ACTIVE LEARNING AND ITS APPLICATION IN TEACHING ENGLISH

Abstract

This article provides an overview of active learning in thecontext of language teaching by answering research questions:How is the concept of active learning de?ned? What are themethods and strategies connected to active learning and whattechniques can they be represented with? There are givensuggestions how teachers can implement active learningtechniques in their practice and what activities have proveneffective in building language competence of author’s students.It also presents some ideas on the training material developmentfor practitioners in the field of language teaching and coursematerials for learners, thus contributing to the existing knowledgebase about utilizing active learning in the process of Englishlanguage acquisition.It has been established that strategies which are based onideas about how learners effectively acquire foreign languagecommunicative competence assist the participants of educationalprocess in transition into full engagement. Active learning helpsstudents submerge into course material and results in learning,applying, synthesizing, summarizing and evaluating the content.The types of activities, which the teacher implements, are ofparamount importance as they determine the level and type ofstudents' learning and are chosen or designed in order to reachlesson objectives. They span from uncomplicated ones to activitiesof increased complexity and include Concept Mapping, Think /Pair / Share technique, Cooperative Groups in Class, Note Checkor Note Comparison, Minute Papers, If You Could Ask OneQuestion, Discussions, etc.The study also tackles barriers and obstacles which canoccur on the path of incorporating active learning strategiesin teaching and mastering English as a foreign language aswell as recommendations on their overcoming.