The use of english and american authours’ texts in improvement of students’ reading habits and skills at non-linguistic universities

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The use of english and american authours' texts in improvement of students' reading habits and skills at non-linguistic universities

Ozerskaya Svetlana Nikolaevna

Parnikova Tat'yana Valer'evna

Annotation

In this article the authors appeal to the issue of teaching reading and carry out the theoretical analysis of the process of improvement of students' reading habits and skills; the authors believe it is important to use original texts at the lessons, particularly to use English and American authors' works. As an illustration the authors present passages from the English and American original texts, give various pre- and post-textual tasks that help to improve students' reading habits and skills at non-linguistic universities.

Key words and phrases: foreign languages; teaching reading; original texts; English and American authors' texts; improvement of students' reading habits and skills.

Использование произведений английских и американских авторов в процессе совершенствования навыков и умений чтения студентов неязыковых вузов

Озерская Светлана Николаевна, Парникова Татьяна Валерьевна

В данной статье авторы обращаются к вопросу обучения чтению и проводят теоретический анализ процесса совершенствования навыков и умений чтения обучающихся; считают актуальным использование оригинальных текстов английских и американских писателей на занятиях по иностранному языку. В качестве иллюстраций авторы приводят отрывки из англоязычных произведений, представляют различные варианты предтекстовых и послетекстовых заданий, которые помогают совершенствовать навыки и умения чтения обучающихся неязыковых вузов.

At the beginning it should be mentioned that the authors of this article will rely on their English teaching experience and illustrate the theoretical analysis by the texts of English and American writers.

The aims of foreign language teaching at non-linguistic universities are the following: practical, educational and cultural.

We believe that together with speaking reading is one of the two main aims of instruction in the foreign language and reading texts gives great opportunities in achievement of the practical, educational and cultural aims of teaching English.

"Instruction in reading has to follow in the way of the teaching of speech and pronunciation and clear the way for the teaching of writing" [1]. Reading texts helps in consolidation of all manner of linguistic knowledge, habits and skills.

We believe that the main object of instruction in the foreign language is developing among the learners such habits and skills of reading which will constitute after graduation a firm basis for further work in the foreign language, and the ability to read freely literature on the graduator's speciality in the original.

In our opinion, texts for reading for students of non-linguistic universities should be of different kinds and include information on history, geography, politics, economics, travel, journalism, discoveries, inventions, fiction, etc.

Such texts are intended to be read in class and at home.

"Scientists consider the text as a product of the spiritual culture of the human civilization and each nation (E. M. Vereshchagin, V. G. Kostomarov, A. F. Losev, and L. N. Mikheeva, etc.), as a means of linguistic exposure of a student (A. N. Vasiliev, I. B. Ignatova, etc.), as a means of implementing the main functions of language/speech (Yu. N. Karaulov, A. A. Leontiev and others)" [3].

"We consider the original text in a foreign language to be a system of speech product of native foreigners and it is valuable as a systematic example of the functioning of language and is one of the main educational and methodical units of teaching" [5]. text reading foreign

We believe that each original text is to be connected with a "topical subject" (all "topical subjects" has to be indicated in the non-linguistic university programme) corresponding to a certain field of human activity or interest and having its particular vocabulary and phraseology. All "topical subjects" should be dealt with first of all orally, then in the form of a text that is read and retold, and then, in the form of a written exercise. Students' proficiency in dealing with "topical subjects" at first must be controlled at the lessons and later must be tested at the examinations.

The acquisition and the mastery of students' reading habits and skills are of great practical significance: these acquirements prepare the graduates for the independent reading of texts in the foreign language referring to their specialties, as well as of scientific, economical, political and literary issues. Moreover, reading is the main source of enlarging students' vocabulary. Students' knowledge in the fields of the vocabulary and grammar is consolidated through reading texts and performing various pre- and post-textual exercises based on them (e.g.: Read and translate the following words from the text. Consult the dictionary if necessary. Pronounce the words correctly and translate them. Find English equivalents to the following Russian word combinations and phrases in the text, etc.).

The students' interest for English and American literature, their abilities to appreciate its merits and to form their own aesthetic judgments must also be awakened as far as possible during the process of teaching English. The ability of reading of the English and American authors in the original and English texts reflecting the culture of the countries where that language is spoken will likewise serve the students as a mean of attaining a higher general education level.

Reading English and American authors' works will develop in the students a feeling of beauty. A widening of the students' philological outlook will result in the conscious comparison of the foreign language with their native language. It is known that comparing two languages should be discouraged; it may promote the interference of the native language and the formation of habits of literal translation from the native into the foreign language.

Reading issues of the English and American authors in class and at home is of great educative and general cultural value to the students. The texts must be of interest and significance and essential for the intelligent reading, and for the general education of the students, including elementary stylistic analysis (grammar structures and features, grammar aspects [4]) and elementary word-study - the treatment of families of words, synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms.

In order the students' results in reading to be more successful they should be given recommendations by the teacher. "The students must be instructed while reading in class and at home to write out the unfamiliar words and expressions with the translation and with phonetic symbols indicating the pronunciation of vocalic sounds in square brackets after the word and with indication of stress" [6].

The control of reading of the original English and American texts can be in the form of "whole-class" and individual questioning or testing of the students (it should take place in class or outside class hours at especially appointed meetings). The questions must be carefully thought out and prepared by the teacher in written form, be concrete, and not too general (e.g.: "Where did the action take place?"; "Who performed it?"; "Summarize the text."; "Translate the Russian sentence into English using one or more words or expressions from the text.", etc.). The students can also be caused to find and read aloud the passage or paragraph where an event or a situation specified in the teacher's command is described, or to find and translate the sentences with certain grammar structures. For example: …I crossed a high tall bridge and negotiated a no man's land and came to the place where the Stars and Stripes stood shoulder to shoulder with the Union Jack. The Canadians were very kind they asked where I was going and for how long, gave Rocinante a cursory inspection, and came at last to Charley [9, p. 45]… The tasks can be the following: Read and translate the passage from the text. Read aloud all the verbs from the passage. Identify the tenses of the predicates, etc. Asking questions or testing will show whether or not the students have read and understood the text.

The teacher can recommend students as a sure means of rapidly acquiring fluency and accuracy in the foreign language speaking the method of reading and repeating half-aloud without looking into the text one sentence by another of short fragments of narrative prose or poetry. Each sentence of some length must be read twice or three times before it is repeated. It should be read and repeated connectedly, without faltering; as close to a correct intonation as lies within the reader's possibilities; in an undertone, but with articulation of the sounds by the reader, just loudly enough for the student to hear his own voice. This form of work helps in making students' reading fluent and mastering different lexical units, grammar structures, idiomatic aspect, etc.

As the course progresses poems and prose passages will gradually replace sentences in the students' recitation exercises. Learning by heart poems and pieces of prose substantially promotes the development of reading, increases the students' fluency, improves their pronunciation, and enlarges their vocabulary. A poem or piece of prose should be learnt by heart only after it has been thoroughly understood, and each verse or sentence has been correctly and fluently read aloud.

Short rhymes or poems can be learnt by ear from the teacher's voice or the students read the printed text of the poem after the teacher's declamation. For example: My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here, // My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer - // A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe; // My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go [8].

The reading is attended with a brief phonetic commentary by the teacher with selective translation. The teacher declaims the poem once more; the students read the poem independently by section and in its entirety. The final committing of the poem to be memorized is done at home and checked at the next lesson.

Passages in prose for learning by heart can be drawn from the original texts giving information about history, geography, culture, styles of living in English speaking countries, etc. They should not be too long but they must present connected relatively complete wholes and models of natural monologic speech. For example, when working with the topic "Appearance of people" the teacher can give students some passages from original texts for reading. The passages can be the following: Lord Henry looked at him. Yes, he was certainly wonderfully handsome, with his finely-curved scarlet lips, his frank blue eyes, his crisp gold hair. There was something in his face that made one trust him at once. All the candour of youth was there, as well as all youth's passionate purity [7]. She was a short, stout woman with a red face and a heavy jaw - a pugnacious and indomitable face. Yet there was something defeated about it too. The little faded blue eyes especially seemed to confess that the old woman had long given up hope of any serious attention from anybody [2, с. 82].

The tasks to such passages can be the following: Read and translate the passage from the text. Recite the passage fluently and expressively, with the proper tunes, and the pauses at the right places. Learn the passage by heart. Write a 100-word mini-essay on people's appearance description using the words from the passage, etc. Doing such tasks helps students in: 1) obtaining the vocabulary; 2) mastering the correct intonation; 3) writing their own texts; 4) preparing for monologic oral speech, etc.

Thus, reading original texts contributes to the acquisition of the necessary information by students of nonlinguistic universities, broadens their outlook, helps in development of attention, logical memory and thinking. Reading original texts is not only an important means for acquiring the amount of knowledge, but also the way to master the art of writing, good preparation for the compilation of complete and informative monologue stories. Moreover, reading issues of the English and American authors and doing different types of pre- and post-textual tasks help students in improvement of their habits and skills in reading.

References

1. Гаврилова Г.А. Особенности организации чтения учебной литературы студентами вуза // Научные труды факультета дополнительного профессионального образования и повышения квалификации / под науч. ред. П.И. Образцова. Орел: ООО "Горизонт", 2011. Выпуск 6. С. 69-71.

2. Джойс Д., Шоу Б., Голсуорси Д., Мэнсфилд К., Кэрри Д., Грин Г. Маленькая трагедия нравов. Для изучающих иностранные языки. СПб.: Союз, 1999. 128 c.

3. Озерская С.Н. Об особенностях обучения иноязычному профессионально-коммуникативному общению студентовменеджеров на материале аутентичных текстов // Педагогические знания в системе высшей школы: материалы международной научно-методической конференции профессорско-преподавательского состава и аспирантов (5 апреля 2017 г.). Белгород: Издательство БУКЭП, 2017. С. 82-88.

4. Парникова Т.В. Модель с несколькими гипотактическими комплексами как тип полипредикативного предложения // Филологические науки. Вопросы теории и практики. Тамбов: Грамота, 2016. № 12 (66): в 4-х ч. Ч. 1. С. 135-137.

5. Парникова Т.В. Эстетическое как основная категория художественного текста // Бюллетень научных работ Белгородской государственной сельскохозяйственной академии им. В.Я. Горина. 2011. С. 268-271.

6. Пассов Е.И., Кузовлева Н.Е. Урок иностранного языка. Ростов н/Д: Феникс; М.: Глосса-Пресс, 2010. 640 с.

7. http://www.literaturepage.com/read/doriangray.html [Электронный ресурс] (дата обращения: 16.08.2017).

8. http://www.poetry.net/poem/30530 [Электронный ресурс] (дата обращения: 16.08.2017). 9. Steinbeck J. Travels with Charley in Search of America. Bantam Book, 1983. 240 p.

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