Master Students’ Perceptions of Blended Learning in the Process of Studying English during COVID 19 Pandemic in Ukraine

The academic year 2020/2021 in higher education institutions in Ukraine began under the conditions of deteriorating epidemiological situation caused by the spread of Covid-19 pandemic. Students’ training was recommended to be carried out in the form of distance learning or blended learning. This research aims to analyse Master students’ perceptions of blended learning in the process of studying English in higher education institutions. The study presents the integrated course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (English)” developed for Master students of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University. The experiment involves 84 respondents. The empirical basis of the study is the results obtained during three-months’ work with master students. Theoretical, empirical and statistical methods are used to conduct the study. The study investigates benefits and challenges of blended learning in studying English by Master students. The results of the questionnaire indicate the quality of teaching the course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (English)” as moderately positive and point out blended learning as an essential streamlined approach for creating effective learning experiences. The obtained results confirm the favourable Master students’ perceptions of blended learning in studying English during Covid-19 pandemic. Based on the findings of the study, which indicate benefits and challenges of blended learning in studying English, the authors give recommendations to improve the course “Foreign Language for Specific Purposes (English)”.

Motivation Characteristics of English Oil Refining Terms of the 1960s – 1970s

The purpose of this research is to identify the motivation characteristics of English oil refining terms, the focus being on lexical units that entered the English terminological system in the mid-20th century as a result of active development of the oil refining industry. Special attention is paid to the concepts of inner form and motivation: key approaches to the definition of these phenomena are analysed, their essential properties are revealed, and the main types of term motivation are considered. The collected material included both motivated and unmotivated terms; however, unmotivated units remained outside the research scope. Methodological tools applied in this study are both general scientific and linguistic methods proper. In the course of the analysis, the conceptual areas containing the largest number of motivated terms were identified. Within the framework of semantic motivation, based on the conceptual metaphor theory, metaphorical models of industrial terms were reconstructed, and the most productive ones were named. When studying morphological motivation, a projection was made from the word-forming affixes of terms to the conceptual areas of technical knowledge expressed by them, and it was concluded that the information potential of the affixal and root segments, as well as the conceptual space of the term system, act as motivational attributes. In addition, we found prevalence of morphological motivation over semantic motivation. The results obtained can help us to understand the role of terms’ motivation in the verbalization of technical concepts, to further study the formation sources and development patterns of specialized vocabulary, as well as to streamline the oil refinery term system and harmonize the language for specific purposes.

MODEL FOR DESIGNING A TEXTBOOK IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES IN THE SYSTEM OF PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION

Введение. Востребованность персонала, владеющего лингвопрофессиональной компетенцией в сфере сервиса и производства, ставит перед педагогическим сообществом задачу разработки новых учебных курсов и программ по иностранному языку специальности, важным компонентом которых является овладение языком профессиональной сферы. Создаются учебные пособия и учебники по языку специальности. Однако остается открытым вопрос создания учебных пособий для узкопрофильных специалистов, для которых иностранный язык – это инструмент для осуществления своей профессиональной деятельности на конкретном участке производства. Цель – конструирование модели учебного пособия по иностранному языку для специальных целей в сфере туризма. Научная новизна исследования заключается в разработке и применении новых моделей учебного обеспечения языковой подготовки узкопрофильных специалистов. Материал и методы. Материалом исследования послужили теоретические труды отечественных и зарубежных ученых, работающих в системе профессиональной подготовки кадров для сферы производства и услуг. Применялись следующие методы: анализ научно-методической литературы, научное наблюдение, обобщение опыта, анализ и синтез, сравнение, моделирование, экстраполирование. Эмпирическая база включала в себя результаты практического применения компетентностного подхода и коммуникативного метода при обучении французскому языку персонала в сфере туризма. Результаты и обсуждение. Многолетний опыт подготовки кадров для сферы туризма показал результативность компетентностного подхода в обучении французскому языку для специальных целей, эффективность программы «Французский язык в сфере туризма» и выявил необходимость построения учебного пособия по французскому языку для специальных целей. Предлагаемая авторская модель учебного пособия «Французский язык в сфере туризма» предназначена для студентов языковых вузов, факультетов туристского профиля, персонала гостиниц и турагентств. Структура учебного пособия включает следующие компоненты: модульность курса, специальную лексику (термины и профессионализмы), перечень профессиональных навыков и коммуникативных ситуаций делового общения, методические приемы, позволяющие сформировать у обучающихся готовность к профессиональной деятельности на иностранном языке. Заключение. Разработанные и апробированные курсы французского языка в сфере туризма следуют базовому принципу языка для специальных целей – использование аутентичных материалов: гидов, каталогов, туристических брошюр, путеводителей, а также сайтов гостиниц, туроператоров, регионов Франции. Однако обучающиеся нуждаются в учебном пособии предложенного курса – пособии, в котором будут системно представлены модули, задачи освоения каждого модуля, специфика упражнений/тестов и требования к заданиям модуля. Данная модель учебного пособия может быть экстраполирована на другие языки и профиль подготовки специалистов. Introduction. The problem of training competent specialists in the sphere of service and production has remained relevant over the past decade. The demand for personnel with professional linguistic competence sets a problem for the teaching community to develop new training courses and programs in a foreign language of a specialty, an important component of which is mastering the language of the professional sphere. Teaching aids and textbooks on the language of the specialty are being created. However, the question of creating textbooks for single-subject specialists, for whom a foreign language is a tool for carrying out their professional activities, remains open. Aim and objectives. The aim is to create a model of a textbook on a foreign language for specific purposes in the sphere of tourism. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the development and application of new models of language training for narrow-profile specialists. Material and methods. The material of the research is based on the theoretical works of national and foreign scientists working in the system of professional training for the sphere of production and services. The methods used at the empirical and theoretical levels are in close interaction: analysis of scientific and methodological literature, scientific observation, generalization of experience, analysis and synthesis, comparison, modeling, extrapolation. The empirical basis of the research is the results of the practical application of the competence-based approach and the communicative method in teaching French to personnel in the field of tourism. Results and discussion. Many years of experience in training personnel for the tourism sector showed the effectiveness of the competence-based approach in teaching French for specific purposes, the effectiveness of the program “French in the sphere of tourism” and revealed the necessity to design a textbook on French for specific purposes. The proposed author’s model of the textbook «French in the sphere of tourism» is intended for students of linguistic universities, faculties of tourism, staff of hotels and travel agencies. The structure of the textbook includes the following components: course modularity, special vocabulary (terms and professional jargon), a list of professional skills and communicative situations of business communication, methodological techniques that allow students to form a readiness for professional activity using a foreign language. Conclusion. The developed and tested French language courses in the sphere of tourism follow the main/basic principle of the language for specific purposes – the use of authentic materials: guides, catalogs, travel brochures, travel guides, as well as websites of hotels, tour operators, and regions of France. However, learners need a teaching aid for the proposed course. A textbook is needed, which will systematically present the modules, the tasks of mastering each module, the specifics of exercises/tests and the requirements for the tasks of the module. The author’s model of the textbook “French in the sphere of tourism” is focused on specialization in three sectors: hotel and restaurant business, tourism as an industry/service sector, where the realia of industrial, organizational and managerial culture are of great importance. The emphasis is on the formation of appropriate psychological attitudes of service personnel in accordance with the requirements of European service standards. This textbook model can be extrapolated to other languages and training profile.

Language play in and with Chinese: traditional genres and contemporary developments

Language play is playing with the rules of language for fun. This article is one of the first attempts at providing an overview of the traditional genres and current trends of language play in and with Chinese, a topic that has received relatively little attention in English. We explore the specific aspects of the Chinese language that are susceptible to play, and discuss a number of conventional formulas of Chinese language play. We also examine the affordances of new media and what we call translanguaging language play that involves mixing different named languages and scripts as well as mixing linguistic with other semiotic resources. The motivations and effects of language play are discussed, giving particular attention to the socio-political dimensions of language play. Throughout the discussion, we provide historical as well as contemporary examples to illustrate the ways in which Chinese language users play with language for specific purposes.

Formation of research skills in university non-linguistic training profile students during the implementation of a professionally oriented distance course in a foreign language

The research purpose is to identify the level of development of research skills in non-linguistic training profile students in the process of professionally oriented teaching of a foreign language and to summarize the data obtained in the experimental work. The research was carried out based on the author’s distance course “Foreign language for specific purposes in scientific research”, comprising three modules, using electronic testing with the application of the computer knowledge testing program MyTestXPro11.0. The sample comprised 250 students studying English and German. In order to verify the data obtained and the conclusions drawn, a comparative analysis of the test results of the control and experimental groups was carried out. The authors revealed the level of development of research skills in non-linguistic training profile students. So, at the stage of the ascertaining experiment, the average score of successfully completed tasks was 8.9 (44.7%), and at the stage of the control experiment, respectively, 16.7 (83.3%).

SOCIAL AND SOCIAL CONDITIONS OF FORMATION NAMES OF PERSONS BY PROFESSION

Системность группы наименований лиц по профессии закрепляется жёсткими рамками социальных условий, а внутри неё действует тенденция к регулярности обозначений. Эти наименования связаны с трудовой жизнью людей, важнейшей для существования общества, что делает их устойчивыми и социально значимыми. Во многих языках сложилась единая терминология наименований, за профессиями закрепилось твёрдо установленное содержание, отражённое в специальных документах. Наименования лиц по профессии являются терминами и, таким образом, частью языка для специальных целей. The consistency of the group of names of persons by profession is fixed by the rigid framework of social conditions, and within it there is a tendency towards the regularity of designations. These names are associated with the working life of people, which is essential for the existence of society, which makes them sustainable and socially significant. In many languages, a unified naming terminology has developed, the professions have a firmly established content reflected in special documents. Profession names are terms and thus part of the language for specific purposes.

Communication Driven Polyculturality of Modern Tv Journalism: Polylingual Focus for Future LSP Teachers

The article considers a well-established approach for differentiation between scientific, formal (official business), journalistic, artistic, conversational, sacred (confessional), and oratorical functional styles in the contexts of polyculturality and polylingualism as significant backgrounds for teaching languages of specific purposes. It is stated that the determining criteria for all these functional styles are the sphere of social activity, type and established way of thinking, purpose, stylistic load of the units used to convey the meaning to the people. The effectiveness of journalism in the representation of mass communication across the geographies is manifested in the fact that its content is regularly found in the speech of the broadest segments of the population. However, modern linguistics encounters a number of unresolved issues of describing the polylingual mode of mass communication in expression of polyculturalism, which determines the relevance of this study. It is revealed that the communication driven polyculturality and polylingual effect of mass communication in modern journalism make one whole with the needs analysis and relevant terminology in instruction of Telejournalism as an LSP (language for specific purposes) in different languages. It is characterized how the panorama of communication driven polyculturality and polylingualism, as well as the ‘journalism’ concept affect media communication. It is determined which are the stylistic possibilities of journalism in structuring, presenting and perceiving mass information in different cultures and languages, by covering the communicative aspects driven by polyculturality and polylingualism in modern journalism. It is also described that relevant language units are seen as a means of forming a language and communicative standard in journalistic texts, which can be adopted by future LSP teachers in educational settings for language instruction and acquisition in relation to terminology of journalism in different languages across the world. In the end, it is concluded what may be underlying for journalistic language in difeferent languages to constitute the polycultural communication driven framework rather than that of multiculturality; and to be advanced further in polylingual classes by future LSP educators.

Why We Need TI-Oriented Language Learning and Teaching (TILLT)

The teaching of foreign languages to students in Translation and Interpreting (TI) programmes should be framed within the field of Language for Specific Purposes (LSP). This would make it possible to pinpoint specific curricular content and methodological traits that contribute to the enhancement of the communicative competence and initial development of TI competences. This paper analyses the students’ perspectives on L2 teaching in a TI programme and how it should be undertaken to best comply with the linguistic demands imposed by translation and interpreting. A thematic analysis of 117 open questionnaires returned by students from Austria, Slovenia and Spain identified five areas to which the students attribute particular importance, and which should be considered when developing TI-oriented curricula.

The domain expert perspective: A qualitative study into the views expressed in a standard-setting exercise on a language for specific purposes (LSP) test for health professionals

This paper investigates what matters to medical domain experts when setting standards on a language for specific purposes (LSP) English proficiency test: the Occupational English Test’s (OET) writing sub-test. The study explores what standard-setting participants value when making performance judgements about test candidates’ writing responses, and the extent to which their decisions are language-based and align with the OET writing sub-test criteria. Qualitative data is a relatively under-utilized component of standard setting and this type of commentary was garnered to gain a better understanding of the basis for performance decisions. Eighteen doctors were recruited for standard-setting workshops. To gain further insight, verbal reports in the form of a think-aloud protocol (TAP) were employed with five of the 18 participants. The doctors’ comments were thematically coded and the analysis showed that participants’ standard-setting judgements often aligned with the OET writing sub-test criteria. An overarching theme, ‘Audience Recognition’, was also identified as valuable to participants. A minority of decisions were swayed by features outside the OET’s communicative construct (e.g., clinical competency). Yet, overall, findings indicated that domain experts were undeniably focused on textual features associated with what the test is designed to assess and their views were vitally important in the standard-setting process.