Audiovisual teaching aids in the formation process of foreign language communicative competence

Abstract

The modern visually-oriented world is the world of real and virtual possibilities due to the application of information technologies. Therefore, television and the Internet are used not only for entertainment but also for educational purposes in all the spheres of human activity including education. In didactics, audiovisuals play an important role in mastering foreign languages. The appropriateness of their use in the educational process is stipulated by their implementation facilitating all general didactic learning principles – activity, consciousness, consistency, and visualization as well. Audio and video materials are aimed at improving the perception efficiency of the program material, checking the level of its assimilation, and mastering the abilities and practical skills for application of the acquired knowledge. The aim of our analysis was an attempt to define the most basic principles for the formation of competence in a foreign language in students from non-language institutions of higher education based on the use of audiovisual teaching aids. During the study, the authors conducted an analysis and synthesis of the best pedagogical practice, generalized their observations, and experimentally verified the validity of using audiovisual teaching aids in the formation of foreign language competence of foreign students of the preparatory department and the main stage of training (1st-4th year students), and 1st-2nd year Ukrainian students of Vinnytsia National Technical University. The article clarifies the concept of foreign language competence. There have been analyzed the main methods of forming students’ foreign language competence based on the use of audio and video materials (phonetic recordings, texts recordings, audio lessons, podcasts, video clips, video films, electronic textbooks, online dictionaries, video conferences, virtual seminars, telecommunication projects). The authors have substantiated theoretically and tested experimentally the effectiveness of the use of audiovisual teaching aids and their influence on the formation of speech competence among Ukrainian and foreign students. They have proved that while using audiovisuals in the classroom one should take into account the cognitive patterns of students’ learning activities, and their readiness to perceive and assimilate the learning material. It is also important to ensure an organic combination of specific audiovisuals with the teacher’s professional skills. The creation of the foreign language communicative environment will help both optimize the training of future engineers of foreign language professional communication, and also form their professional communicative competence.

Keywords

• english as a foreign language
• audiovisuals/audiovisual teaching aids
• communicative competence
• foreign language communication
• ukrainian as a foreign language