Language competence of the specialist: motivational aspects

at Technical English Department № 1

Annotation

learning motivation foreign language

The article deals with a variety of factors influencing motivation in foreign language learning. This study also raises vital questions of finding clearer links between motivational factors and specific choices of learning strategies. Some possibilities for the future have been considered, but more work in that area is needed. It was noted that motivation to learn English is becoming increasingly a personality issue. The importance of active and conscious contribution of students to increasing the efficiency of their own learning is considered. However, everybody knows that keeping students motivated in studying a foreign language is not an easy task. Ukrainian university students who are motivated to learn English are more efficient at becoming fluent in English. High motivation can compensate for significant deficiencies in both language skills and learning conditions. In the process of teaching a foreign language in modern conditions, the application of the Zeigarnik effect may be relevant, the essence of which is that incomplete actions are remembered better than complete ones. The Zeigarnik effect is a significant source of reengagement motivation. Attitudes and motivation are closely related to success in mastering a foreign language. Learning strategies constitute a useful tool kit for active and conscious learning. Using a variety of activities can both create interest and make it possible for students to be successful through using different types of learning strategies. Occasionally, even those strategies that are generally the most reliable ones, may not work with a particular group or in particular situations. The individual motivation options discussed in the article provide a rewarding experience that can be applied to increase the motivation of students in the process of learning English. It is concluded that it is necessary to pay special attention to learning strategies designed to ensure high efficiency of the educational process, in particular, by raising the level of educational motivation of students of non-linguistic universities.

Key words: English, foreign language, motivation, learning strategies, study experience, Zeigarnik effect.

Анотація

Моренцова А. В. Мовна компетенція спеціаліста: мотиваційні аспекти

У статті розглядаються фактори впливу на мотивацію навчання іноземної мови на сучасному етапі. Порушуються важливі питання пошуку більш чітких зв'язків між мотиваційними чинниками і конкретним вибором стратегій навчання. Розглядаються певні можливості майбутнього вдосконалення освітніх стратегій, проте вказується на необхідність додаткових досліджень та опрацювань. Висловлюється спостереження, що мотивація до вивчення англійськоїмови дедалі більше стає особистісною проблемою. Розглянуто важливість активного та свідомого внеску студентів у підвищення ефективності власного навчання. Констатується загальновідомий факт, що підтримка мотивації студентів до вивчення іноземної мови є непростим завданням. Студенти українських університетів, які мають мотивацію вивчати англійську мову, більш ефективно опановують англійську мову. Висока мотивація може компенсувати значні недоліки як у мовних навичках, так і в умовах навчання. Зазначається, що в процесі навчання іноземної мови в сучасних умовах може бути актуальним застосування ефекту Зейгарник, суть якого полягає в тому, що незавершені дії запам'ятовуються краще ніж повні. Ефект Зейгарник є важливим джерелом мотивації до повторного залучення. Підкреслюється наявність тісного зв'язку ставлення та мотивації з успіхом у оволодінні іноземною мовою. Стратегії навчання є корисним набором інструментів для активного і свідомого навчання. Зазначається, що використання різних видів діяльності може викликати додаткове зацікавлення й дозволяє студентам завдяки використанню різних типів освітніх стратегій досягати успіху. Іноді навіть ті стратегії, які зазвичай є найбільш надійними, можуть виявляти ефективність лише з певною групою або у певних ситуаціях. Розглянуті у статті окремі варіанти мотивації дають корисний досвід, який можна застосувати для підвищення мотивації студентів у процесі вивчення англійської мови. У статті робиться висновок про необхідність приділяти особливу увагу стратегіям навчання, покликаним забезпечити високу ефективність навчального процесу, зокрема, шляхом підвищення рівня мотивації студентів немовних вузів.

Ключові слова: англійська мова; іноземна мова; мотивація; навчальні стратегії; досвід вивчення; ефект Зейгарник.

Introduction

The system of higher education in Ukraine is aimed at ensuring stable and competitive development of the country through training highly qualified specialists, acquiring professional skills and knowledge, promoting intellectual, social and spiritual growth of society. The need to analyze large-scale trends is recognized in order to make decisions that will contribute to the formation of a stable and challenging future educational environment. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has developed a Trends Shaping Education 2019 report on supporting long-term strategic doctrine in education [1]. It provides an overview of key economic, social, demographic and technological trends, and raises questions about their impact on education. The report also lists three megatrends that affect the future of education: globalization, digitalization, population ageing. There is every reason to believe that the unprecedented digital transformation of the global economy and society will increase the complexity of today's world, as well as the pace of change, mainly through the expansion of digital communications and more educated people around the world. These two elements - the complexity and speed of change - mean that “the link between education and the trends shaping the world we live in has never been more vital.” The skills of critical thinking, programming, intersectoral communication, the ability to work in conditions of uncertainty, multiculturalism and multilingualism, environmental thinking, multifunctionality are becoming relevant [2, p. 30]. The Strategy for the Development of Higher Education in Ukraine for 2021-2031, developed by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine for higher educational institutions, formulates the task of “combining the development of such capabilities of students and providing them with specialized knowledge and skills” [2, p. 31]. This approach will contribute to the future formation of continuous education.

Analysis of recent researches and publications

Many works of pedagogical workers and scientists are devoted to the methods of teaching foreign language speech activity in higher non- linguistic educational institutions and the problems of forming motivation to learn a foreign language (N. Aristova, F. Denisenko, M. Kabanova, N. Pidlasy, O. Tarnopolsky, O. Tereshchenko, etc.).

O. Tarnopolsky recognizes the development of high motivation for learning as an important task of the teacher [3]. He states that success in language acquisition should be considered “entirely derived from the level of development of learners' positive motivation and their effective learning strategies” [3; 4]. He states that the teacher must “have a good idea of the range of interests of students in the academic group, what kind of goals they set for themselves when learning a foreign language and how they see their individual needs in this learning” [3, p. 41]. Yu. Kornytska's application of the “inverted classroom” technology for more active involvement of students in the educational process and strengthening of motivation seems interesting [5, p. 116].

Foreign researchers (M. Boekaerts, R. Burden, R. Gardner, Z. Dornyei, A. Wenden, M. Williams, etc.) have studied the development of learning motivation to study foreign languages at different times.

Renowned British researcher Z. Dorney in his book “The Psychology of the Language Learner: Individual Differences in Second Language Assimilation” suggests that English language learning is becoming a prominent and special field of education in the world, hence the all-encompassing importance of World English in the globalized world. In the world, the success of this process will depend to some extent on self-awareness as a citizen of the world [4, p. 118]. Dorney notes that today the importance of students' active and conscious contribution to improving the efficiency of their own learning is more relevant than ever [4, p. 195].

According to R. Nurhidayah, with sufficient motivation “even people with minimal abilities will be able to achieve long-term goals, and an appropriate curriculum along with good teaching will be sufficient to ensure success” [6, p. 96]. According to her, a high level of motivation can compensate for significant shortcomings in both language skills and learning conditions [6, p. 97].

The question of finding clearer connections between motivational factors and the specific choice of learning strategies is gaining momentum. According to Dorney, even if we assume that personal factors do not directly determine the degree of academic success, they certainly determine how people react to the content of study [4]. The fact that English is recognized as a key competence of modern man, forces us to pay special attention to the strategies of learning it. Therefore, the study of opportunities to increase the level of learning motivation remains relevant.

The aim of the article is to find out the possibilities of increasing the level of motivation to learn a foreign language for students of non-linguistic institutions of higher education. To solve the problem, open Internet sources were analyzed, in particular, such an Internet resource as Quora, which is an archive of questions and answers, grouped by topics. A set of theoretical methods were used while working on the article, in particular: analysis, synthesis, generalization and systematization.

Results

Since 2014, the British Council in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has conducted in-depth project research at universities across the country to assess the current state of English language teaching and the role and status of English in these institutions [7]. Achieving transformational changes at the level of English language proficiency at leading Ukrainian universities and raising educational standards to a level “that will allow its students to fully participate in events in the international arena” were considered long-term goals of the study [7, p. 21]. According to the results of the study, it was recommended, in particular, to recognize the importance of English in scientific institutions and for research, as well as to include the promotion of teaching and learning English as a national strategy. In 2019, the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine adopted the “Concept of English Language Development in Universities”, which recognized English as a key competence of modern man and an important tool of international communication [8]. To encourage universities to teach and students to learn English, the adopted concept envisages increasing academic hours, making changes to the content of language disciplines and introducing appropriate forms of control [9, p. 605]. It should be noted that in recent years the graduation of specialists from higher educational institutions of Ukraine has decreased. Thus, from 2010 to 2019, the number of graduates of universities, academies and institutes decreased by 38.6%, the total number of graduates of free economic zones decreased by 41.4%. More and more students are refusing to pursue a master's degree. The reasons for this negative trend are the reduction of state funding for education, the difficulty of entering the master's program with the introduction of mandatory external examination in English [2, p. 19]. According to the statistics, it can be assumed that the level of motivation to learn English among Ukrainian students ranges from virtually no motivation to the highest level of motivation, which, in particular, encourages young people to continue their studies abroad. As stated in the Strategy for the Development of Higher Education, “low employment opportunities after graduation together with unsatisfactory quality of education sometimes encourage the most prepared, talented and ambitious young people to join foreign universities” [2, p. 14]. Given the need to adapt education to the changes taking place in the economic, social and technological spheres, we should strive to ensure that education should support people in personal, civic and professional development. Particular attention should be paid to learning strategies designed to ensure high performance of the learning process, in particular by increasing the level of learning motivation of learners.

To achieve the goal of the article, namely to clarify the aspects of motivation to learn a foreign (English) language as manifestations of individuality/ personality, let's turn to the world experience of learning foreign languages. This approach can be justified by the fact that the Law of Ukraine “On Higher Education” requires the coordination of foreign language teaching and learning syllabuses in higher educational institutions and bringing them in line with the European recommendations on foreign language teaching. Therefore, the situation regarding the formation of motives for learning foreign languages by young people of different countries is of some interest and such research can be useful given the general needs and interests of youth.

Up-to-date information on this topic can be found on various Internet resources. Founded in June 2009, the social knowledge sharing service, a unique website of questions and answers that are grouped by topic, is a credible online source. Quora users register under their real names, so they care about their reputation and take their answers seriously. Surveys consisting of two questions are offered for consideration: “What are your motives for learning a new language?” and “How do you stay motivated to learn a language?” [10; 11]. Respondents included Americans, Indians, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Indonesians, Malaysians, Chinese, Japanese, Turks, Singaporeans and Hong Kongers, Poles, Greeks, French, Koreans and others. The question of maintaining motivation was the most relevant, aroused increased interest among registered Quora users and collected more than 100 answers, not including comments and feedback. Without looking at each answer individually, you can identify some general trends. Respondents almost unanimously agree that self-discipline is more important than motivation. There are also often thoughts that “you should give up perfectionism”, “be more proud of your progress, even in small things”, do not quarrel with yourself, accept what you have learned and understood as small victories, do not be afraid to make mistakes, “be kind to yourself”. Some respondents note that “many people lose motivation because learning a new language is difficult, especially if there is no important reason, a real priority for it, if there is no self-discipline and patience, it simply becomes a fleeting interest.” Several respondents independently provided almost identical advice, which they successfully tested in practice. The point of these tips is to break down a big goal into smaller, interrelated goals or stages to be able to use a motivation-based technique based on a psychological principle such as the unfinished action (or Zeigarnik effect). For reference: the essence of the phenomenon is that a person better remembers an action that remained unfinished or whose completion was delayed for some time. Until the task is completed, motivational stress increases the likelihood of the question being fixed in memory. Psychologists warn that motivational relaxation should only be delayed, but its presence is mandatory. Respondents are convinced that if someone really does not want to study or is not enthusiastic enough to study, it may be assumed that he will not be able to learn a foreign language. Many answers were given by people who are really interested in learning foreign languages. They write: “I like cultures that are different from mine, I want to learn more about cultures that I do not know. At the same time, I want more people to know much about my country. So, I'm learning English, which is the most global language in the world” [11]. Respondents recommend reading fiction or scientific literature and publications in a foreign language, choosing what you like and not too difficult at this stage of language learning. Many polyglots were among those who provided answers. These are the ones who learned at first one language, then out of sheer curiosity or the need for another language, understood how it was done and continued to learn languages that they found interesting. “There are many, many ordinary people who speak several languages. You don't have to be a genius to do that” [11]. One respondent said that if he had continued to live in America, he would hardly have learned as many languages as he does now after moving to multilingual Europe. Another respondent regrets that he waited too long to be motivated enough and spent a lot of time in vain. This article provides the most interesting and typical answers to the questions. Another, quite characteristic, statement: “Language is a means by which you can get new information. You like the learning process because you use this language to get new information and new knowledge” [11].

Here are some data from a sociological survey of students conducted at NTUU “KPI” [12]. The answers were provided by fourth-year students of eight faculties and institutes of NTUU “KPI”. Consider the answers to the question “What is the main motive for you personally in learning a foreign language?”. 30% of respondents acknowledged the need for every educated person to know a foreign language as their motive. Another 27% were aware of the importance of foreign language skills for further work. About 20% of students acknowledged that a foreign language is a means of satisfying their extracurricular interests. And only 16% study it as a compulsory subject for which they want to have a good grade or credit [12].

If we compare the answers of Ukrainian students and residents of other countries who study English, we can see the unity of opinion on the conscious study of English as an important tool of communication necessary for any well-educated person. However, despite the fact that some students have a high level of motivation, there is still a large proportion of students who are either not yet aware of the importance of learning languages, or a priori consider a foreign language unnecessary for them.

Conclusions

The options for motivational development discussed above provide useful experience that can be used to increase students' learning motivation in the process of language acquisition. Positive motivation will contribute to personal development and effective training of qualified professionals, for whom today the ability to speak English is one of the most important conditions for professional communication and successful work. A promising topic for further research may be the study of the educational potential of the Zeigarnik effect in English teaching.

References