The article describes the 2013-2019 study, conducted at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv (Ukraine), and involved 221 undergraduate students of Computer Science and Cybernetics Faculty. The research aimed at developing students' motivation to selfimprovement of foreign language (FL) proficiency as a whole and listening comprehension competence in particular. We made a primary focus on listening comprehension improvement in the English for Specific Purposes (ESP) classroom since the students had performed poorer in listening than in the other ESP final exam activities. A new methodology for listening comprehension skills development through computer-assisted training activities related to the participants' professional environment (technological) was proposed. The experiment, which encompassed a three-stage metacognitive strategy training based on TED Talks online conference resource, was carried out. New was the idea that the students multitasked at all experiment stages -Listening Comprehension Input, Live Listening Comprehension, Listening Comprehension Output -that is, combined a "live listening" activity with reading, writing and speaking practice. Statistical analysis of the 2013-2019 ESP exam results based on the descriptive method, single-factor ANOVA and effect size measurement quantitatively proved the efficacy of the implemented methodology. The worked-out methodology might be used an alternative to traditional teaching techniques due to approach fruitfulness.
Ukrainian undergraduate students face challenges in demonstrating high-level proficiency in most of their academic writing. As an integral part of academic achievement, writing skills are essential for success at the various levels of students’ future career paths. Thus, academic literacy has raised considerable attention to teaching English as a second language. This study explores the writing competence level of 90 first-year students of Computer Science and Cybernetics Faculty at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and analyzes essay errors that are identified, classified and explained. The study describes the main categories of errors and reveals the causes of their production. It is evaluated that the major types of errors committed in students’ writing are: word choice, word spelling, verb tense, articles, and prepositions. We consider that the main reasons for errors are the native language interference, the lack of English academic writing knowledge and insufficient English grammar and functional use practice. Focusing on the importance of encouraging students to develop their academic literacy, we defined the approaches and strategies that can help teachers and language learners to overcome difficulties in writing. After defining the essay errors, the students were given a set of tips on academic writing proficiency and presented with contrastive L1-L2 comparisons, which resulted in significant improvement of the required academic writing skills. Finally, we measured the impact value of error difference aimed at describing the relationships between pre-analysis and post-analysis writing. Learning academic writing literacy may be an appropriate way to arise overall disciplinary literacy with the students.
The lockdown caused by the COVID-19 outbreak mainstreamed distance learning in all educational institutions worldwide and Ukraine in particular. Kyiv University’s staff faced the global challenge to teach in the crisis conditions. The university closure made it clear that remote learning demanded the implementation of totally new methodologies to cover the needs of students. An online survey resulted in approaching Zoom and Google Classroom as the most preferable and efficient in providing live learning opportunities. To reach valid data of the study, qualitative and quantitative analyses of off- and online exams were applied. The majority of respondents estimated the online exam format similar to face-to-face one and the practical value of online learning following the university shutdown as beneficial. Against this background, in post-pandemic reality, Kyiv University has applied urgent management practices to alleviate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on both students and staff. The new platform encompasses various modes and has covered all students and the teaching staff of Kyiv University from September 1 this year. The KNU Education Online digital platform as a multifunctional school network is a fruitful university decision to work out the strategy beneficial in the long run.
In an attempt to leverage knowledge in an ESP classroom, some university teachers find not much support from the university staff and administration in Ukraine. Yet, it hardly restrains ESP teachers to eagerly develop and construe their professional identity aimed at equipping students with employability literacy skills. A two-stage survey of three different groups of respondents was conducted at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, Ukraine. The findings on the open-ended questionnaire allowed designing a rank of identity constituents, which appeared to be different in research groups’ perceptions. While both language and subject teachers valued “individual features” as the most significant and “work experience” as the least, the students correspondingly ranked the other categories – “professional knowledge” and “foreign language competence”. Within the close-ended questionnaire dataset, these discrepancies vanished. All research groups agreed on the model of “ideal” ESP teacher identity as a combination of significantly ranking categories: “methods of teaching” → “professional knowledge” → “individual features” → “foreign language competence” → “work experience”. The “professional knowledge” category was estimated twice as significant as the “work experience” domain. The research results are consistent with the recent studies on teacher identity simulation. New was ranking the ESP teacher identity model on constituents’ significance based on opinions of three different social groups – students, language teachers, and subject teachers. The worked-out model could remedy ESP teacher identity ambiguity due to approach fruitfulness.
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