Intercultural communication through interactive activities at foreign language classes in higher education institutions

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Department of Business Foreign Language and International Communication National University of Food Technologies

Ntercultural communication through interactive activities at foreign language classes in higher education institutions

Yu.I. Malyk

Senior Lecturer

Abstract

The article examines the peculiarities of sociolinguistic and cultural aspects of foreign language learning in institutions of higher education, which indicate the existence of factors that can interfere and complicate the interaction of participants in the communicative process, and therefore emphasize the need for the development of intercultural communication competence.

The state of research on the problem has been analyzed and the works of scientists regarding the need to study the aspect of intercultural communication while learning a foreign language have been analyzed, which will greatly contribute to the formation and development of interdisciplinary skills, skills and competencies of future specialists.

It was determined that the increase in interest in learning a foreign language is due to the urgent need for intercultural communication of the world community, whether in business, economy, education or even in social networks. Given this trend, foreign language teachers should not only increase the cultural and linguistic awareness of future professionals, but also adapt educational activities to better prepare them for the many communicative environments that often include cross-cultural interactions. This is possible under the condition of properly organized intercultural dialogue in foreign language classes.

During the study of a foreign language, favorable opportunities are laid for the professional training of future specialists. Despite the fact that a foreign language is a means of acquiring knowledge, forming skills and abilities, learning a foreign language at a high level can serve to expand the general outlook, obtain additional scientific and professionally significant information and deepen professional knowledge, and therefore the status of a foreign language in the general system of disciplines for students of non-language majors is growing significantly.

In recent years, in connection with the active reformation of various spheres of Ukrainian society aimed at expanded international partnership, there is an objective need to learn a foreign language during the professional training of future specialists. Learning a foreign language plays a significant role not only for obtaining the necessary information in a certain field, but also for use in communicative situations, which can be a guarantee of successful future activities at a high professional level. Therefore, the global world processes that are taking place today dictate an urgent need for the formation and development of intercultural communication, as an integral component of the process of learning a foreign language in higher education institutions.

Key words: foreign language study, intercultural communication, interactive activities, higher educational institutions.

Анотація

Малик Ю. Міжкультурна комунікація через інтерактивні види діяльності на заняттях з іноземної мови у закладах вищої освіти

У статті розглянуто особливості соціолінгвістичних та культурних аспектів вивчення іноземної мови у закладах вищої освіти, що вказують на існування факторів, які можуть заважати та ускладнювати взаємодію учасників комунікативного процесу, а отже підкреслюють потребу у розвитку компетентності міжкультурної комунікації.

Проаналізовано стан дослідження проблеми та досліджено праці науковців щодо необхідності вивчення аспекту міжкультурної комунікації під час вивчення іноземної мови, що великою мірою сприятиме формуванню і розвитку міждисциплінарних вмінь, навичок та компетентностей майбутніх фахівців.

Визначено, що підвищення інтересу до опанування іноземною мовою зумовлене нагальною потребою у здійсненні міжкультурної комунікації світової спільноти, чи то в бізнесі, економіці, освіті чи навіть у соціальних мережах. Враховуючи цю тенденцію, викладачам іноземної мови слід не лише підвищувати культурну та мовну обізнаність майбутніх фахівців, але й пристосовувати навчальні види діяльності, щоб краще підготувати їх до багатьох комунікативних середовищ, які часто включають міжкультурні взаємодії. Це можливо за умови правильно організованого міжкультурного діалогу на заняттях з інозмної мови.

Під час вивчення іноземної мови закладаються сприятливі можливості для професійної підготовки майбутніх фахівців. Незважаючи на те, що іноземна мова є засобом набуття знань, формування вмінь та навичок, вивчення іноземної мови на високому рівні може слугувати для розширення загального світогляду, отримання додаткової наукової і професійно-значущої інформації та поглиблення професійних знань, а відтак статус іноземної мови у загальній системі дисциплін для студентів немовних спеціальностей значно зростає.

За останні роки, у зв'язку із активним реформуванням різних сфер діяльності українського суспільства, спрямованого на розширене міжнародне партнерство, виникає об'єктивна необхідність у потребі вивчення іноземної мови під час професійної підготовки майбутніх фахівців. Вивчення іноземної мови відіграє значну роль не лише задля отримання необхідної інформації в певній галузі, а також для використання у комунікативних ситуаціях, що може стати запорукою успішної майбутньої діяльності на високому професійному рівні. Отже, глобальні світові процеси, які сьогодні відбуваються, диктують нагальну потребу у формуванні та розвитку міжкультурної комунікації, як невід'ємної складової процесу вивчення іноземної мови у закладах вищої освіти.

Ключові слова: вивчення іноземної мови, міжкультурна комунікація, інтерактивна діяльність, заклади вищої освіти.

Formulation of the problem

Modern global social changes, as well as a change in the place and role of Ukraine in the international arena, active migration processes and cultural integration, the development of a single European educational space, have led to the fact that one of the prominent places in the structure of professional training of future specialists in various fields should belong to foreign language training. In recent years, in connection with the active reformation of various spheres of activity of Ukrainian society aimed at expanded international partnership, there is an objective need for the need for foreign language training of future specialists. Studying a foreign language in institutions of higher education plays a significant role in the process of professional training of future specialists not only for obtaining the necessary information in a certain field, but also for establishing international scientific relations, participation in international conferences, as well as for use in communicative situations that can become a guarantee of successful future intercultural communications at a high professional level. Accordingly, there is a need to introduce new approaches to teaching a foreign language into the educational process of higher education institutions in order to train specialists whose professional competence becomes deeper thanks to knowledge of a foreign language as an integral component of intercultural communication.

Analysis of recent research and publications

Recently, many scientists (M. Halytska, P. Donets, K. Ivanova, T. Kolbina, S. Kostyuk, O. Kuchmiy, V. Manakin, I. Myazova, P. Osypov, O. Sklyarenko, M. Trinyak ) investigate intercultural communications in various spheres of professional activity. Among modern Ukrainian scientists, L. Afanas'eva, V. Luchkevich, N. Prikhodko, and T. Komarnytska should be singled out, whose works are devoted to the peculiarities and problems of intercultural communication in the process of learning foreign languages.

The purpose of the article is to study the peculiarities of the formation of intercultural communication and to study the effectiveness of interactive types of educational activities during the study of a foreign language in higher education institutions. education communicative competence

Presentation of main material

In the context of the development of intercultural cooperation and international relations in all areas of the scientific, technical and socio-cultural life of the countries of the European Community, the focus on international requirements for the level of foreign language proficiency has increased. According to the requirements of the All-European recommendations on language education regarding the levels of foreign language proficiency, students of higher education institutions must «possess the ability to express themselves freely in the process of achieving their social, academic and professional goals.» The recommendations indicate that by mastering European languages it is possible to facilitate communication and interaction between European countries with different native languages in order to support European mobility, mutual understanding and cooperation and overcome prejudice and discrimination [1, p. 24].

Modern new requirements for knowledge, abilities and skills are placed before future specialists, first of all, in connection with the integration of Ukraine into the world community, as well as taking into account the globalization of the international labor market and growing competition. International business in today's globalized world is increasingly in need of specialists who will create multicultural teams. Studies by leading think tanks (Harvard Business School, McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group) prove that multicultural teams in business work more creatively and make more effective decisions. The results of these studies confirm that companies with multicultural teams show better financial results than organizations dominated by monocultural teams. However, to achieve positive results, it is important that team members understand each other's cultural and communication characteristics. Understanding the difficulties caused by intercultural communication in a team is important for managers, team members, and those who are just planning to work in an international business environment [2].

The term «intercultural communication» in the narrow sense appeared in scientific literature in the second half of the 20th century. Subsequently, the concept of intercultural communication was expanded to such areas as translation theory, foreign language teaching, comparative cultural studies, etc. Until now, scientific research in the field of intercultural communication focuses on the behavior of people who are faced with culturally determined differences in language activity and the consequences of these differences [3, p. 25].

When analyzing the content of the concept of «intercultural communication», one should refer to the views of scientists who have studied this phenomenon. For example, scientist F. Bacevich defines intercultural communication «as a process of communication (verbal and non-verbal) of people (groups of people) who belong to different national linguistic and cultural communities, have different communicative competence, which can cause communicative failures or cultural shock in communication» [4, p. 9]. I. Myazova states that intercultural communication is a set of skills that must be mastered during communication, since interaction with another culture requires certain knowledge and skills, focusing on inherited and established norms of social practice of people belonging to different national and ethnic communities [5, p. 108 ].

Every interpersonal situation can be considered as cross-cultural. Intercultural situations occur when one person perceives another person (or group of people) as culturally different from himself. Among the factors that contribute to the transition from an individual to an intercultural communicative space, we can highlight: the presence of bright cultural emblems or practices that evoke a cultural category in the mind of the perceiver; frequent use of cultural categories to think about other people so that these categories are readily available when interacting with others; the usefulness of the cultural category in helping to understand why another person behaves in this way and not in another way [6].

During the study of a foreign language in institutions of higher education, students acquire certain knowledge, skills, abilities and experience, i.e. master a high level of foreign language communicative competence, which should be considered not only as a person's ability to understand and reproduce a foreign language, but also as the ability to successfully carry out communicative actions according to various goals and situations. The communicative direction of foreign language learning in institutions of higher education consists in the fact that students, in addition to acquiring knowledge about grammatical, lexical, phonetic rules, model intercultural communication through interactive types of educational activities. Becoming active participants in the communicative process, students develop their skills and ability to use language forms for real intercultural communicative purposes. Therefore, each foreign language class is a practical implementation of intercultural communication. Each communicative situation largely determines the choice of language means, promotes the development of verbal skills, the ability to express one's own point of view or initiative, helps to find the best solution under certain conditions, imitates intercultural communication, that is, forms intercultural competence.

Deardorff, one of the foremost researchers in the field of intercultural communication, explains that intercultural competence is «the ability to develop specific knowledge, skills, and attitudes that lead to visible behaviors and communication that are both effective and acceptable in intercultural interactions.» Being competent in intercultural communication means being able to recognize the influence of our own cultural values, norms and concepts on how we express ourselves and how we communicate with others. This applies to verbal and non-verbal communication. Lack of intercultural competence leads to problems for students. Students first feel the need to translate and interpret a new language. They try to find an identical word or expression in their native language. However, it often turns out that some expressions or words may not have a clear translation [7].

Interactive types of activities involve the organization and development of dialogic speech aimed at interaction, mutual understanding, solving communicative problems important for the participants of the educational process. Among the most effective interactive activities that contribute to successful intercultural communication, the following can be distinguished:

discussions («Brainstorm», «Roundtable») - during which opinions and ideas are exchanged in a foreign language on a certain topic, using learned lexical material of a professional direction;

role-playing games - increase the activity of students, regulate interpersonal relations, the emotional component of perception and reproduction of information is manifested;

creative activities (creative tasks, project works) - create an opportunity to discover and implement creative thinking and creative abilities;

multimedia projects (presentations, video projects) - develop the ability to structure and visualize information, activating students' cognitive activity;

extracurricular interactive activities (excursions, social surveys, filming of video reports, participation of students in meetings with foreign guests) - an opportunity to develop and improve their communicative culture.

Educational activities should be aimed at studying the national character and mentality of native speakers, their culture, and lifestyle. Being a model of intercultural communication, interactive types of educational activities involve communication in a foreign language, provide personal, cognitive activity of students. Thus, interactive classes can be considered the most accurate model of communication in a foreign language, since educational communicative situations are an imitation of reality in its most essential features, just like in life, when the linguistic and non-verbal behavior of the participants in the communicative process are intertwined.

Therefore, interactive types of educational activities, as important forms of foreign language learning in institutions of higher education, not only form, improve and consolidate professional skills, but also stimulate students' motivation to form and develop personal intercultural competence.

Conclusions and suggestions

Therefore, understanding that one of the main tasks of modern education is to create favorable conditions for the formation and development of the personality of a future specialist who is able to learn and create culture through the implementation of intercultural communication, which requires the participants of the educational process to have a high level of communicative culture in general and intercultural competence in particular.

The low level of intercultural competence of future specialists can lead to certain difficulties during foreign language professional communication. In this sense, the use of interactive types of educational activities in foreign language classes is a really important task of the educational process in institutions of higher education. It is possible to state without exaggeration that the use of interactive types of educational activities in the implementation of communicatively oriented education in institutions of higher education increases its effectiveness. In addition, the implementation of interactive types of educational activities in foreign language classes not only creates a favorable learning environment, but also promotes student activity in class, improves the general cohesion of students, increases their attention, develops memory and creative thinking, and also increases student motivation to study, while also forming their own style of learning a foreign language.

References

1. Common European Framework of Reference for Language: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. [Електронний ресурс]

2. Міжкультурна комунікація: складнощі та шляхи їхнього подолання [Електронний ресурс]

3. Манакін В. М. Мова і міжкультурна комунікація. К.: Видавничий центр «Академія», 2012. 288 с.

4. Бацевич Ф.С. Основи комунікативної лінгвістики / Ф.С. Бацевич. - К.: Академія, 2004. - 343 с.

5. М'язова І. Ю. Особливості тлумачення поняття «міжкультурна комунікація» / І. Ю. М'язова // Філософські проблеми гуманітарних наук. - 2006. - № 8 . - С. 108-113.

6. What is intercultural competence? Intercultural Communication Competency in ELT Classes. [Електронний ресурс] / Luana. - 2019.

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