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49We can take into consideration following features of role play technique in teaching speaking skills:
> Role play as a teaching technique has a positive effect on students' speaking as students feel self confident and speak without fear.
> Role play reduces anxiety and humiliation when speaking up in front of classmates and it helps the students to develop the micro and the macro skills of language.
> Adopting Role play as a teaching technique in the teaching and learning process of English learners encourages these students to learn, achieve, explore and simulate their creativity, imagination and personal likes.
Another advantage of role-playing is that learners are given a chance to pretend someone else. Such a technique may help timid students to overcome their shyness of speaking. Reticent students often have difficulty talking about their experiences or about themselves. The fact that they are someone else makes them feel that their own personality is not implicated [2, 7].
As a conclusion one can say, role play as a communicative technique is used to promote students' speaking skill. It provides the students with opportunities to learn and practice the foreign language. Furthermore, it allows students to learn new attitudes and perspectives in different situations.
References
1. Kowalska Barbara, 1991. Let them talk in English. Varshava: Izdatel'stvo shkoly i pedagogiki.
2. Porter-Ladousse Gillian, 1987. Role play. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
PECULIAR FEATURES OF ALTERNATIVE ASSESSMENT IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE Khaydarova N.A.1, Khaydarova H.A.2
'Khaydarova Nodirabegim Ahtamjonovna — Teacher, ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT;
BUKHARA ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE;
2Khaydarova Hulkar Ahtamjonovna — Student, NATURAL SCIENCES FACULTY, BUKHARA STATE UNIVERSITY, BUKHARA, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: in all academic settings, assessment is viewed as closely related to instruction. Assessment is needed to help teachers and administrators make decisions about students' linguistic abilities, their placement in appropriate levels, and their achievement. The article analyses importance and benefits of alternative assessment in teaching English as a foreign language.
Keywords: alternative assessment, achievement, summative evaluation, anxiety, communicative fluency.
Consequently, the assessment of students' progress and achievement in
EFL/ESL classes should be carried out in a manner that does not cause anxiety in the students. The success of any assessment depends on the effective selection and use of appropriate tools and procedures as well as on the proper interpretation of students' performance. Assessment tools and procedures, in addition to being essential for evaluating students' progress and achievement, also help in evaluating the suitability and effectiveness of the curriculum, the teaching methodology, and the instructional materials.
Alternative assessment is defined as "any method of finding out what a student knows or can do that is intended to show growth and inform instruction and is not a standardized or traditional test" [1, 2]. Specifically, alternative ways of assessing students take into consideration differences in students' needs, interests, and learning styles; and they attempt to integrate assessment and learning activities. Also, they indicate successful performance, highlight positive traits, and provide formative rather than summative evaluation.
Until recently the assessment scene in EFL/ESL classes has been dominated by summative evaluation of learner achievement, focusing on mastery of discrete language points and linguistic accuracy, rather than on communicative competence, with test items typically consisting of matching
or gap-filling. Communicative teaching methodology brings with it a considerable emphasis on formative evaluation "with more use of descriptive records of learner development in language and learning which [track] language development along with other curricular abilities" [2, 151]. Therefore, assessment becomes a diagnostic tool that provides feedback to the learner and the teacher about the suitability of the curriculum and instructional materials, the effectiveness of the teaching methods, and the strengths and weaknesses of the students. Furthermore, it helps demonstrate to young learners that they are making progress in their linguistic development, which can boost motivation. This encourages students to do more and the teacher to work on refining the process of learning rather than its product.
Using formative assessment can help decrease the level of anxiety generated by concentration on linguistic accuracy and increase students' comfort zone and feeling of success by stressing communicative fluency. Some teachers and researchers call for allowing students to have a say not only in deciding the format of the test but also in deciding its content and the way it is administered. Thus, Mayerhof suggests allowing students to discuss questions during the test quietly as long as each writes his own answers; of course, she is referring to subjective types of questions [3, 45].
Murphey ventures beyond this concept to recommend that students make their own tests. He considers that studentmade tests are an effective "way to mine students' different perceptions and use them, building upon what a group knows as a whole and getting them to collaborate in their learning" [4, 12]. He suggests the following process: students choose the questions that will go into the test under the guidance of the teacher; a few days later, working in pairs, they ask each other questions during class; later on, the questions are asked again with a new partner to reinforce what is being learned. Students are graded by their partners or by the teacher for the correctness of their answers and for the appropriateness and correctness of their English.
A final characteristic of alternative assessment techniques for young learners is that they are performance-based, requiring students to perform authentic tasks using oral and/or written communication skills. These techniques can include traditional classroom activities, such as giving oral reports and writing essays, but they may also involve nontraditional tasks, such as cooperative group work and problem solving. Teachers score the task performances holistically. Student performance should be measured against standards previously discussed in class.
References
1. Pierce L. V. and O'Malley J.M., 1992. Performance and portfolio assessment for language minority students. Washington,.DC: National Clearinghouse for Bilingual Education.
2. Rea-Dickins P. and Rixon S., 1997. The assessment of young learners of English as a foreign language. In Encyclopedia of language and education, Vol. 7: Language testing and assessment, eds. C. Clapham and D. Carson. The Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
3. MayerhofE., 1992. Communication dynamics as test anxiety therapy. English Teaching Forum. 30, 1, Pp. 45-47.
4. Murphey T., 1994/1995. Tests: Learning through negotiated interaction. TESOL Journal, 4, 2, Pp. 12-16.
THE IMPORTANCE OF SPEAKING SKILLS FOR EFL LEARNERS
Mustafayeva M.A.
Mustafayeva Mavlyuda Anvarovna — Teacher, ENGLISH LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT, BUKHARA ENGINEERING-TECHNOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, BUKHARA, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: speaking is one of the important skills in English as a Foreign Language (EFL). It shows the best influence when seeing goal of speaking learning process, especially in EFL. The goal of English teaching is to make students able to communicate well. Keywords: speaking, problems in speaking, methods in speaking.
Language skill separates into two kinds that are receptive and productive. Receptive consists of listening and reading skills. Productive consists of speaking and wring skills. All of the skills are important in communication, including English communication. That is how the four skills are taught in English as a Foreign Language (EFL).One of the most important skills in EFL is speaking skill.
