Digital Language Learning Environment Influence On Pe Students Professional Development

Abstract

The article analyzes the process of formation of a digital language educational environment in the framework of personal and professional development of students of physical education university. The authors of the article compare characteristics of the process of forming a professional orientation and development of professional consciousness of students of the 1st and 4th years of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "VLGAFC" in various areas of training, taking into account the results obtained in 2018. In 2021, based on a survey of freshmen on vocational training and a survey to determine the level of professional orientation with an emphasis on digitalization of university language environment, it was revealed that personal and professional development of students significantly affects formation of a digital language educational environment, since motivated learning foreign language information of a professionally oriented nature allows you to get more ideas about future professional activity, to lay the foundation for the formation of a system of values ​​that is consistent with the requirements presented in the Federal State Educational Standards for the level of training of specialists in the field of physical education. The factors formed by digital foreign language environment, influencing development of physical education university students in personal and professional aspects, are determined, a conclusion is made about positive influence of digitalization of process learning a foreign language on formation of stable ideas about future professional activity of students.

Keywords: Digital educational environment, language education, personal and professional development, students of a physical education university

Introduction

Relevance of research in the framework of personal and professional development of university students in the context of transformation of digital language educational environment is formed by the need to actively respond to challenges that have arisen in university system in recent years, among them: use of distance technologies, their rapid improvement in a short period of time, a complex process of adaptation of all participants in educational process to mediated interaction using digital resources. The process of formation of professional skills, knowledge, skills, professional orientation and professional position needs to be revised, as well as various aspects of development of professional consciousness of students of physical education university. At the same time, a comprehensive assessment of the impact of information technologies on the state of students' cognitive activity is also required, as well as their perception of future professional activity in linguistic aspect.

Problem Statement

Development of information technologies, including distance learning, is not only a driving force behind the development of vocational education around the world, but also a kind of a trigger for negative aspects associated with the introduction of information technologies both in learning process of individual disciplines and in infrastructure of university educational system. On this basis, there is a need to conduct research related to the following aspects of the future professional activity of students of physical education university:

  • Professional consciousness of students of physical education university in the context of personal and professional development, taking into account interaction with distance information technologies.
  • Professional orientation of students of physical education university in the context of personal and professional development, taking into account interaction with distance information technologies.
  • Learning a foreign language based on the use of distance information technologies in a physical education university.

Professional consciousness of students of physical education university in the context of personal and professional development, taking into account interaction with distance information technologies

The need and importance of assessing the nature of professional consciousness of students of physical education university is a fundamental marker of a real situation in students “awareness of professional development issues, formation of professional culture, skills and habits and should be considered as a process of obtaining of social experience by students” (Efimova et al., 2018, p. 71).

Professional orientation of students of physical education university in the context of personal and professional development, taking into account interaction with distance information technologies

Successful development of professional orientation of students, as well as their professional competencies, is directly dependent on development processes of digital learning. Tsenkova et al. (2018) note that formation of environments accompanying e-learning refers to overcoming serious difficulties that are not limited to creation or distribution of educational materials in a form of a variety of electronic resources. An important fact is that there is a need to find connections between a high-tech educational environment and the content of training and teaching in order to form professional competence of students.

Learning a foreign language based on the use of distance information technologies at a physical education university

Over the past ten years, the opportunities for learning a foreign language have transformed towards even greater accessibility for potential users, acquired a more user-friendly interface, number of free mobile applications has increased significantly. Digital transformation of education based on the use of modern technologies (Tomyuk et al., 2019) is aimed at achieving educational results through the transition to personalized education, an educational process oriented on a result that makes it possible for students to develop social skills, to satisfy their educational interests through individual educational programs. For effective development of future specialists in the field of physical education and sports and their successful personal and professional development, it is necessary to create a stable basis for foreign language environment of the university. Abakumova and Fakhrutdinova (2020) note that the developed foreign language environment of the university will serve as a resource for:

  • implementation of effective online learning. Active use of foreign open educational platforms in educational process, as well as placement of their own courses in English on them.
  • reputation promotion of periodicals of universities, organization of interdisciplinary research.
  • organization of interdisciplinary research.

Research Questions

During the research, the following questions were posed:

  • What characteristics are appropriate for digital language educational environment of a physical education institution?
  • How does digital language educational environment of a physical culture university affect personal and professional development of students?
  • What changes has process of formation of digital language educational environment of a physical education university experienced, taking into account pre-pandemic period?
  • What aspects of personal and professional development have got the highest priority in the digital space of the university?

Purpose of the Study

Determine directions of formation of a digital foreign language educational environment and nature of its influence on personal and professional development of students of physical education university.

Research Methods

The authors used universal research methods for comparative and statistical analysis.

Survey to determine the nature and characteristics of students’ professional consciousness

An abbreviated version for all universities was used "Students on vocational training" by Akopov (2016, p. 4), which consists of 10 questions, contains brief formulations of judgments about the attitude of students to future professional activities (120 students). In 2018, a study devoted to problems of formation of professional consciousness of students of physical education university (Efimova et al., 2018) revealed the following characteristics of a leading mechanism of successful professional consciousness of students of a physical culture university:

  • creating a positive microclimate in educational and training sessions, in student groups;
  • training in conscious immersion in a professional environment through the development of algorithms for successful processing and application of information;
  • introduction into the program of practical classes in the disciplines of social and humanitarian and sports and pedagogical cycles of coaching to fight professional and psychological barriers.

It was found that the respondents of the 1st year of the university of physical culture have a desire not only to acquire and master professional knowledge, to improve sportsmanship, but also demonstrate personal characteristics (for example, potential avoidance of failures) that restrain this desire. In the 4th year, the first place took the questions of professional formation and development. Students are aware of the need to work on themselves both in personal and professional aspects, make objective and proposals to improve the process of professionalization at the university, note to a greater extent positive aspect of education. It is worth noting that respondents have intention to work in the acquired specialty at the beginning and at the end of their studies at the university, which positively characterizes the process of developing professional consciousness of students of physical education university.

Testing to determine the level of professional orientation

We used an inventory (UPN), created by Dubovitskaya (2004), which contains 20 statements and suggested answers to them, its purpose is to assess the level of internal motivation of a student. In 2018, a research was conducted (Ershova et al., 2018, pp. 97-98), summarizing the ten-year experience of teaching students of professional retraining program "Translator in the field of professional communication" on the basis of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "VLGAFC" in the context of formation of a professional orientation in the process of learning a foreign language in a professionally oriented context. Among the students of the program, the majority were students of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "VLGAFC" of different courses, areas of training and levels of education. It was concluded that:

  • during studying under the program "Translator in the field of professional communication", students, discussing issues of a professional nature in a foreign language, develop an objective and positive image of future professional activity through the development of cognitive competencies, research activity, the ability to carry out creative activities while obtaining professionally significant information.
  • using the acquired foreign language knowledge, students of the professional retraining program have the opportunity to prioritize their future profession and better understand it, aiming at motivated self-improvement.
  • on the basis of the interdisciplinary relations formed during the training program, the research work is carried out.

Findings

Based on the analysis of the data from a series of surveys of students, the factors formed by digital foreign-language environment were identified and experimentally substantiated, which have an impact on development of personal and professional aspects of students of physical education university:

Repeated survey to determine nature and characteristics of students’ professional consciousness

In 2021, a repeated survey of first-year students of the FGBOU VLGAFC of 2020-21 academic year was carried out in order to identify changes in nature and directions of formation of students’ professional consciousness on the basis of already used survey of Akopov (2016) among students of 1 and 4 courses (58 students of the first year and 57 - of the fourth year). The most important aspects for comparative analysis are presented below in description of the results of repeated survey. The most significant aspects of professional training, first-year students consider “stress resistance”, “the ability to apply professional knowledge in practice”, “sociability” (these options were chosen by 64%, 18% and 18% of respondents, respectively), in the fourth year the priority was “skill to apply professional knowledge in practice” (72% of respondents), “professional self-improvement” (14% of respondents) and “communication skills” (14% of respondents). The priority of stress resistance for freshmen is obvious because of their quite long experience of distance learning first in school, and then in the first months of study at university, although in the initial survey this indicator was in the third place.

Most first-year students (78% of respondents) expect possible difficulties in performing professional duties in future, 22% of respondents found it difficult to answer the question about difficulties. In the 4th year, students are quite confident of absence of difficulties at work (about 66% of the respondents), but 13% of the respondents are not sure that they will not face difficulties in future. First-year students chose “fear of not coping with stress” (55% of respondents), “encounter with situations that were not discussed at the university” (45% of respondents) as potential difficulties in their future professional activity. Fourth year students drew attention to such options as “encountering situations that were not discussed at university” and “difficulties in communicating with colleagues / clients” (61% and 39% of respondents). It is worth noting that the fear of facing stress can be a kind of "stopper" for freshmen, posing a possible threat to development of professional skills.

Among the missing professionally important qualities, first-year students chose such options as "the ability to master information of a professional nature", "the ability to interact in a team" and "creativity" (53%, 28% and 19% of the respondents, respectively). At the 4th year of study such options as “creativity” and “teamwork” are more relevant for the respondents (85% and 15% of the respondents, respectively). The majority of first-year students (88% of the respondents) found it difficult to choose professionally important qualities, which they had sufficiently developed. In the fourth year, on the contrary, 88% of the respondents indicated that all the professionally important qualities are sufficiently developed. Among the missing professionally important qualities, 1st year students chose such options as "the ability to master information of a professional nature", "the ability to interact in a team" and "creativity" (53%, 28% and 19% of the respondents, respectively). At the 4th year of study such options as “creativity” and “teamwork” are more relevant for the respondents (85% and 15% of the respondents, respectively). The majority of first-year students (88% of the respondents) found it difficult to choose professionally important qualities, which they had sufficiently developed. On the 4th year, on the contrary, 88% of the respondents indicated that all the professionally important qualities are sufficiently developed. 77% of first-year students "most likely" plan to work in their specialty, about 12% of respondents "will certainly work" (88% of respondents chose this option in the 4th year), "have not decided yet" - 9% of respondents, "would not like" - 2%. These indicators are relatively stable when compared with the results of the primary survey.

Re-testing to determine the level of professional orientation

In 2021, first-year students of the VLGAFC were tested to determine trends in increasing the level of professional orientation of students. The inventory by Dubovitskaya (2004) was used again, respondents were 20 students of the professional retraining program "Translator in the field of professional communication" (2020 graduates and students of the current 2021-22 academic year).

An analysis of the respondents' answers showed that the level of professional orientation among 78% of the tested listeners of the program is 14-18 points and is considered high. Average UPN (5-13 points) was found in 22% of the respondents. These indicators refer to the students of both the 2020-year graduates, and to first year students, since the survey data in the two study groups turned out to be approximately the same, and training in professional program was mixed, full-time and distance, for all students. Low scores are not presented in testing, which indicates a student’s clear understanding of expected learning outcomes, ways of applying knowledge gained as part of program development, as well as students interest in obtaining new knowledge and skills, which in the long term will help to express themselves more successfully in professional activities.

Survey of students to identify a subjective assessment of the level of proficiency in foreign language distance learning programs

In 2021, testing was carried out for first-year students of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education "VLGAFC" (58 respondents) to determine trends in increasing the level of professional orientation of students. This testing was compiled by the authors of this research and consists of 5 questions covering various aspects of working with distance foreign language learning programs (DFLLP).

Question 1. "Indicate your experience with distance learning programs in foreign languages." 67% of respondents indicated that they have been working with DFLLP for 4 years, 23% of respondents have been working with DFLLP for less than 2 years, 10% of respondents indicated that work with DFLLP began about six months ago.

Question 2. "What are the advantages of distance learning programs in foreign languages" (the ability to choose several options). Among the advantages of DFLLP, the respondents indicated “multitasking” (22% of respondents), “friendly interface” (15% of respondents), “the ability to save one’s progress” (12% of respondents), “availability of a free version” (9% of respondents), “available and understandable material” (17% of respondents).

Question 3. "What are the disadvantages of distance learning programs in foreign languages" (the ability to choose several options). The respondents point out that DFLLP can be “difficult to understand, since it is available only in a foreign language” (14% of respondents), “do not have a free version” (22% of respondents), “do not have level differentiation for foreign language learners” (8% of respondents), “do not contain materials on professional topics” (7% of respondents).

Question 4. "Has your level of proficiency in a foreign language increased since you started working with distance learning programs in foreign languages?" 88% of first-year students noted that knowledge of grammar or vocabulary has changed, but there is no increase in the level of proficiency, 10% of respondents indicate that their level of proficiency in a foreign language has increased by one or two levels (for example, from A1 to B1), 2% of respondents did not notice any significant changes when working with DFLLP.

Question 5. "How does work with distance learning programs in foreign languages ​​affect your level of digital literacy?" 68% of respondents indicate that, in general, working with DFLLP allows you to master the basic algorithms of interaction with such distance educational programs and increases the level of digital literacy, 24% of respondents note that it has become easier for them to work with other distance educational programs, especially in professionally oriented disciplines, 8% of respondents found it difficult to answer the question.

Thus, we can see a rather positive and favorable picture of digital educational environment for learning a foreign language, first-year students have already experience DFLLP, are able to highlight the positive and negative aspects of DFLLP at the level of beginners and advanced users of distance learning technologies, generally note and the impact of DFLLP on their language proficiency, noting also the rise of digital literacy.

Conclusion

The authors of this research made a conclusion that digitalization of the process of learning a foreign language has a positive impact on formation of ideas about students’ future professional activity, since:

  • the most relevant characteristics of digital language educational environment of a physical culture university are multifunctionality, personal orientation, the ability to build an individual educational trajectory with planning intermediate and final results of work;
  • the positive impact of digitalization processes is carried out through a) an increase in interest in the performance of professional duties after graduation, b) possibility of professional growth and self-improvement when working with foreign language materials at the stage of study at a university, c) establishment of strong meta-subject connections through mastering foreign language knowledge and skills;
  • in the digital linguistic educational environment of a physical culture university, taking into account pre-pandemic period, a certain aggravation of stress factors appeared at the initial stage of study at university, which is quite explainable by both adaptation to study at university, and emergence of concerns about difficulties associated with distance educational programs.

Acknowledgments

We are grateful to the students of VLGAFC for their active participation in surveys on the topic of this research.

References

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  • Efimova, S. V., Ershova, N. G., & Dytko, E. V. (2018). To the question of the development of professional consciousness of physical culture university students. Scientific notes of the University named after P.F. Lesgaft, 12(166), 67-72.

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  • Tsenkova, A. K., Borisova, T. I., Brnekova, D. I., Otuzbirova-Arnaudova, A. L., Zafirov, H. K., & Pavlova, M. S. (2018). Digital and language educational environment for the formation of professional competences during the training of pedagogy students. Sciences of Europe, 27, 3-10.

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25 September 2021

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Cite this article as:

Ershova, N. G., Dytko, E. V., Smirnova, E. Y., & Shitova, L. S. (2021). Digital Language Learning Environment Influence On Pe Students Professional Development. In I. V. Kovalev, A. A. Voroshilova, & A. S. Budagov (Eds.), Economic and Social Trends for Sustainability of Modern Society (ICEST-II 2021), vol 116. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 2401-2408). European Publisher. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2021.09.02.268