Abstract
The article is aimed at highlighting the sociocultural factors a teacher/IELTS instructor should consider preparing Russian students for the IELTS exam. The main focus of the study was on four speech functions most frequently used in the IELTS Speaking Test: explaining and paraphrasing, expressing personal opinion, providing personal information, and summarizing. The study aims to question the assumption that the problems arising in the use of these speech functions are provoked by the students’ low language level and to investigate if there are any sociocultural issues connected with the use of the above-mentioned speech functions influencing students’ performance during the IELTS Speaking Test. The study was conducted among first-year students at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) in the Faculty of Computer Science. To see the problem from a different perspective, the study involved not only the first-year students who seem to struggle with the speech functions but also their English teachers who can provide trustworthy first-hand information on the problems the students frequently face. The results of the study demonstrate that the cause of problems students encounter using the speech functions should not be attributed only to their language knowledge, as do the majority of interviewed teachers. The way students tend to explain, paraphrase, summarize, express their opinion and provide personal information is culturally defined which influences students’ ability to perform these functions effectively. To help Russian students avoid sociocultural problems preparing for the IELTS Speaking Test, a teacher/IELTS instructor should aim to increase students’ sociocultural awareness of the pitfalls in the use of the essential speech functions and sociocultural competence in a foreign language.
Highlights
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Galina Pavlovskaya, English Language Department for Economic and Mathematical Disciplines, National Research University Higher School of Anastasia Lord
As reported by Neo HR organizing annual opinion polls among the students of top Russian universities, world-famous internationally active companies like Google, Microsoft, Yandex, EY, KPMG, Deloitte employ the largest number of the specialists in the field of IT and are considered to be the most reliable employers among Russian students, namely, the students of the Faculty of Computer Science at the Higher School of Economics (HSE) who participated in the study described further in this article
According to the annual reports published by the National Organization of Colleges and Employers (NACE), recruiting policy of these international companies requires that a successful candidate should provide valid academic qualifications proving his/ her professional skills, an internationally recognized certificate of English language proficiency for nonnative English language speakers, and, above all, demonstrate an ability to work in a multicultural team that depends greatly on the level of sociocultural competence
Summary
To help Russian students avoid sociocultural problems preparing for the IELTS Speaking Test, a teacher/IELTS instructor should aim to increase students’ sociocultural awareness of the pitfalls in the use of the essential speech functions and sociocultural competence in a foreign language. According to the annual reports published by the National Organization of Colleges and Employers (NACE), recruiting policy of these international companies requires that a successful candidate should provide valid academic qualifications proving his/ her professional skills, an internationally recognized certificate of English language proficiency for nonnative English language speakers, and, above all, demonstrate an ability to work in a multicultural team that depends greatly on the level of sociocultural competence
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