Game as a means of active learning cognitive activity in english lessons

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Kirovohrad Vynnychenko State Pedagogical University

GAME AS A MEANS OF ACTIVE LEARNING COGNITIVE ACTIVITY IN ENGLISH LESSONS

KAPITAN TETIANA ANATOLIIVNA

Formulation and justification of the relevance of the problem

In our time, the time of new ideas and the emergence of the latest technologies, and the use of interactive methods and techniques education becomes a urgent need and necessity. In recent years, there appeared a number of studies (L. V. Vrublevska, Gys V. J., Demisheva A. K.. Kolisnyk I. S. Yarygina N. T.) which convincingly justify the necessity of different games use in the educational process. The authors suggest the game material in the solution of various problems and situations close to real conditions. In its turn, this indicates the value of game as an educational method, and also points out the convergence of the learning process and life, that is, students will be able to use their knowledge in practice.

game educational lesson language

Analysis of the recent research works and publications

Great attention to the games while learning foreign languages have paid the outstanding figures of the Renaissance Francois Rabelais, Erasmus Roterdamsky, and A. S. Makarenko, V. A. Sukhomlinskyi, K. D. Ushinskyi and others.

The purpose of the article

is to show the importance of the game not only as an effective learning tool, which covers various types of speech activity (listening, speaking, reading and writing), but also as an important aspect of relieving mental strain of pupils at lessons of a foreign language.

The exposition of main material

We believe that at the foreign language class one of such interactive forms is a game as a means of cognitive activity. As noted by A. K. Demisheva, a specific of feature interactive learning technologies at English lessons is to prepare the young man to life and social activity in civil society and democratic legal state. At English classes teacher uses interactive exercises such as «Microphone», «Work in pairs», «Take a stand», «All together» etc. But according to her, such exercise as a role play is the most common. Because the roleplay itself is one of the effective means of solving the foreign language communication teaching problem [3, p. 2].

In turn, P. M. Shcherban notes that «play is creation, play is work. In the process of playing children learn to concentrate, to think independently, to develop attention, aspire to knowledge. Inspired by the game, children do not notice that they learn: learn, memorize new, oriente in emergencies, add to their imagination, develop fantasy. Even the most passive children are included in the game with big desire, making every effort not to let their fellow gamers. During the game children are always very attentive, focused and disciplined. The inclusion to the lesson of didactic games and gaming moments makes process of learning interesting, sets children in a cheerful working mood facilitates overcoming difficulties in learning. A variety of gaming action, by which one or another mental challenge is solved, support and reinforce children's interest in learning the subject. The game should be seen as a powerful indispensable arm of the child mental development». [6, p. 10].

Game at lessons of a foreign language helps to improve the efficiency of the educational process, develops the ability of students to be fluent in the language, and also gives educational communication communicative focus and strengthens the motivation of foreign language learning. Therefore, in foreign language lessons you need to constantly use additional material that will help to carry out individual training of different groups of pupils.

Because we know that learning a foreign language requires students perseverance and great patience. But the knowledge they are getting without interest, are of no use. If the study does not capture students, they memorize weaker. It is really good when the teacher has something interesting that motivates students not only to learn the material, but also to join the creative process.

K. D. Ushynskyi said in his turn: «The student is not a vessel to be filled but a torch to be lit» [6, p. 45].

As noted by V. A. Sukhomlynskyi, «Without play, there can not be a full-fledged mental development. The game is a huge bright window through which the spiritual world of the child joins the life-giving flow of ideas, concepts about the world. The game is the spark that ignites the flame of curiosity» [4, p. 2].

A. S. Makarenko on this occasion wrote: 2There is another important method - the game... We must first of all say that there is and not each a big difference between game and work as some people think...In every good game there is first and foremost the working effort and the effort of thought... Some think that work differs from the game because it has the responsibility, and the game does not. This is wrong: game has the same great responsibility, as work - of course, a game is good, proper game...» [5, p. 367-368].

Teachers suggest to combine different types of playing exercises of foreign language classes.

The types of game activities can be for example: role play (as a means of socialization of the child); cognitive-artistic didactic games, such as: «Listen and draw», «Read and draw», «Draw and tell2, etc.; moving educational games with intelligent load (ball game, the game-pantomime); games- dramatization of the content of songs, poems, rhymings, the plot of the story in a textbook, the students work on, etc; vocabulary and grammar games with elements of competition (e.g., the game «Bouncer»: show off, who has more useful things, «the Speech chain», etc.); game- competition between teams, individual students, pairs, small groups; games-contests: for the best actor, guide of the zoo, Museum, translator, etc.; intellectual games [4, p. 2-3].

At the initial stage it is very important that the teacher created in the lesson of a foreign language favourable psychological climate and promote children to study the subject. On the lessons use various games like the search for the lost letters of the alphabet, hold a contest for the best letters expert, the teams compete in the ability to write letters. For learning of word spelling, development and improvement of spelling skills such games are used: «Name these letters», «What letters are missing?», «Write this word down», «Make these words».

Students show great interest in the compilation of crosswords that are associated with the vocabulary.

A special place in foreign language teaching has a role-playing game. Roleplay is one of the effective means of solving the problem of foreign language communication teaching. As the use of role-playing games give an opportunity to enhance the educational process.

Typically, role play is an activity in which students adopt certain roles and perform them. According to V. J. Gysa, roleplay is a conditional playback by its participants of a real practical activity of people, which creates the conditions of a real communication [2, p. 7].

According to many teachers, this game has great educational value. During the role play consciousness, discipline, mutual support, ability to defend their point of view are raised. When using role-playing it is necessary to consider the age characteristics of pupils.

It is impossible to disagree with V. J. Gys that role play is a situational variative exercise, which combines elements of both playing and learning activities. During these games students gain experience of communicating in a foreign language, and this communication is not only verbal, but even includes facial expressions, gestures, emotions, movements and corresponding behavior, which depends on a given situation» [2, p. 9]. In the author's opinion, roleplay is the highest degree of motivation. During the game, there is an emotional lift, which promotes increasing interest in the subject. V. J. Gys in his article highlights the rules and values of the game:

1. It is perfect when on the board of game there are the players interested in the process and the outcome of the game.

2. The teacher and students that lead the game, show respect to each other and adhere to the rules adopted by the participants of the game.

3. The teacher's job is to specify the motivation (the student understands «why I need it and what it will give me» at a later futher stage of learning).

4. The game is preceded by a thorough scenario development: identifying the steps, forms of interaction.

5. The events in the game unfold dynamically.

6. In the basis of game is rooted a problem (problematic situation).

According to him, during the game the participants adopt the performance of roles of real persons in a real or simulated scenario. The strength of this method lies in its practical orientation. These roles motivate participants to engage in the topics, enhance their social and communicative competence and make them capable of solving the conflict (problem) [2, p. 8].

As we know, the success of holding the game depends entirely on the teacher, his professionalism, experience, communication skills and organizational skills. We believe that the teacher should organize the game, familiarize students with it and interest.

Then in our opinion the teacher needs to create in class an atmosphere of trust so that students were confident in their own abilities and succeeded in reaching the goal. The teacher controls the action correctness of participants of the game and celebrates the best performance of the roles and typical mistakes with the pupils. It should also be noted that during the game it is not necessary to correct the mistakes but just record them so at the next lesson you can discuss them.

A. K. Demisheva in his article «Role-playing games in English language» noted that there are main requirements for role-playing games:

1. The game needs to stimulate learning motivation, arouse students ' interest and desire to perform their well task. It should be held on the basis of the situation, adequate to the real situation of communication.

2. Role-playing game need, to be prepared (both content and forms) and well-organized. It is important that the students were convinced of the need to perform a particular role. Only under this condition, their speech is natural and convincing.

3. Roleplay is to be adopted by the whole group.

4. It certainly held in a friendly, creative atmosphere and gives students a sense of satisfaction and joy. The more free feels the student in the role he plays. The more initiative he will be in communication. Over time, he will have a sense of confidence that he can fulfill different roles.

5. The game is organized so that students in an active mental communication with maximum efficiency could use the teaching material being worked out.

6. The teacher himself believes in a role-play and its effectiveness. Only under this condition, he can achieve good results. The role of the teacher in the preparation and conduct of the game is constantly changing. At the initial stage, the teacher actively monitors the students, but over time he becomes only an observer.

7. More important in this context is the ability of a teacher to establish contact with children. Create a positive atmosphere in class is very important, the value of which cannot be overestimated [3, p.2-3].

According to the author A. K. Demisheva, for students the game is the way to knowledge. While playing, the students effortlessly, gladly join the learning process, forgetting that this is a lesson. A teacher acts in a different role: he is either or a presenter, or a judge, or a participant of the game. The students of any age are glad to participante, especially if the game takes the form of competition that requires ingenuity, quick response, knowledge of the subject.

It is especially good when teachers use at the lessons of foreign language visualization, toys, games. Because greatly designed and held game facilitates learning and also consolidation of linguistic material in phonetics, vocabulary, grammar and reading.

Holding the lexical role-playing games aims at training students to use in communication different parts of speech. For example, the game «Who has the best memory?». For this game the drawings to the subject being studied are needed. The names of the objects which are depicted on the drawings should be well known to the students. The host of the game hangs the picture on the blackboard and invites students to look closely and memorize what it depicts. After 2-3 minutes the presenter closes the picture, and students name all objects that it depicts from memory. The winner is the student who names the most number of subjects [7, p. 24].

Phonetic games train students in pronunciation of English sounds of and also teach them expressive reading. As we know, at the initial stage of English learning for the phonetic exercises in the form of games are recommended to spend of each lesson 5-6 minutes.

Vrublevska L. V. offers a large number of phonetic games, such as «Who knows the symbols for the sounds?2. This is a game-competition. The class is divided into teams. On the blackboard there of the written word in the transcription form. Challenge students to read them correctly.

For example, the game «Who has the best hearing?». The host of the game says he will speak Ukrainian and English sounds. Challenge students to raise their hand when they hear English sound, and when they hear the Ukrainian - to drop it.

For example, the game «Who has the best pronunciation?». The teacher says a few words or sentences by throwing the ball to one of the participants in the game. The latter should reproduce the words or sentences in the same order, repeating the pronunciation and intonation of the teacher. Each student meets twice. The winner is the one who has the best English pronunciation.

For example, the game «Let us work on intonation». The class is divided into two teams. Sentences are written on the board. Representatives of both teams should put the accent, mark the raising of the voice or lowering it, with a help of ribbons and read the sentences correctly [1, p. 64].

During a spelling role-playing games, students are trained in writing English words. For example, the game «Fill in the missing letters». The host of the game writes the words on the blackboard, in each of which one omitted letter is. He then says the sound and asks the students to insert the appropriate letter in the word and to name it.

During the games to master the reading rules you can use a game like «Do you know the rules of reading?». The host of the game gives the students instructions to find in the text words in which the same letter is read differently and read the sentences with these words. The winner is the student who quicker finds these words and correctly reads the sentence.

Vrublevska L. V. offers also games to develop of reading technique skills such as: «Who is the quickest?» and «Go shopping2. In the game «Who is the quickest?» students are divided into two teams. The teacher gives each student a set of cards with words that were studied (up to 10). Then shows one word on cards (time of presentation - 1s). After each presentation of the word by the teacher the students must quickly find on the desk the card with the corresponding word, name and raise it. The faster to do that, gains points. This team wins.

In the game «Go shopping» hand out cards with words that mean things that you can buy in various shops (fruit and vegetables, food, clothing, animals, food and others to the teams). The teams have to sort things by the shops. Who does it faster, wins [1, p. 65].

Grammar games help the students understand complex linguistic phenomena, as well as to overcome certain grammatical difficulties.

They allow you to create the situation for speech sample usage.

For example, the game «Have you...?2. The goal is to train students in the usage of general questions with the verb to have. On the teacher's desk the toys are laid out. The students are challenged to look carefully at them and memorize. Students then put their heads on their desks, and the teacher picks up any toy and hides it behind her back. Other toys are covered with a cloth. The pupils ask: «Have you a rabbit?», 2Have you a cat?» etc. Unless someone of the students guesses the hidden toy. He becomes the host.

For example, the game 2Who is this?». The goal is to learn to recognize the form of the third person singular of the verb to be and possessive case of nouns.

Each student receives one toy. The teacher asks them to come up with the name of each toy. After doing it, the player presents his toy to his comrades: «My bear's name is Teddy». When all the students get acquainted with their toys, the teacher takes them and puts on the table. Then he says, «I will describe the animal. You have to guess who it is. The one who guesses will have the opportunity to make and describe other toy». The teacher then continues: «This is an animal. Here he is. He is big and brown. Who is it?». Someone of the students asks: «Is it Teddy?», The teacher replies: «Yes it is» or «No, it isn't».

For example, the game «What can you do?». The goal of this game is to train the ability to use interrogative, negative and affirmative form of the modal verb can. The host of the game divides the class into two teams. One team comes up with a sentence with the verb can. For example take such a sentence as «We can write». The players of the second team must guess this sentence, so asking the question: «Can you speak English?», «Can you read?». The first team should respond with: «No, we can't» or «Yes, we can». If the sentence is guessed, then the teams switch places [1, p. 6667].

For example, the game «What is he doing?». In this game Present Continuous is trained. The teacher devides the class in two groups. Then invites the student to come to the blackboard. He writes on a piece of paper what the teacher does. For example: He is writing. The students with the help of questions are trying to guess what the teacher does.

- Is he sleeping?

- No, he is not.

- Is he reading?

- No, he is not.

- Is he writing?

-Yes, he is. [7, p. 24].

So, the game is one of the most effective means of activities for English lessons, and it is a necessary component of the lesson in the initial learning phase.

During the game, the students learn much of the material, and the tasks that you perform on your own, to give a greater effect during active practice. Thus, by using the game the students gain real knowledge and skills.

Since role-playing games create a pleasant environment to simulate a foreign environment, they contribute to the intensive use of vocabulary and the ability to work with text. In his turn, the teacher provides students autonomy in their work and helps to act independently. Although during the game the teacher should observe and note the strengths and weaknesses of students. Therefore, the teacher should not stifle the initiative of students, but rather contribute to what they can do on their own.

Conclusions and prospects for further researches of direction

We can conclude that teachers who use games during foreign language lessons stimulate pupils and achieve results in the classroom and thus foster a love for English.

Bibliography

1. Vrublevskaya L. V. Methodological development «Games at the English lessons» / English language and literature/ 2009, №. 19-21 P. 63-67.

2. Gys V. J. The methodology of games as a means of active cognitive activity /English language and literature, 2010. №. 6. P. 7-9.

3. Demichev A. K. Role-playing games on English lessons / English language and literature/ №. 13, 2010. P. 2-9.

4. Kolesnik, I. S. Improving the efficiency of learning through games / English language. №. 3 of 2010. P. 2-5.

5. Makarenko A. S. the Game // Works: In 7 vol., K., 1954. Vol. 4. P. 367-368.

6. Shcherban P. M. Educational games // K. «High school», 1993. 120 з.

7. Yarygina N. T. Grammatical and phonetic games at lessons of English language and literature. №. 14, 2010. P. 20-27.

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