The role of information and communication technology in the process of teaching a foreign language in the primary schools of Kazakhstan

Zhanna B.Iztleuova

      Abstract: The article discusses the concept and the role of Information and Communication Technology in the primary schools of Kazakhstan in the process of teaching a foreign language. The article describes a number of advantages of using information technologies and their effectiveness during the foreign language lessons, both for primary school pupils and a foreign language teacher. The article also touches on the innovative concept of multilingual education, which deserves no less important attention in the modern educational system of Kazakhstan.

Keywords: information and communication technology, primary schools, Kazakhstani education system, foreign language, trilingual education, multilingual education

In conditions of the intensive integration of cultural communities, the classical model of education is significantly transformed, which, while maintaining its basic foundations, begins to generate and develop new ideas. One of these innovations exists in the steady trend towards the use of ICT during the different subjects, mainly on the lessons of foreign language. It is an effective method that helps to stimulate pupils’ creative activity.

The problem of the effectiveness of the modern educational process is due to the presence of the following contradictions. On the one hand, the flow of information that the student must perceive is growing. On the other hand, the student often has a very low motivation to learn this information (Danilov, 2009, p. 5).

For the schoolchildren to successfully use modern information technologies, they need to develop systemic thinking and mastery of important fundamental concepts (such as information, an object, model, system) used in all areas of information activity of a modern person. The information approach is becoming one of the fundamental methods of cognition at all stages of the continuing education system, which determines the special role of information in the modern rapidly developing world. The transition to the information society has an impact on the whole society, including the education system. This leads to the emergence of new concepts related to information and communication technologies, and the use of computer technology in all areas of modern society. The teacher’s task is to teach the student for a finite period of time to transform and internalize a certain amount of information with a view to its further use in practical activities (Danilov, Ivanov, Mayer, 2007). In solving this problem, the teacher can combine traditional methods of training and education with modern information technologies, including computer. Using a computer in the learning process allows you to make this process mobile, differentiated and individual (Danilov, 2011, p. 3).

Modern children spend a lot of time playing computer games since they are more inclined to receive information from ICT tools. Thus I think that the materials received from the ICT tools during the lessons of foreign language and other subjects will be more clear, understandable and effective for the children of primary schools. In addition, computer technology greatly facilitates the teacher’s work in preparing and finding material for the lesson.

The teacher’s task is to create the conditions for practical mastery of the language for each student, to choose such teaching methods that would allow each student to show their activity and creativity.

Kazakhstan is a multiethnic and multi-religious state with more than 126 representatives of different ethnic groups. Russian as a means of international communication and as an official language in the Republic of Kazakhstan occupies one of the leading positions. For a long time, Kazakhstan had been under the power of Russian Empire, and then the USSR. Then the Russian language was fundamental throughout the Union and was established as the “Language of international communication”. By the time of the collapse of the USSR, the aggregate number of Russian speakers in Kazakhstan exceeded the number of the ethnic population.

Within recent years with the development of modern Kazakhstan we observe that bilingualism is gradually turning into multilingualism. One of the most important strategic goals of the language policy of Kazakhstan is the necessity of speaking several languages: Kazakh, Russian and English. Kazakhstan is currently implementing overall modernization of the education system and embedding a multilingualism policy into the educational process as well.

The First President of Kazakhstan Nursultan Nazarbayev, in his Message to the people of Kazakhstan “Strategy Kazakhstan-2050” notes that for modern Kazakh people knowing and speaking three languages is an essential condition for their own well-being (Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050”).

It should be noted that today English is considered not just from the prism of a foreign language but as a compulsory language in which some basic and typical subjects have been taught. All the stages of so called continuous education have adopted the principles of multilingual education. The pupils of Kazakhstani primary schools face the problem of learning not just the primitive basics according to the study program but they also have to study some lessons in three languages at the same time. Therefore I think that the lessons conducted according to the multilingual system should, definitely include the use of information communication technologies.

METHODS

In conditions of intensive integration of cultural communities, the classical model of education is significantly transformed, which, while maintaining its basic foundations, begins to generate and develop new ideas. One of these innovations exists in the steady trend towards the use of ICT during the different subjects, mainly on the lessons of foreign language. It is an effective method that helps to stimulate pupils’ creative activity. Teachers can use the results of the children’s creative activity as illustrative, visual material for the lessons. Conducting lessons with the help of computer presentations contributes to the development of aesthetic, cultural, communicative, value-semantic, information competence.

Teaching English as a foreign language in elementary grades has its own specifics. It is important for children to feel the result of their efforts as early as possible. To create such conditions, it is necessary to constantly maintain the high activity of each child.

The pedagogic experience shows that it is quite difficult to make teaching a foreign language in primary grades effective at a load of 2 hours a week using traditional methods. Thu the use of information communication technologies can help to solve this problem.

ICT open up truly unlimited possibilities for a foreign language teacher and offer simple and convenient solutions to a wide range of tasks, expand the choice of materials and forms of educational work, make lessons bright and exciting, emotionally and informatively saturated.

It is vivid that the information technologies are really effective. They contribute to the implementation of the well-known didactic principles of the organization of the educational process.

Featuring a high degree of interactivity, information technologies contribute to the creation of an effective educational and cognitive environment.

In the process of teaching children using information technology, they learn to work with text, create graphic objects and databases, use spreadsheets. A child learns new ways of collecting information and learns to use them, thus his horizons expand.

When using information technologies in the classroom, the motivation of learning increases and the cognitive interest of pupils is stimulated, and the effectiveness of independent work increases.

Information technologies provide an opportunity not only to change the forms and methods of educational activity, but also to significantly transform and enrich educational paradigms. Even fundamental skills taught in primary schools, such as reading and writing, are subject to change.

The informational competence of schoolchildren is necessary for the high-quality development of all educational subjects. Mastery of computer culture, the formation of information competence of schoolchildren is a necessary condition for including the younger generation in the global information space.

RESULTS

The use of ICT allows a teacher to significantly expand the presentation of various types of information. With a didactically correct approach, a computer and multimedia devices activate students’ attention, enhances their motivation, develops cognitive interests, thinking, attention, develops imagination and fantasy, brings new elements to the learning process. The computer helps to make the lessons more informative, facilitates the understanding of material and makes them more interesting and attractive.

In order for a child to learn foreign languages ​​to be as effective as possible, one must take into account his age characteristics.

Linguists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, after conducting a series of experiments and studies, were able to establish the best age for learning foreign languages.

According to them, a foreign language will be learned the most effectively at the age of 10 years, when the child’s brain is able to quickly memorize and learn the language, having mastered it at the native level (https://www.nkj.ru/news/33699/). Therefore, I believe that training in this age period should be most effective, and it is possible to achieve using information technologies during the foreign language lessons.

The use of ICT in various lessons in primary schools allows to:

• develop the ability of pupils to orientate in the world information flows;
• apprehend the new materials very clearly and accessibly;
• master the practical ways of working with information;
• develop skills that allow the exchange of information using modern technical means;
• intensify the cognitive activities of students;
• conduct lessons at a high aesthetic level.

The usage of ICT on the foreign language lessons has the following advantages:

Firstly, students are interested and inspired, there occur some emotional outburst. The assimilation of new materials while learning a foreign language which belongs to a completely different culture can successfully be reached by using multimedia technologies. For instance, you can show various videos and / or pictures illustrating the language, traditions, values and landscapes of this culture. Indeed, it is easier for a child’s memory to save new foreign words in the form of pictures using audio visualizations, than simply by copying them from the board.

Secondly, conditions are created for individualization of instruction: the teacher has the opportunity to fix the material, “stop” the moment, return to the information of previous lessons, provide self-examination, control, and presentation support for the lessons.

Thirdly, participation in activities, for example, through educational projects, opens up new possibilities for creativity. Students get additional experience in communication, obtaining information, the opportunity to prove themselves. A teacher learns to manage information flows, becomes an authoritative consultant for students, therefore, the interaction between them expands.

Conclusion

Concluding all the above mentioned concerning the use of information communication technologies during the foreign language lessons in primary schools I think that the effectiveness of ICT is undoubtedly. ICT open up truly unlimited possibilities for a foreign language teacher and offer simple and convenient solutions to a wide range of tasks, expand the choice of materials and forms of educational work, make lessons bright and exciting, emotionally and informatively saturated.

The pedagogic experience shows that it is quite difficult to make teaching a foreign language in primary grades effective at a load of 2 hours a week using traditional methods. Thus the use of information communication technologies can help to solve this problem.

It should be noted that in order to adopt the method of effective using ICT during the foreign language lessons in primary schools of Kazakhstan the resource base of the school should be at a high level and equipped with the necessary state-of-art devices.

ЛИТЕРАТУРА

Данилов, О. Е., Ю. В. Иванов, В. В. Майер. (2007). Вступительные экзамены. Физический факультет Глазовского государственного педагогического института имени В. Г. Короленко. Потенциал, № 3, 34–39.

Данилов, О. Е. (2009). Решение педагогических задач, обусловленных низким уровнем информационной культуры учащихся. В: Учебный физический эксперимент: Актуальные проблемы. Современные решения: Программа и материалы четырнадцатой Всероссийской научно-практической конференции (с. 6–7). Глазов: ГГПИ.

Данилов, О. Е. (2011). Применение информационных коммуникационных технологий в процессе обучения. В: И. А. Рудаковой (Ред.), Сборник научных трудов Актуальные вопросы современной науки: Материалы XIII Международной научно-практической конференции (с. 23–28). Москва: Издательство „Спутник+“.

Message of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Leader of the nation N.A. Nazarbayev to the people of Kazakhstan, Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050”.

https://www.nkj.ru/news/33699/

 

REFERENCES

Danilov, О. Е., Y. V. Ivanov, V. V. Mayer. (2007). Vstupitelnie ekzameny. Fizicheskii fakultet Glazovskogo gosudarstvennogo pedagogicheskogo instituta imeni V. G. Korolenko. Potentsial, № 3, 34–39.

Danilov, О. Е. (2009). Reshenie pedagogicheskih zadach, obuslovlennih nizkim urovnem informatsionnoy kultury uchashcihsia. In Uchebniy fizicheskiy eksperiment: Aktualnie problemy. Sovremennie reshenia: Programma i materialy chetirnadtsatoy Vserossiiskoy nauchno-prakticheskoy konferentsii (pp. 6–7). Glazov: GGPI.

Danilov, О. Е. (2011). Primenenie informatsionnih kommunikatsionnih tehnologii v protsesse obuchenia. In I. А. Rudakovoi (Ed.), Sbornik nauchnih trudov Aktualnie voprosy sovremennoy nauki: Materialy XIII Mezhdunarodnoy nauchno–prakticheskoy konferentsii (pp. 23–28). Moskow: Izdatelstvo „Sputnik+“.

Message of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan – Leader of the nation N.A. Nazarbayev to the people of Kazakhstan, Strategy “Kazakhstan-2050”.

https://www.nkj.ru/news/33699/

 

 

Author Info:

Zhanna В. Iztleuova, PhD Student

Korkyt Ata Kyzylorda State University

Kyzylorda, Kazakhstan

e-mail: zhanna_iztleuova@mail.ru