The Binary English Class At The Agrarian University

Abstract

A well-organized binary class at an agricultural university provides students with a good opportunity for professionally oriented language learning, increasing their motivation and demonstrating the possibilities of English in the profession. A binary class combines the possibilities of practicing skills and abilities of using special vocabulary, building an independent statement and listening to a foreign speech. The study involved the integration of educational material of two disciplines: English and machine parts and the basics of design in binary classes in the technopark of the road department of Ryazan State Agrotechnological University. The binary class included planning, creating a group of teachers, designing and conducting the class, and its analysis. The key to the success of the class was a good team of a foreign language teacher and a teacher who supervised a professional course of study and understood English quite well. The structure of the class was a sequential alternation of stages, including receiving a portion of theoretical material and practical exercises in English, aimed at training the use of professional terminology, dialogues and minimal monologues. The analysis of the binary class was carried out even during its course, making notes concerning errors in the use of lexical and grammatical material in order to focus the students’ attention in the next English class. The questionnaire survey of the students demonstrated the assessment of advantages of such an English class, confirmed its consistency and practical significance.

Keywords: Binary class, English, university, vocational education

Introduction

English is the most commonly spoken language in the world. Only the Chinese language could dispute this fact due to the large population of the country, but in other countries it is practically not spoken. As for the English language, more than 450 million people speak it as their native language, while another 600-650 million use English as an additional language for communication.

Knowledge of the English language is one of the basic requirements of a modern employer in various sectors of the country's economy. A specialist who is able to apply language skills in practice has a number of advantages over his colleagues, manifested in the ability to work with foreign sources of information, represent the company and the results of its activities at the world level, discuss with foreign partners the methods and technologies used in the course of work. Such professionals are always in demand in agriculture, so the issue of language training for graduates of agricultural universities continues to remain relevant.

Problem Statement

The problem of improving the language training of students was considered in the works of many domestic and foreign authors. Ideas and methodologies related to teaching English and presented in earlier works (Davies & Pears, 2011) are being further developed, detailed and improved. A number of scientists are engaged in teaching English in non-linguistic universities and the specifics of the formation of universal and general professional competencies in students (Afanasyeva, 2017; Chuvashova, 2018; Kalmykova & Tsener, 2020), while others are interested in the pedagogical conditions of the process of teaching a foreign language (Musaev et al., 2019), and still others are interested in considering the current trends in teaching English, modern widely used and innovative teaching methods (Chia Suan Chong, 2018; Khvedchenya, 2017; Lvova et al., 2015; Normatova, 2020; Simonok, 2016; Sitora, 2019; Turdieva, 2019; Udina & Khromov, 2015; Urazova, 2020; Xaytmuratova, 2019).

Increasing attention of teachers is paid to active language teaching methods that involve the development of the student's creative potential and his professional growth (Haydarova, 2020; Mensh & Matveeva, 2015; Sadenova et al., 2017). The issues of interdisciplinary connections and the search for effective methods of teaching English in the course of the integration of language and special disciplines within the framework of the student's training have also found some coverage (Karpova et al., 2020; Kravtsova & Galiguzova, 2015; Zinkevich & Ivanova, 2015). However, the possibilities of binary classes in English in agricultural universities still require more detailed consideration, which only emphasizes the urgency of this problem.

Research Questions

A well-organized binary class in a foreign language at an agricultural university at the final stage of studying a language provides the teacher with a number of advantages in comparison with a regular class that should not be neglected. This type of organization of the educational process is a good opportunity for professionally oriented language studying, which, in turn, increases the motivation of students and demonstrates the possibilities of using English in the profession. A binary class combines the possibilities of practicing the skills and abilities of using special vocabulary, building an independent statement and listening to a foreign speech.

Any organization of the educational process has not got only advantages, but also certain difficulties that both the students themselves and the teachers may encounter, which are better to avoid before they arise. The binary class is certainly no exception. Moreover, due to its complex nature, it requires increased attention of all teachers involved in its organization and practical implementation.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is a detailed consideration of the possibilities of using a binary English class in an agricultural university to develop a number of recommendations for its organization and practical application.

The study involved the integration of the teaching material of two disciplines: foreign language and machine parts and the basics of design. Binary classes were conducted in two groups of full-time students studying in the direction of "Operation of transport and technological machines and complexes" (11 people) and the specialty "Land transport and technological means" (17 people) in the technopark of Ryazan State Agrotechnological University named after P.A. Kostychev (RSATU).

Research Methods

The research involved studying various sources of information and analysing the data obtained. In addition to the aforementioned theoretical methods, such an empirical method as observation was used, which was a purposeful and attentive perception of the binary English class at the road department of RSATU. The study was completed by a survey of students on issues that revealed their attitude to such classes.

Findings

The preparation and conduct of a binary class had several stages, including planning, creating a group of teachers, designing and conducting a lesson, as well as its analysis.

The planning consisted in the choice of the academic discipline and the topic of the class for integration, the time and place of the binary class. Many teachers are familiar with the state of time pressure when the class time ends, and the outline is not fully implemented. The bilingual nature of the studies in question can only aggravate the lack of time, and therefore the final hours of the school day or cases when the profile discipline and a foreign language are in the neighbourhood in the schedule, which allows one to get 3 hours of time, look the most appropriate.

It is more expedient to conduct classes for students of economic faculties in the classroom, and the topics of special disciplines that are most suitable for integration with a foreign language include: negotiation, international trade, business communication, partnership, foreign management experience, competition and monopoly, international monetary and financial relations.

Agricultural universities have a number of advantages regarding the possibilities of places for binary classes. Thus, integrated classes in a foreign language for students of technological faculties can be conducted not only in classrooms, but also at processing enterprises: bakeries, dairy plants, breweries, confectionery factories, etc.

Faculties related to agricultural technology and livestock breeding also have their own specifics of possible places for conducting integrated studies, represented by technoparks and vivariums organized at many agricultural universities.

The considered binary English classes took place in such conditions.

When creating a group of teachers, the following conditions were considered. In the course of a joint conversation, the teacher of the profile discipline introduced his colleague, leading foreign language classes, to his plans for such a class, shared his outline plan and answered possible questions. Later, during the class, a certain part of it was presented in English in the form of tasks related to potentially possible professional situations in the form of dialogues, including filling in gaps, business games or case studies. The practice-oriented nature of the binary classes conducted requires that a foreign language teacher is not only fluent in the language, but also competently navigate the basic concepts of the studied field of professional activity (reading additional literature, getting to know the company's website, compiling a glossary of terms). This helps better navigate the phenomena and processes under consideration, and sometimes, at the request of one of the interlocutors, act as an independent source of information, providing additional explanations. Only a real team (duet or trio) of a foreign language teacher and a teacher who supervises a professional course of study and, ideally, at least a little understanding English, is the key to the success of the implementation of a complex, but, as a rule, interesting binary class.

Designing a binary class, involving the preparation of its outline plan and the development of the entire strategy of joint work, was the next most important stage in the joint activity of a group (team) of teachers.

The structure of such an integrated class can be represented as a sequential alternation of stages, including obtaining a portion of theoretical material and the practical formation of students' skills in the form of exercises for training the use of professional terminology (tasks for the definition or application of the studied vocabulary in speech), dialogues or minimal monologues (development of Russian-English translation skills). Possible wordings include the following:

• fill in the gaps in the remarks with the words / phrases that are appropriate in meaning from the suggested ones and reproduce the statements;
• replace the underlined words / phrases with their equivalents and reproduce the resulting dialogue;
• arrange the lines in a logical order and reproduce the statement / dialogue;
• translate the lines from Russian into English and reproduce the dialogue;
• come up with responses in the proposed dialogue and reproduce it;
• edit the text of a business letter;
• play a meeting between the boss and the heads of departments on the issue of product delivery;
• act out an interview with representatives of the Russian company about its activities (what it develops / produces, how long the company has been at the market, with whom it competes, etc.).

Designing a binary class, involving the preparation of its outline plan and the development of the entire strategy of joint work, was the next most important stage in the joint activity of a group (team) of teachers.

Working with dialogues is aimed at developing speaking skills, so the teacher has to remind students to work in the look-up-and-say manner not to turn the exercise into a regular reading training.

The analysis of the conducted binary class began even in its course, when the teacher made notes for himself regarding errors in the use of lexical and grammatical material in order to focus the attention of students during a regular subsequent foreign language class on existing difficulties in the process of integrating the educational material.

The study ended with a questionnaire survey of students who took part in binary classes, the results of which are presented in tables. The analysis of Table 1 allows one to speak of a sufficiently high level of student motivation, and Table 2 demonstrates the students' assessment of the advantages of a binary English class according to a 10-point system, where 8-10 points indicate the high efficiency of the criterion in question. 5-7 points confirm it effective character and scores less than 5 signal the ineffectiveness of the criterion.

Conclusion

The research carried out allows us to draw a number of conclusions.

Firstly, a binary English class allows one to build a course of study with the ability to transfer skills and abilities formed in the process of mastering communicative competence into educational professional-oriented activities in special disciplines, which, in turn, develops the ability to analyze and compare complex professional processes and phenomena.

Secondly, such classes increase the motivation of students, develop self-discipline and skills of joint activity. These types of language immersion are situations in which one has to speak, resulting in improved speaking skills, listening skills and understanding of the interlocutor.

Thirdly, conducting such classes requires high qualification of a foreign language teacher, who needs to know the basic professional vocabulary himself, be able to navigate in terminology, and know the theoretical material of the profile discipline involved in a binary class.

As can be seen from the above, studying at an agricultural university provides a foreign language teacher with good opportunities for conducting binary classes with extensive use of interdisciplinary connections, which makes the process more complete, interesting and rich.

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