The Role of Non-Verbal Communication in Language Classes in a Multilingual Audience (from Experience of Working on Electronic Educational Platforms)

Abstract

The article was written on the current topic of improving intercultural communication in the context of globalization and the rapid development of high technologies. The purpose of the article is to study the role and characteristics of mastering nonverbal communication skills by students studying foreign languages in higher education in intercultural interaction, as well as to develop proposals for the use of electronic educational platforms to improve the effectiveness of learning. The problem is that in Kazakhstan’s universities there are not enough academic hours to master non-verbal communication, so almost no attention is paid to this aspect of learning foreign languages. At the same time, ignoring the training of students in nonverbal communication of representatives of the cultures of the foreign languages being studied is a serious omission of the higher education system, since it impedes the full intercultural communication of future specialists. Today it is necessary to look for modern pedagogical technologies, methods and techniques to solve this problem. The article uses the following research methods: dialectical cognition, formal logic, analysis of scientific literature, linguistic and cultural approach, induction, deduction, comparison, complex analysis and modeling. The authors of the article come to the conclusion that effective intercultural interaction is impossible without mastering nonverbal communication of other peoples of the world. The authors of the article propose to teach university students nonverbal communication of other cultures using modern remote technologies, for example, virtual classes on electronic educational platforms. In particular, it is possible to create appropriate training modules with different tasks, exercises, lecture material, audio and video files, as well as final testing or project protection. This will allow students to study and practice nonverbal communication skills in a convenient distance format, including with native speakers of foreign languages (video lectures, real-time communication with native speakers of the languages being studied, performing creative tasks, etc.). Since today, through the Internet, all students and teachers interact with foreigners to one degree or another, solving educational tasks and analyzing specific cases will not be difficult for them. A promising direction for further research, according to the authors of the article, may be methodological developments for the introduction of electronic courses on mastering non-verbal communication of cultures of the countries of the foreign languages they study into the curricula of the higher school.