Enhancing Learners’ Communicative Skills through Audio-Visual Means

Abstract

Communication helps us to receive and transmit information with the help of the language. In the result of globalization and cultural integration English became a worldwide used language. Knowledge of English gives rise to numerous possibilities so modern specialists have to speak the English language fluently. Thus, methods of teaching students a foreign language should be developed. English language acquisition is closely connected with different types of activities with audio and video that help motivate students to communicate and enhance their communicative competence of English through listening and speaking. Moreover, listening to and watching authentic professionally-oriented educational materials has a better impact on the sensory organs and allows students to choose the appropriate vocabulary to respond quickly to communicative situations. Therefore, we hypothesize, that the effectiveness of the use of audiovisual means in teaching professional English communication depends on such factors as the teacher’s skills level, the quality of the audiovisual means used, the authenticity of the professional audio and video texts, the correct organization of the educational process and the consideration of the individual peculiarities of students. In this study we analyse theoretical data relevant to the current research, describe our personal approach to the choice of methods and techniques using audio and video to provide students with proficiency in professional English and seek to compare the level of English language proficiency before and after the experiment when conducting our lessons with different types of activities. Our findings prove that the appropriate usage of authentic audio and video professional materials by the teacher influences the sensory organs of students and allows them to memorize vocabulary and speech patterns better in order to react to communicative situations.