Development Of Leadership Skills In The Process Of Mastering A Foreign Language

Abstract

Effective leaders are essential to any organization, so good leaders have strong interpersonal and communication skills, and it is so important to become one by learning how to exercise and hone leadership abilities especially while you are studying at the university. One of the purposes of mastering a foreign language during studies at the higher educational institutions is to develop leader skills while teaching students an active foreign language proficiency and the formation of their readiness for an intercultural communication. In the absence of conditions for the individualization and a positive realization of new capabilities, a self-affirmation of a student can continue to take negative forms and lead to adverse reactions. In this article the new modern project is shown during which the circumstances for a good leadership skills development at the process of studying English are not only clarified but also tested at the beginning of the studies, at the first course, and at the end of the English course, when students are at the second year. The peculiarity of the article is in the process of combination of modern foreign issues, such as literature and sciences with the studies at the non-language departments at the regional Russian university.

Keywords: Leader skills, teaching foreign language, testing

Introduction

Development of leadership skills is a purposeful and systematic process which is quite actual nowadays and that takes place together with the process of training and education, in which the student himself is a direct active participant. A young person, in modern conditions of total competition, needs well-formed skills, with the help of it he can not only withstand realities, but also show a stable life position. The presence of formed leadership qualities allows a student to be self-confident, to develop rapidly, to influence the life of the team, its emotional atmosphere, and coordination of actions positively. All mentioned can be developed in the process of mastering English at higher educational institutions.

Problem Statement

Leadership qualities are laid down and initially educated in the family and school and then at universities. This actualizes the problem of studying the educational potential in shaping the personality of a leader, since the institutions are interested in developing leadership qualities in a student and are able to do this, it is their actions and role that will largely determine the personal qualities of the future leader.

Without exaggeration, the question of defining the concept of a leader and a leadership can be classified as unsolved, although the main features of it were analyzed in a number of foreign studies by such authors as Dugan (2017), Gloor (2017), Harney (2016), Locke (2017), MacKillop (2017), Southwick et al. (2017), Northouse (2016), Willcocks (2017),Wagner and Pigza (2016) and others. The problem of a leader and his behavior is also assigned in the works of Tuncdogan et al. (2017).

In the course of personal advancement to the position of a leader, the following passage of the phases is necessary: a personal definition, stating a problem in the position of a leader (what problem the leader will solve), building a personal advanced program, mastering the elements of activity and personal reflection. All of this can be done during English lessons. At every stage of formation leaders’ qualities a control takes place.

Control is an indispensable condition for the effectiveness of the educational process, an important part of teaching, a way to determine the level of competence formation in general.

The most important conditions for the effective determination of the level of formation of leadership skills are interviews, self-assessment questionnaires, and observation and along with them there is the scientific organization of control, so we proceed to consider the most acceptable form of control in this case –testing.

An extensive typology of tests has been developed by Russian and foreign researchers. The works of Bachman and Palmer (1996), Lado (1961) are widely known. The Russian testing methodology is represented by the works of Pavlovskaya and Bashmakova (2007), Polyakov (1999) and many others.

Research Questions

This research made us to put such questions as:

Purpose of the Study

In modern conditions of society development, the preparation of future leaders is an actual strategic state task. Its solution contributes to the progress of society, ensures national security.

The purpose of the study is to notify the importance, the connection and the way of forming leader skills at English classes.

Research Methods

To solve the stated problem some research methods are used:

• theoretical, such as analysis of sociological, psychological, pedagogical, social literature on the problem under consideration; analysis of the organization of the educational process at the university for the theoretical substantiation of the essence, functions, structural components of the model of formation of leader skills; synthesis, and systematization for the theoretical generalization of the main approaches to solving the problem of research;
• empirical, such as documents study, analyzing of «Foreign language" discipline’s program, interviews and self-assessment questionnaires, observation, testing;
• experimental process

For a more detailed study of various conditions of the university, we have looked at the following general points:

• testing at the initial and final stages of training;
• improvement of the mechanism of self-control in the process of teaching English.

Findings

The issue of ways of developing the leadership potential of an individual is wildly discussed. There are two points of view in the latest researches. The first assumes that a leader must be born, that training and education play no role. The second point of view is that living conditions and the nature of upbringing also influence innate abilities. Whatever natural inclinations a person has from his birth, it is possible to form certain abilities on their basis. Therefore, in order to form a new personality trait in a student studying a foreign language, it is first necessary to create a language situation in which the child would first experience a mental state corresponding to this trait, and then this state should be consolidated, made a stable personality trait of him.

For the development of the student’s leadership potential, it is necessary to create conditions that require the manifestation of his language activity.

The impetus for the development of leadership qualities should be intellectual (team or individual) games-competitions requiring dexterity, precision, speed of thinking or precision and speed of memorizing and reproducing information. It was found out that the role of success in personal development is enormous.

At every stage of leaders’ qualities formation a control is sure to be presented. We will assume that the test is a set of correctly designed and tested test items that have passed mathematical and statistical processing and that allows to identify in the tested their level of formation of professionally oriented skills in foreign language using the results assessment scale.

It was found that the test should have at least three elements that represent one whole. This is a task system, a presentation technology, a task verification system with analysis of results. We use entering and final tests.

During the survey it was observed that leadership is a trait that affects the effectiveness of managing other people. Nevertheless, some of the most important can be distinguished among them:

• Balance (A leader must have a harmonious combination of qualities).
• Ambitiousness (The desire to achieve something visible and the desire to realize their potential).
• Decisiveness.
• Enthusiasm (A leader is characterized by energy, he constantly moves towards the goal, he finds non-standard and effective solutions that lead to success).
• Self-confidence (A leader must stand firmly on his feet when an important decision falls on his shoulders).
• Psychological openness.
• Realism.
• Ready for knowledge.
• Fairness and impartiality.
• Calmness.
• Creativity (Saltovskaya & Martirosova, 2008).

The formation of leadership qualities in English lessons is carried out in the implementation of directly creative and innovative methods of teaching English, as well as attracting students to participate in various competitive events. An example of such teaching methods can be the use of the project method, which has already proven itself since the beginning of the 20th century.

The analysis of the organization of the educational process at the university for the theoretical substantiation of the essence, functions, structural components of the model of formation of leader skills helped us to give the systematization for the theoretical generalization of the main approaches to solving the problem of research.

During the experiment stated in Pskov State University it was cleared out that the desire to create their own project work certainly awake in students the wish to be more original, creative, successful, and to develop leadership qualities. The experiment was put in the first semester in 2019 and in 2020 among the freshmen. For this aim such topics as «PSU» and «Ancient Pskov» were stated. The experiment and testing proved our suggestions and gave new thought for further researchers.

Conclusion

The upbringing of a modern leader in the process of mastering a foreign language is of interest not only to specialists, but also to the general population. Reality poses tasks for the younger generation that require active inclusion in foreign society, in interaction with people and social institutions in all spheres. Thus, the formation of the leadership qualities of adolescents is not a spontaneous process, but a systematic, organized and purposeful activity that must be performed in the process of teaching and upbringing, where the student himself must be an active participant/

In the conditions of the formation of the modern Russian state, the problem of educating youth leadership qualities occupies one of the leading places in the system of social and pedagogical sciences and teaching process in general. The formation of leadership qualities is possible and gives the best results by means of learning English with the help of a number of problematic tasks. They will form a clear algorithm of actions, confidence, desire and ability to express themselves.

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