APPLICATION OF REFERENCE INTERNET RESOURCES IN THE TEACHING OF AVIATION ENGLISH TO REPRESENTATIVES OF THE DIGITAL NATIVE GENERATION

Abstract

The article deals with exploring the potential of IT in the process of English as a language of speciality (English for special purposes, ESP) teaching. The authors presented the results of the pedagogical research carried out at the National Aviation University, Ukraine. To increase the efficiency of teaching Aviation English, a new approach was applied, which was based on students’ ability to be engaged in online activities and use digital tools naturally. The approach is characterized by the guided use of the machine translator Google Translate and Multitran online dictionary in the process of learning English as a language of speciality to develop students’ skills in the correct application of online lexicographic materials. To test the effectiveness of the new approach, the research was conducted, in which students of the experimental group were taught with the use of the mentioned online reference tools under the teacher’s guidance. The results of the research provide information about the positive influence of the approach on the development of the experimental group students’ professional English competence compared with the students from the control group. It proves that properly designed and purposefully introduced complex language learning activities involving online reference tools (online machine translator and online dictionary) made a positive influence on the students’ level of knowledge and can be employed in the process of language learning in non-linguistic universities. The conclusion was made that online dictionaries and translation machines are valid tools for improving the foreign language skills of students of non-linguistic universities. Benefits and disadvantages of using online dictionaries and machine translators in the ESP learning process were explored and it was concluded that online dictionaries (OD) and machine translation (MT) tools make it possible to check the meaning of a word, provide a wealth of important information about lexical elements, technical terms and idiomatic expressions. In the paper, some examples of students’ educational activities in Aviation English teaching with the use of online reference tools are given.