Reflective foreign language teaching and learning of university students Текст научной статьи по специальности «Науки об образовании»

ТЕОРЕТИЧН1 АСПЕКТИ ФОРМУВАННЯ 1НШОМОВНО1 КОМУН1КАТИВНО1 КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТ1

УДК 378:37.091.12.011.3 DOI 10:25128/2415-3605.17.4.1

IRYNA ZADOROZHNA

[email protected] Doctor of Pedagogy, Professor Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University

2 Maksyma Kryvonosa Str., Ternopil

REFLECTIVE FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING OF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

The article examines the main features of reflective learning and ways of implementing reflective pedagogy in foreign language teaching. The conclusion has been made about the connection between students' ability to reflect on the results of their learning and autonomy. Reflection is seen as a form of meta-cognition which enables students to evaluate, revise, plan and correct. Reflective foreign language learning skills of university students have been specified and the ways of their development and facilitation in higher education contexts have been discussed in the article. A scale for self-evaluation students' reflective skills has been suggested to help students analyze and evaluate their reflective abilities and assist teachers in assessing students' reflective skills. As the incorporation of reflective pedagogy in foreign language learning and teaching may face different problems, it is necessary to employ effective techniques, apply efficient activities which play a dual role by facilitating reflection in higher education and promoting students' foreign language proficiency. The article focuses on the reflective portfolio, which is a set of papers summarizing students' experiences, opinions and feelings, evaluates the skills developed. It has also been proved that composing the reflective portfolio can be a valuable tool for developing reflection as it is an explorative process and helps to focus on product rather than process when writing. Stages of working with portfolio self-assessment checklist have been specified in the article. As reflection should be an ongoing process, students are to be encouraged to assess themselves not only at macro level (at the beginning or at the end of a semester) with the help of descriptors, but also on the micro level (after doing some task or a set of tasks) by fulfilling reflective writing assignments.

Keywords: reflection, self evaluation, skills, reflective portfolio, self-evaluation checklist, reflective writing.

1РИНА ЗАДОРОЖНА

доктор педагопчних наук, професор Тернопшьський нащональний педагопчний ушверситет iMeHi Володимира Гнатюка вул. Максима Кривоноса, 2, м. Тернопшь

РЕФЛЕКС1Я У НАВЧАНН1 1НОЗЕМНИХ МОВ СТУДЕНТ1В ВИЩИХ

ЗАКЛАД1В ОСВ1ТИ

Bid3HaueH0, що rno6xidmcmb iнmeнсифiкацii процесу оволодiння тоземними мовами студентами ВНЗ зумовлюе пошук ефективних Memodie i 3aco6ie, здатних сприяти формуванню рефлексивного освтнього середовища. Розглянуто рeфлeксивнi умтня, нeoбхiднi студентам для ефективного оволодтня тоземними мовами; визначено засоби, ят забезпечують рефлексивтсть процесу навчання та вiдпoвiднo сприяють розвитку рефлексивних умть сmудeнmiв; охарактеризовано методику ix використання. Прoаналiзoванo трактування поняття «рефлексы» в сучаснт науковш лimeраmурi i зроблено висновок, що здатнкть до рефлексп е нeoбxiднoю умовою автономи oсoбисmoсmi. Показано,

ТЕОРЕТИЧШ АСПЕКТИ ФОРМУВАННЯ 1НШОМОВНО1 _КОМУШКАТИВНО1 КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТ1_

що рефлекая - це форма метакогнщи, яка уможливлюе пошук альтернативних ршень, анал1з ефективностi власно'1' diMMbHocmi, самоконтроль та самооцтку, а також забезпечуе iнтенсифiкацiю процесу вивчення тоземно! мови. Конкретизовано рефлексивнi вмтня, необхiднi студентам для успiшноi реал1зацИ рефлексивноi дiяльностi, проаналiзовано шляхи ix формування i розвитку в умовах навчання у ВНЗ. Запропоновано шкалу самоо^нювання студентами власних рефлексивних умiнь, яка може використовуватись i викладачами для оцiнювання рефлексивних умiнь студентiв. Показано, що у навчальному процеа необxiдно використовувати ефективт засоби, яю, з одного боку, сприяють розвитку рефлексИ, а з iншого - допомагають розвивати мовленнeвi навички та вмiння. Зосереджено увагу на мовному портфелi, який е пакетом дркументiв, що узагальнюе досвiд студентiв, imi погляди, а також уможливлюе о^нювання рiвня сформованостi в них iншомовноi комунiкативноi компетентностi. Запропоновано етапи роботи з контрольними листами самооцтювання як компонентом мовного портфеля. Обтрунтовано доцшьтсть i методику орган1зацИ письмового анализу результатiв власного навчання, яка може бути частиною мовного портфеля i пропонуватись студентам на р1зних етапах (тсля виконання важливого завдання, в тнщ семестру тощо).

Ключовi слова: рефлекся, самооцтювання, вмiння, мовний портфель, контрольш листи самооцiнювання, письмовий анал1з результатiв навчання.

ИРИНА ЗАДОРОЖНАЯ

доктор педагогических наук, профессор Тернопольський национальный педагогический университет имени Владимира Гнатюка ул. Максима Кривоноса, 2, г. Тернополь

РЕФЛЕКСИЯ В ОБУЧЕНИИ ИНОСТРАННЫХ ЯЗЫКОВ СТУДЕНТОВ ВЫСШИХ УЧЕБНЫХ ЗАВЕДЕНИЙ

Рассмотрены особенности и возможности использования рефлексивной педагогики в процессе обучения иностранным языкам в вузах. Проанализирована трактовка понятия «рефлексия» в современной научной литературе и сделан вывод, что способность к рефлексии является необходимым условием автономии личности. Отмечено, рефлексия рассматривается как форма метакогниции, которая предполагает поиск альтернативных решений, анализ эффективности деятельности, самоконтроль и самооценивание, а следовательно обеспечивает интенсификацию процесса изучения иностранного языка. Конкретизированы рефлексивные умения, необходимые студентам для упешной реализации рефлексивной деятельности, а также проанализованы пути их формирования и развития в условиях обучения в вузе. Предложена шкала для самооценивания студентами собственных рефлексивных умений, которая может использоваться и преподавателями для оценивания рефлексивных умений студентов. Указано, что в учебном процессе необходимо использовать эффективные средства, которые, с одной стороны, способствуют развитию рефлексии, а с другой -помогают развивать речевые навыки и умения. Сконцентрировано внимание на языковом портфеле, который является пакетом документов, обобщающим опыт студентов, их точку зрения, а также делает возможным оценку уровня развития у них иноязычной коммуникативной компетентности. Предложены этапы работы с листами самооценки, которые являются компонентом языкового портфеля. Обоснована целесообразность и методика организации письменного анализа результатов собственного обучения, который может быть частью языкового портфеля и использоваться студентами на разных этапах (после выполнения объемного или трудного задания, в конце семестра и т. д.).

Ключовые слова: рефлексия, самооценка, умения, языковой портфель, контрольные листы самооценивания, письменный анализ результатов обучения.

Nowadays students are to be ready to adapt to a fast-moving and changing world. That is why they have to be able to respond quickly to innovations and new challenges to adapt to a new market. The task of the educators is to organize teaching to prepare students to changes. Learners should be taught and encouraged to think critically over the obtained results, and in this case they will be ready to analyse their achievements and mistakes and find ways to correct errors and improve the outcomes.

Reflection has been recognised as a constituent of effective learning, and it has become one of the central concerns of modern foreign language teaching. The aspects of the problem have been studied by Ukrainian (I. Bezhenar, N. Hupka-Makohin, Y. Fabrychna and others) and foreign

ТЕОРЕТИЧШ АСПЕКТИ ФОРМУВАННЯ 1НШОМОВНО1 КОМУНЖАТИВНО1 КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТ1

(A. M. Edstrom, Ch. Lockhart, J. C. Richards etc.) scholars. However, there are still questions that need to be analysed.

The purpose of the article is to analyse ways of implementing reflective pedagogy in foreign language learning and teaching.

Research suggests that systematic reflection helps not only understand one's behaviour better, but also promotes motivation and increases confidence and competence [8; 11].

There are different definitions of the term 'reflection'. It is considered to be a mental process that facilitates the transformation of experience into personal knowledge and creates the connection between the emotional and cognitive states [3]. J. Dewey, the originator of reflective learning, stated that reflecting practice helps people to learn more than from just experience. Thus reflection is goal-oriented and controlled by the learner [4, p. 17]. It involves self-assessment and may lead to goal revision as learners can set different targets thinking on their achievements and failures. J. Dewey considered reflection to be language-specific [4, p. 17], which is especially important for students whose major is a foreign language as they should be encouraged not only to reflect on the results of their language learning, but also to reflect using the foreign language (languages).

E. M. Boyd and A. W. Fales view reflective learning as "a process of internally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self, and which results in a changed conceptual perspective" [3, p. 99]. J. Moon consideres reflection to be a form of "mental processing with a purpose and/or an anticipated outcome that is applied to relatively complicated or unstructured ideas for which there is not an obvious solution" [7, p. 98]. According to M. Jones and M. Shelton reflection "brings into conscious awareness one's motivations, thoughts, beliefs.. .and expectations for the purpose of gaining insightful understanding as to their meaning, their connections to what is personally known, and in light of new experiences and information. Reflection makes possible the insights necessary to learn from experience and alter habitual behaviours" [6, p. 53].

All the definitions mentioned view reflection as a mental process which makes students concentrate on the analysis of their experience, motivation, purposes with the aim of understanding them better and results in change of behavior.

Reflection is closely related to self-evaluation and decision making. That is why there is connection between reflection and autonomy. Autonomous language learners can take responsibility for their own language learning as they are aware of the learning process, know their weaknesses and strengths, are able to define objectives, know effective methods and techniques, can evaluate the results and are well motivated to learn. In other words, reflection is an integral characteristic of an autonomous learner.

The key benefits of reflection are the following: 1) the development of knowledge and thought processes [13, p. 19]; 2) enhancing students' understanding of the learning process; 3) development of the ability to view problems or situations from different perspectives; 4) forming students' autonomy as reflection is a purposeful and conscious process aimed at improving the results; 5) using own mistakes to learn something new; 6) motivating students to look for effective ways to achieve one's target.

Thus, reflection can be seen as a form of meta-cognition which enables students to evaluate, revise, plan and correct. Students become better language learners when they think deliberately about the process of their own learning.

To reflect effectively it is necessary to form and develop students' reflective skills:

• to analyse individual needs and goals of learning a foreign language;

• determine individual level of language proficiency;

• set individual goals;

• determine difficulties of learning a foreign language;

• analyse individual techniques and strategies;

• assess the result and its correspondence to the determined target;

• analyse the relevance of the strategies used to the purpose and the result;

• determine the reasons for failure;

• look at the problem from different perspectives, refocus the experience;

• make a comparative analysis of the ways of solution;

TEOPETHHHI ACnEKTH OOPMYBAHH^ IHfflOMOBHOI _KOMYHIKATHBHOI KOMnETEHTHOCTI_

• think over alternative strategies;

• analyze external influences, implications of the experience in the context of future applications.

The incorporation of reflective pedagogy in foreign language learning and teaching may face different problems. Firstly, reflection may seem too abstract for students and therefore become distorted [5, p. 94]. Secondly, it can be reduced to a checklist of behaviours and thus trivialized [9]. Thirdly, reflective skills are difficult to measure so it may be problematic both for teachers and the students to assess their reflective abilities. Fourthly, students may not be motivated enough to be engaged in active reflective process.

To develop the above-mentioned reflective skills and avoid the possible problems it is necessary to employ effective techniques, apply tangible activities which play a dual role by facilitating reflection in higher education and promoting students' foreign language proficiency. Besides, it is vital for students' further development and effective life-long learning to be taught and encouraged to analyse their learning and its results. Thus, teachers should guide students with their reflection. It can not happen at a stroke. It is a continuous process during which step-by-step students are taught to reflect and make it work and thus develop increasingly sophisticated reflection. Besides, teachers must be reflective practitioners themselves as it is impossible to teach your students something not being able to do it yourself or just not practicing it yourself. So progressive teachers reflect not only on their classroom practice, but also on their level of language and subject knowledge and skills. They should be ready to set their own aims and attain them reflecting on the efficacy of the process. Moreover, if students realize that the teacher is also actively engaged in reflection they will be more encouraged to think over their learning. Finally, students should realize the importance of reflection and be aware of the reflective skills they have to develop to be effective reflective learners and practitioners and succeed in their learning.

The current literature has documented a number of investigations on using portfolio as a mediation tool for promoting students' autonomy and reflection. However, the reflective activities based on the portfolio are still understudied and underestimated in university setting.

In the article we will focus on working with self-evaluation checklist and reflective portfolio writing which can significantly promote learners' reflective skills.

Reflective portfolio is a set of papers that summarises students' experiences, opinions and feelings, evaluates the skills developed. It usually consists of three parts: the first part - Language Passport contains a profile of language skills in relation to the Common European Framework, a resume of language learning and intercultural experiences, a record of certificates and diplomas; the second part - Language biography - is usually the self-assessment checklist which may help the student to assess general language skills; the third part - Dossier - which contains the certificates, results of the projects etc.

The fragment of the self-evaluation checklist to evaluate writing skills (level C1) developed by the author of the article on the basis of several sources [1; 10] is given below.__

C1 - Effective Operational Proficiency date date date

Writing

I can express myself fluently and accurately in writing on a wide range of personal, academic or professional topics, varying my vocabulary and style according to the context, demonstrating grammar correctness.

I can take detailed notes during a lecture on a familiar topic in my field of my academic and professional interest, recording the information so accurately and so closely to the original that they are also useful to other people...

To make the process of reflection more effective the following stages of working with portfolio self-assessment checklist may be applied:

1) getting students acquainted with the portfolio and the opportunities it provides;

2) teaching learners to work with the self-evaluation checklist by encouraging them to assess their language skills;

3) comparing the results of self-assessment with teacher assessment, discussing them with the teacher;

4) encouraging students to determine which skills a certain task can develop;

5) stimulating students to set their individual goals with the help of descriptors and on the basis of self-assessment results;

6) determining the ways to attain the targets;

7) iterative self-assessment and teacher assessment (in 2 or three months) with the help of descriptors, comparative analysis of the results, considering the relevance of the strategies used, in case of failure determining the reasons, discussing alternative strategies;

8) comparing the results of assessment with the test grades.

Students should be encouraged to assess themselves not only at macrolevel (at the beginning or at the end of a semester) with the help of descriptors, but also on the microlevel (after fulfilling some task or a set of tasks). In other words, reflection should be an ongoing process.

With this purpose a reflective writing can be applied after students have fulfilled some important task.

The following questions may stimulate students to think over the results and be focused on in reflective writing:

Are you satisfied with the results? Why?

Can you compare your performance /product / results with those of other students?

Is there anything you would like to improve? How would you do it?

Did you experience any difficulties? If yes, why and what should be done?

What techniques / strategies / sources did you use? Were they effective? What other strategies or sources could be used?

Did you realize the aim of the task? Did it correlate with your individual aim?

What skills are necessary to fulfill the task?

How can you use the experience gained in future?

Is the task useful for language learners / you personally?

However, it is not necessary or effective to reflect in the written form over each task. It may be done in writing several times to teach students how to analyse the process and results. It is much more important to motivate students to reflective writing on the macrolevel (while analyzing the results at the end of a semester or academic year). In such a case they may be suggested a set of questions to focus on among others:

What is your motivation?

Have you achieved the targets set?

What is the level of your language proficiency?

What external influences did you experience in your learning?

What do you like to improve? How will you do it?

What are your strengths and weaknesses as a language user / a learner?

What techniques / strategies do you use? Are they effective? What other techniques / strategies would you like to try to use?

What will be your further goals?

What skills are you planning to improve / develop?

Reflective writing, which can be a part of a reflective portfolio, does not only demonstrate students' reflective thinking skills, but also shows their writing abilities. In this case teachers can evaluate both writing and reflective skills. As for the latter, the following scale (table 1) may help students analyse and evaluate their reflective abilities and assist teachers in assessing students' reflective skills (1 - strongly agree, 2 - agree, 3 - neither nor 4 - disagree 5 - strongly disagree).

Table 1

Scale f for self-evaluation reflective skills

№ Skills Score

1 2 3 4

1. I can analyse individual needs and goals of learning a foreign language

2. I can determine individual level of language proficiency

3. I can set individual goals

4. I can determine difficulties of learning a foreign language

5. I can analyse individual techniques and strategies

6. I can assess the result and its correspondence to the determined target

7. I can analyse the relevance of the strategies used to the purpose and the result

8. I can determine the reasons for failure

9. I can look at the problem from different perspectives

10. I can refocus the experience

11. I can make a comparative analysis of the ways of solution in terms of their effectiveness

12. I can think over alternative strategies

13. I can analyse external influences

14. I can outline the possible application of the experience

H owever, certain difficulties may arise with suc i activities: 1) "students can probably b(

reflective in their work and have a reflective thinking process, but might not be able to formulate this in a short written essay" [12, p. 6]; 2) "some students may also have a resistance towards writing this kind of assignment regardless of their levels of reflection" or language proficiency; 3) students may write what teachers expect them to write neglecting the process and the purpose of reflection; 4) they may write not what they think or feel, but what the teacher wants to read and see.

The first difficulty can be overcome gradually with the increase of students language proficiency. As for the other three, much depends on students' motivation and understanding the importance of reflective practice. Besides, other reflective activities should be encouraged, for example, selection of contents of the portfolio which demonstrate both the achievements and progress and presentation of the materials in the classroom, their analysis together with the teacher and other students either in groups or in the class. As for the teachers, evaluation of reflective skills can be based not only on the reflective portfolio writing and the results of self-evaluation scale, but also on observation of students performance.

The use of the suggested techniques and tools among 22 future EFL teachers, Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, during a semester, resulted in the increase of students awareness of reflective skills which are necessary for effective language learning (90 % of respondents mentioned it in a questionnaire), development of reflective skills (86 %). Besides, 68 % of students stated that the use of reflective tools promoted their language proficiency. However, further investigations are needed to analyse whether the development of reflective skills has a significant influence on language proficiency.

Thus, reflective portfolio writing can be a valuable tool for developing reflection as it is an explorative process and helps to focus on product rather than process when writing. Reflective portfolio assessment (with the help of self-evaluation checklist) can also be an alternative assessment technique which contributes to the objective evaluation of students' achievement by incorporating self-evaluation, portfolio peer reviews, group analysis.

ТЕОРЕТИЧШ АСПЕКТИ ФОРМУВАННЯ 1НШОМОВНО1

_КОМУН1КАТИВНО1 КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТ1_

Further research should focus on studying other effective tools which can develop students' reflective skills.

REFERENCES

1. Evropejskij jazykovoj portfel dlja filologov (prepodavatelej jazyka, pismennyh i ustnyh perevodchikov). Sost. K. M. Irishanova. [European Language Portfolio for philologists (teachers and interpreters)]. Moscow, MGLU, 2003, 73 p.

2. Boud D. Reflection: turning experience into learning / D. Boud, R. Keogh, D. Walker. - New York: Kogan Page, 1985. - 172 p.

3. Boyd E. M. Reflective learning: key to learning from experience / E. M. Boyd, A. W. Fales // Journal of Humanistic Psychology. - 1983. - № 23. - P. 99-117.

4. Chau J. Developing Chinese Students' Reflective Second Language Learning Skills in Higher Education / J. Chau., G. Cheng // The Journal of Language Teaching and Learning. - 2012. - № 2 (1). - P. 15-32.

5. Esteve O. The ELP as a mediating tool for the development of self-regulation in foreign language learning university contexts: an ethnographic study / O. Esteve, M. Trenchs, J-T Pujola, M. Arumi, M. Birello // Perspectives from the European Language Portfolio: Learner autonomy and self-assessment; ed. by B. Kühn, Cavana M. L. P. - Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, London and New York, 2012. - P. 73100.

6. Jones M., Shelton M. Developing your portfolio: Enhancing your learning and showing your stuff: A Guide for the Early Childhood Student or Professional / M. Jones, M. Shelton. - New York: Routledge, 2006. - 184 p.

7. Moon J. Reflection in learning and professional development / J. Moon. - London: Kogan Page Limited, 1999. - 240 p.

8. Newton J. M. Uncovering knowing in practice amongst a group of undergraduate student nurses / J. M. Newton // Reflective Practice. - 2000. - № 1 (2). - P. 183-198.

9. Orland-Barak L. Portfolios as evidence of reflective practice: what remains, untold / L. Orland-Barak // Educational Research. - 2005. - № 47 (1). - P. 25-44.

10. Schneider G. European Language Portfolio: Guide for Developers / G. Schneider, P. Lenz. - 106 p. -[Електронний ресурс]. Available at: http:// https://rm.coe.int/1680459fa3.

11. Thorpe K. Reflective learning journals: from concept to practice / K. Thorpe // Reflective Practice. -2004. - № 5 (3). - P. 327-343.

12. Wallman A. A categorization scheme for assessing pharmacy students' levels of reflection during internships / A. Wallman, A. K. Lindblad, S. Hall, A. Lundmark, L. Ring // American Journal of Pharmaceutical Education. - 2008. - 71 (1). - P. 1-10.

13. Yancey K. B. Reflection in the writing classroom / K. B. Yancey. - Logan, Utah: Utah University Press 1998. - 224 p.

Стаття надтшла в редакцт 23.09.2017р.

УДК 378.811.111

DOI 10:25128/2415-3605.17.4.2

РУСЛАНА ПРЕСНЕР

[email protected] кандидат педагопчних наук, старший викладач Нащональний люотехшчний ушверситет Украши вул. Генерала Чупринки, 103. м. Львiв

КОМУН1КАТИВНО ОР1СНТОВАНИЙ П1ДХ1Д ДО НАВЧАННЯ 1НОЗЕМНИХ МОВ У НЕМОВНИХ ВИЩИХ НАВЧАЛЬНИХ ЗАКЛАДАХ

Розглянуто процес реал1зацй комунжативно ор1ентованого тдходу до навчання тоземних мов студентгв немовних спецгальностей, що полягае у моделюванн основних закономгрностей тшомовноЧ мовленневог комуткацИ з урахуванням ix професшних потреб. Проанал1зовано головнг умови комун1кативно1 оргашзаци заняття з iноземног мови: мовленнева спрямовангсть навчального процесу, функцюнальтсть i ситуативнкть навчання, новизна навчального матергалу, врахування тдивгдуальних рис кожного студента. Акцентовано увагу на тому, що комунгкативно оргентований mdxid у навчанш тоземног мови сприяе максимальному «зануренню» студента у мовленневу дгяльтсть, в якш практично вгдсутня ргдна мова. Показано, що комунгкативно оргентований тдхгд до навчання тоземног мови