Use of Bloom's Taxonomy in the ESP final exam preparation as the way to avoid the feelings of anxiety in the war period

Abstract

Using the methodology of qualitative research, a series of the English language classes on the developing of asking questions skills was held with the 4th-year students of the educational and professional program "Physics" in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The findings of the study made it possible to introduce an innovative part of the speaking exam format that was developed and implemented in 2021 and 2022. The impetus for this implementation was the tense social and political situation that arose in connection with the threat of COVID 19 and the beginning of military operations in Ukraine, which forced teachers to adapt the educational process to the new reality. In this regard, the principles of students’ autonomy and critical thinking have become of primary importance. It was highlighted that questioning plays an important role in the critical thinking development of the students. The analysis of the literature on the use of B. Bloom's Taxonomy and its updated version showed that the researchers made a great contribution to the development of teachers to use questions of different cognitive levels of Bloom’s taxonomy to outline the goals and assess the knowledge of schoolchildren or higher education students. Considering that asking questions is very important for students as future physicists, our research emphasized a student-centered approach. An extended structure of the speaking exam for the 4th year students of the Faculty of Physics, which was called a prepared speech, was developed. The principles of autonomy, scientific approach, academic integrity, critical thinking, creativity and hierarchy of tasks were defined. According to them, an algorithm of tasks for prepared speech has been developed. Based on the observation and the students’ survey, conclusions were drawn regarding the high level of motivation of students to perform the proposed structure of tasks. Achievement orientation helped students to overcome the anxiety caused not only by the exam, but primarily by the war. Asking questions they gained a deeper understanding of the physical subject, new vision of the phenomenon and developed the necessary professional skills of critical thinking. These facts show the viability of the innovative exam format in the war period.