Project-based learning as an instructional tool in teaching ad drafting to students majoring in advertising

As advertising penetrates into all social spheres, it vastly affects the social behavior of different linguocultural communities. While advertisements have a profound effect on the social medium, it is the extent and the various facets of this influence that grab the headlines of scientific research. This article aims to consider one of the leading methods of teaching ad drafting to students majoring in Advertising while focusing mainly on the functions and syntactic characteristics of the advertising discourse. Considering the peculiarities of ad drafting as a class activity, the article brings a focus on the project method as one of the most efficient training frameworks that allows to introduce profession-specific practices into the learning process, promote creativity and foster proactive mindsets in the context of learner-centered practice-oriented training environment. The study highlights the theoretical considerations involved in the study of advertisements, specifically centering around their syntax and functions that include attracting attention, informing, persuading, motivating by offering discounts and gifts, and most importantly encouraging the consumer to choose a particular product or service being advertised. The syntactical peculiarities and nomenclature of the basic functions of advertisements are further on analyzed to explain the corresponding teaching and learning implications and clarify the place and role of the project method in ad drafting training. The authors suggest that while project-based learning implies a lot of creative activity being incorporated into the class, purposeful implementation of projects cannot only be associated with motivational boost, encouragement of personal interest, or a somewhat informal practice of skill transfer: as the article stresses, projects developed as part of the instructional “toolkit” in ad drafting classes should at all times be designed so as to teach students to think strategically. Strategic reasoning, in turn, should be based on the awareness of the functional load behind the language and syntax used in advertising texts. Thus, the paper singles out syntactical features inherent in the advertising discourse (such as, for example, brevity, an abundant use of elliptical constructions, or prevalence of imperative sentences) and makes systemized conclusions regarding the project-based methodological routine most suitable for the purposes of ad drafting classes with students majoring in Advertising

Gender literature: How much is it underpinned by authors’ private lives?

The study is concerned with Gender Literary Criticism and the teaching of German Literature in school and at university. The paper examines ‘close reading’ as one of the key methods in Gender Literary Studies and applies it to explore August von Platen’s poems to come to a better understanding of one of the most important German poets of the 19th century and demonstrate the essential meaning of Gender Literary Criticism for the development of a proper interpretative skill in class. The analysis is exemplified by a close reading of Platen’s homoerotic writings. The authors argue that exposing layers of public consciousness based on the assessment of an outstanding personality such as Platen can help de-stigmatise public attitudes and overcome a deep-rooted framework of public thinking

DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL REFLECTION AMONG STUDENTS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES

The research is aimed at analysis of ways to develop student's skills to critically evaluate their advantages and disadvantages, to identify and select the ways to improve their advantages and eliminate disadvantages, i.e. to develop among students individual and professional reflection in foreign language classes. Topicality of the research is defined by the fact, that skills of analysis and self-analysis are essential components of any professional development. Reflection formation among students will allow developing skills to foresee and plan their professional activity. Within the research we analyzed the process of students training for future professional activity by qualitative personality changes among students

DEVELOPMENT OF ICT COMPETENCY AMONG STUDENTS STUDYING TRANSLATION FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

The article is devoted to issues of ICT-competency and development of such competency among students of economic specialties doing a course of translation for professional communication. To become competitive on a labor market any prospective specialist in translation needs to obtain skills of working with flood of information that nowadays changes too fast, ability to solve professional issues with the help of modern informative-communicative technologies. It results in necessity for teachers to develop competency in informative-communicative technologies among students specializing in translation. In the article we share our experience of developing and realizing a course of "IT technologies in specialized translation"

THE ROLE OF INTERDISCIPLINARY INTEGRATION WHILE DEVELOPING COGNITIVE PROCESS AMONG STUDENTS

The article is devoted to the issues of students' cognitive process in learning foreign language for specific purposes, which is critical to students' further professional maturing as specialists. The authors of the article give characteristics to methods of developing students' cognitive interest. Interdisciplinary integration is stated as a tool to solve tasks set before teachers. Implementation of interdisciplinary connections within learning foreign languages undergoes several stages. The article analyzes each stage of implementing interdisciplinary ties while learning foreign language. The article concludes that interdisciplinary integration facilitates developing students' cognitive interest, promoting motivation and mastering methods of research activity

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AS AN INSTRUCTIONAL TOOL IN TEACHING AD DRAFTING TO STUDENTS MAJORING IN ADVERTISING

The paper singles out the functions and syntactical features inherent in the advertising discourse and makes systemized conclusions regarding the project-based methodological routine most suitable for the purposes of ad drafting classes with students majoring in Advertising. The authors argue that while project-based learning implies a lot of creative activity being incorporated into the class, purposeful implementation of projects cannot only be associated with motivational boost, encouragement of personal interest, or a somewhat informal practice of skill transfer: as the article stresses, projects developed as part of the instructional "toolkit" in ad drafting classes should at all times be designed so as to teach students to think strategically. Strategic reasoning, in turn, should be based on the awareness of the functional load behind the language and syntax used in advertising texts

INSTRUCTIONAL TECHNIQUES IN TEACHING WRITTEN BUSINESS COMMUNICATION

Following the increasingly stringent requirements for specialist proficiency, there emerged a need to define the content of training and instructional techniques designed to develop future experts' competences. Since the language of business functions as one of the components of a business strategy, written business communication assumes ever greater importance in the framework of foreign language teaching. To achieve the stated goal, the paper identifies the key competences required to develop writing skills, and selects language and speech material consistent with the professional orientation of students in order to develop learning tools to be applied in teaching written business communication. The study revealed that mastering written foreign language business communication involves fostering the skills of adequate punctuation and style; the ability to determine the communicative intent and purpose when creating a written message; the ability to collect and analyze information; the ability to make a plan of written statements; the ability to build coherent speech, perform mental operations, and reflect at the phase of self-control. Thus, it is about a complex of communicative competences including linguistic, discursive, methodical, sociolinguistic, intercultural, strategic and subject-specific competences. The declared tasks were addressed by developing a set of exercises incorporating linguistic, semi-communicative and communicative exercises. The follow-up survey and testing at the final stage of training proved the effectiveness of the proposed methodology. As a result, the study analyzed the pragmatic and speech components involved in the process of teaching business professional communication

DEVELOPMENT OF ICT COMPETENCY AMONG STUDENTS STUDYING TRANSLATION FOR PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES

The article is devoted to issues of ICT-competency and development of such competency among students of economic specialties doing a course of translation for professional communication. To become competitive on a labor market any prospective specialist in translation needs to obtain skills of working with flood of information that nowadays changes too fast, ability to solve professional issues with the help of modern informative-communicative technologies. It results in necessity for teachers to develop competency in informative-communicative technologies among students specializing in translation. In the article we share our experience of developing and realizing a course of "IT technologies in specialized translation"

DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL AND PERSONAL REFLECTION AMONG STUDENTS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE CLASSES

The research is aimed at analysis of ways to develop student's skills to critically evaluate their advantages and disadvantages, to identify and select the ways to improve their advantages and eliminate disadvantages, i.e. to develop among students individual and professional reflection in foreign language classes. Topicality of the research is defined by the fact, that skills of analysis and self-analysis are essential components of any professional development. Reflection formation among students will allow developing skills to foresee and plan their professional activity. Within the research we analyzed the process of students training for future professional activity by qualitative personality changes among students