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33Конструирование вопросительных предложений на английском:
на примере темы «Управление авиалиниями и аэропортами и авиационный
менеджмент»
Глоткина Антонина Александровна,
старший преподаватель кафедры И-13 «Иностранный язык для физико-математических и инженерных специальностей», Московский авиационный институт (национальный исследовательский университет) E-mail: [email protected]
В статье освещается подход по практике конструирования вопросительных предложений. Этот грамматический аспект является, несомненно, одним из важнейших коммуникативных навыков, однако студенты испытывают трудности при формировании вопроса на английском языке. Сложность возникает из-за отрицательной интерференции родного языка. В английском языке требуется произвести серьезные изменения в конструкции предложения, в свою очередь эти навыки преобразования необходимо отработать на практике. При использовании аутентичных видеоматериалов по авиационному менеджменту и техники "Интервью" студенты могут отработать свой навык, сосредотачиваясь не только на грамотности, но и обсуждении тем, являющихся профессиональным интересом студентов. Данный метод позволяет обучающимся применить свои теоретические знания на практике и сделать сам процесс обучения интересным и эффективным.
Ключевые слова: английский для специальных целей, авиационный менеджмент, обучение грамматике, конструирование вопросительных предложений, коммуникативная компетенция, метод дискуссии на занятиях по иностранному языку.
Introduction
For native speakers it is natural to make any transformations needed to construct the structures for their communicative purposes. Asking questions is a common and basic communicative ability in any language; however, what can be seen as an easy task for an expert, it becomes a stumbling block for learners of foreign languages. In many languages a question has the same grammar construction as a declarative sentence, the contrast lies only in the intonation or if it is a written form there is a question mark at the end of the sentence. The English language uses grammar to make a question and the serious changes in the word order raise difficulties for learners, which results in their errors even though their level can be advanced. Thus this aspect requires constant practice in numerous ways.
Word order in the English language
Penny Ur defines grammar as the words put together to make correct sentences. [Ur P., 2013, p 76] And a sentence is a set of words standing on their own as a sense unit, its conclusion marked by a full stop or equivalent. Word order is an essential grammatical notion in English, which belongs to the category of analytic languages. Britannica provides the following definition for the type of languages: any language that uses specific grammatical words or particles, rather than inflection to express syntactic relations within sentences. [Britannica online] Grammar. Collins explains the importance of word order in an English sentence this way: a change in word order often results in a change of meaning. Many other languages use inflection, a change in the form of words, to show how the parts of a sentence function. English has very few inflections, so the place that a word occupies in a sentence, its syntax, is the most important feature. [Grammar.Collins.COBUILD]
The term word order is used in reference to the order of elements in a sentence. The word order in English is fairly rigid and basically it is subject-predicate-object-adverbial, for instance:
Cabin attendants must check all safety equipment before every flight.
In the language word order fulfils 2 crucial functions (grammatical and communicative). Grammatical one implies that the sentence position of an element is determined by its syntactic function. Whilst in the communicative function the sentence position of an element varies depending on its communicative value. Thus inflected languages, such as Russian, are communicatively-driven and the order of elements is
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based on the theme-rheme sequence. That means one starts with given information and moves to new information in accordance with the logical laws of developing thought. In comparison the English language is distinguished by the grammatical principle, and shifts in word order will fundamentally change the meaning of the sentence, e.g.:
The man with a boarding pass saw meJ The man saw me with a boarding pass.
Only I saw the captain./1 saw only the captain. Despite the fact, that relative inflexibility distinguishes sentence constructions, there are emphatic structures that allow English native speakers to emphasize the communicative prominence of predicatives, objects and adverbials placing them in the initial position: Hard work it was.
Silently and patiently did the first officer bear all this. Obviously, this grammar aspect requires special attention and learners usually get tasks to master their skills in this area. This is the part of practice to eliminate L1 interference.
Types of question forms
Question formation can be presented in numerous ways. It could be done alternatively to the traditional way, focusing on the three types of question forms which depend on the verb phrase involved:
Type 1 conveys 5 conjugated forms of the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were) as a complement verb. In order to construct a question one reverses the normal order of subject and verb, for instance:
Are you satisfied with the vocational training courses?
Is it possible to establish an airline with one or two aircraft? Am I right?
Were they frustrated because of their flight being delayed?
Was it vital to consider the business plan? Type 2 includes one or more auxiliary verbs. This type involves modal verbs as well. To structure a question one needs to reverse the order of the subject and the (first) auxiliary verb. For example:
Can I ask you to show me your boarding pass? Is your flight being delayed? Shall I bring you a sickness bag? Type 3 covers structures with single-word verb-phrases (present simple and past tense of all main verbs apart from be) with the help of auxiliary verbs (do, does or did):
Did you major in airport and airline planning? Do you know what qualities are most important for an aviation manager?
The question structures without wh-words are called yes/no questions, and questions with wh-words are special questions:
Type 1 - Why are you disappointed with the course "the history of aviation"?
Type 2 - When were Freedoms of the Air formulated and agreed?
Type 3 - How long does it take to get a licence?
Additionally we may take into consideration several types of questions in a more traditional way: general (closed) or also known as yes/no questions, special questions using wh-words, alternative questions, and disjunctive or tag questions. Each of these different types of questions is commonly used.
General questions require only a yes/no answer. To form this type of question one needs either 5 conjugated forms of the verb to be (am, is, are, was, were), or auxiliary verbs of the tenses, or modal verbs. In order to construct a question one reverses the normal order of subject and verb, for instance:
Are you in trouble finding your seat?
Is there anything I can do to help you, madam?
Was he glad to see you?
Were they frustrated because of the flight being diverted?
Can rebranding of the airline save it?
You look tired. Have you had a long-haul flight?
Will you stay with us?
Did you confirm your vegetarian meal?
Do you realize the disadvantages of being a flight attendant?
Questions with wh-words are special questions. The question words who, what, where, when, why, how, how many, etc., are used to begin the interrogative sentence:
When is it impossible to start the flight if we talk about the weather?
What types of passengers do you know?
Where is the emergency equipment located in the aircraft?
How many passenger meals have you loaded?
Why was that route commercially-applicable?
A learner should pay special attention to the questions about the subject (who? what? whose? which?), as the structure of these interrogative sentences does not require an auxiliary verb, the subject is simply replaced by the question word [Thomson, Martinet, 2018, p 71]:
Who cooks for the passengers?
What weather conditions can delay the arrival?
Which directions seem to be the most popular?
Which options are recommended to consider while launching a new airline?
Whose is this?
After these question words (who, what) the third-person singular form of the verb should be used. Special questions are asked to get the detailed information, so it implies that the answers are quite extended.
Alternative questions focus on several options. This type of question consists of two parts, which are connected by the conjunction or. The example could be: Do you prefer milk or lemon with your tea?
Tag questions are used in conversational speech to clarify information or to confirm or refute something if there are doubts. Thomson and Martinet indicate tags as short additions to sentences, asking for agreement or confirmation. [Thomson, Martinet, 2018, p 113] These questions are made up of two parts, if one is an affirmative statement, then the tag is negative, and vice-versa:
Ifs profitable for airports to deal with lucrative long-haul flights, isn't it?
In 1955 Delta pioneered a new system of travel, didn't it?
There are some nuances. For instance, the pronoun I goes together with the tag are/aren't - I'm right, aren't I? The expression lets has the tag shall - Let's go, shall we? [Thomson, Martinet, 2018, p 113]
What prevents students from questioning easily?
• In the classroom lecturers mostly ask questions and students lack practice.
• L1 interference can complicate the comprehension of the models. Students simply ignore the inversion to form questions, they may use only intonation for oral speech, but, nevertheless, native speakers can miss this intonation and misinterpret the utterance.
• The structures in the present simple and past simple require auxiliary verbs that do not present in affirmative constructions. Students need to get accustomed to this unusual structure.
• Learners can have doubts about what to ask or they may shy away from asking questions being afraid of making mistakes.
General strategies to improve questioning techniques
Seeking an understanding of problems requires from students the ability to organize their thinking, consequently, they need to ask questions correctly, however, without the help from a lecturer it is nearly impossible to get a good example and practice the skill. Thus traditionally lecturers put into practice the following strategies to generally improve discussion skills of their students:
• questions should be distributed in such a way, that all learners are involved;
• factual and thought-provoking questions are balanced;
• lecturers encourage lengthy responses and sustained answers;
• students are allowed to have time to think over their answers;
• students are encouraged to comment on the answers of groupmates.
Learners should be aware of the fact that good questions are purposeful, clear, brief, natural, thought-provoking. At the same time questions call upon students to explain, illustrate, justify, trace, discuss, compare, contrast, agree and disagree, interpret, evaluate and summarize.
Methods of teaching
Teachers can apply a deductive method or inductive method to address this grammar topic. Both methods have their pros and cons and the choice of the approach should depend on the audience. Thornbury defines the approaches this way: A deductive approach starts with the presentation of a rule and is followed by exam-
ples in which the rule is applied. An inductive approach starts with some examples from which a rule is inferred". [Thornbury, 2002, p29]
Thus the deductive method implies that a lecturer will remind about SVO word order in the language and then students will pay attention to the changes in the sentence if they want to ask a question. To practice the patterns students will focus on exercises. The production stage may involve making dialogues or interviews on the topics of their interest. Taking into consideration the inductive approach, a lecturer may provide a text or an article with the patterns which students find and analyze together to formulate a rule. After they practice the models with the help of exercises and activities. The production stage is related to their creativity, they apply their knowledge while interviewing each other and making dialogues.
General recommendations how to plan effective lessons with videos
Once a lecturer has identified an engaging activity to promote their students' awareness of language, one can then begin to plan a lesson. The following tips are created to help ensure that a video lesson runs smoothly and effectively.
The initial stage is to ask yourself the following questions:
What is the reason I am using a video in class? How does the video relate to the overall course objectives?
What student learning outcomes will this lesson target?
Why have I selected this video? Is this the best choice?
How will the students respond to this video? Answering these questions will help you determine he purpose of the lesson. A lecturer can then write the objectives, keeping the following points in mind: A lecturer might want to create a set of language related objectives and a set of content related objectives.
Consider sharing these objectives with the students so they understand the purpose of the activity. Additionally, these objectives will help ease the doubts of students who are used to a more traditional classroom and might be wondering why they are watching a video in class rather than at home.
Stage II
Unless an activity requires that the students are surprised or unfamiliar with the video, a lecturer should create a pre-viewing activity to prepare the students. Such an activity is especially important for lower level students, who might struggle with the speaking pace and expressions featured in the video. Possible activities include:
• Exercises to introduce vocabulary, idioms, and slang;
• Exercises to highlight a particular grammatical feature;
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• Questions to activate students' background knowledge about the content of the video;
• Questions to gauge students' opinions about the issue(s) featured in the video;
• Information about any factual information featured in the video.
It should be mentioned that these activities are better to be kept short and focused; and the introduction of the video must be done appropriately without giving away too many clues about the content.
Stage III
Although it can be disruptive to stop a video at various points, it is beneficial to periodically check in with the students. Therefore, unless the video is very short or students are highly proficient, it is advisable to briefly stop the video to check on their comprehension. Possible activities include:
• Brief summarizing with a partner;
• Guided questions with the entire class;
• Quick vocabulary game or exercise;
• Prediction of the upcoming content;
• Brief fact check and/or character analysis.
To maximize the effect of the activity a lecturer should do a proper comprehension check with the students and keep the students on track, so as not to lose the momentum of the video.
Stage IV
A lecturer can further extend the lessons by assigning the students homework. Some assignments include:
• Having a student write an opinion or reflection paragraph.
• Having the students write a summary.
• Having the students write sentences or a paragraph using the new words, idioms, and/or language structures.
• Having the students write a character profile or biography about one of the protagonists.
• Having the students write a short review.
• Having the students write questions to ask their classmates in class.
• Having the students write a dialogue with the conversational expressions.
• Having the students watch or listen to a related video/audio clip.
Stage V
After the video lesson, to make improvements and adjustments, a lecturer can ask oneself the following questions:
• Was it possible to meet all of the objectives? Why or why not?
• How did the students respond to the video?
• Did the students understand the language and cones tent? How do you know?
££ • How effective were the pre-viewing activities? Is it g necessary to change anything? Why or why not? ~ • How effective were the during-viewing activities? Is z it necessary to change anything? Why or why not?
• How effective were the post-viewing activities? Is it necessary to change anything? Why or why not?
• Overall how would you rate the effectiveness of the lesson?
Practical application
Generally students are presented with the grammar materials to study at home and then discuss in a classroom. The reason for this is to save time and focus more on practice. Additionally, this way students are less confused and more confident about what they are doing. The most productive activities for specifically practicing question formation are of two kinds - those that practice question formation which they will need to ask or answer outside the classroom, and those that expand the range of questions they can make, ask and answer. To make sure they do not repeat themselves, a lecturer gives points for new forms or takes points off when learners overuse the same type of question.
As many students struggle with question formation in English, the activity called "Interview" is designed to help them practice creating and answering questions about an engaging subject. This activity is better suited for lower-level students; for advanced students it could be a review lesson or one could extend the material by having them develop comprehensive responses.
Objectives
• The students will be able to practice creating and answering questions in English.
• The students will be able to evaluate the grammatical accuracy of their questions.
• The students will be able to revise their work. Focus Area
The focus area is question formation. Additionally, it can help students create accurate responses to these questions.
Video Selection
A lecturer can choose from a range of authentic videos on aviation management, as students need and value the practical application of their knowledge, for instance: ask students to create an interview for the CEO who speaks about their new launched routes, the general manager of the airport and his/her opinion on how to run the busiest airport, the director of finance to clarify how airports make money, etc. Students might encounter plenty of issues while choosing the direction in their specialisation, thus videos featuring other students considering their career in different areas of aviation can be really thought-provoking.
Procedures
1. Briefly review the principles of question formation, recalling the structures.
2. Write these questions on the board.
3. Tell the students that they will be watching a video.
4. Briefly introduce the video and explain the activity. Set the number of questions that you would like the students to create.
5. While the students are watching, have them write their questions.
6. Stop the video about halfway through to do a comprehension check. Then complete the video.
7. Allow the students to watch the video one more time in order to complete their questions.
8. Ask the students to write their questions. When the students have finished, ask the students to find a partner. Have them peer review each other's work. Walk around the room and check the students' questions. Help the students with their corrections. If you notice common errors, briefly clarify the issue with the class.
9. Have the students revise their questions based on the suggestions from their peers.
10.Have the students take turns interviewing each other using the questions they created.
Conclusion
What native speakers take for granted in their language can cause sufficient difficulties for learners. The correct way of asking questions in English requires a lot of practice, which students lack as they are mainly taught to answer questions instead of asking them. Today teachers have all the possibilities, resources and tools to train this grammar aspect in a productive way, applying either a deductive approach or an inductive one, taking into account the demands and requirements of their audience.
FORMING INTERROGATIVE SENTENCES IN ENGLISH (THE MATERIAL BASED ON THE THEME "AIRLINE, AIRPORT AND AVIATION MANAGEMENT")
Glotkina A.A.
Moscow Aviation Institute (National Research University)
The article highlights a tip on practicing question formation: a grammar aspect which is undeniably one of the most important communicative skills, however, students feel uncomfortable and vulnerable by asking questions in English. The difficulty stems from the interference of the mother tongue. The construction of the question in English requires serious changes in the sentence. These skills of forming interrogative sentences need to be practiced. Using authentic videos on aviation management and the technique called "Interview" students can polish their ability to ask questions focusing not only on the grammar accuracy but discussing the topics of their professional interest. This method allows to meet the demands on practical application of students' knowledge and make the procedure engaging and productive.
Keywords: English for special purposes, aviation management, teaching grammar, question formation, communicative competence, discussion method of reaching.
References
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