E-CONTENT AS THE MEANS OF FORMING METHODOLOGY COMPETENCE OF PRIMARY SCHOOL TEACHERS OF ENGLISH

• Main Author: Olena Iaburova
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Donbas State Pedagogical University 2016-11-01
• Series: Profesìonalìzm Pedagoga: Teoretičnì j Metodičnì Aspekti
• Subjects: electronic materials; web-based exercises; authentic situations; ICT technologies; methodology competence; e-content
• Online Access: http://pptma.dn.ua/files/2016/4/31.%20Iaburova_S_303-312.pdf

The author of the article depicts the questions of using e-content as the means of forming methodology competence of primary school teachers of English and underlines that Information-communication technologies have become an integral part of modern society life in the XXI century. It is also pointed out the main reasons of using ICT technologies at the lessons of English at primary school. Pupils grow up along with the development of modern information technologies which become a natural and constituent part of their life, for them using Internet-resources is the way to combine real-life situations with learning activity. Internet-lessons give new opportunities for using authentic learning materials, allow to connect geographically distant groups and involve them into the mutual activity, and provide new ways for conversational practice and assessing results, gives students practical experience in all four kinds of language activity: speaking, listening, reading and writing. The author offers a couple of options for creating online materials which cover a wide variety of formats and storage options and give primary school teachers an idea of the kinds of things that can be produced with very little technical knowledge. Ones of the most popular are the Discovery School Puzzlemaker (http: // puzzlemaker.school.discovery.com/) and Smile (http:// smile.clear.msu.edu) which are ideal tools for reviewing vocabulary, expanding lists of synonyms and antonyms, activating paraphrasing skills and using word definitions. The most famous authoring tools of developing e-content are Hot Potatoes and Kahoot.com. These are small Windows or Mac programmes that create web-based exercises of the following types: multiple choice, short answer, jumbled sentence, crossword, matching/ordering, gap-filling. According to the author’s experience, implementing electronic materials into the structure of the English lesson in primary school considerably increases young learners’ motivation and makes them deeply involved into the process of language studying, helps to imitate real-life, authentic situations during the lesson, provides with interesting and engaging lesson-material and, as a result, activates and enhances the level of knowledge, skills and language competences of primary school pupils.