Integration of multimedia technologies in the process of teaching foreign languages

Abstract. The article deals with the theoretical justification of advantages and practical use of multimedia technologies in the course of foreign languages training. It reveals didactic tasks and methodological principles of computer technology integration into the learning process.

Аннотация. Бұл мақалада шет тілін оқыту процесінде мультимедиялық технологияларды қолданудың артықшылықтарын теориялық негіздеуге байланысты мәселелер қарастырылады. Компьютерлік технологияларды оқу процесіне интеграциялаудың дидактикалық міндеттері мен әдістемелік принциптері ашылды.

Аннотация. В данной статье рассматриваются вопросы, связанные с теоретическим обоснованием преимуществ применения мультимедийных технологий в процессе обучения иностранному языку. Раскрыты дидактические задачи и методические принципы интеграции компьютерных технологий в учебный процесс.

Keywords: multimedia technologies, communication skills, educational process, communicative competence.

Түйінді сөздер: мультимедиялық технологиялар, коммуникативтік дағдылар, оқу процесі, коммуникативтік құзыреттілік.

Ключевые слова: мультимедийные технологии, коммуникативные умения, учебный процесс, коммуникативная компетенция.

The need for optimal ways to organise the instructional process, rational solutions for training material and structure, is an empirical necessity of modern society. “The core challenges in teaching a foreign language in terms of the modern educational model are issues of defining the aims and content of instruction that is appropriate for them.” [1]

The development of circumstances of realistic use of language as a medium for intercultural cognition and interaction is required in the process of gaining students' personal experience of contact with a foreign language community. In this respect, there is an objective need to incorporate information technology into the educational process, encouraging students to participate in circumstances of intercultural contact, since today's global Internet network provides students with a broad variety of opportunities to engage in genuine intercultural exchange with members of the studied language [2]. In these circumstances, there are trends toward the proportion of students' autonomous person and community work, moving away from the conventional lesson with its predominance of explanatory and illustrative teaching methods, and the amount of realistic and imaginative quest and analysis activity.

The term "multimedia" (also known as "multi-medium") refers to a type of information technology that is built on a software and hardware complex with a central computer and means to link audio and video equipment to it. Among teachers, the benefits of multimedia technology are no longer debatable. The information density of the multimedia world varies: "it is easier to see once than to hear a hundred times." Multimedia presentations are useful not only for presenting information, but also for controlling, consolidating, repeating, generalising, and systematising it, and thus successfully perform didactic functions. Multimedia technologies are designed to promote the development of individual educational trajectories: to a greater extent, to adapt the content of educational material to the individual characteristics of students, the level of their knowledge and skills.

The use of modern technologies by students in the process of teaching foreign languages is a level of integration of language learning that allows them to improve not only communication skills, but also information and technical skills:       

• Multimedia tools are intended to help students create their own instructional paths by tailoring the quality of educational materials to their unique characteristics, as well as their level of experience and skills;
• Students' use of new technology in the teaching of foreign languages is a degree of language learning adaptation that helps them to develop not only communication abilities but also knowledge and technological skills;
• Students can engage in live communication with a native speaker in real time and with a delay in time thanks to the integration of multimedia technologies in the educational process;
• they can actively participate in the language environment and overcome the language barrier; they can engage in creative activity;
• they can improve communication and intercultural competence; they can be motivated.

The incorporation of Internet technologies into the instructional process, as well as the usage of Internet services in teaching international languages, helps you to more efficiently solve a variety of didactic challenges, such as;

• forming and improving reading skills by directly using network materials of varying degrees of complexity;
• improve listening skills based on authentic audio texts on the Internet, as well as texts prepared by the teacher;
• improve your writing and speaking skills;
• supplement your vocabulary, both active and passive, with the vocabulary of modern English;
• to acquaint students with cultural realities, including speech etiquette, features of speech behavior of different peoples in the context of communication, features of culture, traditions of the country of the studied language;
• forming a stable incentive for students to engage in foreign language activities in the classroom through the organized use of genuine resources and adherence to the concept of interaction with life.

The above methodological concepts are well applied in the organisation of students' independent work in mastering a foreign language, where the use of organisational technology helps not only to diversify the forms of homework, but also to systematically incorporate collective forms of activity of students in independent work. It's worth noting that multimedia technologies allow for "effectively building teaching at the stages of presentation, consolidation, and replication of the content" [3].

At the present, there are two types of technology that can be used actively in the process of teaching a foreign language, which are classified as teaching and upbringing tools: 1) synchronous communication (synchronous communication tools) and 2) asynchronous communication (asynchronous communication tools) (asynchronous communication tools).

Internet technologies that enable you to communicate in real time are known as synchronous communication tools (chat, video chat, and audio chat). Skype and Yahoo Messenger are two examples of such tools that allow users to communicate simultaneously through chat and voice.

Despite the fact that these forms of Internet networking are new to the field of English teaching, some familiarity with their use in the instructional process has already been accrued. As a result, Daphne Gonzales, a professor at Venezuela's Simon Bolivar University, has identified five forms of educational chat:

A chat aimed at solving a particular educational task (collaborative task-oriented chat); a chat seminar or chat presentation; a chat aimed at working out a specific material or action (practise chat); i.e. a chat interview; a chat aimed at working out a specific material or action (practise call); a chat seminar or chat presentation; a chat aimed at working out a specific material or action (practise chat); a chat seminar or chat presentation; an evaluation chat (evaluation chat), aimed at monitoring and evaluating the degree of assimilation of a particular material [4].

Asynchronous communication tools, according to Daphne Gonzales, are Internet tools that allow for the exchange of information with a time delay (forums, electronic and audio mail, websites, blogs). This page of the web is viewed as a journal-diary or calendar, with content ordered in chronological order. The blog can be posted on a regular basis (weekly, monthly). The author of the blog has the freedom to publish material and update the blog, and visitors to the blog will leave feedback on the posts. You can also upload images, audio, video, links to other websites, posts from the Internet, and so on.

There are 3 types of blogs used in the teaching of language disciplines:

The tutor blog: supported by the teacher;

The class blog: supported by the joint efforts of the teacher and students;

The learner blog: supported by the student individually [5].

The introduction of information and communication systems into the teaching environment eventually leads to a rethinking of the teacher's position and function in the process, with the primary goal being to promote curiosity, inspiration, and imaginative quest rather than to transfer expertise and shape skills and abilities. Students' relationships are now founded on the values of collaboration, collective quest, and innovation.

The instructional process's outcome is primarily determined by how well it is equipped with a range of learning resources. Except for a manual, it's impossible to picture a contemporary teacher that doesn't use extra teaching aids.  It is quite difficult to dispute the fact that visibility in training is not the last place. In today's world, the use of such a simulation tool as a device is given particular consideration. In contrast to traditional classes, the use of computers in the instructional process enhances the volume of knowledge conveyed to students in the classroom and activates the organisation of cognitive behaviour of students. The pedagogical conditions for the effectiveness of the use of multimedia kits in educational process include the following: the feasibility of using multimedia kits; adaptation or optimal selection of multimedia programs, their fragments or combinations in accordance with the objectives of the lesson, the level of training of students; compliance with the methodological and sanitary rules for the use of multimedia.

The main psychological features of the use of multimedia include the following: positive emotional coloring of classes with the use of multimedia; increased motivation; creating conditions of psychological comfort for students with different abilities and equal opportunities for students with physical and mental disabilities; objectivity of knowledge assessment.

As a result, the value of a foreign language teacher's abilities to use information and communication technology, including experience and expertise of teaching facets of language and forms of speech activity using current ICTs, is being stressed today [6].   The multimedia-enhanced class structure should be based on a foundation of creative and conventional modes of schooling, with a focus on the academic, motivational, emotional, and other aspects of the student's personality. The realistic benefit of such courses is the formation of psychological preparation for active life in the knowledge society as well as the teaching of potential professionals not only in the subject under review.