The article focuses on the problem of listening skills development in foreign language acquisition. The use of video resources in listening skills development is analyzed

Baranova, N.

Sirotkina, M.

Digital Library of Polotsk State University (Репозиторий Полоцкого государственного университета)

MATERIALS OF VIII JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE                                                    2016 Education, Social Studies, Law   63itself, there is a different attitude to this phenomenon in the society, in science and in practice in ge eral, it is still not clearly defined the pure characteristics of a le der, insufficiently and not fully explained some questions about the formation and development of a leader. But we should keep in mind that the study of leadership issues, as well as the study of the leadership qualities formation, the study of the identification of pedagogical conditions for the leader’s formation and the creation or use of methods and techniques of leadership development, ca  contribute greatly to the improvement the training efficiency, as well as can lead to a better development of the personality traits, instincts and abilities in peopl .   UDC 372.881.111.1  VIDEO RESOURCES IN TEACHING LISTENING SKILLS  NATALIA BARANOVA, MARGARITA SIROTKINA Polotsk State University, Belarus  The article focuses on the problem of listening skills development in foreign language acquisition. The use of video resources in listening skills development is analyzed.  Listening is the conscious processing of the auditory stimuli that have been perceived through hearing. Speaking and writing are productive skills. Listening s receptive rather than productive, but it is an equally important skill. Students need to learn how to listen, and to get the chance to listen to different types of English, so they will be able to listen to spoken English outside the classroom with understanding. Listening involves making sense of the meaningful sounds of language. We do this by using co text and our knowledge of language and the world [1]. One of the main reasons for getting students to listen to spoken English is to let them hear different varieties and accents – rather than just the voice of their teacher with its own idiosyncrasies. In today’s world, they need to be exposed not only to one variety of English (British English, for example) but also to varieties such as American English, Australian English and so on. The number of different varieties (and the degree to which they are different from the one students are learning) will be a matter for the teacher to judge, based on the student’s level, where the classes are taking place. However, even if they onlhear occasional (and very mild) varieties of English that are different from the teacher’s, it will give them a better idea of the world language, which English has become. The main method of exposing students to spoken English (after the teacher) is through the use of taped material which can exemplify a wide range of topics such as advertisements, poetry reading etc. Teachers an imitate these, but good tapes are far more powerful. Listening to appropriate tapes provides such exposure and students get view information not only about grammar and vocabulary but also about pronunciation, rhythm, intonation, pitch and stress. There are a number of ways in which listening activities differ from classroom exercises: firstly, tapes go at the same speed for everybody. Unlike reading, listeners to a tape cannot flick back to a previous paragraph, re-read the headline, stop to look at the picture and think for a bit before continuing. On the contrary, they have to go with the speed of the voice(s) they are listening to. Of course, they can stop tapes and rewind them. Nevertheless, essentially, the speed of the speaker(s) dominates the interaction, not that of the listener [1]. Listening is special too because spoken language, especially when it is informal, has a number of uniqe features including functional way of asking, repetitions, hesitations etc. Experience of informal spoken English together with an appreciation of other spoken factors – the tone of the voice, the intonation the speakers use and backgrounds noise – will help students to ease meaning out of such speech phenomenon. Because of its special characteristics, teachers need to ensure that students are well prepared for listening and that they are clearly able to hear what they listen to. The main principles of teaching listening are as follows:  − the tape recorder is just as important as the tape;− preparation is vital;  − one presentation will not be  enough; − students should be encouraged to respond to the cont nt of a listening, not just to the language;  − good teacher exploit listening texts to the full;  − different listening stages demand different listening tasks [1]. Language learning is a complex process: in this process, language teachers cannot be far away from the technology, which is the application of scientific knowledge to practical tasks by organizations that involve people and machines. It is a fact that technology cannot be separated from society. It is a well-known fact that audio-visual materials are a great help in stimulating and facilitating the learning of a foreign language. According to some sci ntists many media and many styles of visual presentation are useful to the language learner. That is to say,all audio-visual materials have positive contributons to MATERIALS OF VIII JUNIOR RESEARCHERS’ CONFERENCE                                                    2016 Education, Social Studies, Law   64language learning as long as they are used at the rig t time, in the right place. In the process of language learning and teaching, the learner uses his eyes as well as his ears; but his eyes are basic in learning. Other scientists claim that it clearly contributes to the understanding of another culture by providing vicarious contact with speakers of the language, through both audio and visual means [2]. Thus, one of the most appreciated materials applied to language learning and teaching is, of course, video. A great advantage of video is that it provides an authentic language input. A teacher can use it in the process whenever he wishes; he can stop, start and rewind to repeat it for several times where necessary. Any selected short sequence from the programme can be used for intensive study. It is possible to run it in slow motion or at half speed or without sound to pay special attention to a particular point in the programme. Besides, the learner can concentrate on the language in detail and interpret what has been said, repeat it, predict the reply and so on. The learner can also concentrate in detail on visual cl es such as facial expressions, dresses, gestures, posture and on the details of the environment. Even without hearing, the language clues can be picked up from the vision alone. Using visual clues to meaning in order to enhance learning is an important part of video methodol gy. The other point that should be focused on is that it is very difficult to interpret attitude in a foreign language owing to the fact that the listener concentrates on the verbal message, not the visual clues to meaning. Video gives the students practice in drawing conclusions. The rhythmic hand and arm movements, head nods, headgestures are related to the structure of the messag. Moreover, the students have a general idea of the culture of the target language. It may be enjoyable for the learn rs to have something different for language learning apart from the course books and cassettes for listening. On the other hand, the disadvantages of video should also be taken into account. The main disadvantages are the cost, inconvenience, maintenance and in some cases a fear of technology. Additionally, the sound and vision, thequality of the copies or home-produced materials may not be ideal. Another important issue in this case is thate teacher should be well-trained to use and exploit the video. Otherwise, it becomes boring and purposeless for students [2]. There are a lot of different ways of using video in a classroom. They are: 1) Sound on and vision off activity – this activity can be interesting and useful to play a section of a video unit and remove the visual element from the presentation by obscuring the picture so that students can hear only the dialogue but unable to see the action. Through this activity, the students predict or reconstruct what has happened visually depending only what they hear. 2) Repetition and role-play – a scene on video is replayed with certain pauses for repetition either individually or in chorus. When students have a clear understanding of the presentation, they are asked to act out the scene using as much of the original version as they can remember. When students become confident with role playing and are sure of vocabulary and language structures, more creative activity can be introduced in which they are asked to improvise the scene to fit their views of the situation and the characters they are playing. Role-play involves students as active participants. As each student plays the assigned role, they become more and more involved. This activity also helps students to better understand their own behaviour and to be more able to respond in a positive way to various human relationships. In other words, role playing is a good communicative activity and true preparation for real-life situations. It gives a chance to students to apply what they are learning. 3) Reproduction activity – after students have seen a section, students are asked to reproduce either what is being said, to describe what is happening, or to write or retell what has happened. This activity encourages students to try out their knowledge. Students will benefit from experimenting in English, even though it is challenging and mistakes are made.  4) Dubbing activity – this activity can be done when students have the nec ssary language competence. In this activity, students are asked to fill in the missing dialogues after watching a sound-off video episode. It is interesting and enjoyable for the students to complete a scene from the video by dubbing. 5) Follow-up activity  – it is important that a video presentation should lead to a follow-up activity as the basis for further extended oral practice. Discussion stimulates communication among students, and it helps to achieve communicative practice. With this activity students have an opportunity to develop sharing and co-operative skills [2]. Methodologically speaking, watching video films should be different from passive television viewing. Therefore, the teacher should encourage learners to watch films actively, by using supplementary materi ls, such as worksheets prepared by him or supplied with the films. The learners should participate in the activities, if possible, they themselves set up some projects in the target language, by recording their own activities such as speaking, interviewing, reporting etc. Shortly, therole of the learner is not to be a passive viewer but an active member in the triangle of the video, the teacher and the learner.  REFERENCES  1. Achievement effects of embedded multimedia in a Success for All reading program / B. Chambers [et al] // Journal of Educational Psychology. 2006. – 98(1). – P. 232–237. 2. Bouman, L. Veni, Video, Vici: Video in Language Teaching / L. Bouman // Journal of English Teaching Forum. – 1990. – Vol. 18–2. – p. 8. 

Video resources in teaching listening skills

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Video resources in teaching listening skills

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