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speech.
- Learners help one another.
mixed ability classes.
Students’ confidence
- Less intimidating than presenting in
front of the entire class.
-
Comfortable,
casual
and
nonthreatening atmosphere
- Free interaction with peers
Development of other sub-skills
- Clarifying meaning,
- Re-phrasing,
- Negotiating meaning,
- Solving problems,
- Gathering information,
- Making decision
Information gap exercises were introduced into the research framework of the acquisition of
foreign languages, to clarify issues related to input and interaction. Since that date they have been
reliable tools for gathering information. The origin of information gap tasks can be traced to the
classroom, in activities that ask learners to find differences between individually held pictures, to
order sentences into stories, or to restore portions of incomplete maps and charts [3, p. 332].
In Gap activity there are two types of information involved as F. Arung presented as follows
[4,p. 15]:
Supplied-to-the-learner. This kind of information appears when the gap is created by
giving one or more group members the information which others do not have. This type of
information is also called as spotting the difference. For instance, giving one person one version of
a picture, giving another version of the same picture to their partners, and asking them to identify
the differences between the two pictures.
Supplied-by-the-learner. This type of information is supplied by the learners to
present information. For instance, this activity can be presented in asking students to interview each
other about their families would be an example of unique information which learners supply from
the knowledge they already possess.
Stages of implementing information gap technique: Here the students are put in pairs and
they have to find out about the experiences that each of them has had. Here it is possible to talk
about films.
Stage 1 Students are told they will work in pairs.
Stage 2 Students in each pair are given letters A and B.
Stage 3 The students are told that A should find out from B about any film that B has
seen, and what it was about, what B thought of it, etc. The teacher may suggest that B should ask
for the same information.
Stage 4 When the pairs have finished their conversations the teacher may lead a
feedback session by finding out what was interesting about the conversations each pair had [5, p.
39].
Examples of Information gap exercises:
Exercise 1. Game of synonyms. Name as many words of a certain word group as you can.
For example, take adjectives with the meaning “scathing”. For instance, you can start with
“mordant” and your classmates should continue to suggest words of similar meaning: harsh,
sarcastic, withering, scorching, trenchant, scornful, severe and etc.List of words for the game:
profound, tremendous, infuriating, a gimmick, an infinitesimal, mundane, frantic, a congestion, a
predicament, abysmal, monotonous
Exercise 2. Guessing game (one student) You should go to the blackboard and take the
object your teacher is going to give you. Your classmates don’t know the name of the object and
they are going to ask you questions about it. For example: “Is it a ribbon? Can someone taste it? Is
it eadible?” etc. This game goes on until students guess the name of the object.
Exercise 3. A Reasoning gap activity.A man is standing by a river with a wolf, a sheep, and
some vegetables. He wants to get everything across the river, but he has a small boat that cannot
carry all three things at one time. The wolf will eat the sheep if the man goes away, and the sheep
335
will eat the vegetables if the man goes away. Discuss how the man can get across the river without
losing any of his belongings.
Conclusion
The success of information gap technique tasks as classroom activities and research
instruments has been well established by their long-standing presence in professional references,
classroom textbooks, and the English language acquisition research. Information gap activities
present students with opportunities to use English appropriately inside and outside the classroom.
Unlike teacher-initiated display questions, which do not reflect the real life language use,
information gap activities have genuine communicative value. When structural drills are necessary,
after pattern practice at the mechanical level, teachers can use the structure in communicative drills
and activities that rely on referential questions and establish a communicative need in the English
classroom.
Literature
1. Asrobi M, Seken K, Suarnajaya W. The effect of information gap technique and
achievement motivation toward students’ speaking ability (an experimental study of the tenth grade
students of MAN SELONG). E-journal Program Pascasarjana Universitas Pendidikan Ganesha, vol.
1, 2013. - 12 p.
2. Cristina Andrade. The Development of Oral Skills in Foreign Language Learners through
Information Gap Exercises, E-journal of Teacher Education and Applied Language Studies, 2011. - 15 p.
3. Teresa Pica, Hyun-Sook Kang and Shannon Sauro, Information Gap tasks, their multiple
roles and contributions to interaction research methodology, University of Pennsylvania, Cambridge
University Press. 2006. – P. 301-334.
4. Fernandes Arung, Information-Gap Spoken Activities, Methods of TEFL. 2012. - 16 p.
5. M. Tumova, M. Cerna. Speaking activities aimed at developing fluency in EFL classes.
University of Pardubice. 2002. – 79 p.
E.K. Utemissova
L.Zh. Kazhygereeva
Uralsk (Kazakhstan)
POLYLINGUAL EDUCATION: ADVANTAGES OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES
STUDY
Kazakhstan is a young, rapidly developing country with a great potential. Today,
Kazakhstan is known as a reliable partner of the western and eastern states, the Republic is a
member of regional and international organizations. It is necessary to pay attention to creating of a
model of polylinguality and to the tactical decisions of the state to establish new relationships and to
enhance the credibility of the Republic at the international level.
To accomplish the task on November 20, 2007, the program "Trinity of languages" was
approved by the decree of the President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, which is aimed at the
development of three languages by the citizens of Kazakhstan: Kazakh as the state language,
Russian as the language of international communication and English- for successful integration into
the global economy.
In this regard, nowadays polycultural and polylingual education in the Republic of
Kazakhstan is one of the main trends in higher education. University is an important stage in the
process of formation and development of a polycultural personality, when the core values and life
principles are consciously formed. Only university is able to provide a student by supportive
