Text as the main unit of teaching languages to foreign students

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of using a text in the process of organization of teaching languages to foreign students. The author has determined types of texts for developing language competences. The idea of an “authentic text” has been defined, the classification of authentic texts has been considered, the principles and criteria of choosing authentic texts while teaching foreign students have been determined. The methods of working with various types of texts while teaching a foreign-language audience, which create conditions for improving the level of an in-country language acquisition, have been offered.

The objective of the research lies in analyzing the existing types of educational texts in order to develop language competences among foreign students. The main focus has been made on researching an ‘authentic text’. The classification of authentic texts has been considered, the principles and criteria of choosing authentic texts while teaching foreign students have been determined.

In teaching foreign students, a text is of practical applicative nature, that is, it is used as an educational material. Depending on needs of foreign audience, different types of authentic texts could be used, but their selection is of vital importance. A properly chosen authentic text not only may arouse foreign students’ interest, but also create an inner motive of their activity, enable to consolidate their studied programme material.

The peculiarity of working with educational texts in the foreign-language audience lies in the fact of using both active and interactive methods. Besides, working with authentic texts consists of three stages: pre-text, text and post-text exercises.

The task of a pre-text stage is to make a foreign student interested, to help him/her understand the significance of the problem situation, described in this text.

The task of a text stage is to develop self-reading skills: highlighting key text units; finding intertextual notional connections; reproducing all accumulated readers’ ideas as for the events, which have been described in the text.

The task of post-text work lies in doing exercises of a generalized nature.

The task of interactive methods of work with an educational text in foreign-language audience is: a self-consisted search and analysis of the information given in the text; statement of proper conclusions, that correspond to the author’s idea; an efficient teamwork on creating a common point of view on the author’s idea on the problem and developing a personal opinion and finding argumentation to support it.

The author has come to a conclusion that one of the key advantages of working with a text is that it aims to create a skill of analyzing a described situation or a problem in foreign students, to select the required information from the text, to develop skills of critical thinking in foreign students, skills of ability to construct independently the logics of defending their own opinion or confute the opponent’s arguments, to make reasoned decisions. Besides, the possibility of using both active and interactive methods of work with educational texts allows to master the skills of teamwork, of interacting with other students, of knowing how to think creatively and analyze information, which, doubtless, enables some more motivational support for learning the in-country language.