General aspects of teaching English at higher educational establishments in modern conditions

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GENERAL ASPECTS OF TEACHING ENGLISH AT HIGHER EDUCATIONAL ESTABLISHMENTS IN MODERN CONDITIONS

Anna GRYZHENKO,

Key words: positive motivation, intellectual and creative skills, favorable conditions, professional development, challenging intellectual activity.

Ганна ГРИЖЕНКО,

ОСНОВНІ АСПЕКТИ ВИКЛАДАННЯ АНГЛІЙСЬКОЇ У ВИШАХ У СУЧАСНИХ УМОВАХ

Ми живемо у динамічному світі, що швидко розвивається, з подіями та тенденціями, що швидко змінюються, в умовах соціальних, економічних та моральних трансформацій. Усі ці великі зміни в усіх сферах життя суспільства, втрата існуючих цінностей і поява нових не може не мати значного впливу на розвиток сучасної системи освіти і методів викладання. Негативні результати людської діяльності, екологічні проблеми, війни, катастрофи, епідемії, незалежно від того, де саме вони відбуваються, впливають на наше оточення, здоров'я і соціальні умови. Освіта сьогодення має сконцентруватися на об'єднуючих зусиллях, застосуванні можливостей різних країн, незважаючи на їхні релігійні погляди, мати на меті захист середовища, уникнення війн, запобігання нещасних випадків, катастроф, терористичних актів та пандемічних атак. Освіта має стати одним із головних чинників збереження гуманістичних цінностей, якості умов праці і життя в цілому. Частіше за все ми зосереджені на тому, щоб надати студентам якнайбільше знань та інформації з предмета. Але в сучасних умовах, коли ми бачимо, що лише одного професіоналізму не достатньо для покращення соціальних стандартів, ми також повинні мати на меті формування та розвиток таких моральних цінностей, які дадуть змогу майбутнім професіоналам приймати рішення, що сприятимуть потребам суспільства в підтримці та піклуванні про нього. Якщо ми бажаємо жити у кращому суспільстві, ми маємо виховувати людей, які здатні думати і дбати про інтереси інших, працювати заради суспільного добробуту, а не лише власного. Це має стати головною метою будь-якого навчального процесу, будь-якого предмета.

У третьому тисячолітті викладання англійської набуло особливого значення, тому що англійська зайняла найважливіше місце у професійному та науковому обміні досвідом та досягненнями. Без вживання англійської використання результатів наукових і промислових проривів та досягнень у галузі культури здається неможливим. Тому нині ми стикнулися з потребою забезпечити студентів не лише навичками володіння загальної англійської, а й навичками англійської для спеціальної мети (професійною), так щоб випускники університетів могли спілкуватися з колегами на професійні теми, поширювати свої знання завдяки використанню іншомовних джерел, публікувати свої праці закордоном. Нашою головною метою є висвітлити головні аспекти, які потребують уваги і на яких необхідно сконцентруватися у процесі викладання у вишах, щоб мати змогу досягти найкращих результатів і бути успішними в підготовці майбутніх професіоналів високого рівня, з відповідними моральними якостями. Таким чином, предметом нашого дослідження є сучасні напрями та проблеми в теорії та методології викладання, які можуть бути найбільш результативними в сучасних умовах.

Ключові слова: позитивна мотивація, інтелектуальні та креативні навички, сприятливі умови, професійний розвиток, захоплююча інтелектуальна діяльність.

teaching English positive results educational process

Actuality of the Problem. It should be stated that education in many countries is experiencing deep transformation in both methodological basis and the role of education in the modern world, human attitude to it and value accents inside it. Modern conditions nowadays include high rate of labor mobility, structural changes in the sphere of employment, reduction of low qualified spheres of labor, increase of economic rivalry, urgent necessity of raising professional qualifications and so on. Thus, future specialists should be able to correspond to these social demands and meet the needs of today's labor market. And the main task of modern education is to find ways how to teach them become the active members ofthis changing environment.A lot of authors pay attention to emotional sphere of teaching because moral values are the driving values which push us to action and are a source of motivation. Moral values are the standards of good and evil, which govern an individual's behavior and choices. In our opinion, changing values influences the tendencies of social development. If the main value of a society is to prove its uniqueness and superiority over other nations, to benefit at the cost of other social groups interests, it can lead to developing weapon production industries and spread of ideology of aggression. We are strongly aware of the fact that teaching any subject should comprise developing such moral norms and values that should contribute to creating a just society protecting its members and considering a human life the main value.

The article presents the main aspects of teaching English to students in modern conditions. The main issues touched upon are: motivational sphere, emotional climate, calling interest, creating situation of success, using modern technologies, developing high moral values and skills of professional communication, broadening worldview in general.

Analysis of publications. At the end of XX - at the beginning of XXI century the world has become completely different, than it used to be 10, 15, 20 years ago. The system of personality preparation for future life should change too, the role of education should change. (Яблонский, 2015) Modern Ukrainian education is aimed at forming multifunctional specialists who are able to combine organizational, educational, performing activities with the skill of constant getting new professional and non-professional information and the desire to develop themselves throughout their career. And here the main issue is forming of intellectual and creative skills which make the basis for further professional growth. The theoretical foundations of intellectual and creative skills formation were investigated and presented by J. Piaget (the level of cognition formedness), S. Rubinstein, O. Leontiev (the psychological theory of intellectual activity), B. Teplov (the psychology of creativity), M. Kholodna (the psychology of intelligence researches), V. Moliako (an algorithm of solving creative tasks), D. Bogoiavlenska (the relationship between creative thinking and personality abilities) and many others.

The issue of intellectual skills is studied in the works by L. Vygotsky, P. Galperin, D. Gilford, V. Palamarchuk, I. Yakimanska, M. Frumkin and others.

T. Andrushchenko states that education should create the complete image of the world, ensure its perception in the harmony of intelligence, feelings and willpower. The main characteristic of education effectivity should be not the mere sum of knowledge, received by the student while getting university education, but ability to self-education, using sources of information, uplifting level of expertise (Андрущенко, 2015). This thought finds its reflection in N. Terentieva's idea that classical university is, first of all, the cognitive model of the universe which comprises knowledge about the continuity of human life, laws and integrity of nature, theological, socioeconomical, juridical, history-cultural, linguistical, psychological and other phenomena. University knowledge embraces the universe - from cosmic systems to microorganisms, from deep past to perspectives and scenarios of future development (Терентьева, 2015).

Undoubtedly, one of the most essential matters of every teacher in his/her everyday work is creating the most favorable conditions for forming intellectual and creative skills. The concept of “a condition” in its philosophical meaning is a collection of objects (things, processes, relationships), which are necessary for appearing, existing or modifying this object. But we are interested in defining learning pedagogical conditions which should be created in the process of teaching. In the education and pedagogy dictionary the word “condition” is defined as a combination of variable, natural, social, internal and external influences which affect the physical, mental and moral development of a person, his behavior, education and training, personality formation. (Полонский, 2004: c. 36) Pedagogical conditions can be defined as the set of circumstances which the integral teaching process of professional training depends on, and which are mediated by the activity of a personality or a group of people. Obviously, the influence of learning pedagogical conditions on the training process is great. According to Yu. Babansky “The effectiveness of the pedagogical process expectedly depends on the conditions in which it exists” (Бабанский, 1982: 78) A long time ago the German educator A. Disterweigh stated that a bad teacher presents the truth, but a good one teaches to find it. In his «Regulation on teaching German teachers» he noted that development and education of any person cannot be just given to him. Everyone who wants to gain this, has to reach it through his or her personal activity, own pains, own hard work. From outside he can get only encouragement (Дистервег, 1956). This idea was supported by another great educator K. Ushinsky: “Any activity should be mine, it should excite me, come out of my soul». He also stated that an educator is not an official, but if he is an official, he is not an educator, adding, that education is not a science but an art which strives for an ideal” (Ушинский, 1990: 23). These words emphasize the necessity of forming personal motivation for studying which is one of the most essential factors of gaining knowledge and skills. Motivation is a source of personal activity in any sphere including education. The Ukrainian scientist E. Pidlasy states: “Learning and correct usage of motives that already exist, forming the necessary ones that direct personality's development and its movement, - is the essence of pedagogical work” (Підласий, 1998).

Modern psychology has proven that every person needs to feel safe for his/her normal psychological development. According to the American psychologist Abraham Maslow's pyramid of human needs it is the feeling of safety, understanding that nothing threatens you is one of the basic needs of every individual. A person, working in constant tension, can show positive result and productivity, but it will not be a long-lasting success - sooner or later tension will exhaust the person and interest and productivity will drop down.

In his book «Emotional Intelligence» the American writer and psychologist Daniel Goleman emphasizes the importance of considering emotional sphere in order to overcome difficulties in the teaching-learning process. He points out that our emotions play a more important role in our achieving success than it is commonly thought (Гоулман, 2013). Thus, focusing on emotional sphere while teaching any subject is crucially important.

Basing on theoretical material and personal teaching experience we have come to the conclusion that the main conditions for successful teaching of English are creating necessary motivational sphere and stimulating interest towards study, forming friendly atmosphere of tolerance and equality, obtaining experience, necessary for professional communication, possibility of self-development.

The Aim of the Article. The article is aimed at studying and analyzing the main aspects of teaching English at higher educational establishments in modern conditions and finding the best ways of achieving positive results. The author is trying to define the main issues of teaching in connection with the changing conditions of educational process. The article highlights the most essential matters and methods of teaching that should be taken into account in creating the most favorable learning environment and gaining the best results.

The Main Body. From the above mentioned it becomes clear that first of all motivational sphere should be focused on. Thus, a teacher should observe and study the existing motives of his students first, and then manage to transform them into such motives that will be helpful in the educational process. In our opinion, forming motivational sphere of a higher educational establishment student generally has such main directions as forming motives and needs in professional development, forming skills and habits of self-education, developing ability of objective self-assessment and ability to plan changes of activity if necessary. Of course, it is evident that individual approach is important here, because every student may have his/her own motives, which should also be taken into consideration. Also, some outside motives depending on social sphere can be present, which are not in the sphere of educational activity, can influence the teaching-learning process. They cannot be changed but may be taken into account. For instance, it can be negative attitude or low self esteem formed at secondary school, which can be in the way of creating positive motivation. In this case, the teacher should be especially attentive and non-authoritative in order to break this stereotype and get positive results. Our practice has shown that the most successful way and the most powerful means of braking psychological barriers and creating positive motivation is involving students into challenging intellectual activity with some elements of competition. The possibility of getting some interesting information, presenting it to the fellow students and teacher, the opportunity to express one's own opinion and prove it in some discussion or debating activity create the most favorable conditions of educational process. Thus, discussions and debating activities are recommended to achieve positive result. The role of a teacher in choosing the most interesting topics is great. For this the teacher should be aware of students' interests - observe and study the matter in advance. Also, students should get as much as possible information with positive examples of human activity - supporting each other, helping those in need, being active and persistent in achieving your goals. For example, we often use in our work biographies of famous people like Nick Vujicic or Steve Jobs. Nick Vujicic was born without limbs but managed to get higher education, became a family man with two children and a motivational speaker, travelling round the world and supporting people like himself. Steve Jobs was refused by his biological parents and brought up by adoptive ones, but also managed to succeed in life. Learning information about such people, listening to and discussing their speeches, addressed to students can highly motivate anybody.

One more thing is essential - not to be afraid of any topic of discussion and expressing your personal view - it will only cause students' trust and respect. Sometimes the possibility to demonstrate their professional awareness and the chance to change the teacher's opinion and persuade him/her that they are right can play a very positive role in forming motivation. In our opinion, the teacher should be able to create such situations while discussing professional issues artificially, in order to give students such an opportunity, sometimes even pretending not to know some facts or information without being afraid to “lose your face”. We are sure that project work, connected with students' professional field, can be helpful in gaining such results. The famous psychologist I. Kon considered the main means to call a deep emotional students' response is to place before them a problem which is close to their interests, that it will make them think on their own and make their own conclusions (Кон, 2006). Therefore, it is essential to keep constant interest in topics and activities, changing them regularly and in accordance with students' needs. For example, with future historians we “create” a time machine which takes them to the past to observe and study some historical events and their influence on the following events; while with students of computer technologies department we “create” a time machine which can take us to the future to examine the possible development of technologies there. Such modelling of situations at the lessons creates the possibility of spontaneous speaking, causes students' interest and helps them express their ideas and demonstrate their intelligence which is very important.

Every student should be aware of being important in the classroom; he/she should know that his/ her opinion is valuable and even being mistaken will not lead to offence and criticism. The famous American writer and humorist Mark Twain said that a person cannot be satisfied with his life if he is not satisfied with himself. So, every teacher should work hard to create the most favorable atmosphere in which such important conditions are taken into consideration. And such ability of a teacher is formed through combination of gaining personal experience, studying scientific pedagogical literature and colleagues' experience. And, what is the most essential, understanding of the importance of positive emotions and the desire to create such positive emotions in the process of teaching. Thus, one of the main recommendations is not only to plan the material to be learnt, the skills to be developed and trained and things to be remembered, but to think over the ways of creating the most favorable classroom environment. For example, using jokes can be of great help.

One more important factor connected with the above mentioned is creating the situation of success, which encourages the process of learning. Here it is very important to realize that every student has his own level of knowledge and his own steps to achieve success. Of course, every teacher is familiar with the problem of non-homogeneous groups where students have different level of preparation. It is really a problem to plan a lesson in such a way that everybody is able to participate on his/her level so that the “weak” students would be involved and the “strong” students will not be bored. One of the typical teacher's mistakes can be either to pay more attention to better prepared students without giving a chance to the rest, or to concentrate on those who need more explanation and practice and “lose” those who are well-prepared. One of the solutions is to divide the students into groups in such a way that they have approximately the same level. But teachers know that it is not always possible - there can be many more students of one type, on the one hand, and, on the other hand, practice shows that in a “weaker” group students do not see a positive example to follow and it can be a problem to organize a discussion or debating. In our opinion, the only way out is to prepare tasks of different levels and involve “stronger” students into helping the rest of the group, which can be useful for both. In such a way they learn not only English but tolerance and patience to the others. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate personal success of every student, not some “common” level of success which does not exist.

One of the typical features of modern learningteaching process is a wide range of technical means for distance communication (e-mail, Skype, Zoom, different messengers, etc.). On the one hand, it gives greater opportunities in educational and professional communication. On the other hand, it poses the problem of developing ESP writing skills. Thus, teaching professionally-oriented English writing has become necessary and crucially important for universities while teaching English. Students should learn how to write a business letter and distinguish the main types of letters (a cover letter, a complaint letter, an order, a request, etc.). They should learn how to address a company or a firm to present their CV with the purpose of future employment, how to write the CV most successfully, including the main facts and avoiding unnecessary irrelevant information. Students also learn so-called audience recognition - taking into account the audience (the person who gets the message) and the purpose of writing. Thus, using abbreviations is possible while writing to friends and colleagues, but it is inappropriate in a business letter.

On the whole, distant education which has become typical for the present-day conditions of COVID-19 pandemic, has shown the necessity to train the skills of such type of learning to prepare students to work in different conditions not to be at a loss and not to stop or interrupt their educational process. In our work we used Skype and Viber for oral and writing practice, Moodle for doing home tasks and these activities proved to be very productive in the learning process: students could control the time of doing tasks, film their answers and presentations, participate in on-line discussions, develop auditory skills, listening to the teacher or other students, do written tests, etc. So, modern conditions of life require implementation of such methods of teaching and students should be trained beforehand to be ready to use them in case of necessity.

Conclusions. We have pointed out the main aspects which should be focused on while teaching English at higher educational establishments today. The idea of considering motivational sphere is emphasized by many authors in the past and should remain the cornerstone of every educational process today. Without creating positive motivation, situation of success and favorable learning environment it is impossible to imagine any fruitful work. We should also take into account that, due to modern technologies, students have as wide access to information as teachers do and our task is to teach them how to choose, select and critically “digest” all the facts they can gain. The main thing to be considered is not to trust everything, because there is a stream of false information available nowadays, but to choose reliable sources and to be able to study the information critically. Another important aspect is learning professional skills, which can be of use in professional sphere. And, of course, developing high moral standards and humanistic values such as tolerance, patience, respect to another, sometimes opposite opinion, mutual support, being concerned with social and ecological problems, ability to stand your ground, etc. It should become the main aspect of teaching, because without this any education looses its value and becomes just filling students' heads with scientific information, which is not bad by itself, but it is not aimed at forming the worldview trying to embrace all the spheres and phenomena of modern life with the idea of changing it for the better. We don't need only mere professionals, we need people with high morals and desire for improvements for mutual benefit.

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