ISSN 0798 1015

Vol. 38 (Nº 25) Year 2017. Page. 1

Using innovative technologies in project method of teaching foreign language

Uso de tecnologías innovadoras en el método en proyectos de enseñanza de lenguas extranjeras

Aigul Eskermesovna SADENOVA 1; Farida ORAZAKYNKYZY 2; Saule ANUAR 3; Raushan Makanovna YESBULATOVA 4

Received: 09/03/2017 • Approved: 15/04/2017

Content

1. Introduction

2. Using innovative techlologies in project method of teaching foreign language

3. Conclusions

References

1. Introduction

1.1 Problem statement and objectives of the research

In the European languages the word “project” is borrowed from Latin: the participle “projectors” means “thrown out forward” “striking one’s eye”. With reference to a lesson of foreign language, the project is specially organized by the teacher and independently carried out by students’ complex of actions, finished with a creation of a product. A method of projects, thus, is the set of educational and cognitive modes which allow solving this or that problem as a result of independent actions of students with obligatory presentation of results.

We analyzed some examples how to achieve the several aims at once at the lesson with the help of a project method: to expand student’s vocabulary, to fix investigated lexical and grammatical material, to conduct a lesson in an atmosphere of a holiday and to decorate a classroom of a foreign language with colorful works of students.

Teacher can realize many activities in groups and individually working with a project method. It is necessary to note, that the method of projects helps students to seize such competences as: to be ready to work in a team, to accept the responsibility for a choice, to share the responsibility with members of the team, to analyze results of activity (Davies, & Pears, 2011, р.63).

Education is very important for our lives. Without education people couldn’t have their high-developed machine and would believe that the Earth is a planet around other planets. The Republic of Kazakhstan became an independent country in 1991. During the last 25 years of independence there have been a lot of changes in education system of the country, especially on legal base. Article 30 of the Constitution approved in 1995 stipulates that citizens have the right to free comprehensive secondary education in state educational institutions. Citizens also have the right to have free higher education in state institutions on a competitive basis. The Law of 1992 determines the common purposes and tasks of education as follows: “the main task of the education system is to create necessary conditions for bringing up and developing individuals on the basis of national and common human values, and scientific and practical achievements”. The main objectives of the education system are:

-   to develop mental and physical abilities of individuals, to teach solid foundations of morality and a healthy way of life, to cultivate their intellect providing conditions for their further development;

-   to foster civic awareness and the understanding of individual rights and duties with regards to the family, society and state;

-   to develop creative abilities of individuals and their aesthetic education;

-   to create necessary conditions for the study of culture, customs and traditions of Kazakhstan; and provide all citizens with opportunities for general education and professional training.

The Constitution of the Republic of Kazakhstan (1995) and the law “On Education” (2007) are the basic documents that have introduced the educational policy of the government.

From the time Kazakhstan gained its independence, we have had an aim to be in close political, social cultural and economic relationships with most developed countries in the world. The importance of language knowledge, day by day is reaching the great top because of the unity development between different nations and countries that leads to fruitful relationships. Firstly, the idea of trinity of the languages was proclaimed in October 2006 on the 12th congress of the Assembly of Kazakhstan (Nazarbayev, 2008). Kazakhstan’s President Nursultan Nazarbayev delivered his annual state message to the nation, “New   Kazakhstan in a New World”, on February 28 in 2007, outlining the strategy of Kazakhstan’s development for the next decade where he offered the idea of trinity of the languages. “Kazakhstan should be viewed in the world as a highly educated country whose people use three languages. These will be Kazakh as the state language, Russian as the language of interethnic communication, and English as the language of successful integration into the global economy,” the President noted. “Building the Future Together” - address to the People of Kazakhstan of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev has planned several stages of economic-social development which we must achieve by 2020. President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev paid great attention not only to social modernization – new social policy, but to education as well as to healthcare. (Nazarbayev, 2011).

1.2 Justification of the research subject and technique

In today’s world thousands of people speak a foreign language as secondary language at work and study and know it as mother tongue. The foreign language has gained its importance in the 21st century because it has become the language of science and technology. Foreign language is a world wide spread international language. Foreign language nowadays is used in all spheres of international relations, scientific-techniques, mass-media and business. Foreign language is a key object of information technologies and computer science.

In development of the project “Тілдердің үш тұғырлығы” (“Trinity of languages”) academician S.S.Kunanbaeva introduced theoretical-methodological basic of studying foreign languages. She introduced professional model of workers who embodies the qualities of knowledge of both the Kazakh and the English language, has new kinds of reasoning to English language: a) preparation of scientific pedagogical professionals through the use of modern innovative and interactive materials; b) training interpreters based on their native language is the conceptual universality of higher education (Kunanbayeva, 2005, р.185). That means the conduction of international relation will be connected with the preparation of specialists.

The fact that human resources, which act as the main factor of economic and social progress, “are becoming the fortune of the society in the conditions of modern market economy and information technology development” is more and more understood (Galskova, & Gez, 2006, p. 7).

Nowadays, new conditions of society development make the system of higher education face new challenges of creating a whole new level of training qualified specialists, which would contribute to their development and becoming creative personalities possessing their own thinking style, as well as the capability to solve the tasks they face creatively and on their own. Intentional development and systematic reforming of higher education implies special role of language education, developing communicative competence of a person capable of using a foreign language as a means of communication. E.I. Passov considers a foreign language as a “productive power”, and the foreign language literacy – as an “economic category” (Passov, 2007, p.17).

The formation of linguistic and communicative competences is of equal importance when teaching a foreign language. With the growing requirements to the quality of specialists training, these competences have become essential qualifications. Communicative competence is the leading competence in the above-mentioned list, whereas it is, first of all, the key competence which determines the language command level. According to A.K. Krupchenko and A.N. Kuznetsov, communicativeness is the ability of speech to express definite content with the aim to satisfy specific needs of communicators (Krupchenko, 2015, p. 167).

The key to the communication between people is in their striving to understand each other. Each culture is formed in accordance with its basic characteristics, one of which is the language. According to S.G. Ter-Minasova, by learning one foreign word a person extracts a piece of a puzzle from a strange picture, not completely known to him yet, and tries to reconcile it with the picture of the world existing in his consciousness, which has been set by his native language (Ter-Minasova, 2008, p. 48).

Use of innovational technologies in studying foreign languages gives students an opportunity of diverse means foundation of relation in foreign language. Studying a foreign language can give a chance to students to know the culture, history, achievements in science, literature of studies language. If in secondary schools pupils were studied a foreign language in practical level, it would give the possibility to higher schools to train students at lessons of an independent work, to use their knowledge in practical way. Methodology of teaching a foreign language has changed at the request of the society. Nowadays teaching a foreign language follows given aims of teaching: communicative, educational, developing and up bringing aims.

 Among these aims communicative aims takes the leading part. Other aims are used to complete the tasks in communicative aim. In studying foreign language six levels are used: "beginner", "elementary", "pre-intermediate", "intermediate", "upper-intermediate", "advanced".

At lessons of a foreign language elements of multi-language teaching are used. Some lessons are conducted by using integration. Integration means the relation of subjects with each other at higher level. Integration gives the opportunity to join several subjects together and plays an important part to preparation of qualified lesson.

In development of students, speaking in foreign languages such tasks are solved: correct usage of innovational materials in teaching, using modern innovational techniques, training students to communicate in foreign languages, to have an individual approach to each student, using dictionaries and vocabularies in translation, to develop the interest of studying language.

There are several teaching techniques that are highly evaluated: modular technology, problem teaching, accelerated learning, and individual approach, informational teaching, training according to the level of students, games and communicational technology.

2. Using innovative techlologies in project method of teaching foreign language

Nowadays a lot of Universities are using modular technology of teaching. Importance of this teaching in all parts of lesson is great. Students can have an opportunity to work independently. Also the main aim is not only teaching but also to give students a chance to develop listening, speaking, reading, writing, analytic thinking skills.

Training module consists of three structural parts which are often repeated as a learning cycle: introduction, speaking (dialogue) and the final part.

Introduction part (introduction into the module of a subject).

Speaking part (usually a dialog to form cognitive skills of students.)

The final (reference work, test, dictation, etc.).

More precisely, in the introductory part the teacher introduces students the general structure of modular training, its purpose and responsibilities. After that, the teacher briefly (for 10-15 minutes), explains the study material of the module using drawings, tables, and data samples.

In the part of speaking using 4 levels of Technology Study of the Doctor of Pedagogical Sciences, Professor Zh.A. Karaev (reproductive rate, heuristic level, the creative level) focus on learning level of knowledge of students. In the final part a control test may be given. The main performance of modular technology is:

- To increase the activity of the student in school;

- To develop the student’s interest in the subject;

- The student is committed to uninterrupted self-knowledge;

- The student masters the language categories vocabulary and grammatical structures;

- Allows far as possible to expand an oral and written language;

- Student forms the necessary skills gradually attaining goals.

So, module is one of the largest systems, here the student is educated not only by sections, but systematically in the form of exact order. They are trained to work, to awaken an interest in science to develop the skills of independent work. The training process is conducted in different ways: explanation, speaking, reading, lectures, practical lessons (practical laboratory, graphics, vocabulary and grammatical exercises), clarity (charts, tables, illustrations and demonstration), etc.

The learning objectives of foreign languages vary with the demands and needs of society. Now a foreign language teaching has four objectives: communicative, knowledge, education and the goal of improvement. The main of them is the communicative purpose; other objectives are achieved through the implementation of communicative purpose.

Forms of study: a) the total or structural: group or individual group, pair, team, and b) the exact or special: tutoring, conferences, debates, group discussion.

Every day the numbers of people desire to study a foreign language. This determines a huge role of a foreign language in the education system of our country.

2.1. The usage of computer technologies in teaching foreign language

In recent years the problem of application of new information technologies at high school is even more often brought up. It is not only new technical means, but also new forms and methods of teaching, new approach to training process. The main objective of training foreign languages is formation and development of communicative culture of school students, training in practical acquisition of a foreign language.

The task of a teacher consists in creating conditions of practical language acquisition for each pupil, choosing such methods of training which would allow each pupil to show the activity, the creativity. Modern pedagogical technologies such as training in cooperation, design technique, usage of new information technologies, the Internet - resources help to realize personal focused approach in training, provide an individualization and differentiation of training taking into account abilities of children, their level of proficiency, tendencies, etc.

Use of computer at foreign language lessons helps in solution of different didactic problems such as:

• improving pronunciation;

• formulating and developing skills and abilities of reading;

• improving abilities of writing;

• enriching the lexicon of learners;

• training grammar;

• forming steady motivation of studying foreign language

Possibilities of usage the Internet resources are huge. The Internet creates conditions for receiving any necessary information for pupils and teachers which is in every spot on the globe: regional geographic material, news from life of youth, article from newspapers and magazines, necessary literature, etc.

At work an object is set - to bring a technique of teaching a foreign language at school into accord with development of modern information technologies. It is possible to solve a number of didactic problems by means of the Internet at foreign language lessons: to form skills and abilities of reading, using materials of a global network; to improve abilities of written language of school students; to fill up lexicon of pupils; to form at school student’s steady motivation of studying a foreign language. Besides, the course paper is directed on studying of opportunities of Internet technologies for expansion of an outlook of school students, to adjust and support business connections and contacts with the contemporaries in the foreign language -speaking countries.

Pupils can take part in testing, in quizzes, competitions, Academic Olympic Games held on the Internet to correspond with contemporaries from other countries, to participate in chats, videoconferences, etc.

Communicating in the true language environment is real on the Internet; pupils appear in the real life situations. Involved in the solution of a wide range of significant, realistic, interesting and achievable tasks, school students are trained spontaneously and adequately to react to them that stimulates creation of original statements, but not sample manipulation with language formulas.

Paramount significance is used to understand and transfer the contents and expression of sense that motivate studying of structure and the dictionary of a foreign language which achieve this purpose. Thus, the attention of pupils concentrates on use of forms, and training in grammar is carried out indirectly, in direct communication, excepting studying of grammatical rules.

The computer is loyal to a variety of student’s answers: it doesn’t accompany work of pupils as laudatory comments which develops their independence but creates favorable social psychological atmosphere at a lesson, giving them self-confidence that is an important factor for development of their identity.

The development of education is organically connected with increase of level of its information potential today. This characteristic feature in many respects defines both the direction of evolution of the education, and the future of all society.

The most successful orientation in world information space requires mastering pupil’s information culture, and also computer and screen culture as the priority in information search on the Internet.

As information system, the Internet offers users variety of information and resources. The basic set of services can include:

- e-mail (e-mail);

- teleconferences;

- videoconferences;

- possibility of publication of an own information, creation of an own homepage (homepage) and its placement on the Web server;

- access to information resources:

- help catalogs

- search engines

- conversation in a network

These resources can be actively used at a lesson.

Mastering communicative and cross-cultural competence is impossible without communication practice, and usage of resources of the Internet at a lesson of a foreign language in this sense is simply irreplaceable: virtual environment of the Internet allows being beyond temporary and spatial, giving an opportunity of authentic communication with real interlocutors on subjects, actual for both parties to users. However, it is impossible to forget that the Internet is only a supportive technical tool of training, and for achievement of optimum results it is necessary to integrate its use into process of a lesson competently.

In addition to work using skills of reading and speaking, it is possible to fill up a lexicon. For this purpose, it is necessary to suggest pupils to make entries, being guided by the read information.

2.2. The methods of using videos in language teaching classrooms

One of the most appreciated materials applied to language learning and teaching is, of course, video. A recent large-scale survey by Canning-Wilson (2000) reveals that the students like learning language through the use of video, which is often used to mean quite different things in language teaching. It means no more than replaying television programmes on a video recorder for viewing in class or private study. For others, it implies the use of a video camera in class to record and play back to learners their activities and achievements in a foreign language teaching. It is a fact that most students have taken foreign language courses formally remain insufficient in the ability to use the language and to understand its use, in normal communication, whether in the spoken or the written form. The problem arises not from the methodology itself but from the misuse or incomplete use of it. That is to say, teachers still evaluate student performance according to the sentence structure and situational settings. But this not necessarily means that teachers should pay full attention to only communicative ways in the preparation and presentation of language teaching materials.

Video has been proven to be an effective method in teaching a foreign language as a second language for both young and adult learners. Video can be used in a variety of instructional settings - in classrooms, on distance-learning sites where information is broadcast to learners who interact with the facilitator via video or computer, and in self-study and evaluation situations. It can also be used in teacher’s personal and professional development or with students as a way of presenting content, initiating conversations, and providing illustrations for various concepts. Teachers and students can always create their own videotapes as content for the class or as a means to assess learners’ performance.

It is so close to language reality containing visual as well as audible cues - video is an excellent medium for use in the language classroom. It can be used in many different ways and for teaching or revising many different language points. These notes are intended to help you think about how you can use video in your classroom. They are not exhaustive, because ultimately the ways in which you use video are limited only by your own imagination.

Languages are not fixed but constantly changing, so is the media; television, radio and newspapers which are an extraordinarily rich source of language in use. In order to expose foreign language learners to the target language the use of technology need to be taken in the classroom as much as possible. For that reason, a great tendency towards the use of technology and its integration into the curriculum developed by foreign language teachers has gained a great importance. Particularly the use of video has received increasing attention in recent studies on technology integration into teacher education curricula.

3. Conclusions

Summing up, one of the favorable features of modular technology training is an activity of a student at school. One feature of this technology is that, in all stages of education in developing cognitive abilities of a student. Developing spoken and written language can offer students to do creative work. During the development of vocabulary, grammar, phonetic skills of a foreign language we can form activities of students in learning, the ability to work independently, the skills to draw conclusions. This is a new technology of today’s successful research.

References

Davies, P., & Pears, E. (2011). Success in English Teaching: A complete introduction to teaching English. Oxford University Press, p. 63.

Galskova, N.D., & Gez, N.I. (2008). Teoriya obucheniya inostrannym yazykam. Lingvodidaktika i metodika [Theory of Teaching Foreign Languages. Lingvodidaktika and metodika]. Moscow: Academia.

Krupchenko, A.K., & Kuznetsova, A.N. (2015). Osnovy professional'noy lingvodidaktiki: Monografiya [Fundamentals of Professional Lingua-Didactics: Monographic]. Moscow: APKiPPRO.

Kunanbayeva, S.S. (2005). Modern foreign language Education: methodology and theory. Almaty: Edelweiss, p. 262.

Nazarbayev, N.A. (2008). The main goal of the state policy to improve the welfare of the people. Address of the President of Kazakhstan. February 6, Astana.

Nazarbayev, N.A. (2011). Building the Future Together! Address of the President of the country. January 28, Astana.

Passov, E.I., Kibereva, L.V., & Kolarova, E. (2007). Kontseptsiya kommunikativnogo inoyazychnogo obrazovaniya (teoriya i ee realizatsiya). Metodicheskoe posobie dlya rusistov [Concept of Communicative Foreign language Education (Theory and Its Implementation). Resource Book for Russianists]. Saint Petersburg: Zlatoust.

Ter-Minasova, S.G. (2008). Yazyk i mezhkul'turnaya kommunikatsiya: Ucheb. posobie [Language and Cross-Cultural Communication: Teaching Aid]. Moscow: Word.

1. Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 71, Al-Farabi ave., Almaty, 050006, Kazakhstan

2. Abai Kazakh National Pedagogika University, 71, Dostyk ave., Almaty, 050010, Kazakhstan

3. International Kazakh-Chinese Language College, 45A, 5th microregion, Almaty, 050040, Kazakhstan

4. Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, 71, Al-Farabi ave., Almaty, 050006, Kazakhstan. Email: ryesbulatova@gmail.com