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УДК 378.147 А. С.Чернов
аспирант каф. лингводидактики МГЛУ e-mail: d-sion@yandex.ru
СОВЕРШЕНСТВОВАНИЕ КОМПЕТЕНТНОСТИ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЕЙ ИНОСТРАННОГО ЯЗЫКА В ОБЛАСТИ
ИНФОРМАЦИОННО-КОММУНИКАЦИОННЫХ ТЕХНОЛОГИЙ
Статья затрагивает проблему осведомленности преподавательского состава российских учебных заведений в области информационно-коммуникационных технологий и обосновывает необходимость совершенствования соответствующих профессиональных умений, что должно способствовать внедрению ИКТ и современных образовательных технологий в учебный процесс.
Ключевые слова: ИКТ; дистанционное обучение; онлайн средства обучения; I-Class; курсы повышения квалификации.
Chernov A. S.
Postgraduate, Foreign Language Teaching Department, MSLU e-mail: d-sion@yandex.ru
UP-GRADING FOREIGN LANGUAGE TEACHERS' ICT COMPETENCE
This article touches upon the problem of foreign language teachers' awareness and professional skills in the sphere of ICT and stresses the importance of corresponding professional training of modern teachers, which is one of the key aspects of successful integration of modern technologies and teaching methods into the process of education.
Key words: ICT; distance learning; online means of education; I-Class; extension courses.
Nowadays every educational institution faces the necessity ofintegrating computer technologies into the teaching process. And quite often, soon after getting all the necessary equipment, an institution suddenly faces the lack of qualified staff that would be able to interact with the equipment and to make practical use of it.
The research shows that 96,6 % of language teachers asked their students to find some information on the Internet in order to complete their home task. 41 % of teachers used the Internet resources while doing projects with their students. 58,3 0% of teachers suggested that students did tests, which were published on some ELT sites [4].
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At the same time the inquiry among both teachers and students revealed that there was lack of knowledge and skills regarding how to organize effective work with the Internet resources and computer skills. In most cases teachers were not aware of effective ways to deliver instructions via the Internet or to deal with rather complicated latest versions of hardware and software. This showed that in order to use ICT properly teachers should not only have access to effective teaching tools but also be trained properly and master modern teaching methods.
The recent technological developments in the sphere of ICT demand and the ever-increasing "technological awareness" of modern students demand for the substantial revision of the educational system as a whole. The first attempts at integrating computer-assisted language teaching were marked by the unwillingness of the "old school" teachers to deal with questionable and overcomplicated technical equipment. The introduction of computer-based language learning, however, should be performed step-by-step. One of the main reasons for that is that many teachers belong to an "older generation" and some of them find it difficult to adapt quickly to the use of hi-tech equipments and respective teaching techniques.
The author's own experience at MSLU shows that the lack of qualified staff makes the role of some expensive hi-tech facilities, such as the 3-D research laboratory or the TV-Studio, really vague. The equipment downtime in such spheres often leads to notable financial losses due to the short "life span" of complicated technical devices. At the same time, the students are deprived of the ability to work with the newest educational technologies. The best part of the university staff is unprepared for interaction with technical devices, and the university, unfortunately, provides no training courses for such purposes, while it might really become a solution and improve the technological awareness of the employees.
In Europe the first educational organization to raise the question of ICT-training for teachers was EUROCALL, full name the European Association for Computer Assisted Language Learning - a not-for-profit educational association devoted to the promotion of the use of information and communications technology in teaching and learning foreign languages [4].
EUROCALL was set up as a formal professional association in 1993 but its origins go back to a course entitled "Computers in English Language Education and Research" organised by Geoffrey Leech and Scott Windeatt under the auspices of The British Council at the University of Lancaster in
1984 due to a huge demand for such courses in the early 1980s. Computers were spreading throughout education, and the demand for training in how to make the best use of them came out on top. [4]
The CALL members from several states met at the University of Liège in January 1986, with a view to discussing possibilities of future collaborative ventures. Three clear areas of common interest were identified:
I. Using computers in the classroom
II. Training teachers
III. Software evaluation and development
From its humble beginnings, EUROCALL has gone from strength to strength. EUROCALL have established themselves as the leading professional association in Europe for technology enhanced language learning. EUROCALL now have over 400 members in more than 30 countries with an impressive record of services and achievements.
Among them are wide-spread professional courses for teachers, aimed at helping them to get all the necessary skills of human-to-machine communication.
The situation in this country still requires some improvement; therefore extension courses for teachers are being established broadly. And still they are mostly aimed at giving only small basic knowledge of ICT, which is sufficient for everyday computer usage but is much too limited for "modern" classroom activities. Moreover, teachers (as well as many MSLU lecturers) still remain dependant on off-site technicians who perform such seemingly simple operations as turning the equipment on and off or adjusting the volume of the speakers in lecture-halls. This dependence should be gradually overcome with the growing technical awareness of teachers.
It is encouraging that the educational circles of our country are becoming more and more aware of the important role of ICT in modern teaching process. Some educational websites even provide online tests to reveal the teachers' skills in dealing with computers, other technological devices and the Internet [3].
However, integrating ICT into the process of teaching and professional activity is a slow gradual process. At the moment we can speak of the following goals and objectives that should be fulfilled in order to integrate ICT into the educational process and to make language teaching as much efficient as possible:
1. The pedagogical potential of ICT and its prospects in the context of language teaching should be revealed to the teaching staff.
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2. The teachers should get acquainted with ICT and learn how to handle the equipment and use the software and information sources properly.
3. The teachers should be encouraged and motivated to involve computers in their classes, as well as their students - to continue their studies with the help of ICT.
4. Support service should be organized to help the teachers who want to start integrating ICT into their classes or those who already use ICT.
5. A possibility should be given for the teachers to improve their computer skills and two-level extension courses should be organized. The first level will give the teacher some basic skills and the second level will be aimed at improving particular computer skills and developing special skills that will be necessary to fulfill specific pedagogical tasks and to handle specific equipment and software.
6. The teachers should be taught to integrate ICT gradually into the educational process, using adequate methods and forms of teaching. The following objectives can be named:
• Research - the evaluation of the efficiency of ICT usage, the evaluation of educational software;
• Methodological - the analysis of the teachers' skills and experience in using computers and technical equipment at their classes, the analysis and solving of typical mistakes and problems;
• Pedagogical - development and adaptation of the technology of ICT application during the educational process, creating shared info-resources and educational networks;
• Organizational - forming creative team-works using computer-based teaching methods and techniques.
The following actions should be taken in order to achieve positive results and to make the process of integration easier:
• An educational portal and systems of remote teaching should be designed.
• Competitions should be organized among teachers - those who plan their lessons and use multimedia-enabled sources during their lessons should be encouraged.
• The teachers who want to use ICT at school should get all the necessary help and be able to consult with specialists.
• Competitions should be organized to encourage the development of ICT-based teaching methods, PC software and technical devices that can be used for language teaching.
• Public actions of advertising and promoting ICT- and multimedia-based language teaching methods should be organized.
It is also necessary to remember that in some spheres of education ICT forms the core of the whole system and makes it absolutely workless without computers. The most ICT-dependant sphere of education is distance learning. Nowadays the I-Class educational institution is the most up-to-date organization in our country in the terms of ICT involvement. I-Class is primarily aimed at distance learning and provides education for disabled children. Due to this fact it has developed a solid system of remote classes and conferences via the Internet. This calls for specially trained teaching staff with high computer skills. The concept proved to be efficient enough and it might be worth applying it to other educational institutions in terms of teacher training. [2]
One of the key factors of successful and effective use of ICT in education is the level of attainment of the teachers and their competence in sphere of ICT. Such attainment is extremely necessary for subject teachers nowadays.
Language teachers' qualification in this case is based on two points. The first one is the skills of a teacher as an ordinary PC user. The second one is the familiarity of the teacher with the main principles of computer-based linguodidactics - the theory and practice of using computers and technical devices for language teaching. The course of computer-based language teaching has been compulsory for European teachers and linguists for a few years already [1].
We can now speak of the following results that are expected from integrating ICT into foreign language teaching:
1. Teachers will get extra time that can be used for various pedagogical purposes.
2. A base for the introduction of various new integrated courses will be established.
3. The teachers and their students will be able to search for online information sources, to take part in lots of online activities such as competitions, tests, conferences, etc.
4. New computer-based teaching methods and means of professional development will be tested and introduced.
5. The number of teachers that will be able to use ICT and develop ICT-based teaching plans will increase significantly.
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Conclusions
The author's own experience as a language teacher at MSLU showed that the younger students find computer-based exercises and in-class Internet surfing more desirable and "friendly" than "old-fashioned" work with printed materials due to their early contact with media-devices. In 2014 the first year students generally abandoned printed materials and preferred either to use online or downloadable versions ofbooks, or to upload digitized versions of printed books to their tablet PSs or mobile phones. It is common practice for them to send written exercises or essays to their teachers via E-mail. Some older students, however, are already used to working with printed materials and usually need some time to understand the principles of working with interactive teaching materials and to get used to them. The same can be seen among the lecturers, when the younger ones find it easier to adapt to computer-based teaching techniques, while the older ones often prefer to avoid them. But computer-based techniques already prove to be really efficient and time-saving and gain popularity among the students. The youngest students nowadays begin their contact with media-devices in their everyday life at such an early age that the computer-based teaching integration at schools go off almost "painless" for them.
The teachers, in their turn, should attend courses that will help them to get used to computer-based teaching and to learn how to handle various media-devices and to apply them properly in class.
Special courses for the teaching staff would give all the teachers a chance to get acquainted with modern ICT-based teaching techniques and interactive teaching material. They should get all help possible in order to learn how to handle personal computers, media devices, digital recorders, how to put up a web-conference or an on-line class. This will provide the appropriate use of the equipment that every institution finds its duty to install but so often fails to handle properly to 100 % of its abilities.
REFERENCES
1. Бовтенко М. А. Компьютерная лингводидактика. - М. : Флинта: Наука, 2005. - 216 с.
2. Центр образования «Технологии обучения». - URL : http://www.iclass. home-edu.ru
3. Learning and teaching with the web. - URL : http://titova.ffl.msu.ru/for-teachers/test-your-ict-competence.html
4. Wikipedia Online. - URL : http://www.wikipedia.org
