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READING AND ANALYZING TEXTS AS AN INTEGRAL PART OF A FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDYING

Olha Kozii

(Kropyvnytsky, Ukraine)

The knowledge of a foreign language becomes more and more topical and important in the modern world. It is assisted by the processes of European integration. The ability to speak a foreign language extends the prospects of employment, assists to development of communicability and tolerance, extends the limits of professional and scientific mobility. The problem of professional training depends on it too.

That’s why to teach different categories of students under the conditions of globalization a modern teacher must have skills and abilities of the cross-cultural communication and adapt oneself to a new educational context. An important role in the system of professional preparation of teacher of foreign language is occupied by a lexical competence. Successful professional activity of a foreign language teacher envisages possessing the considerable volume of lexical material.

Independent work in home (or individual) reading in such point of view can become an effective factor that provides active vocabulary enriching. It will allow to promote the motivation of students to the study a foreign language. The individual reading is able to do the process of forming of lexical competence more effective. The most urgent problem in this context is the organization of work with authentic texts, pre-reading and after-reading exercises.

The basis of the lexical competence must be formed on the initial stage of a foreign language studying, as exactly this period is transitional to manage professional knowledge and it provides the possibility for the successful further mastering of the educational program.

It is sufficiently possible to accept the idea of “culture as the accumulation of texts” [8, p. 55]. Thus a language is studied as means of establishment and fixing of certain cultural values. Therefore in the process of professional lexical competence formation in the higher educational institution literature can be a source of valuable information about the country.

In the process of foreign language studying reading can come forward as means and as the aim of studies. Reading it is closely constrained with the understanding of the text and is a difficult mental process. According to N.Halskova, the growing role of reading is stipulated by the next factors:

1. Reading plays an important role professional activity of specialists on completion of studies.

2. Reading is basic means to continue to study a foreign language [2].

For successful realization of the aims it is very important to establish students’ respective attitude toward reading as the type of language activity that has the specific communicative task, as to the means of receipt of information.

A teacher’s main task is to teach students to understand authentic texts without applying to the dictionary each time they see an unknown word. For this purpose, as N.Halskova thinks, students must master a few rules of work with the text [2]: to read text in foreign language does not mean to translate each word. Life experience plays a very important role in the reading process. To understand the text the student should appeal to the title, pictures, known words and word combinations.

Special attention should be paid to work with scientific original texts. The reading of professional literature is occupied by work with vocabulary. It is expedient also to use the tasks to develop such abilities, as the ability to work with a word that has several meanings; the ability to know the tints of the synonyms and their use in a language; the ability to unravel the sense of the word, knowing its antonym; the ability to describe the sense of the word in case that its exact translation is absent; the ability to work with a dictionary column, using a context; the ability to choose necessary meaning; the ability to understand a word according to word-formation elements [7]. It is known, that depending on communicative necessities and on the measure of penetration in the maintenance of the text Ukrainian methodology distinguish the next types of reading:

- acquainting,

- educational,

- surveying,

- searching [9].

H.Rohova distinguishes three types of reading: teaching, acquainting and surveying [7].

The English-language methodology also distinguishes a few kinds or abilities of reading:

- skimming (determination of basic theme/of idea of the text);

- scanning (looking for certain information in the text);

- reading for detail (detailed understanding of text not only at the level of maintenance but also to sense) [4].

Reading is also the important means to manage the grammatical peculiarities of the language.

According to such interpretation the text for home reading is chosen according to the following approaches, as: formally language unit as the source of language knowledge of students; semantically lingual that determines the text as the stimulus and background for the development of students communicative skills; functionally-phenomenological approach that positions the text as a literary phenomenon, the sign of culture, and also communicative-semantic approach that interprets the text as a mediated form of communication of the reader with the author.

The value of lexical competence becomes particularly important on the second course. It is determined by the tendency of turning to the unprepared speaking and own thoughts expressing.

The analysis of the system of a foreign language studying in pedagogical higher educational institution, realized according to the communicative, country studying and social and cultural approaches, gives an opportunity to define the basis of the process of teacher’s professional lexical competence shaping.

References:

  1. Cherednichenko, H. (2010) The Methodology of Foreign Language Reading Training in a Higher Non-Linguistic Educational Institution // The Bulletin of Kharkiv National University. Kharkiv.

  2. Halskova, N. (2004) The Contemporary Methodology of Foreign Languages Studying. Moscow: ARKTY.

  3. Folomkina, S. (1987) Foreign Language Reading Training in a Higher Non-Linguistic Educational Institution. Moscow: Vyssh. shk.

  4. Folomkina, S. (1985) Tekst v obuchenii ynostrannym yazykam // Ynostrannye yazyki v shkole. № 3. [The Role of Text Foreign Languages Studying // Foreign Languages at School]. Moscow.

  5. Khrystova, O. (2011) The Usage of a Single-purpose Text in Studing Foreign Languages for a Professional Puprose // The Scientific Bulletin of Bohdan Khmelnytsky State Pedagogical University: The Collection of Studies. Melitopol.

  6. Khutorskyi, A. (2003) The Key Capacities as a Component of Educational Personally Directive Paradigm // Popular Schooling. Moscow.

  7. Rohova, H., Rabynovych, F., Sakharova, T. (1991) The Methodology of Foreign Languages Studying in Secondary School]. Moscow: Prosveshchenie.

  8. Skugarova, J. (2002) New Life of a Fiction Text in Foreign Languages Studying // The Bulletin of Moscow State University. Moscow.

  9. Tarnopolskyi, B. (2006) The Methodology of Foreign Language Activity in a Higher Linguistic Educational Institution: Study Guide. Kyiv: INKOS.