Қазақ
мемлекеттік қыздар
педагогикалық университеті Хабаршы №3 (51), 2014 ж.
135
contexts. This article presents an overview of some modern methods and techniques used in TFL
at technical.
Keywords: Universities, such as the case study method, language portfolio, writing essays
and doing research, designing and delivering oral presentations and team teaching.
The choice of the teaching practices described was determined by their accordance
with the following pedagogic concepts:
- communicative approach;
- problem-solving approach;
- vocational orientation in TFL;
- learner-centred approach.
One of the most well-known, though still receiving little use is the case study method
(Benoit, 2009), which appeared as a distinctive approach as far as in the beginning of the 20
th
century. Case study is an intensive analysis of an individual unit (as an event, a person or type of
behaviour, institutional group or culture) stressing developmental factors in relation to
environment.
This is a method of research by which accumulated case histories are analysed as
primary authorities instead of textbooks (Horwich,1999). Normally in FLT the text of a case
study is up to 2 pages long and includes such sections as: background or introductory
information, description of an event or problem definition, and a presentation of issues for group
discussion.
Materials and methods
Case studies for FL study should be based on realistic professional or everyday problems
and situations, and designed to motivate and actively engage students. Typically students are
involved in discussions on particular problems and work out solutions or recommendations
through their active group work. Case studies are also excellent topics for dialogues. It is
common that each case study ends with a realistic writing task reflecting the real world of
professional correspondence.
To be successful in using case studies a teacher should take into consideration the level of
students’ language knowledge. The best choice would be using it with the student groups of
intermediate or advanced level, who may have certain problems in grammar, pronunciation or
vocabulary use, but for the most part are at ease with speaking the FL. Classroom applications of
the case study method include: – free discussions; – directed discussions; – group research work;
– written tasks (Benoit, 2009), and other types of activities.
Language Portfolio is a set of documents that contains information about student’s
language learning experiences, the level of different language skills – writing, reading, speaking,
listening, and translation, and samples of those skills. It promotes language learning and the
development of cultural competence. Most often it consists of three parts:
a language passport, a
language biography and
a dossier (Horwich 1999). Its
language passport allows language
learners to summarize their language learning experiences and to describe them in a meaningful
way using the terminology of an international rating scale. The
language biography focuses on
the five C’s of language learning: Communication, Culture, Connections, Comparisons, and
Communities. It provides learners with an opportunity to assess for themselves
their language learning progress in five skill areas. It also encourages them to set personal goals
in language learning and intercultural competence development, and to plan strategies to meet
their individual goals. The
dossier both stores samples of a learner’s speaking and writing, and
documents results of the learner’s language tests and other professional certifications.
Results and discussion
Teachers can use the Language Portfolio technique to help their learners become more
autonomous. Universities can use it to develop a whole-school language policy and approaches
Казахский государственный женский
педагогический университет Вестник №3(51), 2014 г.
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to LT. Besides the Language Portfolio can be used in programmes of teacher education and
development (pre-service and in-service) to encourage reflective, learner-centred approaches to
language learning and promote awareness of the international language assessment criteria.
While the language passport provides a summary in the owner’s proficiency in a FL, the
language biography and dossier provide employers with a more detailed picture of his or her
language and intercultural skills. Thus the Language Portfolio can later be used in recruitment
and workplace language training.
An essay is usually a short piece of writing, which is often written from an author's
personal point of view and requires an independent research. In each vocational course students
should be advised to read books in a FL and complete the given tasks related to their study in the
essay format. The reading of both exclusively professional and non-professional texts in a FL
selected according to the students’ level and the progress made in the study programme is of
great significance and should be widely accepted in TFL at technical universities.
Essay is a good introduction to patterned writing which is the basis for much more
complicated writing that is done later in personal and professional life. Students are taught to
produce generative essay writing, developing the plan, drafting, seeking and receiving feedback,
revising, proofreading, and reflecting along with the development of the skills to searching and
selecting information from additional sources such as the Internet, specialized journals and other
special publications.
Teachers should not mark errors at all on early drafts, especially with non-linguistic
students. Even on later or final drafts not every error should be marked in order not to make the
process of writing seem too difficult and de-motivating.
It is recommended that the major writing assignments had links between them, that is a
project begun in an earlier essay should lead in some way to a later essay. Students should self-
assess their works repeatedly – they should be asked to write reflections about their essays on the
days they turn them in. Their reflections should be not only evaluative but also descriptive: they
should show the understanding of how they write, and putting it in writing will help them.
Learning to write essays improves students’ critical thinking skills, develops their ability to
systematically compare and contrast subjects, and encourages creativity and originality.
Making oral presentations is one of the important components of a FL course as it
develops students’ oral presentation and public speaking skills. Asking students to give
presentations gives the following benefits: – it gives the presenting student a good opportunity to
practise unaided speaking; – it gives the other students good listening practice; – it increases the
presenting student's confidence when using a FL; – it can be a good diagnostic and assessment
device; – it can be good practice for the real situation when students may actually need to give
presentations in a FL in their professional lives; – it is an excellent generator of spontaneous
discussion and/or essay topics. Students of a university will need the skills of presenting
information and conducting briefings
in their future work; therefore they should be taught to give
instructive and demonstration speeches and presentations followed by discussions. Besides these
are the basic types of presentations to teach to non-linguistic students, since they are simple and
their more immediate structures lend themselves for use even to the students with the language
knowledge of pre-intermediate or intermediate levels.
The presentation task usually follows the tasks on conducting research and writing essays,
but sometimes it needs an independent research to be done. In accordance with the problem-
solving approach tasks on designing presentations require student’s independence and
responsibility. However the teacher should assist students in going over the stages of preparation
for the presentation, working on its different parts, discuss possible problems with delivery and