Developing learning and strategic competence in pre-service teachers’ professional oral English communication within reflection and differentiation

Abstract

This article deals with developing learning and strategic competence in professional oral English communication of preservice teachers. It highlights the need for seeking new teaching approaches due to recent changes in university curriculum, i.e., the decrease in class hours and the increase in self-study hours. The research analyses the specifics of implementing modern approaches and proves their effectiveness. The paper introduces the definition of learning and strategic competence in professional oral communication of pre-service English teachers, which defines the speakers’ ability to learn consciously and manage their speaking activity in professional situations both effectively and autonomously. Moreover, this case study examines and explains the relevance of reflection and differentiation. It shows that reflective approach enables students to analyse and manage their learning process while mastering learning and communicative strategies, identify the most efficient ones, plan further actions in order to improve earlier developed skills. This paper stresses the necessity of mastering chosen reflection skills by implementing five sequential stages of the reflection mechanism. However, differentiation gives teachers the opportunity to individualise the learning process, varying teaching methods and tools, adapting exercises and activities to students’ cognitive learning styles, peculiarities and needs. Therefore, it suggests combining differentiation with individualization while applying their most relevant aspects. In terms of differentiation the investigation describes mechanisms of adaptation, regulation and improvement, and provides the evidence for importance of individual, pair and group work.