the main objectives of this technique are:
- to learn to speak a foreign language as means of communication;
- to break established stereotypes excessive difficulties of learning foreign languages;
- to teach students to consider a foreign language not as an object of constant study, but as a convenient and necessary practical tool of communication in modern society.
REFERENCES
1. General methods of teaching foreign languages in the secondary school. Edited by Mirolyubov A.A., Rakhmanov I.V. Tsetlin V.S. (2007). Moscow: Prosveshchenie.
2. Homsky N. (1972). Language and thinking. Moscow.
3. Passov E.I. (2011). Communicative method of teaching foreign speaking. Moscow.
4. Shchukin A. N. (2013). The teaching of foreign languages. Moscow: Philomatis.
5. Skalkin V.L. (2013). Communicative activities in English. The manual for teachers. Moscow: Prosveshchenie.
DEVELOPING CIVIC CONSCIOUSNESS: ESTIMATING THE UNIVERSITY STAFF POSITION
Abstract
The authors give grounds for the necessity of implementing civic and informational paradigm and molding civic consciousness. The relevance of this approach is determined by developing civic consciousness of modern labor relations' participants, it is associated with the transition to civil information educational paradigm that gives students the opportunity to work and communicate effectively. The article presents the results of the research, organized to find out the university staff attitude towards human and civil values. The received data prove that the educators realize the importance of civic education and are personally prepared to develop civic consciousness in students.
Keywords
civic and informational paradigm, civic consciousness, higher school, competence approach
Authors
Irina Dolinina
PhD, senior staff scientist Perm National Research Polytechnic University Perm, Russia irina_edu@mail. ru
Elena Zernina
Associate Professor Department of Humanitarian and Social and Economic Disciplines Perm National Research Polytechnic University Lysva, Russia zernina@lf.pstu. ru
Introduction
In the past decade we have witnessed the reconsideration of scientific and methodological ways of organizing educational process in higher schools. Informational society demands from university graduates to have civic competence which means the ability to learn actively besides lecturing as well as to demonstrate civic skills capable to have an impact on one's life (Gottlieb, Robinson, 2002, 2006).
Another important transformation affecting the nature of university education has been switching into competence approach. Traditional approaches to teaching and learning which perceive learning as acquiring or reproducing knowledge from credible sources have transformed, and one of the ways to prepare competitive engineers is to develop their civil and information competence From this perspective, the main task is not to pass the prepared sum of knowledge but to assist in achieving new techniques of getting the requisite information and self-developing at a workplace.
Thanks to modern educational paradigms, one of them being civic-informational paradigm, educators are providing ways and methods in which traditional curriculum can be improved in colleges and universities.
Educational paradigms as a set of theoretical standards, methodological norms, value criteria serve as a model regulating activities inside the system and as the mental window (Baiby, 1982) help the educator or researcher to examine the world.
Contemporary educational research involves the personality civic-information paradigm as the substitute for the former knowledge paradigm. The new paradigm is determined by the necessity to constant training (knowledge, through life) and is characterized by democratic and 74 egalitarian methods and dynamic curriculum.
