The Ukrainian language communicative competence formation of foreign students based on the student-centered approach (in the process of teaching Ukrainian as a foreign language)

Abstract

The article aims to offer a student-centered system of work on the communicative competence formation of foreign students in the process of teaching Ukrainian. The author implements it with the help of theoretical (analysis, synthesis and generalization of scientific knowledge to find out the main factors of the Ukrainian language communicative competence formation of foreign students), empirical (author’s own observations on the educational process) and statistical methods (analysis of foreign students’ poll results). Main results and conclusions. The article suggests the system of work on forming the foreign students’ communicative competence based on the student-centered approach in the process of teaching Ukrainian. The author submits that a number of factors contribute to the foreign students’ effective education and their communicative competence formation, among which she highlights the following: sociocultural adaptation, individual characteristics of the person, direct communicative interaction with teachers and students. These factors convince that the educational process of foreign-language communicators should be based on the student-centered approach and should be carried out in stages. Each of the stages has a certain system of work, a corresponding set of methods and techniques. For example, at the adaptive-propaedeutic and motivational-stimulating stages of foreign speakers communicative competence formation it is recommended to apply the oral method of Herald Palmer and the audiovisual method; at the third stage, it is necessary to implement the method of exercises (pre-communicative, communicative-situational, post-communicative, etc.), imitative, situational-communicative and communicative-game methods; at the production-creative stage it is possible to organize work by means of discussion, text-translation and project methods; the reflection-evaluation stage is provided by the methods of free conversation and reflection. Each method has a number of techniques, which are implemented in the exercises. Our proposed methods and techniques for the foreign students’ communicative competence formation in classes of Ukrainian as a foreign language are effective, but they are tentative and can be improved. There is no doubt that this issue requires further research, so we will continue to work in this direction and its results will be highlighted in the next articles.