Formation of the foreign language competence of future physical education teachers when working with digital didactic flash cards

Abstract

The problem and the aim of the study. Modernization of higher education opens up new prospects for the use of electronic resources in ensuring the quality of foreign language education. The use of interactive tools (simulators, flash cards, virtual boards) meets the requirements for training programs of physical education teachers and the challenges of the international sports movement. The purpose of the work is to study the possibilities of using digital flash cards in training future physical education teachers to develop their foreign language communicative competence. Research methods. The study involved 54 first- and second-year students of Vyatka State University (Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology) (Russian Federation). Training program: 44.03.01 Pedagogical education, Physical education and sports (bachelor's degree level). The Quizlet online platform was used to work with digital flash cards. The test contains questions grouped into the blocks “Digital educational technologies” and “Foreign language in communication (physical education and sports)”. For statistical processing of data, the Pearson's chi-squared test was used. Results. The system of working with flash cards in foreign language professional communication of physical education teachers is described: studying the functionality, working with ready-made sets of cards, automating and improving lexical units, developing thematic sets. A special feature of the program is the adaptation of its content to the specifics of the field of study. In independent work and online collaboration, students of the experimental group used Flashcards, Speller, Scatter, Quizlet Live modes. Statistically significant differences in the qualitative changes that occurred in the level of foreign language training were determined (χ2 = 8.179; p < 0.05). In conclusion, the possibilities of including flash cards in the training of physical education teachers are formulated: competition and receiving positive emotions; resources for self-development, etc. Difficulties are also highlighted: low initial level of language qualification and digital skills; different motivation; dependence of the learning process on sports specialization.