Formation of communication skills in primary school students in foreign language lessons in the new ukrainian school

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Formation of communication skills in primary school students in foreign language lessons in the new ukrainian school

Формування комунікативних навиків в учнів початкової школи на уроках іноземної мови в новій українській школі

Nataliia Bessarab

Candidate of Pedagogical Sciences, Researcher at the department of Innovation Activities and Research and Experimental Work, State Scientific Institution “Institute of education content modernization”,

Kyiv

Бессараб Н. А.

Кандидат педагогічних наук, науковий співробітник відділу інноваційної діяльності та дослідно-експериментальної роботи, Державна наукова установа «Інститут модернізації змісту освіти»,

The article highlights the ways of implementing the competence approach in the process of teaching younger students the English language, it involves clarifying the content and results of learning, selecting effective methods, techniques, and forms of organizing educational interaction, updating the didactic and methodological support of the educational process, introducing new approaches to checking and evaluating the educational achievements of students. It has been determined that in the modern conditions of education reform in Ukraine, the formation of communicative competence of primary school students is gaining relevance, because the younger school age is extremely favorable for mastering communicative skills and abilities, since children of this age period, speech hearing and articulation are easily formed, they love to learn new words and stable expressions, master linguistic constructions, show interest and sensitivity to linguistic phenomena, strive for communication and quickly acquire speech experience. It has been proven that the didactic and methodical principles of the organization of competence-oriented teaching of foreign languages of elementary school students. The age characteristics and potential capabilities of elementary school students are outlined, the types and forms of educational activities are proposed and substantiated by the competence, communicative, person-oriented, and cultural approaches to learning, and the methods, forms, and methods of organizing the process of learning language material and the formation of foreign language communication skills are characterized; the specific tasks of the development of the educational process during the implementation of the Concept of the New Ukrainian School in general secondary education institutions are defined. Key words: Concept of the New Ukrainian School; modern language education; foreign language learning; speech communication; communicative skills; communicative competence; communicative skills of primary school students. competence teaching english

У статті висвітлюються шляхи реалізації компетентнісного підходу в процесі навчання молодших учнів англійської мови передбачає уточнення змісту і результатів навчання, добір ефективних методів, прийомів, форм організації навчальної взаємодії, оновлення дидактико-методичного супроводу освітнього процесу, запровадження нових підходів до перевірки та оцінювання навчальних досягнень учнів. Визначено, що в сучасних умовах реформування освіти в Україні актуальності набуває формування комунікативної компетентності учнів початкової школи, адже молодший шкільний вік надзвичайно сприятливий для оволодіння комунікативними уміннями і навичками, оскільки в дітей цього вікового періоду легко формуються мовленнєвий слух та артикуляція, вони залюбки засвоюють нові слова і сталі вислови, оволодівають лінгвістичними конструкціями, виявляють інтерес і чутливість до мовних явищ, прагнуть до спілкування і швидко набувають мовленнєвого досвіду. Доведено, що дидактичні та методичні засади організаціїкомпетентнісно орієнтованого навчання іноземних мов учнів початкової школи. Окреслено вікові особливості та потенційні можливості учнів молодшого шкільного віку, пропонуються та обґрунтовуються види і форми навчальної діяльності відповідно до компетентнісного, комунікативного, особистісно орієнтованого та культурологічного підходів до навчання, характеризуються методи, форми та способи організації процесу навчання мовного матеріалу та формування іншомовних комунікативних умінь; означені конкретні завдання розвитку освітнього процесу в ході реалізації Концепції Нової української школи в закладах загальної середньої освіти. Надано рекомендації щодо здобувачів освіти молодшого шкільного віку, оскільки він є сприятливим для забезпечення комунікативної активності, адже провідною мовленнєвою діяльністю учнів початкової школи є усне мовлення. Ключові слова: Концепція Нової української школи; сучасна мовна освіта; навчання іноземній мові; мов- ленєва комунікація; комунікативні уміння; комунікативна компетентність; комунікативні навички учнів початкової школи.

Statement of the problem in a general form and its connection with important scientific or practical tasks. Modern changes in social and socio-cultural conditions led to the reorientation of the school education system to the formation of life skills in students, which will allow them to learn successfully, navigate in modern society, the information space, the labor market, perform socially important tasks, and respond to the needs and challenges of the time. Because of the above, the actual task of the modern school is the implementation of the competence approach, which involves the orientation of the educational process to the formation of key and subject competencies in students. The Concept of the New Ukrainian School aims at the introduction of a competence approach, which states that "knowledge and skills interrelated with the student's value orientations form his life competencies needed for successful self-realization in life, study, and work” [1].

According to V. Baranova, modern education should contribute to the development of democratic culture, the assimilation of knowledge about the common European heritage and national identity by the students of education; the development of a personality with the necessary competencies for life in the European community, capable of self-realization of their abilities and talents in the conditions of reforming modern society, included in the process of integration of the Ukrainian state into Europe. Changes in the content of Ukrainian school education should be the main effective tool for its reform and bringing it into line with the European context and the needs of today [2, P.3].

Knowledge of foreign languages is the key to success in today's world, where communication in different languages and the assimilation of information is gaining more and more importance. Interest in language learning grows every year. A diversely developed personality has better abilities to learn new things and is more confident when communicating with others. Children who study foreign languages have original thinking, and more opportunities to express opinions and judgments. The priority of modern language education, which guarantees its high quality, is an education focused on the formation of students' communication skills: to communicate, listen and hear the interlocutor, cooperate, express one's point of view freely, clearly and clearly, defend one's position, convince others with arguments, be tolerant of different opinions.

The preparation of education seekers for life in a multicultural society has been declared a priority task in the documents of the UN, UNESCO, the Council of Europe, and many international forums devoted to current issues of education. New pedagogical realities and related educational tasks are reflected in the Constitution of Ukraine, the laws of Ukraine «On Education» (2017), «On General Secondary Education» (2020), the Concept of the New Ukrainian School (2016), and other legal regulations documents and materials.

The formation of the communicative competence of primary school students is of particular relevance, because the junior school age is extremely favorable for mastering communicative skills and abilities, since in children of this age period speech hearing, and articulation are easily formed, they love to learn new words and fixed expressions, master linguistic constructions, reveal interest and sensitivity to language phenomena, strive for communication and quickly acquire speech experience.

Analysis of the latest studies and publications, which the author relies on, which consider this problem and approaches to its solution. The study of the English language is becoming more and more widespread in the world, therefore an important problem for pedagogical theory and practice remains the issue of diversifying the educational process, activating the cognitive activity of students, expanding the scope of their interests, and forming a positive motivation to study in the concept of the New Ukrainian School. Motivation is important in learning a foreign language. The main task of the teacher is to arouse, preserve, and support her promptly. But for this, the teacher needs to see and understand the possible sources of motivation. The most effective methods of forming motivation are integrated lessons with the use of game technologies, visualization, computer support, and involving students in research and search activities [3].

According to O. Nikitchenko and O. Tarasova, the joint multilingual activity of students and teachers during the educational process in the institution of general secondary education contributes to the creation of conditions necessary for the formation of multicultural, intercultural, subject, and life competencies. The basis of cooperation between a teacher and a student is a productive environment organized in a certain way, based on innovative technologies, methods, and techniques (development of communication skills, creative imagination, individual style of educational activity, modern computer technologies, project-based, interactive learning, etc.) [4].

Ukrainian scientists devoted their work to the topical issues of communication problem research:

Bekh, I. Zyazyun, S. Musatov (humanistic dimensions of pedagogical communication); N. Volkova, O. Kovalenko, S. Smotrytska, Tokareva, V. Filipchuk (communication in the pedagogical process); I. Zyazyun, S. Maksimenko, S. Sysoeva (communicative competence of the teacher); O. Nikulenko, G. Salashchenko, N. Tarasovych (dialogicity in the process of pedagogical communication); L. Velitchenko, E. Untilva (pedagogical interaction); G. Dyakonov, (psychological foundations of pedagogical communication); N. Kordunova, V. Lyubashina, N. Khomutynnikova (personality development in the process of communication) and others.

Domestic scientists O. Bigich, N. Borisova, N. Vereshchagina, L. Zenya, N. Maier, S. Nikolayeva, Yu. Passov, O. Parshikova, O. Solovova, V. Chernysh and others.

Structural components of communicative competence in foreign language lessons, methods, and techniques defined in the works of N. Golub, T. Gurova, N. Protsyuk, O. Tulnova, the competence approach to the formation of linguistic personality and speech development of students was analyzed by scientists M. Pentylyuk, G. Shelekhova; psychological and pedagogical principles; methods of forming the value component of communicative competence were analyzed in the studies of A. Yarmolyuk, V. Yagupova.

As noted by O. Nikitchenko and O. Tarasova, the intellectual development of an individual is determined nowadays not by the amount of knowledge and information that is stored in memory, but by a person's readiness to select the necessary knowledge through critical analysis, the ability to possess communication skills that are formed on in foreign language lessons, understanding information and independent decision-making, which is an integral part of modernizing the modern school in general and optimizing the teaching of the English language in particular [4].

Highlighting previously unsolved parts of the general problem, to which the specified article is devoted. The need for communication is one of the most important in a person's life, which cannot fully exist and develop without society. Regardless of age, education, social status, or nationality, people constantly search for, store, and transmit certain information, that is, they are actively engaged in communicative activities. Communication is necessary for a person to acquire certain knowledge, skills, methods of activity, and social experience and is one of the most important factors in personality development.

In primary school age, there is an active development of ideas and imagination, children's inquisitiveness and interest are clearly expressed, and skills and abilities to observe, compare, and evaluate their activities are formed. It is important in the educational process to select such forms, methods, and means of work that will determine the leading place of students in learning, taking into account their needs, interests, requests, and values, which are the subjects of the educational process. Primary school has the opportunity to provide younger students with important knowledge, to form their personality, who can think creatively, have their position and be responsible, and courageous in making decisions, the ability to adapt to school conditions, to be mobile in changes, which characterizes a competent personality.

Formulation of the goals of the article (statement of the task). The purpose of this article is to analyze the research of domestic and foreign scientists on the formation of communication skills in primary school students in foreign language lessons at the New Ukrainian School.

Presentation of the main research material. The implementation of the competence approach in the process of teaching younger students the English language involves clarifying the content and results of learning, selecting effective methods, techniques, forms of organizing educational interaction, updating the didactic-methodical support of the educational process, introducing new approaches to checking and evaluating the educational achievements of students.

Exercising a purposeful influence on the formation of students' communicative skills, the teacher must understand the essence of such concepts as «communication», «communicative skills», and «communicative competence», which are interconnected. Communication comes from the Latin communication - unity, transfer, connection, message. This term is related to the verb communico - to make common, to inform, to connect, which is derived from communis - common.

The psychological dictionary defines the concept of «communication» as a fundamental feature of human culture, which consists of intensive interaction between people based on the exchange of various types of information [5, p. 79-80]. Communication in one form or another accompanies every act of life of a social person. It is carried out based on certain sign systems (first of all, language), produced by one or another human community and recorded in individual and collective memory. A distinctive feature of communicative processes is their continuous quantitative and qualitative growth over time, due to the general progress of mankind, and the constant expansion of their geographical and ideological space, reinforced by the rapid development of technical means of information preservation and transformation.

In the scientific literature, there is no single point of view regarding the definition of the concept of «communication». I. Zimnia considers the concepts of «communication» and «communication» to be synonymous words (I. Zimnia).

The French scientist A. Perre-Clermont characterizes communication as a connection of individual actions about a collective product and the further implementation of this connection in the structure of a new joint action. The process of communication, in his opinion, includes the following stages: planning; establishment of contact; information exchange; and reflection [6].

The communicative approach most fully defines the specifics of a foreign language as an educational subject in a secondary education institution. This method was defined as a result of a methodical understanding of scientific achievements in the field of linguistics and psychology and the theory of activity, which was reflected in the works of outstanding scientists in psychology and foreign language teaching methods (I. Zimnia, Yu. Passov, S. Shatilov, G. Rogova, and others ).

B. Spitsberg and U. Koop singled out three components of communicative competence, namely: motivation, knowledge (procedural knowledge about which behavioral strategy to choose in a specific situation), skills (used types of behavior) - the interdependence of cognitive, behavioral, and affective components in certain speech acts (B. Spitsberg, U. Koop).

American researchers J. Gumpertz, C. Filyamore, D. Himes, and N. Chomsky believe that communicative competence includes knowledge, skills, sensitivity (ability to show attention and respect), commitment (attempt to avoid mistakes and find effective ways of interaction in the process of self-education and self-improvement).

Summarizing the views of modern researchers on the essence and structure of speech communication, we conclude that communication is the process of exchanging information (facts, ideas, views, emotions, etc.) between two or more persons, communication using verbal and non-verbal means to transmit and receive information, the interaction of communication participants, people's perception and knowledge of each other.

In the process of speech communication, the communication situation plays an important role. In the conditions of the educational process, the situation is set by the teacher. The subject of speech communication is opinions expressed in connection with certain motives within a specific topic. It can be an internal stimulus to communication (initiated by the need of the person himself) and external (initiated by another person). The dynamics of communication depend on the activity of the communicators, their interest in communication, the coincidence of interests, and the attitude of the communicators to each other, in the given situation. A person's ability to communicate is defined in psychological and pedagogical research as communicativeness. Foreign scientists consider communicativeness as the motivation of any individual action, its implementation on one's initiative, and not under the influence of external stimulation [7].

A high level of communication skills ensures the effectiveness of communication with other people in a wide variety of activities. It is important to start forming communication skills at the primary school age because communication activities are one of the main ones for children of this age. The lack of purposeful formation of communication skills in primary school hurts the disclosure of the child's inner potential and self-realization in education, among peers, and in society.

Therefore, the formation of communication skills of younger students is an extremely urgent problem. After all, not only the success of children in education depends on the level of their formation, but also on the process of their socialization and general development. Activating the communicative activity of younger students involves encouraging children to engage in purposeful communication. Communication is an integral part of any educational activity. Therefore, the formation of students' communication skills contributes to the improvement of the quality of the educational process. Skills, as is known, are formed in the process of activity. Communicative skills are formed and developed in the process of communication.

N. Poluektova singles out four stages of the formation of communication skills in younger students: motivational - involves revealing to students the importance of communication skills to achieve the goal of communication; familiarization - familiarization of students with the content of communication skills; mastering skills - creating a situation of subject-subject interaction of participants in the educational process in the process of learning with the aim of mastering communication skills; improvement of skills - independent use of communication skills by younger students during communication, performing creative work. (Poluektova N.).

To form communicative skills means to teach a student of primary school age to ask questions and formulate answers to them (that is, to conduct a dialogue), to listen carefully and actively discuss the content of what is heard, to comment on the statements of interlocutors and critically evaluate them, to argue their opinions, to express their empathy to the interlocutor, to adapt own statements for perception by other participants in the communicative process.

Materials and methods. Implementation of the communicative approach in the educational process of a foreign language means that foreign language speaking skills and abilities are formed through (and thanks to) foreign language speech activity of students. Mastering speaking, listening, and writing skills.

Before finding out the essence of the communicative competence of a younger student, we consider it appropriate to define the meaning of the concepts of competence, competence, and communicative competence. According to the academic explanatory dictionary of the Ukrainian language, «competence» is a good knowledge of something. Since there is no single view on the definition of the terms «competence» and «competence», we will use the term competence in the sense of a social norm, a requirement that covers knowledge, skills, methods of activity, and certain experiences. We consider competence as the ability to apply acquired knowledge, skills, methods of activity, and certain experiences in life situations to solve vital tasks or problems. Competence is a personal formation that manifests itself in the process of active independent actions of a person [8].

The communicative competence of a junior student is manifested in the ability to communicate with people of different ages and statuses, to understand and reproduce the information received by ear and read, to meaningfully and competently express one's thoughts in oral and written forms, to be fluent in the language in various educational and life situations. Junior school age is a favorable period for engaging children in communicative activities. This age can become favorable for ensuring communicative activity since the leading speech activity of younger students is oral speech. At this age, the initial skills of speech culture are effectively formed, by which we understand the knowledge of the norms of the literary language, the ability to construct expressions following the purpose of communication, compliance with the rules of communication (one answers - the rest listen), evaluating a classmate's answer after its completion, the rules of cooperation in a group, in pairs [9].

Modern educational institutions make new demands on children's speech. When answering in class, it should be specific, concise, clear, expressive, and well-constructed. During communication, it is necessary to adhere to ethical norms and use accepted formulas of speech etiquette (forms of address, words of courtesy). The child must take care of his speech and organize it correctly to establish relationships with teachers, peers, and other participants in the educational process. It is usually quite difficult for younger students to organize their speech behavior, and this negatively affects communication with others. The reason is that children of this age have insufficiently formed social and communicative skills, structural components of communication.

The emergence of the latest information technologies has fundamentally changed the attitude of students toward learning. Easy access to various types of information gives rise to the idea of ease of acquiring knowledge. Students who are used to not spending effort on acquiring knowledge, since the answers to all questions are quite easy to find by correctly asking the questions in the search engine, perceive learning as burdensome and unnecessary work. In addition, constant stay in the virtual space contributes to the accelerated formation of abilities necessary for existence in an artificially created world and delays the development of abilities necessary for the real world. Therefore, the school must learn to perform two tasks - to use the new abilities of children and to strengthen the traditional ones. As is well known, the effectiveness of the formation of communicative competence largely depends on taking into account the psychological development and mental abilities of students of each age micro period. In particular, it should be taken into account that in children of 1-2 grades perception is mostly involuntary, and fragmentary. They are characterized by a weak differentiation of perception - they do not notice the essence behind the details, call secondary signs instead of the main ones, and often confuse similar, close, but not identical objects and their properties [10].

It is important for our research that the perception of children of this age is characterized by brightness, sharpness, and readiness to receive new impressions. In the process of forming the components of communicative competence, it should be taken into account that students of grades 1-2 have a visual form of memory. They remember specific information, events, objects, and facts faster than verbal material. In their memory, what is involved in the process of active educational activity, and what their interests and needs are connected with is better preserved. It is equally important to take into account the specific properties of the attention of 6-7-year-old children, which is closely related to children's emotions, feelings, and interests. Its main features are the weakness of the voluntary and the high level of the involuntary.

Pupils of 1-2 grades cannot concentrate on uninteresting, incomprehensible for them, they are easily distracted, and they get tired quickly. The main factor in maintaining their attention is interest, which can be provided by vivid visuals, game techniques, challenging non-standard tasks, interesting accessible texts of various types, styles, and genres, and interactive forms of organizing educational activities.

However, throughout the entire period of primary school age, qualitative changes occur in the development of students' cognitive processes, which must be taken into account during the formation of communication skills.

Results and discussion. The development of students' multilingualism is defined as an aspect of special attention in European educational systems. The principle of communicativeness is a leading methodological principle that contributes to the achievement of the main goal of learning a foreign language - to teach students foreign language speech communication within the limits of learning the educational material. The principle of communicativeness involves building the process of learning a foreign language as a model of the process of real communication (Yu. Passov).

An important factor influencing attention is interest. Therefore, to awaken and maintain it, it is advisable to use bright visualization, didactic games and game techniques, non-standard tasks, simulation of various educational and life situations, use meaningful and accessible texts, problem questions, various forms of organization of educational activities, and interactive teaching methods.

Creative imagination is also intensively formed during this period: new images appear in children based on their own life experience; children's imagination moves to a higher level - from simple arbitrary combination to logically grounded construction of new images; the rate of formation of images increases, as well as children's demands for their creations. Memory in primary school age develops primarily in the direction of strengthening its arbitrariness; the ability to consciously control it increases and the amount of semantic, verbal, and logical memory increases.

Under the influence of education, schoolchildren's thinking develops the ratio of figurative and conceptual, concrete and abstract components changes in favor of the growth of the role of the latter. Thanks to thinking, elementary school students learn to define the concepts known to them, distinguish general and essential features of objects, solve increasingly complex cognitive and practical tasks, perform the necessary actions and operations, and express the results in judgments, concepts, reasoning, and conclusions.

Conclusions from this study and prospects for further research in this direction

So, the Concept of the New Ukrainian School defines new social requirements for the formation of vital personality qualities. A reorientation of the evaluation of the results of educational activities is being carried out. «It is not enough to give a child only knowledge. It is important to learn how to use them. Knowledge and skills, interconnected with the student's value orientations, form his life competencies, necessary for successful selfrealization in life, study and work» [4].

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