Professional communication in a foreign language: experience in designing the curriculum for 024 choreography specialty

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Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University

Faculty of Pedagogical Education

Professional communication in a foreign language: experience in designing the curriculum for 024 choreography specialty

Yuliya Rudnik, Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences,

senior teacher of the department of foreign languages

and methods of their teaching

Kyiv, Ukraine

Abstract

The article is devoted to the problem of the designing of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» working curriculum for the preparation of 024 Choreography specialty students. The designing of a working curriculum is one of the most important aspects in the process of planning in terms of the professional training of each specialty. The necessity of its review and updating on the yearly basis is proved in the article. The goal and aims of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» are based on the program of education and professional training for the students of the second level of higher education (Master) 024.00.01 «Choreography» are presented by the author. For instance, the need for the development of the competencies that allow communicating with the representatives of the other professional groups is granted by the content. The expected learning outcomes for 024 Choreography specialty students are discussed. The used references for the course design are reviewed. The structure of the working curriculum as well as its integration with the certified course for distance learning on the Moodle e-learning platform has been described in the article below. The results of students' questionnaires based on the completion of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» course are revealed and discussed. The further transformations of the working curriculum and the place for the next research are emphasized.

Keywords: choreography; competencies; foreign language; professional communication; professional training; working curriculum

Анотація

Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою: досвід розроблення програми навчальної дисципліни зі спеціальності 024 «хореографія»

Руднік Юлія, кандидат педагогічних наук, старший викладач кафедри іноземних мов і методик їх навчання Факультету педагогічної освіти, Київський університет імені Бориса Грінченка, вул. Бульварно-Кудрявська 18/2, 04053 Київ, Україна

Стаття присвячена проблемі розроблення робочої програми навчальної дисципліни «Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою» для підготовки студентів спеціальності 024 «Хореографія». Розроблення робочої програми навчальної дисципліни є однією із найважливіших аспектів у процесі планування професійної підготовки спеціаліста та створюється відповідно до вимог Освітньої програми підготовки спеціаліста. У статті обґрунтовано необхідність її перегляду та щорічного перезатвердження у зв'язку з оновленням нормативних документів, урахування сучасних вимог до фахівця, як-от ринку праці тощо, а також внаслідок розгляду відгуків студентів, які вже завершили свою підготовку за зазначеною дисципліною. Автором представлено мету та завдання навчальної дисципліни «Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою», які базуються на освітньо-професійній програмі підготовки здобувачів ІІ ступеня вищої освіти (магістр) 024.00.01 «Хореографія» Наприклад, серед іншого змістом робочої програми навчальної дисципліни забезпечується потреба в розвитку компетентностей, які дозволяють майбутнім випускникам спілкуватися з представниками інших професійних груп. У статі обговорено очікувані результати оволодіння дисципліною «Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою» для магістрів спеціальності 024 «Хореографія». У статті зазначені структура робочої програми навчальної дисципліни, а також її інтеграція з сертифікованим курсом дистанційного навчання на платформі електронного навчання Moodle. Охарактеризовано результати анкетування студентів за результатами вивчення дисципліни «Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою», його мета, структура та зміст, а також здійснено аналіз отриманих результатів з метою подальшого вдосконалення робочої програми навчальної дисципліни. Акцентовано увагу на змістових аспектах, які потребують особливої уваги в процесі викладання означеної дисципліни. Наголошено на орієнтирах подальших трансформацій робочої програми навчальної дисципліни та окреслено перспективи подальших наукових досліджень, зокрема доцільності компаративного аналізу робочих програм навчальних дисциплін з урахуванням досвіду та напрацювань інших вітчизняних та зарубіжних університетів.

Ключові слова: іноземна мова; компетентності; професійне спілкування; професійна підготовка; робочий навчальний план; хореографія.

Introduction

The process of curriculum development involves significant time and consideration to bring together such things as subject matter and educational methods even though it has been reviewed and updated on the yearly basis. Since this process is twofold it requires cooperation between the lecturers and students to analyze the efficiency of its content and methods based on the student learning outcomes. The feedback from students defines the necessity of revisions of the working curriculum as well as the modern requirements from the state. It undergoes transformations that are necessary for proving its value to the users and the fact that it keeps up with the time (Mohanasundaram, 2018). Both the value and working curriculum currency are ensured by following the regulations and students' opinions as the users of the educational services.

Problem statement. The design of the working curriculum is most commonly based on the use of specific methodological recommendations. As a type of university standard, it is developed following educational and professional training programs of a particular specialty as well as specific educational plans. Except for the aforementioned aspects, the process of working curriculum development recently has to take into consideration the latest trends of distance learning caused by the quarantine introduction due to the quick widespread and serious threat of Covid-19. This is the reason that the designing of the working curriculums becomes synchronized with the designing of distance courses on the Moodle e-learning platform and this is where students' opinions should be extremely important and taken into account.

Background. The issue of the designing and developing of the working curriculum is of great importance in terms of the organization and leading the learning and teaching processes since it defines the success of its implementation stage (Livingstone, 2014). As is generally known the major changes and transformations in terms of higher education are aimed at integration into the European Higher Education Area, which started in 2005 with the implementation of the Bologna declaration that is considered a starting point for reforming the structure of higher education in particular (Kotenko & Holovatenko, 2020). The constant revisions of the working curriculum among the other reasons are caused by the requirements of the contemporary professional market (Medvid, 2021). This is what makes the scientists analyze the content of the disciplines' working curriculum, the methods used, the competencies forming as well as skills development. Thus, Kosharna analyzes the students' critical thinking skills within the discipline «Professional communication in a Foreign Language» (2020). In turn, the article focuses on the discipline's content transformation to meet the requirements from the state and society for the training of the choreography specialty students as well as taking into consideration their own opinion on the course. While designing the working curriculum of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» the idea of the significance of interaction in the process of a foreign language learning that is extremely supported by scientists was taken into account (Nikolska et al., 2022). Also, the idea of harmonious combination of distance and classroom learning expressed by Khoruzha and Proshkin was considered (Khoruzha, Proshkin 2020). This became possible due to mix of the face-to- face classes with the developed electronic learning course «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» on Moodle e-platform.

The aim of this study is to reveal the process of designing of working curriculum of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» for the preparation of 024 Choreography specialty students and to prove the necessity of its yearly update based on the students' feedback received via developed questionary.

Methodology

The objective can be stated as follows: by focusing on the process of designing the working curriculum of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» discipline, this research paper would reveal the specifics of the working curriculum development and improvement in terms of students' questionnaire. The aforementioned objective of the research is achieved due to the descriptive investigation and the use of the questionnaire results of the students that went through the course and shared their thoughts and opinions about the content, structure, and other things of the offered working curriculum.

Research results

The designed working curriculum of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» focuses on the major goal of the course: to master the language of professional communication, particularly of all of the language tools that are used in the sphere of professional communication (Kosharna & Petryk, 2021). In its turn, the goal conditions the pronounced tasks of the course:

*-to form the ability to solve complex tasks of choreography in the process of professional activities or educational process, which presupposes conducting research and/or carrying out the innovations and is characterized by the uncertainty of conditions and requirements;

*-to form the ability to search, process, and analyze information from various sources;

*-to form the ability to communicate with the representatives of other professional groups of different levels (with experts in other knowledge fields);

*-to form students' professional-oriented and scientific-research communicative language skills (linguistic, sociolinguistic, and pragmatic) to provide their efficient communication in a professional and academic environment, and to use the received knowledge in further professional and scientific activity;

*-to teach students to use accurately the terms of professional communication (professionalisms, interbranch, general scientific, terminological);

*-to develop students' skills to use English in the modern professional-scientific educational space;

*-to contribute to the development of self-appraisal and abilities to independent learning skills;

*-to develop critical scientific thinking using professionally oriented English texts;

*- to teach students to correlate theoretical knowledge with the practical needs of future professional activities;

*-to develop students' cognitive interests, striving for the improvement of their professional training;

*-to develop skills that are necessary to work with education-methodological and professional literature;

* -to advance the level of the development of students' professional competence by English as a mean (Kosharna & Petryk, 2021).

As the learning outcomes of mastering the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» the next forecasted achievements by a student are stated:

*-organizes the search, independent choice, and high-quality processing of the information from different sources for conducting pedagogical, administrative and managerial, choreography, scientific and research activities in the choreography field;

*-uses communicative technologies for professional networking, taking part in discussions on the problems of art and education development;

*-knows the foreign language material defined by the working curriculum;

*-communicates in a foreign language in oral and written forms according to the topics defined by the working curriculum of the discipline;

*-demonstrates the level of communication in a foreign language in four basic language skills (listening, speaking, reading, and writing);

*-understands the culture and traditions of the country, the language of which is learned;

*-analyzes and critically assesses the information from various foreign language sources;

*-uses the basic knowledge of the profession in the process of foreign language learning (Kosharna & Petryk, 2020).

To achieve the set goal, tasks, and formulated learning outcomes the working curriculum of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» for students of 024 Choreography specialty was designed. To build the content of the aforementioned discipline the next major and additional literature sources were used. The number of the major part included 5 references that among the others involved the works provided by Cambridge University Press. The list of additional recommended sources involved 6 references that, if necessary, could be finding and observed in more details in the working curriculum of the discipline (Kosharna & Petryk, 2021). communicative choreographer university distance

The overview of the resources used for designing the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» proves their suitability to the aims and goals of the course as well as to the content of the developed working curriculum, which is discussed further in the article. The amount of the offered sources also agreed with the requirements of the aforementioned type of normative document. All of them are available for the students in digital format in the developed electronic course on Moodle e-platform that is used in terms of teaching the discipline (Figure 1). The distance learning course «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» was developed and certified to provide students with all the necessary materials available on a twenty-four- hour basis and from basically everywhere (Rudnik et al., 2020). It completely corresponds to the designed working curriculum of the discipline.

Figure 1. The certified electronic learning course «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» on Moodle e-platform

Source: Rudnik, Y. V., Petryk, L. V., Kosharna, N. V. (2022). A screenshot of a computer display.

Considering the description of the analyzed course the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» is taught in one semester. The general volume of credits and hours with their distribution from the working curriculum are presented in the following table (Table 1).

Table 1 Description of the academic discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language»

Developed by the author

The working curriculum consists of 120 hours (4 credits) during the second term and includes 4 content modules:

(1) «Professional communication in the structure of the choreographer's activities»,

(2) «Professional communication strategies»,

(3) «The basics of scientific style»,

(4) «Professional discourse on the applied aspect of choreography».

Each of the offered content modules further includes four themes that are followed by module tests.

If to look closer at the content of the working curriculum it becomes obvious that the first module of the discipline «Professional communication in the structure of the choreographer's activities» covers the professional component of choreographers' activities, and the second module «Professional communication strategies» is devoted to the specifics of oral and written business communication, the third module «The basics of scientific style» represent the issues that deal with the peculiarities of writing the scientific texts such as summaries, annotations, articles, master paper and Grants, and the fourth module «Professional discourse on the applied aspect of choreography» is focused on choreographers career aspects.

A detailed overview of the content is presented in Table 2.

Table 2

The structure of the working curriculum «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language»

Developed by the author

To assess the content, structure, and teaching of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» a student questionnaire was developed and offered. The questionnaire consisted of 12 questions of various types created with the help of Google Forms.

The students were asked to analyze the content, methods used, criteria for assessment, and accordance with students' expectations from 1 to 5 points accordingly.

The other questions fell within the usefulness of the content in terms of the choreographer's future professional activities, transparency, and clearness of discipline's goals and assessment criteria, correlation of theory and practical parts, the search and use of the literature for the course as well as the presence of the current scientific information and the volume of the tasks and learning material in general.

One of the important aspects to define was the avoiding of reduplication of the discipline's content in comparison with other courses. The discipline's content assessment part involved the necessary choice of the most valuable and the hardest for mastering modules. The final part revealed the general response and allowed students to leave their honest opinions about the discipline.

The results of the students' questionnaire revealed that in general students were satisfied with the offered content and considered it useful for their future professional activity (75%). Also, they understood the goals and plans of their training and agreed on the correspondence of the material to the current scientific information as well as the correlation between theory and practice (75%). The same percentage of students experienced success and individual progress while mastering the discipline and had no difficulties with the search and use of the recommended literature.

The most important criterion proved that there was no reduplication of the content of other disciplines (100%).

The students admitted that Module 2. Professional communication strategies and Module 4. Professional discourse on the applied aspect of choreography were the most useful for them (50% and 75% accordingly) while Module 3. The basics of the scientific style was quite challenging for its mastering (100%).

The results of the students' questionnaire indicated several aspects that require particular attention next semester.

Firstly, as it turned out the students were not completely able to understand the offered structure of the course in terms of the difference between teaching a foreign language at the first level of higher education and magistracy (second) level of higher education, which requires students to understand the specifics of the scientific style since they are involved in writing their masters paper, attend their first conferences and take part in different student grant programs.

All of that makes them able to communicate orally for conferences and workshops specifically to be ready for presenting speeches, as well as be prepared for creating some written texts of scientific characters for instance articles, summaries, annotations, and others.

To solve the issue, more time would be spent explaining the difference between the specifics of foreign education at the bachelor's and master's levels. Secondly, the part of the students struggled with the volume of tasks, which is explained by the fact of the tough schedule, rather than the complexity of the task.

To solve the issue, the amount of the self-task would be slightly reduced and considerations about changing the schedule would be taken into account. Finally, the specifics of the educational program define that choreography students learn the discipline «Foreign language» in their first year of studying as bachelors and then in 3 years to learn the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» during one semester in their master level. This makes them experience a lack of professionally oriented tasks during all these three years of the interval between the courses.

Conclusions and prospects

The overview of the working curriculum of the discipline «Professional Communication in a Foreign Language» proved its logical structure, rich content, and currency. It completely met the set goals and tasks of the discipline and guaranteed the learning outcomes of mastering the course. The limitations of the research are the number of students who took part in the assessment of the working curriculum. Nevertheless, the results of the conducted questionnaire allowed making several important conclusions for working curriculum improvement in future. Considering the prospects of further research, it is worth analyzing the developed e-learning course on Moodle platform in more detail as well as comparing the content of the working curriculum with the same discipline taught in other universities.

References

Kosharna, N. (2020). Students' Critical Thinking Skills Development Within Pedagogical Specialties of Master's Educational Level in the Content of the Discipline «Professional Communication In A Foreign Language». Educological discourse, 2 (29), 14-25. https://doi.org/10.28925/2312-5829.2020.2.2

Nikolska, N., Terletska, L., Yevtushenko, N., Khomyshyn, O., Malazoniia S. (2022). Learning a foreign language through dynamic interaction of the teacher and the student. AD ALTA: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 12 (1), 33-38.

Khoruzha L., Proshkin, V. (2020). Distance learning: on the way to developing a new didactic model of university education. In E. Smyrnova-Trybulska (Ed.), Innovative Educational Technologies, Tools and Methods for E-learning: Monograph (pp. 171-183). Studio NDA.

Kotenko, O. & Holovatenko, T. (2020). Models of foreign language primary school teacher training in the EU. In Innovative Scientific Researches: European Development Trends and Regional Aspect (pp. 92-115). Baltija Publishing. https://doi.org/10.30525/978-9934-588-38-9-5

Livingstone, K. (2014). Improving Curriculum Design and Development: A Case Study from the University of Guyana. Blue Ocean Research Journals -Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research, 3 (5), 1-17.

Mohanasundaram, K. (2018). Curriculum Design and Development. Journal of Applied and Advanced Research, 3, 4-6. https://doi.org/10.21839/jaar.2018.v3iS1.156

Kosharna, N., Petryk L. (2021). Profesijne spilkuvannya inozemnoyu movoyu: Robocha programa navchalnoyi disciplini dlya studentiv specialnosti «Horeografiya» [Professional communication in a foreign language: Work program of the study discipline for students of the Choreography specialty]. Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University. https://elibrary. kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/37813/3/RPND_PSIM_MAG_H1.pdf

Medvid, T., Tereshenko, N. (2021). Formuvannia soft skills u protsesi fakhovoi pidhotovky maibutnikh khoreohrafiv [Formation of soft skills in the process of professional training of future choreographers]. Zbirnyk naukovykhprats Umanskoho derzhavnohopedahohichnoho universytetu, 4, 165-178.

Rudnik, Y. V., Petryk, L. V., Kosharna, N. V. (2022). Profesiine spilkuvannia inozemnoiu movoiu (1 kurs, Khoreohrafiia): elektronnyi navchalnyi kurs dlia studentiv spetsialnosti 024 Khoreohrafiia [Professional communication in a foreign language: (1st year, Choreography): an electronic training course for students of the Choreography specialty]. Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University. https://elearning.kubg.edu.ua/course/view.php?id=21484

Список використаної літератури

Kosharna N. Students' Critical Thinking Skills Development Within Pedagogical Specialties of Master's Educational Level in the Content of the Discipline «Professional Communication In A Foreign Language». Educological discourse. 2020. № 2 (29). С. 14-25. DOI: https://doi.org/10.28925/2312-5829.2020.2.2.

Nikolska N., Terletska L., Yevtushenko N., Khomyshyn O., Malazoniia S. Learning a foreign language through dynamic interaction of the teacher and the student. AD ALTA: Journal of Interdisciplinary Research. 2022. № 12 (1). Р. 33-38.

Khoruzha L. Proshkin V. Distance learning: on the way to developing a new didactic model of university education / E. Smyrnova-Trybulska (Ed.). Innovative Educational Technologies, Tools and Methods for E-learning: Monograph Katowice - Cieszyn: Studio NDA, 2020. Р. 171-183.

Kotenko O. & Holovatenko T. Models of foreign language primary school teacher training in the EU. Innovative Scientific Researches: European Development Trends and Regional Aspect. Riga: Baltija Publishing, 2020. С. 92115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.30525/978-9934-588-38-9-5 Livingstone K. Improving Curriculum Design and Development: A Case Study from the University of Guyana. Blue Ocean Research Journals -Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research. 2014. № 3 (5). P. 1-17.

Mohanasundaram K. Curriculum Design and Development. Journal of Applied and Advanced Research. 2018. № 3. P. 4-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21839/jaar.2018.v3iS1.156

Кошарна Н. В., Петрик Л. В. Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою: Робоча програма навчальної дисципліни для студентів спеціальності «Хореографія». Київ: Київський університет імені Бориса Грінченка, 2021. URL: https://elibrary.kubg.edu.ua/id/eprint/37813/3/RPND_PSIM_MAG_H1.pdf (дата звернення: 3.09.2022).

Медвідь Т., Терешенко Н. Формування soft skills у процесі фахової підготовки майбутніх хореографів. Збірник наукових праць Уманського державного педагогічного університету. 2021. № 4. С. 165-178.

Руднік Ю. В., Петрик Л. В., Кошарна Н. В. Професійне спілкування іноземною мовою: (1 курс, Хореографія): електронний навчальний курс для студентів спеціальності «Хореографія». Київ: Київський університет імені Бориса Грінченка, 2022. URL: https://elearning.kubg.edu.ua/course/view.php?id=21484 (дата звернення: 5.09.2022).

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