CC BY
13PEDAGOGICAL SCIENCES
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE PRACTICE OF LEARNING A TARGET FOREIGN LANGUAGE AT A TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY
Pakharukova V.,
PhD (Education), Associate Professor, Chair of Foreign Languages, Volgograd State Technical University, Volgograd
Shestakova O., Senior lecturer, Chair of Foreign Languages, Volgograd State Technical University, Volgograd
Kokhtashvili N. Senior lecturer, Chair of Foreign Languages, Volgograd State Technical University, Volgograd
Abstract
The article outlines the concept fundamentals of Innovative technologies in various spheres of our life as well as in language education at a technical university. A comparative analysis of teaching-learning a target foreign language is given. Different points of view on the problem of language learning and professional training of students are presented. Special emphasis is placed on the conceptual variability and integrability of various language teaching techniques in modern digital conditions. A number of advantages and limitations are described, and some ways of content-and-language learning implementations are suggested. The authors give some intermediate conclusions from their experiences and practices, including a compatibility of various aspects and factors.
Keywords: innovative technologies, target language, teaching-learning objectives, integration approach, information processing strategies, online learning.
Innovative technologies are much spoken about, for a number of reasons including also the numerous constraints we have to live in and participate in various activities. In this way we are trying to search for a balanced way of educational processes, and first of all we mean training the target language of our young specialists with a technical background. In connection with this problem, a number of different methods, including the author's techniques and practices have received a second life due to a great support of various Internet resources and creative approaches based on educational, psychological and social aspects of our life.
It should be noted that 'the concept of innovation has now acquired a universal and interdisciplinary nature, within the framework of which the knowledge and intellectual capital are the determining factors in the development of any social systems. The essence of the concept of innovation is revealed, first of all, in its definition, which is constantly changing and refined, as well as in the existing classification of types of innovations' [1].
Prior to enumerate some relevant methods and techniques we suggest to consider the definition of "innovative technologies'" or/and "innovations" first.
The notion "Innovative technologies" has recently turned out to be very popular in different spheres of our life ranging from technical/engineering and natural sciences to economic and education activities. It is enough to mention some researchers (Moore, Kelley and Littman, 2005; Rosenfeld B., 2006, Nowotny and Godin, 2008; Tiwari and Herstatt, 2011, et. al.) of different areas considered this terminology trying to find out its ambiguous meaning. And some developers quite often call their products "innovative" in order to attract more attention to the existing processes or give the
well-known things a gloss of novelty, or modernize existing concepts and implement their ideas.
To define innovation we might return to the Latin Origin of the word. Innovation or 'innovare', which means 'to make something new', leads to several conclusions of its deeper meaning. The Latin concept is quite cryptic and can be better understood when divided into three parts [2]. To make something new one has to: • generate or realise a new idea (invention and creativity) • develop this idea into a reality or product (realisation) • implement and market this new idea (implementation).
'The 'to make something new' refers to replacing old concepts or products with new ones, continually updating and improving them. When introducing a concept such as technology into the meaning of innovation, and defining the term 'technological innovation', the following changes to the above occur: • generate or realise a new idea, based on technology, capability or knowledge (invention) • develop this into a reality or product (realisation) • diffuse, implement and market this new idea, technology, capability or knowledge (implementation)'.
In this case the researchers [2] consider the technological innovation as a part of the total innovation discipline. It focuses specifically on technology and how to embody it successfully in products, services and processes. 'Technology as a body of knowledge might thus be seen as a building block for technological innovation, serving as comerstone to research, design, development, manufacturing and marketing'.
According to Walker (Walker, 2006) innovation is 'a process through which new ideas, objects, and practices are created, developed or reinvented and which are new and novel to the unit of adoption'.
Subsequently, we consider the essence of innovation and key principles.
Sustaining innovation is a process with many components that interact in a dynamic and energizing way. According to Bob Rosenfeld [4], the Center for Creative Leadership's Innovator in Residence and author of "Making the Invisible Visible": The Human Principles for Sustaining Innovation, it's all too easy to let specific issues or tactics dominate your efforts. 'By learning key principles, leaders and organizations can stay focused on the essence of innovation'. According to Rosenfeld, those 5 principles give life to the process.
First: Innovation starts when people convert problems to ideas. New ideas are born through questions, problems and obstacles. In order for the innovation process to flourish, it needs a climate that encourages inquiry and welcomes problems.
Second: Innovation also needs a system. All organizations have innovation systems. Some are formal, designed by the leadership, and some are informal, taking place outside established channels. Systems for innovation fall into one of five categories: originator-assisted; targeted innovation; internal venturing; continuous improvement; or strategic transfer.
The third principle: Passion is the fuel, and pain is the hidden ingredient. Passion is what propels ideas. It's what transforms other resources into profits, but it never shows up on a balance sheet. 'Unfortunately, when pursuing a passion or following a dream, pain is a part of the process'. Innovation leaders need to take the pain with the passion and learn to manage both effectively.
A fourth principle that underlies the methods for innovation: Co-locating drives effective exchange. Co-location refers to physical proximity between people. It is a key for building the trust that is essential to the innovation process. It also increases the possibility for greater exchange of information, stimulation of creative thinking in one another and critique of ideas during their formative stage.
And lastly: Differences should be leveraged. The differences that normally divide people — such as language, culture, and problem solving styles — can be a boon to innovation. When differences are used constructively, they can be leveraged to enhance and sustain the innovation process.
While analyzing the definitions of the concept "innovation", formulated by different authors, we can conclude that there is an understanding that this is primarily a result of innovation. However, the result cannot be obtained without the implementation of the process of any activity, therefore, innovation should be determined both as a result and as a process. Any activity is a process of changing something (getting a new one), which always leads to a certain result [4].
Other definitions of technological innovation may be found in literature, but we share the view 'yet they all make some reference to invention, realisation, or implementation' [2]. We can add here or/and to the improvement.
Innovative technologies in the target language learning
Various educational techniques and processes are frequently called "innovative" as well.
To clarify the innovative nature of the educational process of teaching the target language, we propose to consider some of the most relevant concepts of innovation. For example, Godin (2008) defines 12 concepts of innovation which can be presented as follows [3] : A: innovation as process of doing something new: - innovation as imitation; - innovation as invention; - innovation as discovery; B: innovation as human abilities to creative activity: - innovation as imagination; - innovation as ingenuity; - innovation as creativity.
Teaching-learning target language at our technical university has a number of characteristic features: -technical direction, - targets of language learning, -target tools, - rating system for evaluating language skills (61-100 credits), - independent and group project work, - self-control skills. We pointed out the most important factors at the intermediate stage of our research. It should be stated that these factors are not something frozen for a long period of time; on the contrary, they should be alive and changeable to solve the challenges of sustainable development of young professionals with a technical background.
Depending on the target language course we concentrated on the main learning objectives - 1) reading original expert reviews and articles to obtain up-to-date information; 2) developing communicative competence in professionally-oriented activities; 3) translating skills of thematic texts and technical specifications.
Following a comprehensive approach and content-and- language integrated learning we combined the objectives 1) and 2) that led to the increase of our students' personal interests and needs.
It is evident that university students need some effective instructions for organising the stages of language learning, self-development and self-education. Our students should follow instructions on how to learn the target foreign language and how best to combine traditional and online tools to succeed in using the target language for professional needs [7].
We are also aware, that 'being familiar with digital tools is not enough: students need guidelines on how to use them specifically for the purpose of acquiring the language proficiency'.
We should instruct our undergraduates the ways of self-learning, and at the same time give them a general overview of today's methods and techniques, taking into consideration psychological and developing aspects of the educational process in a target language, and, beyond any doubt personal interests and attractions in order to balance an individual approach with the group and team work. Reasonable integrated techniques have become the necessity of our digital age [8].
We would like to emphasize that it was our digital era that gave the second life to some ICT technologies and author's techniques, and allowed us to combine and flexibly integrate them into targeted English-language learning.
Information processing strategies are another example of teaching method that motivates students to find and adopt the necessary thematic information to
present or discuss it in class or via Skype /video conferencing with the partner(s). While it is often advisable to have students really understand the teaching methods and not just memorize facts or statements, there are some cases when facts need to be memorized. Facts and concepts may also need to be grouped or organized in order to facilitate better understanding. Teachers can use various teaching methods to help students with memorization, or they can use graphic organizers, mind maps, story webs, or other ways to represent information visually.
At the same time fluency is considered to be more important than accuracy in another innovative method, such as CLIL (Content-and-Language Integrated Learning). The nature of CLIL classes means that the focus is made firmly on communication, and accuracy comes with time and practice. 'Making mistakes is a natural process in language learning' and 'language doesn't have to be accurate to be communicative' [5]. CLIL exposes learners to situations calling them to genuine communication. Based on this statement we are still trying to find some reasonable ratio and effective ways to somehow reduce repeated and undesirable mistakes and errors [8].
One of the most striking features of CLIL is that it promotes critical thinking and collaboration skills as well as language competence. It produces, beyond any doubt, life-long learners and students are sent out with real-world skills and enhanced motivation and self-confidence.
As for a number of personal factors that affect, in particular, language e-learning we note a sufficient increase in the number of students who want to expand their professional possibilities by reading English-language expert reviews and articles on their specialties ("Applied computer science in Economics", "Digital economy", "Internet marketing", "Guerilla marketing and advertising", "Event management", "E- business"). This fact also indicates the students' motivation to learn English, as it allows them to discuss up-to-date information taken from English-language sources in seminars or use it for the course works in some special subjects, as well as in English classes for presentation of project assignments.
We are ultimately convinced that it is necessary to combine some aspects of traditional methods, author's techniques and online learning to achieve today's educational objectives.
Results and Conclusions
Improvements of target English-language teaching/learning or implementations of some ideas in new technological spaces are the important factors to make the process more effective and up-to-date. We need compatibility of various factors, elements and variables of the most effective language practices in and beyond the classroom.
The process of Innovation in teaching and learning starts with the Question "What is the best for this learner?" and leads to - Innovative practice ^ Best practice ^ Reflect, revise, and remix [9].
Our study has also confirmed the vitality of the integration component in content-and- language integrated learning of the target English-language. Its dual-focused education is characterized by the attention given to the topic as well as the language. We would like to state that the topic itself is more important for university learners, and the English language should be to a greater extent the medium used. We tried to focus as much as possible to the topic in English, without forgetting at the same time about grammatical means of expression. In this way we share the following statement 'Whether the topic is a university subject or another, the principles are the same' [ 5,6 ]. The fact that importance is given to the topic and the language gives a more integrated methodology of learning and teaching, drawing attention to the educational process as a whole as opposed to just how languages should be taught at a more advanced level at the university.
The advantages of online learning of the target language include completing of purely grammatical assignments and tests using conventional forms, as well as tests in an automated mode. It gives the students some additional opportunities to acquire the necessary grammar skills and competences for independent work. In this sense, it is a good grammar simulator for our students to improve their grammar knowledge and maintain targeted language skills. It also gives them the opportunity to gain the experience with the appropriate tools beyond the classroom.
Our online practice has shown us favorable results in some situations: 1) when a student(s) is unable to attend classes for a number of reasons he/she can complete assignments online and upload them to the appropriate topic section /item; 2) we can also place assignments for so-called debtors - those students who missed language classes or deadlines for loading assignments; 3) when students want to improve their grammar skills by completing additional tasks; 4) when it is necessary to conduct tests online; 5) the opportunity to implement an individual approach.
Despite a number of positive points we would like to emphasize some limitations. And the most problematic points for our consciousness are psychological reasons that can lead to depressive states or other deviations associated with a long stay in the virtual space and the loss of real life sensations. And young people aged 18-20 should develop first some important qualities of their character, the ability to speak tet-a-tet and learn to feel the real reactions of the partner(s), as well as communication skills in a group environment and, beyond any doubt, cultivate their own abilities and human qualities in real life situations.
We believe that the main conclusions are that fulltime classes at the university should continue to be a priority, and online technologies - some additional but effective and at the same time auxiliary means of maintaining communication skills and consolidating grammar knowledge and language competencies. We should be aware that based on changing sanitary and epidemi-ological conditions, we are likely to maintain the parallel functioning of full-time and online training modes for certain periods of time.
REFERENCES:
1. Essence and types of innovations, Conclusions - Analysis of innovation activity. Available at: https://testmyprep.com/subject/investment/essence-and-types-of-innovations-conclusions/
2. Defining Technological Innovation. 02chap-ter2. pdf . Available at: https://repository.up.ac.za/bitstream/han-dle/2263/30490/02chapter2.pdf.
3. Kotsemir M., Abroshkin A. Innovation Concepts and Typology - an Evolutionary Discussion. National Research University/ Basic Research Program/Working Papers. - 2018.
4. The Essenes of Innovation: 5 Principles. -Centre for Creative Leadership. Available at: https://www.ccl.org/multimedia/podcast/the-essence-of- innovation-5-principles/
5. Son, J.-B. (2015). Internet-based language instruction: Study book. Toowoomba, Australia: Distance Education Centre, University of Southern
Queensland. Available at:
http://www.apacall.org/member/sonjb/projects/tools/
6. Son, J.-B. (2016). Using Web-Based Language Learning Activities in the ESL Classroom. International Journal of Pedagogies and Learning, 4(4), 3443.
7. Pakharukova V., Toporkova O., Bessarabova I., Jovanovich T. Methodology of Integrated Language Learning Projects for University Undergraduates. / Revista Espacios.- Vol.40 (N.5), 2019. - P. 1-8.
8. Pakharukova V., Yankina E., Kokhtashvili N. Scenario Diversity in Autonomy for Foreign Language Learning: Technical University Facilities. / World of Science. - Vol.3, 4(44), 2017. - P. 53-55.
9. https://yandex.ru/images/search?pos=Innova-tive teaching methods=Principles educational innovations.
RESEARCH ON FORMING OF READING SKILLS OF PRIMARY SCHOOL AGE CHILDREN WITH SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS BY MODERN TYPOGRAPHY
Babych N.,
PhD in Education, Senior lecturer of the Department of special and inclusive education ofInstitute of Human Sciences, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Kyiv, Ukraine
Liubenko L.
students of the special and inclusive education of Institute of Human Sciences, Borys Grinchenko Kyiv University, Kyiv, Ukraine
ДОСЛ1ДЖЕННЯ НАВИЧКИ ЧИТАННЯ У Д1ТЕЙ МОЛОДШОГО ШКШЬНОГО В1КУ З ОСОБЛИВИМИ ОСВ1ТН1МИ ПОТРЕБАМИ ЗАСОБАМИ СУЧАСНО1 ТИПОГРФ1КИ
Бабич Н.М.
кандидат педагоггчних наук, старший викладач кафедри спец1ально1 та 1нклюзивно1 oceimu 1нсти-туту людини Кивського ymiверситету iменi Бориса Гртченка, Кшв, Украти
Любенко Л.В.
студентка кафедри спецiальноi та iнклюзивноi освiти 1нституту людини Кивського }miверситету iменi Бориса Гртченка, Кшв, Укра'ша
Abstract
The paper presents the results of the study on reading skills of children of primary school age with special educational needs. Texts adapted by different print typefaces for primary school textbooks and modern typefaces used for children with dyslexia have been proposed as stimulating material. The quality and speed tasks' execution of printed in different fonts was evaluated. The results of the research indicate that the "Inclusion UKR" font has a positive impact on the reading skills forming of children with special educational needs. Further prospects for the study are to determine the effectiveness of using the "Inclusion UKR" font to optimize reading skills of children with special educational needs.
Анотащя
У роботг презентоваш результата дослгдження навички читання в дггей молодшого шильного вгку з особливими освггшми потребами. У якостг стимульного матерiалy було запропоновано тексти, що адапто-вано рiзними шрифтами, якг використовуються для друку щдручнишв початково! школи, та сучасним шрифтами, як використовують для дггей iз дислексгею. Оцгнювалась яшсть i швидшсть виконання завдань надрукованих ргзними шрифтами. Результати проведеного дослгдження констатують, що саме шрифт Inclusion UKR позитивно впливае на навичку читання дггей з особливими освгтнгми потребами. Подаль-шими перспективами дослгдження е визначення ефективносл використання шрифту Inclusion UKR для оптимгзацп навички читання в дггей з особливими освгтнгми потребами з ргзним ргвнем функцюнування.
Keywords: typography, reading skills, children with special educational needs, dyslexia.
Ключовi слова: типографгка, навичка читання, дгти з особливими освгтшми потребами, дислексгя.
