CC BY
152. Bahadorfar M. The Impact of Computerassisted Language Learning Training on Teachers' Practices // Journal of Language Teaching and Research 9 (6). 2018, pp. 11-27.
3. Mostaikina L. V. Multimedia tools as a means of improving the effectiveness of educational results in the implementation of the Federal State Educational Standard, 2018 [Electronic resource]. Access mode : https://www.uchportal.ru/fgos/9450 (acsessed date: 26.10.2021). [Published in Russian]
4. Popova A.V. Development of students' reading technique skills based on language multimedia programs. Tambov: Bulletin of TSU, 2015. Issue 4 (144). pp. 108-115. [Published in Russian]
5. Tumakova N. A., Zakharchenko E. A. Multimedia tools as a way to intensify the educational process at the university // Young scientist. 2015. No. 4. pp. 629-633. [Published in Russian]
THE ROLE OF THE QUESTION-ANSWER TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Potepkina V.
Senior Lecturer, Department of English Language Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics
Abstract
The article discusses the problem of students' difficulties in creating questions in the process of communication in a foreign language. Particular attention is paid to the role of work in small groups to reduce language tightness and create a psychologically comfortable atmosphere in the classroom.
Keywords: question-answer technique; lingual tightness; creating comfortable conditions; socialization; elimination of the language barrier.
Despite the fact that the question-and-answer technique and the method of group work in teaching a foreign language have been used since the beginning of the last century, not all advantages of combining these two methods have been sufficiently covered in the scientific, pedagogical and methodological literature. Studying the experience of university teachers and our own experience has led the author to the conclusion that students are more willing to talk about a topic prepared at home and have difficulties with spontaneous conversation in a dialogue or trilogy. The main difficulty lies in creating questions.
It is appropriate to note that the role of questions in communication is very significant. Well-known scientists in the field of psychology and educators T. Kerry and R. Fisher consider the process of generating questions to give a good help in developing a students' mental activity and learning process itself [5; 6].
B. Bloom and D. Krathwohl highly appreciate the role of questions in the development of thinking. According to their taxonomy, the thinking process is divided into low and high levels. A low level of thinking includes cognition/familiarization, understanding and application of information in practice. A high level of thinking implies the evaluation, synthesis and analysis of information. Moreover, understanding as a result of an active mental activity is more important than passive knowledge. An effective strategy for using questions can help to develop cognitive abilities, transition from familiarization and understanding to synthesis and analysis [3].
The most common form of working with questions in the classroom is a teacher asking and students answering form. We would like to turn to both the positive and negative sides of it. The positive side is likely to be the following:
-giving the teacher the opportunity to find out what difficulties or misunderstandings the students are experiencing;
-developing students' curiosity;
-motivating the trainees, giving responsibility to each member of the group and making the group more cohesive;
-leading to the processes of judgment, comparison and making up one's own opinion about a fact and an event;
-forming the skill of conversation and the ability to find a solution to a problem.
The disadvantage of using the direct question technique, when students only answer questions, according to R. Fisher, can be attributed to a certain passivity of the learning process. Especially often this phenomenon can be observed in a situation where a teacher asks too many questions. A large number of questions can lead to a decrease in the number of thoughtful and creative answers of students [5]. We socialize with R. Fischer in the fact that the process of developing students' skills and ability to ask, and not just answer questions, is a key factor in making the learning process more effective. In our opinion, the process of generating a question not only activates mental activity, but can have a significant effect on reducing the psychological tension of students.
The study of research literature let us suggest that it is possible to achieve a psychologically comfortable atmosphere in the classroom when working in small groups. Attention should be drawn to S. Adams who notes that being in a small working group, students do not feel the tension that hinders them with individual answers [1].
It is appropriate to assume that creating a psychologically comfortable atmosphere in the classroom can help students quickly bridge the gap between the program requirements for learning a foreign language at a
university and the basic knowledge of a school graduate. One of the tasks of work in a small group is to reduce the threshold of anxiety among students in any form of work. This factor is especially important when teaching first-year students. The author's practical experience, confirmed by experiment, has showed that using group work in the classroom can reduce stress and eliminate the psychological language barrier which is manifested in "language tightness" and students' fear to speak a foreign language.
There is no doubt that there is a sociological aspect of group work practicing. The desire for communication was originally inherent in the psychology of young people due to their age characteristics. Students want to communicate and belong to a peer group. In addition, they want recognition and personal gain for their position or role in the group. All these factors can be used in the process of forming an effective working group, whose members help and support each other, respect the opinion of each member of the group and work towards achieving the set goal. In a highly productive corporate study group, students fully trust, respect, and support each other. Group work is characterized by five distinctive features:
- cohesion in the group and understanding that the failure of one group member will lead to the failure of the entire group;
-supporting each other and being accountable to each other;
-help each other, joint clarification and explanation of problematic issues, inspiration and encouragement to each other;
-acquisition of social skills in a team;
- taking care of the individual progress of each student in the team [2].
As David W. Johnson, Roger T. Johnson, Edith D. Holubes note the corporate group (a group in which learning is carried out in collaboration) is recognized by the majority of the teaching community as the most effective. Results can be classified into three groups:
1. Obtaining great individual achievements, including high academic results and productivity, intrinsic motivation and motivation to obtain high results, as well as the development of critical thinking;
2. Creating a positive and friendly relationship between students in the group, including the personal and academic support of group mates, taking care of the progress in the work of each member of the group, and not just their own progress;
3. Improvement and consolidation of the psychological health of each student: psychological adaptation to work in a close team, awareness of their abilities, social development, social competence, self-esteem, the ability to cope with an unfavorable environment [4].
It is impossible not to consider the importance of motivational and practical factors in the use of work in small groups when teaching a foreign language. According to R. Fisher, the motivational aspect lies in the desire of the members of a small group to receive support and recognition from fellow members of the group, to justify their trust and to obtain an expanded amount of knowledge [5].
The results of the research of scientific literature, the experience of university teachers and our own experience, confirmed experimentally, show that group work can widely be used to perform a wide range of
tasks. So, the tasks most often used by teachers are the following:
- drawing up a project plan;
- discussion of the problem and finding ways to solve this problem;
- developing new ideas;
- selection of the material and preparation of the presentation structure;
- creating a newspaper column or a mini-movie,
- conducting research;
Particular attention should be paid to the psychological function of the questioning techniques of work. In the process of creating an interesting question, students forget about their fears and tensions that they usually feel when listening to a teacher's question. A study of the practical experience of university teachers, has shown that when using question-and-answer communication in a small group, the level of anxiety among students decreases. Especially good results were shown by the students who were distinguished by psychological tightness when speaking a foreign language in the general study group.
Also, we should not forget about the role played by the method of question-and-answer communication in the process of socialization of students. This factor is especially important for newly created groups. Students learn more about each other, and conditions are created for the emergence of friendly relations.
It is appropriate to note that during group work there is a possibility of mutual learning of students. Students who have mastered the teaching material faster can explain and answer questions from students who are slower to master new material and hesitate to ask questions to the teacher.
Another advantage of group work in a question-and-answer form of training is the process of mutual examination of students' knowledge. Questions to each other for the purpose of mutual assessment motivate students to develop and use the skills necessary to assess their own knowledge. At the same time, as practical experience has shown, students work with concentration, try to concentrate as much as possible and do not experience nervous tension, which is usually observed when students answer to the teacher.
Summarizing the above, we can underline the important role of the question form of the group work in reducing the tension and psychological tightness of students which leads to an increase in the level of independent work of students.
References
1. Adams S. A Guide to Creative Tutoring. The Tutor Ascendant. Kogan Page Ltd, London, 1989.
2. Brieger N. Teaching Business English Hand-book.-York: York Associates Publicatians,1997.
3. Bloom B., Krathwohl D.. Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain, David Mckay, New York, 1956.
4. David W. Gohnson, Roger T.Gohnson, Edythe J.Holubec. Cooperative Learning in the Classroom Association for Supervision and Curriculum Develop-ment.-Alexandria, Virginia, USA,1994
5. Robert Fisher. Teaching Children to Learn. Nelson Thornes Ltd, 2001.
6. T.Kerry. Effective Questioning. Macmillan, London, 1982.
