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DOI: 10.12731/2218-7405-2017-2-2-134-141
DEVELOPMENT OF FOREIGN-LANGUAGE TEACHERS' INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY COMPETENCE
Merkulova L.P.
Samara National Research University named after academician S.P. Korolyov, Samara, Russian Federation
A pedagogical model of development of language teachers 'IT competence in the educational process is proposed. The model is based on the analysis of the process ofprofessional development of ageing teachers. Organizational methods, didactic principles, teaching methods and facilities contributing to the improvement ofthe quality of their training in thefield of information and communication technologies at the premises of a media center are discussed.
Keywords: upgrading of skills; teachers' information technology competence; system of development; information and communication technology; methodological principles; methods; training resources.
ГОТОВНОСТЬ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЕЙ ИНОСТРАННОГО
ЯЗЫКА К ПРИМЕНЕНИЮ ИНФОРМАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ
Меркулова Л.П.
Самарский национальный исследовательский университет имени академика С.П. Королёва, г. Самара, Российская Федерация
На основе анализа процесса повышения квалификации преподавателей старшего возраста предложена педагогическая модель системы формирования готовности преподавателей иностранного языка к применению информационных технологий в учебном
процессе. Рассмотрены организационные приёмы, дидактические принципы, методы и средства обучения, способствующие повышению качества их подготовки в области информационно-коммуникационных технологий на базе медиацентра.
Ключевые слова: повышение квалификации; готовность преподавателей; система формирования; информационно-коммуникационные технологии; методологические принципы; методы; средства обучения.
Active use of information technologies is a distinctive feature of the development of modern society in many spheres of human activity, which increases demands on the level of teachers' professional competence, in particular, on their level of proficiency with computers and information technologies. A similar problem also faces the system of higher education [1]. The policy in the field of higher education in recent decades has led to the fact that the task of continuity and strengthening of the teaching staff has become one of the most burning issues.
Almost all departments of technical universities experience teaching staff rejuvenation problems. However, teachers of engineering disciplines use computers and the Internet more often due to the specific nature of their work. The situation is more complicated at humanity departments where a considerable part of the faculty (the elderly age group) experiences significant difficulties in the use of computer equipment and information technologies. Departments of foreign languages are no exception.
Successful accomplishment of foreign language teachers' professional activities depends on the extent of their knowledge of various aspects of using information technologies and on the level of their IT competences. In this connection, the staff of the department faces the challenge of upgrading skills in the field of computer engineering and information technologies.
Foreign-language teachers working at a technical university are distinguished by competence in the area of pedagogy and psychology they received during their studies at a pedagogical university. This gives them a significant advantage in mastering information technologies.
The willingness of language teachers to use information technologies is an integrative personal characteristic characterized by a high level of mastery of psychological-pedagogical and special knowledge necessary for the effective use of information technologies in professional activities, commitment to using them in the process of teaching a foreign language, maturity of professionally relevant personal qualities [2].
Our study showed that the teachers of the Department of foreign languages do not make sufficient use of the possibilities provided by information technologies in preparing and giving foreign language practical classes. Teachers and students mostly use the text editor, while spreadsheet is used much less frequently. Only 32% of the teachers interviewed used information technologies at foreign language classes. The estimation of the level of theoretical knowledge in the field of information technology showed that only 16% of teachers possessed the creative level of knowledge of information technologies, 27% - the productive level, 40% - the reproductive level, 49% of the respondents had the receptive level.
As for students learning foreign languages, 5% of the respondents had skills in applying information technologies on the creative level, 26.3% - on the productive level, 54.3% - on the reproductive level and 14. 4% had poor knowledge of information technologies.
The development and introduction of a scientifically grounded training model into the educational process is an important means of improving the teachers' information technology competence. The model includes the following interrelated components: the goal, the objectives, pedagogical conditions, the content, teaching principles, main directions, stages, organizational forms, methods and means of teaching. The system approach is an organizing principle and rallying methodological point of constructing a model [3]. The level of competence maturity can be taken as the criterion of efficiency. Interrelation of the teaching system components is the object of applying the system approach. Providing this interrelation is based on the student-centered approach on the basis of thorough monitoring of personal qualities and professional competencies of teachers.
The characteristic feature of the model is that it is designed with regard for the use of an up-to-date media center in the process of teacher training. The media center comprises several language laboratories equipped with computers. The advantages of using the media center are obvious: the equipment used for teaching students is also used for teacher training (professional development). Any innovative guidance papers developed by the teachers can be tested on the spot.
Let us consider the basic components of the teaching model. The aim of the work is to improve the system of training foreign-language teachers for the use of information technologies. The problem to be solved consists in specifying the pedagogical conditions for the perfection of the process of forming the readiness of foreign-language teachers to use informational technologies in their professional activities. The problem is complicated by the limited number of hours allotted for the training of teachers. The main objectives are: acquisition of knowledge allowing the use of information technologies in the educational process and mastering the software required for the process of learning foreign languages; developing skills of using information technologies in professional activity; creating interest in working with information technologies and need for using information technologies in teaching foreign languages.
The content of the process of developing foreign-language teachers' information technology competence consists in the substantiation of pedagogical conditions of development, constructing a model of competence development, specifying indicators and levels of the information technology competence and includes theoretical, methodological and practical training.
A specialized course "Information technologies in teacher training" we developed is an integral part of the model. The content of the course is focused on improving the teachers' knowledge about information technologies in the scope necessary for successful use in vocational and creative activities, instructional guidelines for using the computer platform of the media center language laboratories.
We consider motivation to be the first and foremost prerequisite for effective development of teachers' information technology competence. The factors that can motivate teachers include: the desire to hold down
the job, to keep the seniority level, to get a promotion or be appointed to a higher post; being interested in getting a higher salary; interest in the process of mastering new knowledge and skills. Other prerequisites are: innovative orientation in teaching information technologies to students; interconnection of theoretical, methodological and practical training; practice-oriented nature of the process of studying information technologies; educational materials necessaiy for the process of teaching; informative-teaching environment at theoretical and practical classes; highly qualified teachers of the Advanced Training Faculty.
The factors that can be used as indicators of foreign-language teachers' information technology competence are: positive motivation of a foreign language teacher to use information technologies, knowledge in the field of information technologies, maturity of skills in the use of information technologies, the ability to unlock the students' creativity in the use of information technology.
The degree of maturity of teachers' competence is determined by the level of preparedness of their students to use the information technologies (receptive, reproductive, productive, creative levels). The receptive level of competence is characterized by disinterest and lack of motivation to use information technologies, insufficient theoretical knowledge about the possibilities of information technologies in teaching foreign languages, lack of understanding of the place and role of information technologies in the development of communicative skills of students' foreign language skills. The reproductive level of teachers' competence is manifested in the presence of pronounced needs to use information technologies, the knowledge of their possibilities. Teachers with a productive level of competence show an express willingness to use information technologies in teaching foreign languages, they are aware of their place and role in the formation of communicative foreign language skills and realize their potential in teaching students with the use of information technologies. The creative level of teachers' competence is characterized by a persistent need and a pronounced positive motivation for the use of information technologies in teaching students. They have deep knowledge and skills in using information technologies.
Information technology competence in the process of training foreign language teachers includes: psychological, scientific-theoretical (methodological, theoretical, technological knowledge), practical (analytical, design, constructive, communicative and organizational skills) competence, maturity of professionally important personal qualities.
Constructing the model we drew on a number of principles of higher school didactics: the principle of commitment of higher education to the development of personality of the future specialist, conformity of the content of higher education with current and expected trends of development of science and production; the principle of optimum combination of general, group and individual forms of organization of the educational process at higher school, efficient use of modern methods and means of training at various stages of training specialists, the compliance of the results of training with the requirements imposed on the professional activities of specialists.
The model of development of teachers' information technology competence is a dynamic one and includes procedural and substantive aspects. The forming process consists of four stages: the motivation-and-value stage, the content stage, the stage of professional activity, the stage of analysis and correction.
Forms of organization of in-class and out-of-class work (lectures, practical classes, tutorials, conferences, independent work, teaching practicum) are an important component of the training of foreign language teachers for using information technologies.
Teaching practicum takes pride of place among these forms since it promotes practical application, developing the need for using information technologies in teaching foreign languages.
We consider the following teaching methods to be the most efficient ones (taking into account age peculiarities of teachers): the algorithmic method, the explanatory-illustrative method, the reproductive method, the partial-search method and the research method; the application of each of them in the above sequence creates conditions for increasing the level of participation and independent behavior in mastering information technologies.
Scheme
Goal: improve the system of training language teachers to use information technologies (IT)
Tasks: - develop teachers' knowledge to make possible using IT
- develop skills in using IT
- develop the need to use IT
SPECIAL COURSE "INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES" Pedagogical conditions of competence development:
- motivation to implement IT
- innovative orientation in teaching IT
- the relationship of theoretical, methodological and practical training
- practice-oriented nature of the process of learning IT
- educational materials for the learning process
- information-teaching environment in theoretical and practical classes
- high qualification of teachers of the Advanced Training Faculty. Teaching principles: - commitment of higher education to the personal development of specialists
- conformity of the content of education to the trends in science
- optimal combination of forms of organization of the educational process
- efficient use of modern methods and means of training
- conformity of the results of training to the requirements imposed on the specialists' professional activities
Directions: theoretical, methodological and practical training Stages: motivation-and-value, informative, professional activity, analysis and correction Forms: in-class and out-of-class work, teaching practicum Methods: algorithmic, reproductive, partial- search, research Facilities: complex of the media center hardware, language laboratories, the Internet
ГГ
Person-oriented approach: the study of teachers' personal characteristics and qualification, level differentiation, development of correction programs
System approach: optimization of the teaching process; providing interrelation of the teaching components based on the student-centered approach; arranging feedback
Monitoring
Management
MEDIACENTER
Result: Indicators and levels of the maturity of teachers' information technology competence
When developing the model of the system of developing teachers' information technology competence (Scheme) we took into account the basic principles of teaching adults: relevance (adults do not perceive abstract and unrelated topics well); participation (students are expected to take an active part in the academic process); repetition (the acquired knowledge and skills are transformed into habit); feedback (students need to be constantly given information on how far they have progressed, which makes it possible to adjust their behavior to achieve better results). The ways of perception: visual, auditory, kinesthetic were taken into account. Presence of positive motivation of foreign-language teachers for using information technologies in their professional activity was determined with the help of the technique "Motivation of study at the University" developed by T.N. Ilyina.
Teaching aids (computers and language laboratories, multimedia systems) and specialized infomedia (software video and audio packages, virtual tape recorders, etc.) the media center is equipped with help to solve the problems of developing teachers' information technology competence.
The article can be used in the educational process of higher educational institutions in the system of advanced training and professional development of teachers.
Список литературы / References
1. Концепция Федеральной целевой программы развития образования на 2016-2020 годы. Утверждена распоряжением Правительства Российской Федерации от 29 декабря 2014 г. №2765-р.
2. Харитонова JI.A. Формирование готовности будущих учителей иностранного языка к использованию информационных технологий в профессиональной деятельности: Автореф. дис.... канд. пед. наук: 22.00.03 / JI.A. Харитонова. Чебоксары., 2005. 23 с.
3. Сидоров С.В. Правила реализации системного подхода в управлении развивающейся школой // «Знание. Понимание. Умение». 2010. №2.
