Теория и практика эффективного преподавания иностранных языков
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Познавательная функция лекториев выражается в том, что, участвуя в лекториях, студенты не только расширяют свой кругозор, но и пополняют знания по своей специальности. Тот факт, что в подготовке и проведении лекториев помощь оказывал массовый отдел Научной библиотеки СГУ, который организовывал выставки книг по теме лектория, говорит о том, что лектории позволяют информировать студентов об имеющихся ресурсах по интересующим их темам. Лектории не только позволяют формировать у студентов интерес к культуре и истории других стран, но и дают возможность расширить социокультурную составляющую обучения за счет представления информации об иной этнокультурной общности. Лектории способствуют формированию в сознании студентов «картины мира», свойственной носителю этого языка как представителю определенного социума [1, с. 47]. На наш взгляд, работа по подготовке и проведению лектория выполняет и контрольную функцию. Фронтальная форма контроля, которая применяется для проверки рецептивных речевых умений и умения понимания речи на слух, очень подходит для проведения текущего контроля по двум соображениям. Во-первых, проверкой охватывается большое число студентов при относительно меньших затратах аудиторного времени. Во-вторых, подобная организация контроля обеспечивает активность всех студентов [2, с. 37]. Принимая это во внимание, мы делаем вывод о том, что лекторий является прекрасной возможностью осуществления текущего фронтального контроля, так как подготовка и участие в лекториях обеспечивает активность большого числа студентов. Более того, работа по подготовке лектория и участие в нем развивает у студентов самоконтроль. Таким образом, мы полагаем, что опыт проведения лекториев вполне соответствует современным требованиям методической науки и учитывает особенности коммуникативного и интеркультурного подходов. Проведение лекториев и в современных условиях также может во многом способствовать повышению эффективности преподавания иностранных языков в вузе. БИБЛИОГРАФИЧЕСКИЙ СПИСОК
CHILDREN’S COGNITIVE PSYCHOLOGY AND ITS DEVELOPMENT THROUG ACTIVITIES BASED ON THE TOTAL PHYSICAL RESPONSE METHOD E.V. Karpets Saratov State University Department of the English language and intercultural communication English has taken special significance nowadays becoming an international language and stimulated research in the field of language acquisition theory. Among other problems one of the burning issues is age factor and its influence on foreign languages acquisition. Scientists agree in opinion about evident advantages of learning languages at an early age. Although there is no common explanation of the phenomenon, advisability of learning a foreign language in preschool years is obvious. Linguistics researchers have identified that young learners have a “window of opportunity” during which learning a language comes easiest. Immature brain and undeveloped cognitive thinking become advantages for acquisition of even several languages. The power to learn languages is so great in children that it doesn’t seem to matter how many languages you throw their way [1, 2, 3]. Young learners have well established instincts, skills and characteristics that help them to master foreign languages with ease and speak them like native. Most of the skills might develop in the process of acquiring their mother tongue. These skills continue to develop while children are learning a foreign language. Thus, to achieve the desired results in teaching young learners it is essential to identify the ones and make most of them. Let us review some of the basic skills typical of preschool age:
Adults learn a foreign language cognitively. For them conscious explanation of formal aspects of the language are important. They want to realize how the language works. For example, how verb tenses are formed and what their use is. Children learn in a different way. For them it is a holistic process. Young learners are very good at interpreting meaning of complete utterances. Intonation, gesture, facial expression, action and environment all help them to “decode” what unknown words mean. So, it will not take much effort to teach a child the structures like “get out of bed”, “bite into an apple”, or “take off your shoes”. They start to understand the language by understanding the whole messages [3].
A language teacher can often observe how difficult it is for grown-ups to start speaking when they are not sure which word, verb form, or preposition to use. Children can express everything with a small number of words they possess to be understood. To increase their limited language abilities young learners often transfer what they have learnt into other contexts, create words by analogy, or invent completely new ones. For example, a four-year-old did not know which sound the lion produces, but using existing knowledge of another sound-imitating word he asked “Why does the lion buzz?” Similarly, the child says “front” and “back” instead of “right” and “left” referring to his own legs making analogy with animals. So, the child makes a little language go a long way “playing with it”.
Indirect learning or acquisition is a subconscious process which encourages spontaneous and therefore more fluent use. Children’s capacity for conscious learning is relatively undeveloped, but instinct for indirect learning is enormous. Children acquire vocabulary being involved in an activity. For example, playing Snakes and Ladders they are not trying to learn the instructions they hear and carry out. They are concentrating on trying to win. As a result, they acquire the vocabulary trained in the unit as well some more helpful instructions, like “throw the dice”, “go up/down the ladder”. Young learners sometimes seem to notice something out of the corner of their eye and to remember it better than they were actually supposed to be learning. Teachers are often amazed to hear something of the language coming out of the children’s mouths which was mentioned casually at one of the classes.
Fantasizing is an authentic part of being a child. Children have not yet learnt to distinguish between imagination and reality. When young learners are involved in this or that activity, the line between the imaginary and life-like is blurred. Therefore, a child may say that their clock is made of gold, their Daddy is bigger than any other Daddy, and the fish they have caught was extremely long. It’s perfectly normal for a child to create a zebra with fins or a rabbit playing the flute. The more absurd the image is the better it anchors in their memory.
Children’s need to speak with each other and with adults is natural because they are discovering the world around them. It is common to see a little boy or a girl speaking continuously with their mum or dad and asking endless questions. They often speak to themselves being engrossed in playing. This may not be simple to stop them, especially when we want them to listen to us and to one another. But it is probably the most advantageous ability in order to learn speaking in a foreign language. There are many language teaching approaches in circulation that it is very easy to get carried away. But a language teacher working with young learners should bear in mind that children don’t come to the classroom ‘empty-handed’. Thus, in order to make their learning more productive it would be reasonable to give priority to basing your teaching approaches on the natural abilities and instincts children bring with them. All the natural children’s abilities are the obvious reason why James Asher’s method TPR (Total Physical Response) is well suited for teaching a foreign language to young learners. TPR is a multi-sensory approach, which aims at an intensive training of the learners’ receptive capabilities [4]. We suggest some activities based on TPR which can help children to experience through all the senses that learning English is fun:
sensory introduction of vocabulary where visual, auditive and kinaesthetic/motor senses are activated during the presentation of new words.
following steps illustrate a multi-sensory introduction of a song:
Clap your hand, stamp your feet. Clap your hands, stamp your feet. Clap your hands, turn around. Clap your hands, turn around. Clap your hands, dance and sing. Clap your hands, dance and sing. Dance and sing, dance and sing. Dance and sing, dance and sing.
Clap your hands – clap your hands. Stamp your feet – stamp your feet twice. Turn around – turn around on the spot. Dance – take a step to the right, then to the left. Sing – imitate a singer.
Through them children’s listening comprehension is established holistically. The closer the link between what children hear and the action, the better they can remember the phrases they have learned, and the easier it is to transfer them into productive use of the language. The multi-sensory approach to conveying the language makes it possible for children to learn to understand and remember these stories for a long time. Here is the example of one of action stories you can introduce your learners giving them instructions and carrying them out simultaneously through gesture and mime: You’re a bird. You’re going to fly. You’re walking. You’re running. You’re running faster. You’re flapping your wings. You’re flapping and running. Wow! You’re flying. You’re flying faster. You’re flying slower. You’re tired. Good you’re resting.
have been sitting and need to move around: Sometimes I’m tall – very, very tall (stand up, then on tiptoe). Sometimes I’m small – very, very small (stoop down, then way down). Sometimes tall, sometimes small (stand up, then stoop down). What am I now? (stand up or stoop down; let the children say if they are tall or small). Language teachers working with young learners are fortunate because those they teach have particular abilities on which teachers can build much. Identifying the abilities and developing them one can make remarkable progress and produce the desired result in teaching children. Taking all mentioned above into consideration a teacher can choose a suitable teaching approach, one of which, TPR, has been found extremely stimulating and helpful. Here only a small part of possible activities has been demonstrated. But this is a creative process and a lot of other activities can be designed on the basis of this method or adapted to it. REFERENCES
LEGAL ENGLISH IN USE N.A. Kubrakova, D.V. Saunina Saratov State University Department of the English language and intercultural communication Legal English in Use has nothing to do with Vocabulary in Use, Grammar in Use and other specialized courses. This is a supplementary course we have developed for students of Law department. While choosing materials for this course we used a number of textbooks: Streamline English (different levels) [2; 3; 4], English Vocabulary in Use [5; 6], Test your professional English [1], and different websites: www.inopressa.ru, www.bbc.co.uk . We worked up a number of assignments using the materials and entries from the dictionaries (Longman, Oxford, Macmillan) [7; 8; 9]. This course is aimed at students of different levels. We have been working with this course for two years and it has proved to be successful. It’s a good supplement to the basic course of general English. “Legal English in Use” introduces specialized vocabulary and law-related topics through true-to-life stories, situations and interesting dialogues. It combines developing the variety of language skills such as reading, listening, studying high-frequency vocabulary, practicing essential grammar with interesting and motivating language learning through professional context. The course presents and explains new words and grammar structures in context and shows the learners how to use them and how to work out rules for using them. It is aimed at different levels: Legal English is introduced from elementary to upper-intermediate. The course consists of different stages and each stage is more complicated than the previous one. At early stages more attention is paid to grammar drilling and only a few specialized words are introduced. Now that students are more proficient in grammar it is possible to pass on to the law-related vocabulary. First we offer students a number of words and expressions to learn and exercises connected with this vocabulary to do. Then they read, listen or learn by heart dialogues describing situations such as investigation, interrogation, a court case, and so on. At upper-intermediate level students are aware of the basic grammar and specialized vocabulary so more attention can be paid to the usage of the language and developing translating and interpreting skills. In class they do not just focus on terms and retell law-related texts. The course helps the students to shift their focus from traditional work with their textbooks to motivating and creative activities. On the one hand they are guided by the sample dialogues and situations based on certain grammar, on the other hand they have an opportunity to use their imagination and vocabulary. As a result they learn the language through professional context. To give you a more vivid description of the course we would like to dwell upon some sample materials we use within the course. Detective: Now, Mr Briggs…where were you yesterday? Briggs: Yesterday? What time? Detective: At two o’clock. Where were you at two o’clock? Briggs: I was at home Detective: You weren’t at home, you were at central London. Briggs: No I was! I was at home! Ask my girlfriend! She was with me! Detective: Well, we are going to speak to her later. Where is she now? Briggs: Oh… I don’t know… Detective: OK. Now where were you on January 12 th? Briggs: January 12 th? Detective: Yes, it was a Wednesday. Briggs: I can’t remember. Detective: You were in Manchester. Briggs: Oh no, I wasn’t. Detective: Oh yes, you were! Briggs: Oh no, I wasn’t… I was in prison in January. Detective: Oh! This dialogue is an example of dialogues used at early stages. It introduces one of the professional situations and combines drilling several grammar topics at a time: different types of questions, short answers, tenses (Past Simple, Present Simple). First students can practice reading this dialogue, learning it by heart and then making up their own dialogue. As you can see from this sample specialized vocabulary is not introduced yet. A link to the next stage is law-related vocabulary and a number of exercises. The students are offered the basic law-related vocabulary connected with crimes, criminals and criminal acts: To commit a crime = to break the law, to do something wrong / illegal / against the law to investigate = to try to find who is responsible to arrest somebody = to take somebody to the police station innocent = not guilty to be convicted = to be found guilty A criminal = a person who commits a crime a mugger = a person who attacks and robs sb violently, esp in a public place a shop-lifter = a person who steals goods from the shops be deliberately leaving without paying for them. After each group of words students do a number of exercises to master the words and work out the rules for using them: Put the word into the correct order to make up sentences: 1) found / the jury / not guilty / the defendant. 2) next month / comes up / for trial case. 3) he / in one week / committed / six / murders. The students continue drilling grammar, for example word order, questions, tenses alongside with learning more law-related terms. Now that the students know the basic law-related vocabulary we can proceed to more complicated exercises which involve learning the language through professional context. At this stage students read a description of a crime, translate it and make up their own description guided by the task. Later they do not need this guidance and can create their own stories and reports on different crimes. Usually we take a newspaper report of a robbery as a sample. The students read the report and the witness statement and try to make up their own report and statement. They can describe any crime from the list given earlier. First they should write a report on this crime, and then a statement of a witness. Then their task gets more complicated. They have to write the interrogation dialogue but beforehand they have to complete a sample dialogue using tag questions. In this way they revise some grammar material: Put in the correct question tags: Police Constable: You are John Alfred Smithers, …? Smeathers: Yes, I am. Police Constable: You are 36, …? Smeathers: Yes, that’s right. It was my birthday yesterday. Police Constable: You sell cars …? Smeathers: Yes, I do. And other things. Police Constable: You live in Ealing, …? Smeathers: Yes I do. I’ve lived here all my life. Police Constable: You went to Ascot races yesterday, …? Smeathers: That’s right. Police Constable: You were alone, …? Smeathers: No, I wasn’t. We also give the students a sample of a court case. First students read the information about the case then the dialogue. Alongside with specialized vocabulary and questions their attention is driven to relative clauses. There are some additional exercises in the sample. They can write a short description of a crime and then act out the dialogue in court. So at that stage grammar is also introduced but it is more complicated. Another law-related topic which is extremely fruitful for practicing different language skills is describing people. The students can read a description of a suspect in a certain crime. Their assignment is to prepare a similar description. But before doing this they have to do a number of exercises. They have to describe several people using the vocabulary given in the exercise: Read the police bulletin: Crime: Armed Robbery Location: South & South Park Streets Date: November 13, 1999 The public assistance is requested in identifying the person or persons responsible for an armed robbery on the southwest corner of South St. and South Park St. intersection. The crime occurred at 9:30 a.m. on November 13, 1999. The suspect is described as a white man, 20-25 years old, medium build, 5’2’’, moustache, blue eyes, short brown hair, pointed nose. He was wearing a red baseball cap with Montreal Canadian logo, a dark blue jacket, green jeans and white sneakers. So, all previous tasks and sample exercises were aimed at combining grammar and vocabulary through professional context. The situations are popular with the students of Law department as they are connected with their major and let them use their imagination and overcome boredom. The next stage is aimed at upper-intermediate students. This stage combines translation and interpreting. Translating articles students have to guess the attitude of an author and translate it properly taking into consideration the style and the mood. As a supplement they can be asked to make up a summary (both in Russian and in English), to ask questions. The last stage of the course is interpreting. It can be done in different ways. Sometimes we take two variants of the same article (English and Russian versions). The teacher reads it sentence by sentence. The students are offered to repeat the whole sentence and then translate it first from English into Russian then vice versa. To draw a conclusion we can say that this course can be used at different levels, it allows avoiding a too academic approach to Legal English and increasing motivation of the students. In contrast with lots of textbooks for law students it is motivating and challenging. It gives an opportunity to test the language knowledge of the students in different ways. It provides for shift in teacher/learner role and exposure to authentic language. Professional context makes learning English more interesting and sometimes more amusing. REFERENCES
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