USAGE OF INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH IN SECONDARY SCHOOL

Leonnid Juzkov Khmelnytskyi university of Management and Law

Dominiuk Iryna, Lavriienko Maryana, Nahornyi Yaroslav

Communication in English as an international language is an essential component of the professional activity of any graduate in the conditions of modern globalization.

The spread of English as a language of international communication, the growing number of English learners due to different factors (among them distance learning within restrictions of Covid 19 pandemic and Russian war in Ukraine)  have led to the appearing of various methods of teaching and monitoring the effectiveness of the educational process.

The new State Educational Standards emphasize the formation of professional competencies of the learner, and professional competence as a characteristic of the quality of training is considered an integral result of the learning process.[1]

Special attention we would like to concentrate on innovative educational technologies. The rise of different educational tools and software has motivated the teachers to include educational technology into their lessons. Technology has fundamentally changed the way we learn, making it more involving, but also challenging. It was shown by a number of studies that innovative technologies  have great influence on students learning, by bringing the language and culture to the students’ “gateway” and enabling the students’ engaging into the foreign language.

To gain linguistic competence one might want to travel to the country where the foreign language is spoken, to increase contact with the culture and the language of interest. Literally this learning practice may seem ideal, however practically, it is not available for most students, according to the current events in Ukraine, economical and other reasons.

So if teachers need to solve the problems such as inability to speak with natives, absence of special amount of money for studying abroad etc. the innovative practice of using social networks such as Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and other Internet resources can play a major role in improving students’ contacts with the foreign language. It can be admitted that such practice can be a crucial factor in improving the quality of education and the level of student educational learning performance. It has shown a notable positive effect on student achievements in learning English. Students can use this technology outside the classroom in their everyday life, and teachers can implement  it into the classroom activities which is extremely helpful for the learners, since they understand it, pay attention to it and like to use this type of medium. This way of learning motivates the students to become more involved, active and interested in the educational process.

The next educational technology, which has recently become increasingly popular and is often used by teachers to achieve linguistic approach is debate. Debates have been known as an important attribute of democracy since ancient times. As an educational technology and a special form of intellectual play, debates are used in many educational institutions both in our country and abroad. The technology demonstrates high efficiency, as the main responsibility for conducting is on students, who, in turn, must show increased motivation and interest in the preparation and organization of debates [1]. Teachers achieve good results, giving students the opportunity to show initiative, organizational skills, demonstrate the ability to work independently, set goals and make decisions. The main obstacle in conducting debates can be the level of students’ communicative skills that is why teachers have to keep in mind their students opportunities in speaking and make up the possibilities for the whole group due to this factor.

To be a responsible learner, a student needs to be involved in the process of learning as well as to enjoy it. Having fun is often associated with game playing. Most of us have enjoyed playing games as children and some of us probably still do as adults. So the idea of game playing while learning a language is very probably to keep students motivated. The popularity of games like Kahoot could be observed in classrooms worldwide. It might be more popular among school age learners. What is most beneficial is that teachers can create their own kinds of game according to the learning language material.

Previous studies demonstrated that effective technologies, such as smart boards and PowerPoint are very enjoyable, help to better use the lecture time, limit disruption by students, provide outstanding methods for presenting the lecture materials, and enhance the concentration and engagement of the students.[3] But learning with technology incorporates more than just making learning activities digital, it is also about creating contexts for authentic learning that use new technologies in integrated and meaningful ways to enhance the production of knowledge as well as the communication and dissemination of ideas.

In conclusion, the recent developments in language learning technology and pedagogy allow us to integrate different innovative methods into language teaching and learning to a greater extent. Multimedia resources and the Internet access facilitate student immersion into rich environments for language practice and promote learner autonomy. Students can easily explore language use in authentic context, which activates their motivation for communication, increases their interest and improves their electronic literacy skills.

References:

1. Benson P., State-of-the-art article: Autonomy in language teaching and learning, „Language Teaching” 2007, 40(1)

2. Bialo E.R., Sivin-Kachala J., The Effectiveness of Technology in Schools: A Summary of Recent Research, SLMQ 1996, 25(1).

3. Godwin-Jones R., Autonomous language learning, „Language Learning & Technology” 2011, 15(3), [online], http://llt.msu.edu/issues/october2011/emerging.pdf, [dostęp: 28.08.2018]