STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVEMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE IN TEACHING PRACTICE

СТРАТЕГИИ РАЗВИТИЯ КОММУНИКАТИВНЫХ КОМПЕТЕНЦИЙ В ПЕДАГОГИЧЕСКОЙ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТИ

Валерия Постоева

студент, Волгоградский государственный университет, РФ, г. Волгоград

Abstract. In this article we have investigated the practical actions to improve communicative competence in teaching practice. The result of the work can be interpreted as that a teacher must focus on an array of aspects such as working on their mindfulness, developing empathy and dealing with insecurities, as well as elaborating on active listening to have productive communication with all the members of the educational process.

Keywords: communicative skills, communicative competence, teaching process, educational sciences, teacher.

In the current realities, a teacher is considered to be a very multitasking profession; they must be animators, psychologists, mentors and assistants, nurses and many others. The unifying feature of all these so-called “subprofessions” of a teacher is the urgent need to build productive communication with people and, thereby, to hone their communicative skills [1]. According to Wikipedia, communicative competence is a generalizing communicative property of a person, including communicative abilities, knowledge, skills, sensory and social experience in the field of business communication [2].

It is known that communication in professional activity performs three main functions:

- communicative, including the exchange of information;

- interactive, providing for the organization of interaction with people;

- perceptual, reflecting the process of perception and formation of the image of another person and establishing interaction [3].

Regarding the pedagogical practice, communicative competence pursues the following goals:

-the ability to conduct verbal and non-verbal exchange of information, as well as to diagnose the personal properties and qualities of the interlocutor (student, parent, colleague, boss, etc.)

-the ability to develop strategy, tactics and techniques, interaction with people, organize their joint activities to achieve certain socially significant goals;

-the ability to identify oneself with the interlocutor, to understand how the teacher is perceived by the communication partner and empathically treats them;

-the ability to present oneself from the best side, thereby gaining a reputation as a professional in the teaching field, skillfully gaining the trust of the student, parent, boss, etc.

It is obvious that communicative competence should be improved in different ways. Thus, we have developed the following strategies for working on communication skills in the professional activity. First, teachers should elaborate on active listening and empathy towards people. Sometimes, we do not even think about the fact that we do not delve into the ongoing dialogue. I notice this after my classes, at the moment of communication with the parents, it is hard for me to concentrate, give advice, or just give a reaction to the interlocutor's remark because of the various tasks filling my head. However, a teacher needs to catch themselves at this very moment and focus on the interlocutor, because communication with parents is an important part of our work.

Secondly, various books or video lectures on psychology can be a good idea to hone communicative competencies. At one time, they helped me learn how to upgrade communicative skills with different people through practical tasks and explanations on the work of our psyche. Thirdly, a teacher should work on mindfulness. Successful communication requires the ability to control your speech, actions and emotions.

How to learn this:

-carefully monitor your own behavior and internal state during the conversation;

-watch for negative emotions and do not let them develop;

-forget about criticizing and condemning the opponent.

It is vital to remember that for productive communication you need to understand ourselves well. This will help to respond in time to emerging thoughts and feelings [4].

Moreover, dealing with your insecurities can be helpful for upgrading communicative skills. Self-development work, books, focusing on my best qualities, immersion in my fears, getting out of my comfort zone helped me in this. I often caught myself in fear of feeling unskilled, too young and inexperienced in front of students and parents. Of course, our doubts will never leave our minds completely, but working on reactions and perceptions of ourselves and other people can be fruitful and show that communication in the teaching profession can be adequate, positive and only productive. To sum up, we have found out that communicative competence in the professional activity of a teacher is its core, because without these skills it is almost impossible for a teacher to achieve the set educational goals and objectives. The teacher ought to learn new things and always analyze their style of building relationships with all participants in the educational process and strive to be empathetic, sociable and attractive in the eyes of others.