THE ROLE OF THE EVALUATION TOOLS USE IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN NON-LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

РОЛЬ ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЯ ОЦЕНОЧНЫХ СРЕДСТВ В ОБУЧЕНИИ ИНОСТРАННОМУ ЯЗЫКУ В НЕЯЗЫКОВОМ ВУЗЕ

Научная статья

Капсаргина С.А.^1, *, Шмелева Ж.Н.²

¹ ORCID: 0000-0002-7346-3896;

² ORCID: 0000-0003-2102-4776;

^{1, 2} Красноярский государственный аграрный университет, Красноярск, Россия

* Корреспондирующий автор (kpsv[at]bk.ru)

Аннотация

Подобно любому успешному менеджеру, преподаватели иностранных языков в неязыковых вузах выполняют такие функции, как: планирование, организация, руководство, координация и контроль. Проблема контроля, мониторинга и оценки качества обучения, определения степени сформированности иноязычной коммуникативной компетенции, уровня владения видами речевой деятельности особенно с развитием современных цифровых образовательных технологий стала одной из центральных проблем в методике преподавания иностранного языка. Следовательно, разработка и внедрение логических, адекватных и современных средств контроля обучения студентов английскому языку (и другим иностранным языкам) в неязыковых вузах представляется актуальной. Авторы статьи выделяют наиболее эффективные формы контроля и анализируют инновационные средства контроля, способствующие развитию коммуникативных и речевых навыков.

Ключевые слова: иностранный язык, вуз, высшее образование, формирование компетенций, средства контроля, межпредметные отношения, принцип “преемственности”, эффективная коммуникация.

THE ROLE OF THE EVALUATION TOOLS USE IN TEACHING FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN NON-LINGUISTIC UNIVERSITY

Research article

Kapsargina S.A.^1, *, Shmeleva Zh.N.²

¹ ORCID: 0000-0002-7346-3896;

² ORCID: 0000-0003-2102-4776;

^{1, 2} Krasnoyarsk State Agrarian University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia

* Corresponding author (kpsv[at]bk.ru)

Abstract

Similar to the functions of any successful manager, foreign language teachers in non-linguistic universities perform such functions as: planning, organizing, directing, coordinating and controlling. The problem of controlling, monitoring and evaluating the quality of teaching, determining the degree of formation of foreign language communicative competence, the level of proficiency in the types of speech activity especially with the development of modern digital educational technologies have become one of the central problems in the foreign language teaching methodology. Consequently, the development and implementation of logical, adequate and modern control tools for students learning English (and other foreign languages) in non-linguistic universities seem to be relevant. The authors of the article identify the most effective forms of control and analyze the innovative control tools that help develop communication and speech skills.

Keywords: foreign language, university, higher education, competence formation, control tools, inter-subject relations, “succession” principle, effective communication.

Introduction

The ultimate aim of any professional education is to achieve a high level of professional competence for the future specialist who is possessing necessary skills and knowledge and is able to apply them in practice. In order to achieve this goal, it is necessary to have adequate professional training at the institution of higher education which is practically-oriented and student-centered.

The relevance of this study is due to the fact that, despite the extensive methodological and didactic base, the issue of developing a system of control and evaluation materials for students is still acute, since the problem of developing adequate evaluation materials is a complicated issue to solve.

The problem of developing control and evaluation materials was raised, analyzed and discussed by the following researchers: Antyukhov A.V.[1], Balashova T. A.[2], Hetman E. I.[3], Osadchey V. P., Yarmolinets L. G.[4], Zindinova N.S.[6], Toporkova O. V., Novozhenina E. V., Chechet T. I., Khutorsky A.V.[5], [6], etc.

The expediency of the work is determined by the necessity to identify the importance of using evaluation tools while teaching a foreign language in non-linguistic university, which provide control over the formation of general cultural competence among students.

The scientific novelty consists in the use of control and evaluation tools in teaching students not only helps to form and consolidate subject knowledge, but also contributes to the formation of general cultural competencies.

The purpose of the work is to point out the importance of using evaluation tools in teaching a foreign language for the formation of general cultural competence.

The theoretical and practical significance of the work lies in the fact that the presented ideas can help develop logical, adequate and modern control tools for students learning English (and other foreign languages) in non-linguistic universities.

When studying any discipline in an educational institution in accordance with the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education, a graduate must master certain competencies and the “Foreign language” discipline is not an exception. For example, a future specialist in the field of training 38.03.03 “Personnel Management” should master the following competence: the ability to communicate orally and in writing in Russian and foreign languages to solve problems of interpersonal and intercultural interaction. This competence will definitely help future human resource managers to communicate effectively in the organization, and become leaders who are worth following, as it is a well-known fact that having good ideas isn’t enough. A good HR manager should develop his speaking and writing skills in order to be effective and give correct orders, set definite goals and delegate understandable task to his employees. Only then the company’s goals will be achieved, employees will be motivated. Higher education in Russia is aimed at training a highly qualified specialist with a wide range of general cultural, general professional and professional competences who will be in demand not only in the domestic labor market, but also abroad. Moreover, modern young generation is focused and preparing to apply their university competencies in the international labor market. For instance, Krasnoyarsk SAU has such an experience when its graduates successfully enter Master degree courses abroad or find employment in such countries as Canada, the USA, Turkey, China, Germany and others. The specialists of the Department of International and Technical Programs provide students with the European Diploma Supplement for them to make a process of continuing education or applying for a job abroad easier.

The formation of competencies in students should be carried out throughout the entire educational process, should use inter-subject relations and observe the “succession” principle. The control and evaluation tools are the means that identify the level of competence formation and also serve as a diagnostic tool for identifying the lack of competence formation and in the further development of technologies for the development of competence.

We agree with scientists that problem of developing a system of assessment materials for the discipline is one of the most important and at the same time, rather a difficult task to solve. Recently, there has been a tendency to reduce the hours in the curriculum allocated to the study of the “Foreign language” discipline, in connection with the current situation, in conditions of limited time, it is necessary to form the required competencies in students. So, according to the curriculum for the direction of training 38.03.03, only 288 hours are provided: 102 hours of contact work, 150 hours of independent work, 36 hours of control. As for aim of the study of English as a discipline, students should master theoretical and practical knowledge, master skills of speaking, reading and writing in English to carry out the process of communication with representatives of English-speaking countries, both on everyday and professional topics. Tasks of the discipline are as follows:

1) Speaking. The student must have prepared, as well as untrained monologue speech in the form of a summary, report; dialogic speech in situations of scientific, professional and everyday communication;

2) Listening. The student must be able to listen to the original monologue and dialogic speech for specialty, based on the studied language material;

3) Reading. The student must be able to read the original literature for specialty in different modes of reading.

4) Writing. The student must possess the skills of writing within the studied material. Types of speech works, plan (summary of what they read), presentation of content in a summary, report according to the theme of the research.

The control of knowledge, skills in a foreign language allows not only establishing the level of success of training, but also to identify shortcomings in the knowledge, skills of students and thereby determine the necessary changes that should be made to the methodology of work. Control has an educational effect on students, stimulating their learning activities. The following control functions are distinguished: the actual control (verification); assessing; training; managerial and, in particular, corrective; diagnostic; stimulating and motivating; developing, educating and disciplining. As the researchers consider, the most effective forms of control include a test, an interview, a message, an essay, a test paper, an annotation and an abstract of the text and a survey.

Assessment funds for the “Foreign language” discipline has been developed and implemented by our faculty. When developing assessment tools, the stages of competence formation, educational technologies, types of control, and forms of control were taken into account, the indicators and criteria for assessing competencies were also taken into account and worked out [7], [8].

Based on the analysis of the literature on the studied problem, researchers identify traditional and innovative assessment tools, interview, colloquium, test, essay, exam are referred to traditional assessment tools, etc., innovative tools include case studies, portfolios, projects, team work, business and role games, etc. The teachers of our university try to use a combination of traditional and innovative assessment tools. The Bachelors of the training direction “Personnel management” study English for 4 years in a full-time mode of study and 5 years in the part time mode. So, the faculty members have enough time to use various control tools. Special attention is paid to writing essays on such topics as “HRM – my future profession”, “A good way of attracting new employees is …”, “Different people are motivated by different things”, “Three principles of supervision are “firm”, “fair” and “friendly”, “I am thinking of starting my own business”, etc. When writing an essay the student fulfills the following requirements: styling the speech is properly selected (is observed neutral style); the text is organized in correct form, i.e. the statement is logical, logical tools are used correctly; the text is divided into paragraphs; excellent vocabulary is demonstrated, i.e. used vocabulary corresponds to the set of communicative task; almost no violations in the use of vocabulary; correct grammar is used, i.e. grammatical structures are used in accordance with the set communicative task; excellent knowledge of spelling and punctuation is demonstrated, i.e. spelling errors are practically absent; the text is divided into sentences with correct punctuation. The essay evaluation criteria are as follows:

1. The content of the evaluated written text (compliance with the given topic; the absence of unjustified expansion or narrowing of the proposed topic or “misunderstanding” it, the presence of the main idea of the statement and the degree of its disclosure).
2. Compliance with the rules of written text (sequential and logical presentation of ideas, the lack of repetition; compliance of written composition structural-compositional rules of the organization of the text of this functional type).
3. Compliance with the required level of formality/ informality of written communication (compliance of the selected language tools with the task, the addressee of the statement and the conditions of communication; no unjustified violation of the stylistic unity of the text).
4. Ensuring coherence of written composition (presence of communication as part of a sentence between its parts, and inside the whole text between the individual sentences written language; the harmony of parts of written text).
5. Independence, individual character, non-standard writing; sincerity and emotionality of expressing one's thoughts.
6. Language design (the variability of the lexical and syntactic units used; the absence of grammatical, spelling and lexical errors in the language material).
7. Compliance with the requirements for:
8. a) the appearance of the work (the presence of a red line, margins, placement of information);
9. b) the volume of the written work, where it is necessary,
10. c) the time allocated for the performance of this written task.

Control and evaluation tools should be clear and understandable to students; faculty of the department presented most fully the evaluation criteria for all forms of the control. This is a positive moment in the formation of the student’s competence, as student can see his own result, the achievement of the goals set for him when studying the discipline. Also, testing is an attractive method of knowledge control for students, because its results do not depend on the relationship between the teacher and the student. So, when performing the test, the student can get a score of “Excellent” for 13-15 correct answers; “Good” for 11-12 correct answers; “Satisfactory” for 8-10 correct answers.

As many researchers note, the formation of foreign language competence of students is impossible without the use of innovative tools such as presentations, role-plays and business games, these tools allow students to develop communication and speech skills, use the learned lexical material in a situation. Role-plays or business games are conducted on the lesson under the guidance of a teacher. Our faculty use simulations of the situation “Restaurant”, within topic “Food”, the situation “At the airport” in the framework of the theme “Travelling”, etc.

The following evaluation criteria are applied, for instance, a detailed response should be a coherent, logical, consistent report on a given topic and show the student's ability to apply definitions and rules in specific cases. The assessment should take into account the following criteria: the completeness and correctness of the answer, the degree of mindfulness, understanding of the subject, the language design of the answer. The mark “5” is given if the studied material is presented fully, the correct definition of the subject concepts is given; the understanding of the material is revealed, judgments are justified, the ability to apply the acquired knowledge in practice is demonstrated, to give examples not only from the textbook, but also independently compiled; the material is presented consistently from the point of view of logic and language norms. The mark “4” is given if the answer meets the same requirements as for the mark “5”, but 1-2 errors and 1-2 shortcomings in the sequence and language design of the statement are allowed. The mark “3” is given if the knowledge and understanding of the main provisions of this topic are revealed, but the material is presented incompletely and inaccuracies are allowed in the definition of concepts or the formulation of rules, errors in the language design of the set forth. The mark “2” is given if ignorance of most of the relevant section of the material under study is detected, errors are made in the wording of definitions and rules, their meaning is distorted and the material is presented illogically.

Conclusion

Used and developed methodological and control and evaluation tools are used to identify the level and evaluate the formed competence in the studied discipline among students. They play an important role in the formation of competence, since they allow checking the process of the formation of competence, the results of training are achieved, monitored and evaluated at the university using control and evaluation tools. The use of the evaluation funds leads to the effective use of control during the educational process and allows solving the problem of assessing the compliance of the level of formation with the competence of graduates with the requirements of the state standard.

Конфликт интересов Не указан.

Conflict of Interest None declared.

Список литературы / References

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