The place of "Academic writing and reading" among the subjects in the universities of Azerbaijan

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The place of "Academic writing and reading"

among the subjects in the universities of Azerbaijan

Narmina Isayeva,

Postgraduate Student, Lecturer at the Departmet of Innovations in teaching Azerbaijan University of Languages (Baku, Azerbaijan)

The formation of academic writing skills in the English language faculties of Azerbaijani universities is the relevance of this article. Teaching Academic writing and reading in the 4th year of the bachelor's degree of the university has already received the status of a new subject and has its own program (syllabus). The main purpose of teaching this subject is to form in students clear, legible, logical, systematic, convincing writing patterns, to develop their critical thinking and to form the ability to substantiate their ideas in writing with examples. Currently communicative language learning is considered to be the most productive and promising direction, because it is carried out by organizing the learning process in accordance with real speech activities. From this point of view, the formation of writing skills also plays a key role in ensuring communication. There are a number of reasons for the urgency of the problem. This is primarily the result of the state's education policy. In state documents related to education, including “the Law of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Education”, “The Education Reform Program of the Republic of Azerbaijan”, and “The State Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan”, improving the content of higher education is on the agenda. The “State Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan” approved by the Decree of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. Ilham Aliyev dated October 24, 2013, identifies five strategic directions for achieving the development of education in our country. Along with the creation and formation of a sustainable, new financial mechanism of education, infrastructure that meets modern requirements and provides lifelong learning, a new management system, the creation of highly content educators and the content of competency-based personality-oriented education lay the basis for these strategic lines. (State Strategy for the Development of Education in the Republic of Azerbaijan, October 25, 2013) One of the tasks arising from the education strategies is to ensure the creation of the content ofpersonality-oriented education in the field of teaching “Academic writing and reading” in English language faculties in order to achieve the effectiveness of the problem discussed in the article. On the other hand, no special research has been conducted in Azerbaijan in the field of teaching methods of “Academic writing and reading” or little attention has been paid to this issue in research, and the necessary resources to guide teachers in this field are limited. This is another aspect of our research.

Key words: academic writing, reading, communicative language learning, critical thinking, teaching methodology.

МІСЦЕ АКАДЕМІЧНОГО ПИСАННЯ І ЧИТАННЯ СЕРЕД ПРЕДМЕТІВ УНІВЕРСИТЕТІВ АЗЕРБАЙДЖАНУ

Нарміна ІСАЄВА,

аспірант, викладач кафедри інновацій у навчанні Азербайджанського університету мов (Баку, Азербайджан)

Формування навичок академічного письма на факультетах англійської мови азербайджанських університетів є актуальним питанням цієї статті. Викладання академічного письма та читання на 4-му курсі бакалаврату університету вже отримало статус нового предмета та має свою програму (конспект). Основна мета викладання цього предмету - сформувати в учнів чіткі, розбірливі, логічні, систематичні, переконливі схеми письма, розвинути їх критичне мислення та сформувати вміння обґрунтовувати свої ідеї письмово на прикладах. Нині комунікативне вивчення мови вважається найбільш продуктивним та перспективним напрямом, оскільки воно здійснюється шляхом організації навчального процесу відповідно до реальної мовленнєвої діяльності. З цієї точки зору формування навичок письма також відіграє ключову роль у забезпеченні спілкування. Існує низка причин актуальності проблеми. Це насамперед результат освітньої політики держави. У державних документах, пов'язаних з освітою, включаючи «Закон Азербайджанської Республіки про освіту», «Програму реформи освіти Азербайджанської Республіки» та «Державну стратегію розвитку освіти в Азербайджанській Республіці», на порядку денному - зміст вищої освіти. «Державна стратегія розвитку освіти в Азербайджанській Республіці», затверджена Указом Президента Азербайджанської Республіки Ільхама Алієва від 24 жовтня 2013 р., визначає п'ять стратегічних напрямів досягнення розвитку освіти в нашій країні поряд зі створенням та формуванням стійкого, нового фінансового механізму освіти, інфраструктури, яка відповідає сучасним вимогам та забезпечує навчання впродовж життя, нової системи управління, створення високомістких викладачів та змісту особистісно орієнтованої освіти на основі компетентностей основою цих стратегічних ліній. (Азербайджанський вчитель, 25 жовтня 2013 р.) Одним із завдань, що випливають з освітніх стратегій, є забезпечення створення на факультетах англійської мови змісту особистісно орієнтованої освіти у галузі викладання предмету «Академічне письмо та читання» з метою досягнення ефективності розглянутої в статті проблеми. З іншого боку, в Азербайджані не проводилось жодних спеціальних досліджень у галузі методів викладання дисципліни «Академічне письмо та читання», або цьому дослідженню приділялося мало уваги, а необхідні ресурси для керівництва викладачами в цій галузі обмежені. Це ще один аспект нашого дослідження.

Ключові слова: академічне письмо, читання, комунікативне вивчення мови, критичне мислення. методика викладання.

Introduction

academic writing reading universities azerbaijan

The beginning of the 21st century has gone down in history with the emergence and formation of integration and innovation in education. As in other fields of science, a number of studies have been conducted and are being conducted in the field of methodology. In this regard, new methods, new approaches are aimed at promoting the effective teaching of languages.

As time goes on, competition between languages intensifies. Nevertheless, English is currently able to maintain its dominant position among the world's languages. Using language as a means of communication implies practical mastery of the language being learned. There are two types of communication: oral and written. Oral and written productive speech in a foreign language is formed as a result of the skills acquired by students.

Written communication as well as literate written communication is a difficult process. At a time when information and communication technologies are developing in modern times, online and offline communication, virtual communication is widespread, the development of students' literate written communication skills is a requirement of utmost importance. At the same time, written speech itself creates the basis for the development and improvement of oral speech.

In this regard, the development of students' written speaking skills is important both for the ability to communicate in writing in that language and for the development of oral communication skills. Because, in order to be able to communicate in writing, first of all, the student must understand the writing of the interlocutor and be able to respond to it. However, unlike oral, in writing, the student has the opportunity to form and edit their own writing, using ICT and translation programs during virtual communication. But writing skills are a type of activity that is used not only for virtual communication, but for all human activities.

Purpose

To study the effectiveness of teaching Academic writing and reading to Azerbaijani students in the process of teaching English.

Research method

The research used the methods of analysis accepted in the theoretical literature, including historical-theoretical and comparative analysis. The methodological basis of the research is scientific works on didactic theory.

Main material

Teaching methodology is a pedagogical science. It is called “subject didactics”. The methodology of teaching foreign languages as a subject didactics has its own object of research. This object consists of all the issues of training and education related to the teaching of the subject “foreign language”, while interpreting these issues, the meth-odology is based on the specifics of a foreign language as a subject and the opportunities created by this specificity.

In connection with the above, the research of the following problems is set before the methodology of teaching foreign languages:

1. Research of a foreign language as a subject: the purpose, tasks, content, means, principles and connection of teaching this subject with other sciences.

2. Research of problems related to the activity of a foreign language teacher: teaching methods, techniques, forms of organization of the learning process.

3. Research of scientific and pedagogical problems related to the activity of students studying the subject “Foreign language”: study of problems related to the age characteristics of students and the creation and development of their speaking skills and abilities in terms of foreign language teaching.

Methodology as a science is divided into two sections:

1) General methodology.

2) Special methodology.

The general methodology deals with general issues of education in the process of teaching a foreign language; defines the principles common to all foreign language learning. The special methodology deals with the problems of teaching a specific language. In this regard, English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, etc. language teaching methodologies emerge. According to this principle, foreign language teaching should be based on the mother tongue and all the linguistic experience gained by students in general. Therefore, the methodology of teaching a foreign language in each republic must take into account the features of the national language and the realities associated with the linguistic difficulties, customs and psychological characteristics of the local people in the process of learning a foreign language. In this case, the definition of a particular methodology becomes more precise: a special methodology is a theory of teaching a specific foreign language in a specific language context.

As for the relationship between general methodology and special methodologies, it should be noted that general and special methodologies are interrelated: special methodologies benefit from the general achievements of the general methodology and, in turn, reveal new regularities in the general methodology through their research on specific language materials (Tahirov, 1997).

With regard to the relationship between methodological theory and teacher skills, it should be noted that the combination of both factors is crucial for the success of training. In order to achieve high results in educational work, the teacher must constantly follow the pedagogical literature, be aware of the latest achievements in the field of methodology and skillfully apply what they have learned in specific working conditions. No matter how creative a teacher may be in his or her practice, a teacher who is unaware of the methodological theory loses his or her theoretical direction and therefore has to go through a long, indirect and sometimes erroneous search in order to achieve a certain result. Theoretical training shortens the search path, minimizing the number of errors that may occur along the way.

Each subject included in the curriculum has its own place in the educational work carried out at the University. In this case, in order to correctly determine the location of each subject and to determine the tasks ahead in this regard, first of all, it is necessary to clarify the specifics of the subjects. This specification is also necessary for the development of subject teaching methods. From this point of view, the subjects taught at the university are conventionally divided into four groups:

The first group includes subjects that teach the basics of this or that science. The main task of these disciplines is to give students a certain idea of the theoretical concepts of the science, the laws and rules. Theoretical and practical knowledge are jointly mastered in the teaching of these subjects. This group includes the basics of Political science, History, Civil defense, Medical knowledge.

The second group includes practical language subjects, and here, too, the main work falls on practice. This group includes practical subjects-Mother tongue, Specialty language, Foreign language, Written-oral speech, Grammar, Phonetics, Academic writing and reading, Business English. Of course, in the teaching of these subjects, students also get an idea of certain laws and rules, but the main task of training here is to create, form and develop language and speech skills and abilities on the basis of experience, in written and oral form. The specificity of language subjects is that in the process of their teaching, students are involved in language activities, which are a means of communication in society. The task of these subjects, as we have noted, is to instill in students the skills and abilities necessary for speech activity. These habits and skills are applied in various areas of communication - speaking, listening, reading and writing. By instilling speech skills and abilities, students learn to use the language they have acquired as a means of communication.

The third group includes theoretical language disciplines - Language history, Lexicology, Stylistics, Basics of stylistics, Text interpretation, Translation theory, Theoretical grammar, Theoretical phonetics, Comparative typology, etc. - these disciplines encourage students to acquire a wide range of theoretical knowledge and become more competent specialists in their field.

The fourth group includes professional subjects - Pedagogy, Psychology, Methodology (+ Pedagogical practice). These subjects at least prepare students for teaching activities - English language teaching, and, of course, they can be involved in other work activities that are considered appropriate to their abilities and skills.

The subjects of pedagogy and psychology provide a basis for pedagogical and psychological students to enter the classroom, to communicate with students, to be trained as perfect specialists in accordance with the principles of education and individual approach skills. It is no coincidence that no matter how well you know the language, you cannot work as a teacher if you have not studied pedagogy and psychology at the university.

The main subject among professional subjects is the methodology of teaching foreign languages, or more precisely, the methodology of teaching English. Theoretical and practical knowledge and skills acquired by students inculcate the ways of teaching skills, namely the methodology. If the question `What?' was answered by theoretical and practical subjects, Methodology a professional subject, answers the question `How?'. That is, training strat-

egies - principles of organization of training, methods and forms of work, planning and its types, state standards on foreign languages (content standards and assessment standards) and their implementation fall on the subject of English language teaching methodology.

In the teaching of a foreign language, the influence of the mother tongue or other languages, i.e. the phenomenon of interference, is inevitable. It should be noted that in terms of specifics, the subjects “mother tongue” and “foreign language” have both similarities and differences.

What brings these subjects closer together is, first of all, that the main goals are the same: that is, to teach students the language they are taught as a means of communication, and thus to help them increase their general education and develop in accordance with the principles of personality-oriented learning.

There are the following distinctive features:

1. Certain phonetic, grammatical and lexical skills are acquired, formed and developed at school during the teaching of the mother tongue at an early age, albeit in a purely empirical way, in order to participate in speech activities in the mother tongue. The mother tongue teacher builds her teaching on a sufficient “practical foundation”: the teacher's main task is to develop students' pre-school and school-acquired speaking skills. A “practical foundation” for a mother tongue teacher sometimes has to be created by the foreign language teacher. If learning a language at school has led to certain flaws or errors, it becomes more difficult to correct it as you acquire new knowledge and skills.

2. Students' speech in their mother tongue is developed in other classes and outside the university, and speech in a foreign language is developed mainly in foreign language classes with the help of a teacher.

3. Although the goals of both subjects are the same, in the process of teaching practical, general education, educational, mother tongue and foreign language, the attitude to these goals is different. Given that students can speak this language during mother tongue training, the main focus is on the general educational purpose of the training. Regularities are identified in mother tongue classes and students have a certain idea about the language system. Thus, their acquisition of the necessary knowledge of the mother tongue is emphasized, and when it comes to the development of habits and skills, reading and writing are in the center of attention, while the practical goal in foreign language lessons plays a leading role: first of all, a foreign language teacher should try to instill in students the skills of speaking and communicating. Information about language should be provided in accordance with the requirements of habits and skills. These materials are provided with certain restrictions, in accordance with the concentric principle.

4. It is not correct to equate the teaching of a foreign language at the university from scratch with starting using the mother tongue.

The differences are as follows:

In the process of improving the mother tongue, the student's language develops in parallel with the thinking. The thinking of a student learning a foreign language in a university setting is already formed; however, a student who has just started learning a foreign language has already mastered the processes of thinking, and this level of development is a great support for him in learning a new language. When learning a foreign language, the student learns to express his thoughts through the means of another language, which is very useful for the further development and improvement of his thinking.

The second difference is related to the time spent, the student is in the language environment, any time hears, works, communicates in this language, in short, the opportunity in the native language is wide, the student is not deprived of the language environment. A student learning a foreign language, on the other hand, uses very limited time, and there is almost no live language environment.

The third difference is that a student learning a foreign language has a rich speaking experience: he is already able to speak his native language (and, to a lesser extent, Russian or another language). When learning a foreign language, the student builds on this experience, and the process of learning a new language is much easier.

The specifics of this subject were taken into account when creating the methodology of foreign languages.

It is known that academic writing and reading is a practical subject, not a theoretical one. During the teaching of this subject, students are taught logical thinking, analysis, concise expression of their views, opinions, generalization, attitude, etc. skills are developed.

What is academic writing? Academic writing is one of the inseparable attributes of science and higher education; it combines the rules of “common language”, the rules of correct writing (Gasimova, 2014).

There are 3 main issues in the teaching of writing:

1) Calligraphy - beautiful spelling of letters

2) Spelling - correct spelling of words.

3) Written speech - the ability to express ideas beautifully (Isayeva, 2019: 2).

It is possible to increase the expressiveness and influence of written speech through various punctuation marks and expressions. In virtual communication, these possibilities are much wider, and various signs, symbols, smileys help to increase the expressiveness of written speech.

Writing is considered to be a more interesting and important element of productive activity than speaking skills. This is because the ability to comprehend what is being said or to speak in a foreign language is strengthened through writing.

Therefore, the article is included in the program as one of the most important components of the foreign language teaching process. Academic writing equips students with the skills to organize, choose words, build, follow sentence structures, use explanatory facts and arguments, and draw conclusions.

In writing, students acquire social and communication skills: essay, project, writing, invitation, etc. Demonstrates adherence to writing rules such as planning, analysis, interpretation, generalization, repetition, etc., mastering all stages of academic writing. They gain skills such as writing, which allows them to evaluate their ideas in writing and become proactive by joining secular networks and online projects.

The following program requirements must be taken into account when teaching academic writing and reading:

- academic writing and reading should be taught as a practical subject;

- written classes should be based on students' experience;

- the material should be mastered by demonstration, not lecturing;

- ready-made writing samples should be used to determine the rules;

- should serve to ensure redevelopment;

- students' knowledge, skills, experience and research abilities should be taken into account when choosing any writing and reading assignment;

- in order to motivate students to creative search, research, their initiative activity, the opportunity to make independent choices must be provided;

- the transition to the presentation of new material should begin with a recollection of the material from the recent past, and apply to the type of activity presented in the form of a test or questionnaire;

- assessment of the student's writing ability should be based not on his / her opposition to the chosen topic, but on his / her ability to express his / her conclusions in accordance with academic writing norms and clearly convey his / her opinion to the reader (Isayeva, 2019: 3).

Writing games, including word games, have a special role in the development of writing skills, and it is recommended to use them.

The norm of the written work shall be carried out in accordance with the general rules established on the basis of the relevant documents.

Methodological requirements such as open discussions on the Academic writing and reading course, controlled and independent practice, organization of work with individuals, groups and pairs come to the fore.

Mastering writing techniques in the Academic writing and reading course is offered in five stages:

- stage for writing;

- organization / planning stage;

- draft copy stage;

- inspection stage;

- last copy phase (Bishop, James, 2005).

In writing, students must master the skills of correct writing, following the principles of phonetic, historical, morphological, ideographic spelling.

In addition to the various types of free writing, students can write / compose pedagogical texts for textbooks, adapted texts based on student levels, embedded or native speakers speeches, that is, authentic texts (these are more complex texts), into target language texts that are considered easy, and learn to work with them.

The AWR subject is generally beneficial in terms of enhancing student achievement, excelling communication, problem solving skills, developing collaboration skills, developing student-student interaction, and improving writing and speaking skills.

Conclusion

The Academic writing and reading subject as a whole is useful in terms of improving students' performance, strengthening interactions, problem-solving skills, developing collaborative skills, excelling student-student interactions, and improving both written and oral speaking skills. During the teaching of this subject, students present the leading idea by following the main features of academic writing - unity, coherence, support of ideas, strong language skills, they also learn the rules of correct writing of the main sentence, supporting sentences, concluding sentence and final thought (Gurbanova, Hajiyeva, 2017: 9).

The teaching of English as a global language increased the demand for this language, and therefore there was a need to train highly qualified personnel who could work in various fields. In this regard, the subject “Academic Writing and Reading” at the academic level directs students to master the skills of writing and reading in English.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. “Azsrbaycan Respublikasinda tshsilin inki§afi uzrs Dovlst Strategiyasi” “Azsrbaycan musllimi” qsz., 2013, 25 oktyabr.

2. Bishop George Jr., Solan James A. Introduction to Academic Writing and Reading. Baku, 2005.

3. isayeva N., ingilis dilinin tsdrisinds akademik yazi bacariqlarinin inki§af etdirilmssinin bszi mssslslsri, Elmi sssrlsr. Baki, 2019.

4. Qurbanova S., Haciyeva G. Akademik yazi vs oxu. Baki, 2017.

5. Tahirov. T, Orta msktsblsrds xarici dillsrin tsdrisi metodikasi. Baki 1997.

6. Vsfa Qasimova, Akademik yazi uzrs bslsdfi, Baki, 2014.

REFERENCES

1. “Azsrbaycan Respublikasinda tshsilin inki§afi uzrs Dovlst Strategiyasi” [State Strategy for the Development of Edu-cation in the Republic of Azerbaijan] Azerbaijan Teacher newspaper, 2013, 25 october [in Azerbaijani]

2. Bishop George Jr., Solan James A. Introduction to Academic Writing and Reading. Baku - 2005.

3. isayeva N., ingilis dilinin tsdrisinds akademik yazi bacariqlarinin inki§af etdirilmssinin bszi mssslslsri, Elmi sssrlsr [Some issues of developing academic writing skills in teaching English] Scientific works, Baku.2019. [in Azerbaijani]

4. Qurbanova S., Haciyeva G. Akademik yazi vs oxu [Academic writing and reading] Baku, 2017. [in Azerbaijani]

5. Tahirov. T, Orta msktsblsrds xarici dillsrin tsdrisi metodikasi [Methods of teaching foreign languages in secondary schools] Baku,1997 [in Azerbaijani]

6. Vsfa Qasimova, Akademik yazi uzrs bslsdfi [Academic Writing Guide] Baki 2014 [in Azerbaijani]

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