Motivational tasks in teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language

Abstract

The paper deals with the issue of foreign language teaching methodology. It presents a question of motivating foreign students to intensify their speech activity while learning the Ukrainian language. The author’s principal focus is on the role of motivational tasks in the formation of foreign-language communicative competence, as well as in building professional and social skills by a foreign audience. Results of the conducted research confirmed the usefulness of creating such motivational tasks, based on cross-cultural sources, for foreign students of humanities. Said motivational tasks include open-type creative assignments that are based on the previously received phonetic, lexical and grammar skills and encourage learners to speak out using the Ukrainian language. This article provides models of communication situations, role-playing games, presentations, discussions, projects and some other creative oral and written exercises based on materials about life in Kyiv. The conclusions on the results of the integration of these tasks into the educational process are subsequently presented.

Keywords

• ukrainian as a foreign language
• communicative competence
• motivational tasks
• professional and social skills
• linguo-cultural materials