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3SPEECH GAMES AS ONE OF THE METHODS OF TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGES
The relevance of this article is due to the need to form the communicative competence of secondary school students as the main goal of teaching foreign languages in accordance with the Federal State Educational Standard. The purpose of the article is to consider a speech play as one of the methods of teaching foreign languages. The leading approach to the study of this problem is the analysis of methodological literature and the experience of teachers. The article considers the structure of a speech game, its types, as well as the ways and conditions for effective achievement of its goals. The materials of the article can be useful for teachers of secondary schools and students of pedagogical universities and institutes when studying subjects related to the theory and methodology of teaching foreign languages.
Keywords
speech game, types of speech activity, teaching foreign languages, teaching method
AUTHOR
Natalia A. Baranova,
Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, associate professor of the Department of General and Germanic linguistics of the Humanities Institute of the branch of SAFU, 6, Tortseva street, Severodvinsk, 164500, Russia na.baranova@narfu.ru
1. Introduction
The relevance of this research is primarily due to the existing contradiction between the goal of teaching foreign languages defined by the Federal State Educational Standard and the results of achieving this goal, since only a small percentage of school graduates have foreign language communicative competence at a appropriate level (FSES, 2019). In addition, the relevance of the use of speech games as a method of forming a foreign language communicative competence is determined by the fact that the use of such games as artificial communication conditions allows to bring communication in the classroom as close as possible to a natural communication in a foreign language. A speech game actively stimulates students' motivational sphere to master the language, helps to achieve psychological readiness to speak a foreign language, allows activating and repeating the language material many times, to practice choosing the right speech option in conditions of natural necessity, which prepares students for spontaneous and situational speech.
2. Materials and Methods
During the research the following tasks were solved: to provide a theoretical analysis of methodical literature on the research topic; to consider the peculiarities of applying the method of speech games in teaching foreign languages; to determine the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standards for the formation of speech skills.
To solve the tasks in accordance with the theme and logic of the research, such theoretical methods as comparative analysis of scientific and methodological literature, normative documents, and studying other teachers' experiences were used.
3. Methodological Framework
The theoretical basis of the research consists of Russian methodologists' works devoted to the study of game methods of teaching.
A speech game is one of the active methods of teaching a foreign language. It is focused on practical language learning through the use of collective forms of learning. According to N. Gorlova, «speech games are used for the development of all types of speech activity: listening, speaking, reading and writing.» They allow us to improve and activate the skills of monolog and dialog speech of various types purposefully (Gorlova, 2013). N. Eremina writes that «speech games form and develop the ability to use language tools in the process of performing a speech act and are always based on a specific communicative situation in which speech actions are performed» (Eremina, 2003). A speech game can be used for teaching oral communication in various fields.
As a rule, creating a situation of real communication within a certain topic in the lesson is a difficult task for a teacher, and the use of speech game as artificial conditions for communication stimulates the statements and behavior of students that will be characteristic of a certain situation (Eremina, 2003). Speech games allow teachers to bring communication in the classroom as close as possible to natural communication in a foreign language, to achieve psychological readiness to speak a foreign language, allow them to activate and repeat the language material a lot of times. A possibility to practice choosing the right speech option in conditions of natural necessity prepares students for spontaneous and situational speech. Speech games allow students to master speech reaction, logical construction of statements, as well as practical and creative use of speech skills in the process of communication.
When creating an appropriate environment, students are able to memorize entire blocks of language material. Any speech game is a successful way of organizing such a situation, because the speech actions that students perform to achieve the result of the game, can be learned almost without effort. Such games create natural conditions for language acquisition. As a result, speech skills are developed more effectively than in other types of pair and group work, and language material is fixed more firmly.
The inclusion of speech games in the process of teaching a foreign language contributes to a significant increase in its quality and effectiveness, since the game activates the creative and mental activity of students.
The effectiveness of training is due to a sense of equality, passion for a task that seems to be easy to perform, which helps to overcome shyness and fear of making mistakes in the process of speech activity, which often prevents students from speaking fluently in a foreign language lesson. Students' attention is diverted from strict adherence to grammatical rules, which facilitates the process of creating statements. The students have extra-linguistic purpose of the speech associated with the game. And it is to achieve something abstract through the language. Speech games distract attention from working out the rules of the language, switching it to the competitive side of the game. Thus, the development of automation of speech skills is taking place.
The game allows students to leave the classroom mentally, which prepares them better for communication in a foreign language in real life, because game situations give much more opportunities to use the language than the usual topics of conversation in the classroom. The game situation allows teachers to talk to those students who usually feel uncomfortable while communicating in a foreign language. In addition, a speech game
motivates students to participate in activities, since it is not a usual boring one for them. This participation increases the level of knowledge and interest of students in a foreign language (Azimov, 2009). Despite the conditional nature of the game activity in the lesson, the game is a model of a real situation in life. The inclusion of non-verbal means, such as facial expressions and gestures, in speech communication emphasizes the purposefulness of speech activity (Konysheva, 2008).
Like any collective game, a speech game is characterized by a two-dimensional nature; the developing effect of the game is achieved by it, since the game activity takes place in real time and is both real and conditional for the player in a sense. To achieve this goal, students are forced to interact, that means both listening and speaking at the same time.
Speech games increase the effectiveness of teaching a foreign language because it is a means of both teaching and education. At the same time, it reproduces the social norms accepted in a particular society, so in the game process there is a complex development of an individual: emotional, intellectual and moral.
However, even if the game is included in the teaching process, the teacher may face some problems related to insufficient motivation of students, since not all of them want to play in the classroom. At the same time, game activity can be effective only if there is an internal motivation but not the requirements of the teacher, since speech under compulsion implies the absence of a motive, which is a necessary component of speech activity. If there is a game motive, the student uses personal experience and emotional memory, which activates speech activity.
The conditions for effective organizing speech games are:
- productivity - speech activity must be as productive as possible in order for language tools to be used autonomously;
- matching the goal - increasing productivity is achieved by having a goal, the ones that unite students to work together to achieve it, as well as elements of competition are especially effective;
- interactivity - even in the development of monologue speech game skills, students should be able to communicate with each other, since interaction in the speech game is a good preparation for using the language to communicate in real life.
Speech games should concern the use of language in real-life situations in order to automate language skills.
The atmosphere in the classroom is also a very important factor for the effective development of speech skills, during the game it should be based on the support of each other; there should be no judgment in its process. The teacher must maintain the students' sense of success in the lesson, and even minor victories must be noted. The communicative environment is created by supporting the high activity of each student. If a student is silent, they must engage in active thought activity in order to understand the statements of their classmates and formulate their own. This complex process of organizing the situation in the classroom depends on the teacher and is achieved by mobilizing students' attention to special tasks.
Speech game activity in the lesson approaches communication in real life through the inclusion of such social characteristics as the topic, situation, role relations between the participants of communication, the sphere of language use. A speech game is organized by introducing a game situation as a means of stimulating students' speech activity. Game situations are selected so that they meet the needs and interests of students. The reality of the situation of speech communication in the framework of a speech game appears in unpredictability, spontaneity and relevance of the speech, and this is typical for communication in a foreign language in real life. The goal of the game is formulated for students in the form of a game task.
During a speech game, students should be given some time to prepare and plan their speech for greater speed and fewer pauses, as well as for the coherence of the utterance and its more accurate construction in terms of syntax and vocabulary. However, it is better to limit the time to complete the stages of the game, as this increases the fluency of speech, and in the absence of a clear period, the attention of students is focused on the choice of language tools more. Preparing statements in writing can also be an effective option in the process of performing a speech game, as it increases the process of productive speech activity over time. In order to encourage students to use more complex language tools and speech structures, it is necessary to formulate the need to explain and argue their point of view in the task (Thornbury, 2005).
Speech games that involve minimal teacher assistance help form the basis for subsequent communication in real life, so the teacher should minimize the level of interference in the game process itself. At the same time, students should understand that the teacher is always there and can help if they encounter difficulties that hinder the achievement of the game goal.
When evaluating a student's speech and correcting their mistakes, the teacher should focus more on the content of statements rather than on language errors, because in the long run, focusing on mistakes can reduce the motivation to learn a foreign language. Interrupting students' speech in order to make comments or correct mistakes interferes with the development of speech skills, this leads to the fact that the student concentrates on the correctness of their speech from a linguistic point of view and can't speak fluently. At the same time, the teacher's feedback should give an impetus to improving subsequent statements. In addition, the teacher must be sensitive in evaluating students, because the student perceives this assessment as an assessment of himself or herself as a person. Thus, it is important that the correction of errors is one of the stages of the game, but any student has an opportunity to correct them.
The result of a speech game is often unpredictable due to the spontaneity and joint speech activity, in which there are no restrictions on the use of the language.
The success of a speech game in the classroom depends on careful selection of material and methodological preparation. To make the game more interesting for students, the teacher should involve interdisciplinary connections and include in the content of the game the material that goes beyond the textbook. In addition, to achieve the goals of the lesson, it is important to choose the right type of a speech game depending on them. The method has a huge number of types of speech games, but there is no unified system for their classification.
Depending on the number of participants, they can be group or team ones. The difference between these two types of speech games is the presence of an element of competition in team games, while group games involve working in an atmosphere of cooperation.
Speech games are distinguished depending on what form of speech activity they develop more actively. Games for the development of dialog speech allow teachers to form the skill of constructing more accurate, complex and capacious statements, while games for the development of monolog speech skills develop fluency of the language better.
Among speech games, specialists in teaching methods distinguish educational and entertainment games, such as guessing games, games aimed at finding out the missing information. There are also dramatization games in which students describe their characters in detail, then through the series of improvisations a story is invented, after which a general scenario is recorded and played out by the students. Constructive-modeling speech games are associated with the creation of students' own product of speech activity, for example, collective writing of stories, inventing jokes, etc.
Finally, speech games are represented by such story-role-playing games as role-playing and business games, which are the most popular types of speech games, so it is advisable to consider their features.
Role-playing is defined as «a form of organizing collective learning activ'ties in the classroom, aimed at the formation and development of speech skills and abilities in conditions as close as possible to the conditions of real communication» (Azimov, 2009).
Role-playing games contribute to the formation of the ability to choose language tools depending on the communicative situation, mastering foreign language speech etiquette, as well as the ability to defend their position and resolve conflict situations. Role-playing games are characterized by speech activity of high productivity, suitable for different levels of language proficiency and topics of the curriculum. The characteristic features of the role-playing game are the collective acti^ty and maximum employment of each participant in the game. The social significance of role-playing games lies in the development of collective forms of communication through the solution of a game problem (Bim-Bad, 2002).
Typical elements of role-playing games are the problem that underlies the game, the different attitudes of participants to it, as well as the problem situation as a condition of cognitive conflict. The structure of the game includes roles, game actions, game items instead of real ones, real relationships between the players, and the plot that is played in the game (Galskova, 2005).
The implementation of the role-playing game includes four stages.
1. At the preparatory stage the teacher chooses the theme of the game and formulates the problem, aims of the game, selects a suitable lexical-grammatical material, thinks over the description of the situation, including time and place, the roles of participants with the characteristic of the heroes, formulates a speech intention. Students can also be involved in the process of preparing for the game, for example, in searching for additional material for the game, or simply in repeating thematic vocabulary.
2. During the stage of explanation the game includes the distribution of roles that have different relevance to the problem being discussed, which should be thought out by the teacher in advance in accordance with the individual abilities of students. The teacher gives the introduction to the game and its situation, the formulation of the lesson goal, justification for the choice of the game problem. Sometimes a revision of lexical and grammatical material is performed before the game. For the successful organization of the role-playing process, it is important to think the roles as well as the placement of students and props over.
3. The third stage of the game includes the organization of students in the game, maintaining an atmosphere of partnership and cooperation. During this stage, the teacher only controls the course of the game, remaining unnoticed by the students. Students play out communication situations in accordance with their roles and the theme of the game. According to I. Voron, students should rely on their own views, life and language experience, performing their roles (Voron, 2019).
4. The control stage involves the teacher's assessment of the students' work, analysis of the game, summing up the students' discussion of the problem in the form of an oral or written statement.
Specialists in the fields of teaching methods differentiate role-playing games into types depending on the duration of the game and the complexity of the speech task. R. Milrud identifies the following types of role-playing games: controlled, for which the teacher prepares replicas independently; moderately controlled, involving the use of descriptions of the game's plot and roles; free, in which students are given only a game situation and roles, and the task of students is to play one of the episodes of the game (Milrud, 1987).
4. Conclusion
The use of speech games in the teaching process helps to solve such an important task as the formation of psychological readiness of students for communication, and makes it possible to rev'se the language material in conditions of natural necessity.
Речевые игры должны широко использоваться в процессе обучения посредством внедрения в него комплексов упражнений, содержащих речевые игры.
Speech games should be widely used in the learning process through the introduction of complexes of exercises containing speech games.
REFERENCES
Azimov, E.G. (2009). New dictionary of methodological terms and concepts (theory and practice of language
teaching). Moscow, Publishing house ICARUS. Bim-Bad, B.M. (2002). Pedagogical encyclopedia. Moscow.
Eremina, N.V. (2003). Possibilities of using the educational game in a foreign language class. OSU Bulletin, 4 (30-35).
Federal state educational standards. (2020, February, 21). Retrieved 21.02.20, from https://fgos.ru/ Galskova, N.D. & Gez, N.I. (2005). Theory of teaching foreign languages: Linguodidactics and methodology.
Moscow, Publishing center «Academy». Gorlova, N.A. (2013). Methods of teaching a foreign language. Moscow, Publishing center «Academy». Konysheva, A.V. (2008). Game method in teaching a foreign language. Saint Petersburg, KARO. Milrud, R.P. (1987). Organization of role-playing games. Foreign languages at school, 3 (8-13). Raven, I.S. (2019) Non-standard foreign language lessons: relevance and significance. Retrieved 21.12.19,
from http://oprb.ru/data/partner/6/message/CK2d94TX_66485.pdf. Thornbury, S. (2005). How to teach speaking. Malaysia, Pearson Education Limited.
THE ROLE OF TEACHERS' SPEECH BEHAVIOR IN THE EDUCATIONAL PROCESS
The aim of the work is to analyze the content of the notions "communicative culture", "good speech" of a higher medical school teacher. The questions of raising the level of communicative training of a higher medical school teacher and of mastering his speech skills are discussed in the article.
Keywords
communicative competence, communicative culture, speech skills, pedagogical communication
AUTHORS
Marina I. Barsukova,
Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Associate Professor of Department of Pedagogy, Education Technologies and Professional Communication, Saratov State Medical University n.a. V.I. Razumovsky, Saratov 112, st. Big Cossack, Saratov, 410012, Russia bars.mi@mail.ru
Elena A. Rempel,
Candidate of Sciences in Philology, Associate Professor of Department of Pedagogy, Education Technologies and Professional Communication, Saratov State Medical University n.a. V.I. Razumovsky, Saratov 112, st. Big Cossack, Saratov, 410012, Russia rempelel@mail.ru
