Usage of distance technologies in modern educational process (on the examples of foreign languages)

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USAGE OF DISTANCE TECHNOLOGIES IN MODERN EDUCATIONAL PROCESS (ON THE EXAMPLES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES)

Nataliia Bondar,

PhD in Pedagogy, Associate professor of the Department of Foreign Philology and Translation,

Vinnytsia Institute of Trade and Economics of

Kyiv National University of Trade and Economics

Vinnytsia, Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of improving the efficiency of professional training of experts in non-linguistic specialties of economic higher education institutions through the implementation of distance technologies. Essential features of the usage of distance technologies, influencing the choice of specific forms of implementation of a competent approach to the education of students, have been revealed.

It is defined that the usage of distance technologies in the educational process aims at transfer of a certain volume of knowledge to students, training to acquire this knowledge independently, applying them for the decision of new cognitive and practical problems; assistance in formation of students' communicative skills; inculcation to students the ability of research methods usage: gathering of the ormation, the comprehensive analysis, ability to make conclusions.

It is proved that the success and quality of distance learning largely depend on the efficiency of the classes' organization, a methodological quality of materials and influence on the formation of positive motivation of students to study a foreign language.

During our research, a distance learning course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes” was developed on the basis of the Moodle Internet platform to create positive motivation for students to learn a foreign language. The appropriateness and necessity of using the course in the training process has been described.

It is described the usage of web quests in the training of students in non- linguistic specialties. It is analyzed the possibilities of using this technology to provide problem and creative nature in the educational tasks of experts of non-linguistic specialties in the process of studying foreign languages.

Keywords: students of non-linguistic specialties; web-quest; the motivation factor; distance technologies; foreign-language professional training.

Анотація

professional institution linguistic technologies

Бондар Наталія Дмитрівна,

кандидат педагогічних наук

доцент кафедри іноземної філології та перекладу

Вінницького торговельно-економічного інституту КНТЕУ

Вінниця, Україна

ВИКОРИСТАННЯ ДИСТАНЦІЙНИХ ТЕХНОЛОГІЙ У СУЧАСНОМУ ОСВІТНЬОМУ ПРОЦЕСІ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ ІНОЗЕМНИХ МОВ)

Статтю присвячено проблемі підвищення ефективності професійної підготовки фахівців немовних спеціальностей економічних ЗВО шляхом реалізації дистанційних технологій. Виявлено суттєві особливості використання дистанційних технологій, що впливають на вибір конкретних форм реалізації компетентнісного підходу під час навчання студентів.

Визначено, що використання дистанційних технологій в навчальному процесі має на меті передачу студентам певного обсягу знань, навчання здобувати ці знання самостійно, застосовуючи їх для розв'язання нових пізнавальних і практичних завдань; сприяння формуванню у студентів комунікативних навичок; прищеплення студентам уміння користуватися дослідницькими прийомами: збирання інформації, всебічного аналізу, вміння робити висновки. Доведено, що успіх та якість дистанційного навчання значною мірою залежать від ефективності організації занять, методичної якості матеріалів та впливу на формування позитивної мотивації студентів щодо вивчення іноземної мови. У процесі дослідження було розроблено навчальний дистанційний курс «Іноземна мова за професійним спрямуванням» на базі Інтернет-платформи Moodle для формування позитивної мотивації студентів щодо вивчення іноземної мови. Конкретизована доцільність і необхідність використання курсу в процесі навчання. Описано використання веб-квестів в процесі навчання студентів немовних спеціальностей. Проаналізовано можливості впровадження цієї технології для забезпечення проблемно орієнтованого і творчого характеру навчальних завданнь студентів нелінгвістичних спеціальностей у процесі вивчення іноземних мов.

Ключові слова: студенти нелінгвістичних спеціальностей; веб-квест; фактор мотивації; дистанційні технології; іншомовна професійна підготовка.

Introduction

Problem. Among psychological and pedagogical problems of the higher school, the problem of formation and development of positive motivation of students is the most significant, because the high level of motivation is one of the most effective means of improving the efficiency and quality of the educational process. Therefore, the question of motivation is at the same time a question of the quality of learning activities. The motives of educational activity largely determine the attitude of a student to the solution of his professional tasks; create prerequisites for the efficiency and effectiveness of their professional activity.

An important feature of the formation of positive motivation of students of non- linguistic specialties in the study of foreign language is the need for lecturers in the process of teaching this discipline to create such conditions that the learning process will be as close as possible to their future professional activity. Transformation of educational activity into a professional one means not just a replacement of one type of activity with another, but a change in the very position of the personality, which turns from a consumer of information into a user.

Informatization of society today is one of the main conditions that defines further development of new technologies of education. The demand for highly qualified specialists capable of making independent decisions in their professional activity, of quickly and flexibly adapting to various industrial situations requires from the higher education system new pedagogical technologies of education that would satisfy the need for continuous education. Traditional approaches to the organization of the educational process, traditional means of education, in the overwhelming majority are focused on the audit form of the organization of the educational process were unsuccessful in solving the problem of professionally directed training of modern specialists.

In the traditional practice of teaching foreign language to students of non-linguistic specialties, the motivation factor is still not sufficiently taken into account both in the development of curricula and programs, the selection of teaching materials, the creation of methodological developments and manuals, and in the implementation of specific educational technologies. The existing practice of teaching foreign languages in economic higher education institutions needs to be modernized.

Aim and tasks

The purpose of the article is to justify the necessity of using distance technologies in the process of teaching foreign language to students of non-linguistic specialties.

The following tasks were set for the achiving our aim:

to reveal the essential features of the usage of distance technologies;

to define the aim of usage distant technologies in educational process;

to prove the necessity of using the course «Foreign Language for Specific Purposes» in the training process;

to describe the usage of web-quests in the training of students in non- linguistic specialties to create positive motivation for studing English.

Research findings

Researching the issue of training highly qualified specialists, E. S. Polat focuses on the creation of conditions, the implementation of which will provide opportunities to involve each student in the active cognitive process, the application of the knowledge gained in practice, the organization of cooperation to address various problem situations, as well as provide free access to the necessary information. The expert asserts that the creation of such conditions is a task not so much for the content of education, as for the technologies of education [2, p. 118].

The analysis of scientific and pedagogical researches testifies to considerable attention of scientists to a problem of introduction of infomation technologies for the purpose of preparation of experts in higher education institutions. Such scientists as R. Gurevych [2], A. Kolomiiets, Yu. Falshtynska [3], O. Piekhota [4], S. Sysoieva [5], N. Tymoshchuk, O. Dakaliuk, A. Harnyk [6] have considered the issue of training technologies.

The above allows us to assert that the problem of development of innovative technologies in education, and also didactic bases of their introduction remains actual and demands careful researches, and also promotes development and active introduction of distance learning as one of perspective directions of maintenance of continuous education which is based on wide use of means of modern information technologies. They will enable the effective implementation of all opportunities offered by the new pedagogical technologies of education.

The priority direction of foreign-language professional training of specialists of nonlanguage specialties is the usage of interactive, communicative and information technologies that provide access to foreign-language professional information in the world's scientific centers, libraries, which creates conditions for both self-education and advanced training of future specialists and the formation of positive motivation of students.

The usage of distance learning technologies for the purpose of organizing an advanced foreign language teaching provides the individualization of the process of specialist's formation, encourages independent work, forms an information culture, contributes to mastering the means of information technology in order to use them to obtain and process professionally directed information.

Distance education programs do not necessarily provide examples of an exact match to a particular model. Together with new methods and technologies, distance learning brings new concepts and terms to theoretical pedagogy and educational practice, which primarily include the following: virtual group, learning support, educational telecommunication projects; feedback; computer communication; teleconference; coordinator, moderator, telecommunication project (teleconferences) [2, p. 252].

Scientists believe that distant learning belongs to a system of work when the teacher and the student are physically separated from one another, but are connected through the methods of advanced information technologies. That's why they suggest to promote these methods as they develop students' critical and creative thinking and are more motivated to study. The prevailing opinion is that when a student decides to study online, he takes maximum responsibility for the skills and abilities he needs. Thus, students learn how to learn. In addition, according to E. Monderna, N. Voinarovska [7, p. 2], it is essential to comply the following conditions in order to enhance the efficiency and productivity of a person's activity: multiplicity of motives within a definite field of activity, level of their advancement, positive attitude towards the process, stability and power of the motives, and hierarchy structure of the motivation.

The process of digitalization is constantly adding new forms and, as a result, methods to electronic teaching. These forms include web-based learning, webinars or virtual classrooms, video-based, collaborative, custom and mobile-learning. We consider all the existing e-learning forms could be classified as person-oriented and group-oriented ones. Web-based form, video-based learning and mobile e-learning belong to the person-oriented group according to our classification, while virtual classrooms, collaborative learning and custom e-learning belong to the group-oriented one [8, p. 452].

In March 2020, in connection with the introduction of the national quarantine VITE KNUTE and other higher education institutions in Ukraine and worldwide turned to online education, so now one of the most relevant interactive tools is distance learning. The lecturers of our Department conduct lectures and practical classes interactively using such online platforms: Moodle, Skype, Google Glassroom, Zoom, Viber.

Experience of profound teaching of professionally directed foreign language allowed us to create our own educational and methodical concept. The method of teaching this discipline is based on foreign language communication, the use of modern technical means of teaching, the use of remote and interactive technologies.

The specificity of teaching a foreign language of a professional direction is based on the principle of speech activity of students, the principle of functionality, the principle of language communication activity, science, consciousness, regularity and visibility. Special attention should be paid to the principles of individual educational trajectory, the principles of organization of independent work and differentiation of training.

When studying the discipline «Foreign Language for Specific Purposes» the principle of step-by-step-concentration organization of the educational process is relevant, which is the main principle when teaching a foreign language to students of non-linguistic specialties. Didactics considers the problem of learning effectiveness as a degree of approximation to reality or the required result. Under such conditions, it is appropriate to consider the model of mastering foreign language communication in a foreign language environment, when the learning process goes from the level of activity through the level of speech actions to the level of speech operations.

In our environment, the natural foreign-language professional learning environment is adequately replaced by a foreign-language professional learning environment and provided by information and communication technology tools. Such an environment is defined as a set of software tools and knowledge representations that enable independent learning activities. This allows a partial solution to the problem of lack of instructional time [9, p. 128].

Thus, the application of distance learning technologies allows to create conditions not only for studying the main course material, but also to obtain additional professionally directed foreign language information. The main task of the teacher under such conditions is to provide a conceptual connection between classroom and virtual learning space. And this, in turn, corresponds to the principle of creating a continuous education, that is, a combination of full-time and distance learning.

To create a positive motivation for students to learn a foreign language, we developed a distance learning course «Foreign Language for Specific Purposes» based on the Internet platform Moodle. With the help of this course, students have the opportunity to view all the material given by the instructor in practical classes throughout the training, print it, if necessary, to do homework and self-study, to work on missed classes.

The purpose of the distance learning course «Foreign Language for Specific Purposes» is the formation of foreign language communication, information, professional and educational and cognitive competence of future specialists. The work in the distance course provides: assimilation of the terminological apparatus of the sphere of linguistics, economics, trade and tourist business, ability to use it for academic and professional needs; development of skills of oral (dialogic and monologic) speech, writing, functional reading, formation of skills of making abstracts and abstracting of foreign texts of professional subjects; deepening of understanding of foreign social and cultural realities, knowledge and adequate interpretation of different samples of speech behavior, ability to react and act adequately.

The distance course is divided into separate sections containing the following components:

Section 1: Distance learning for the period of quarantine. Each task, specified in the thematic plan, is located in a separate file, the name of which contains the name of the group and the date of the pair (for example, the file «T 11 d, 16.10.2020»). The student downloads the task, makes it and uploads it to the Moodle. The lecturer checks the job up and assigns the marks to the electronic register.

2. The working program of the «Foreign Language for Specific Purposes» course.

In Section 3, «Tasks for Practical Purposes» the lecturer downloads a workbook with tasks and exercises to be performed in the classroom.

Section 4 provides guidelines and tasks for students to work individually. The lecturer evaluates students' individual work according to the criteria listed in section 7.

Section 5: Individual assignments to work on missed lessons. Students who miss a class for a specific reason may work it out online. After taking the tests, a report of the lesson is printed and submitted for review to the lecturer, who assigns a grade according to a set of criteria.

Section 6: Test assignments for self-monitoring by topic are designed by the lecturer to self-monitor students after each topic. Tasks include both lexical and grammatical tests for self-monitoring.

Section 7: Syllabus, thematic plans, and evaluation criteria.

The syllabus contains information about the lecturer, the discipline, the competencies that a student acquires after studying the course, the program results, and the policy of the discipline.

In topics covered by the thematic plans, the course material is divided into classes. For each group it is defined the number of tasks for each lesson, the performance of which provides: processing of new lexical material (topics) with the subsequent lexical exercises; repetition of grammar topics with the subsequent performance of grammar exercises and tests presented in the development of the lesson.

Chapter 8 contains program questions for the English for Specific Purposes exam, as well as a sample exam ticket.

Section 9. List of Recommended Literature. Glossary. This section contains a list of necessary literature for use in the processing of new material and to perform individual work.

Chapter 10 is the last section and includes multimedia materials for the course, namely: presentations, audio and video recordings, which are used to form communicative and professional content [10, p. 21].

Using the Internet, the student has to choose his or her trajectory of study. The student chooses his or her own pace of work, has enough time to adapt to the information environment and become familiar with additional professional information.

To get feedback from students, VITE KNUTE lecturers have developed a questionnaire for students.

Questionnaire «Our Distance Learning»

1. Do you understand the guidelines and instructions for working with the training material? (90% - yes, 10% - not always)

2. On average, how much time do you spend on completing tasks? (50% - 3 hours, 20% - 1-2 hours, 20% - all day, 10% - less than an hour)

3. Which Moodle system tools (task types) proved to be the most effective for you personally? (50% - tests, 30% - quests, 20% - lectures).

4. Do you get enough feedback from your teacher? (98% - yes, 2% - no)

5. What forms and/or resources can you offer as a user for additional course materials processing? (50% - web-quests, 20% - video lessons, 20% - grammar tests, 10% - everything suits).

By analyzing respondents' responses, we developed additional web quests for students according to their training direction.

An example of a web-quest that we can use to create students' positive motivation within the discipline «Foreign Language for Specific Purposes» is a web-quest on the topic «Tourism and Travelling».

The purpose of our web-quest is to ensure the effective learning by users of the basic terminology of the tourism sector, as well as to develop the development of key competencies on its basis. Web-quest provides an opportunity not only to improve English language skills, but also to increase the level of student knowledge in the field of their specialization.

Students were offered to work in the virtual travel agency «Love Travel». To do the tasks, we divided them into three groups:

Group 1 - Advertising Managers

Group 2 - Tourist Agents

Group 3 - Tour Leaders

For each group we proposed a task, namely:

Group 1 (advertising managers) worked to create a presentation about the overall activities of the company. The task of the second group (tourist agents) included answering questions after reviewing the presentation on the theme «20 most interesting places on the planet» and developing their own presentations about one of the interesting places of our planet. The third group of students (tour leaders) worked on the organization of travel, namely: made up of dialogues, which ordered rooms in hotels and necessary transport, describing of the benefits; developed a travel program describing the route and sights.

Also, students worked on the creation of a Web-quest on such topics as: «IT and Travel Industry», «Hotel Facilities», «Air Travel», «Tourism and Transportation».

The results of web-quests are: presentations, video clips, tests, dialogues, practical tasks and other information necessary for the full disclosure of the web-quest's tasks. Students posted their materials on blogs, on report pages or web-pages in the Internet. Website visitors have the opportunity to view the developed web-quests, leave comments, reviews, questions, suggestions and edits, that is, to make a feedback.

When creating projects using web resources, students acquired unprepared knowledge, simplified and calculated formulas, but they were involved in search activities themselves [11, p. 12].

Conclusions and prospects for further research

Distant technologies have a significant potential in forming positive motivation to study a foreign language by students of non-linguistic specialties, as they contribute to the development of specialists' ability to acquire knowledge from various sources of information, including cognitive ones; the ability to assess and explain emerging problem situations; the ability to use native and foreign languages; the ability to apply knowledge and information literacy; the possession of professional terminology.

The success and quality of distance learning largely depend on the effectiveness of the organization of classes, teaching materials, as well as the guidance and skills of teachers involved in this process.

Our research, of course, does not revealed all aspects of the problem of formation of professional competence of experts in the tourism industry. Prospects for further scientific researches may be: development students' information competence at the age of digitalization; acquirement of students' competences by means of digital technique.

References (translated and transliterated)

1. Polat, E. S., 2006. Pedagogicheskie tehnologii distancionnogo obuchenija [Pedagogical Rechnologies of Distance Learning], Moscow: Akademlja, 241 s.

2. Gurevych, R. S., 2009. Teoriia i praktyka navchannia v profesiino-tekhnichnykh zakladakh: monohrafiia [Theory and Practice of Education in Vocational Schools: monograph], Vinnytsia: TOV«Planer», 410 s.

3. Kolomiiets, A. M., Falshtynska, Yu. V., 2015. Vykorytsannia internet-saitiv na zaniattiakh z inozemnoi movy [Usage of Internet Sites in Foreign Language Classes]. Nauka i osvita: naukovo-praktychnyi zhurnal Pivdennoukrainskoho natsionalnoho pedahohichnoho un-tu imeni K. D. Ushynskoho. Seriia: Pedahohika, № 9, s. 102-107.

4. Piekhota O. M., Kiktenko A. Z., Liubarska O. M. 2002. Osvitni tekhnolohii: navch.-metod. Posib [Educational Technologies: educational and methodical textbook]; Za zah. red. O. M. Piekhoty. Kyiv: A.S.K., 255 s.

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6. Tymoshchuk, N. M., Dakaliuk, O. O., Harnyk, A. A. 2010. Informatsiini tekhnolohii u navchanni inozemnii movi studentiv-ahrariiv [Information Technologies in Teaching of Foreign Languages to Agricultural Students], Visnyk Natsionalnoho tekhnichnoho universytetu Ukrainy „Kyivskyi politekhnichnyi instytut", № 1, s.192- 195.

7. Monderna, E., Voinarovska, N., 2019. Promoting Personal Motivation within Professional Education [Promoting Personal Motivation within Professional Education], Journal of Educational and Social Research, № 9 (2), p. 1-7.

8. Bondar, N., Havryliuk, N., Osaulchyk, O., Dovhan, L., 2020. Implementation of Elearning as an Integral Part of the Educational Process. Society. Integration. Education: Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, Volume IV, p. 449-459.

9. Nikitina, N. S., 2013. Vykorystannia samokontroliu yak zasobu motyvatsii studentiv u vyvchenni inozemnoi movy u nemovnykh VNZ [The Use of Self-Control as a Means of Motivating Students to Learn a Foreign Language in Non-Language Universities], Visnyk Natsionalnoho tekhnichnoho universytetu Ukrainy «Kyivskyi politekhnichnyi instytut». Filosofiia. Psykholohiia. Pedahohika, № 1, s. 127-134.

10. Bondar, N. D., 2016. Metodychni rekomendatsii do samostiinoi roboty «Formuvannia kompetentnostei menedzheriv sfery turyzmu (na prykladi humanitarnykh dystsyplin)» dlia studentiv OS «Bakalavr» napriamiv pidhotovky 6.030601 «Menedzhment», 6.140103 "Turyzm» [Methodical recommendations for individual work “Formation of Competencies of Managers in the Field of Tourism (at the Example of the Humanities)” for students of educational degree “Bachelor” specialties 6.030601 “Management”, 6.140103 “Tourism”], Vinnytsia: Vydavnycho-redaktsiinyi viddil VTEI KNTEU, 50 s.

11. Bondar, N., Shvets, H., 2019. Providing the Problem and Creative Approach to Educational Tasks for Experts in Tourism with Usage of Web-Quest (at the Example of Humanities), Scientific Letters of Academic Society of Michal Baludansky, № 7/3, p. 14-18.

Список використаних джерел

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2. Гуревич, Р. С., 2009. Теорія і практика навчання у професіонально-технічних закладах: монографія, Вінниця: ТОВ «Планер», 410 с.

3. Коломієць, А. М., Фальштинська, Ю. В., 2015. Використання Інтернет-сайтів на заняттях з іноземної мови, Наука і освіта: науково-практичний журнал Південноукраїнського національного педагогічного ун-ту імені К. Д. Ушинського. Серія: Педахохіка, № 9, с. 102-107.

4. Пєхота, О. М., Кіктенко, А. З., Любарська, О. М., 2002. Освітні технології: навч.- метод. посібн.; за заг. ред. О. М. Пєхоти, Київ: А.С.К., 255 с.

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7. Monderna, E., Voinarovska, N., 2019. Promoting Personal Motivation within Professional Education, Journal of Educational and Social Research, № 9 (2), p. 1-7.

8. Bondar, N., Havryliuk, N., Osaulchyk, O., Dovhan, L., 2020. Implementation of E-learning as an Integral Part of the Educational Process. Society, Integration. Education: Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference, Volume IV, p. 449-459.

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