CLASSIFICATION OF MODERN APPROACHES TO ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Abstract

The article provides an overview of modern approaches to teaching English as a foreign language (such as cognitive, integrated, competency-based, communicative, activity-based, individual, etc.) and presents different classifications of learning methods in terms of the historical development of didactics. The intensification of international relations in our country has given impetus to the training of qualified specialists capable of foreign language communication. The data collected in the observational research and testing show that the success of mastering a foreign language is specified not only by mental cognitive processes associated with mind. Regarding this, the so-called personality factors that have a significant impact on the efficiency of a foreign language learning, have been actively studied. The teacher’s task is to provide the appropriate classroom context by constantly creating situations of professional communication, encouraging students to actively participate in the dialogues, supporting their initiative and developing the skills of interactive learning. All forms of classroom activities are organized to form and develop the linguistic competence of students, the exercises include questions and tasks for the development of attention, memory, thinking, logic, problematic and creative tasks, activating students’ mental and emotional activity. It is especially advisable to use authentic material (newspapers, videos) in teaching listening and reading, as it significantly facilitates the perception of language, develops students’ cognitive activity, deepens the knowledge of modern language units and significantly increases the motivation for learning a foreign language. The successful outcomes indicate that improving the classroom’s engagement as well as working on the students’ linguistic competence help fostering a better attitude towards a more confident use of communicative skills.
 Keywords: competency-based approach; communicative approach; individual approach; integrated approach; English language; foreign language communicative competence; linguistic competence; learning methods.