TYPES OF INTERACTIVE METHODS OF TEACHING ENGLISH FOR TECHNICAL STUDENTS

Social, technical and economic changes that have taken place in the country in recent years make new demands on specialists in various fields of knowledge, and technicians are not exception. The English language study plays a major role in forming professional qualities of future technicians. The implementation of tasks requires the use of various methods in teaching English to students of technical departments, but the main methodological innovations today involve the use of interactive methods. Interactive teaching methods are the actual way of teacher’s work in classroom, group or any educational institution. Interactive teaching methods, in contrast to the traditional ones, are based on the active interaction of participants in the educational process, and special attention is paid upon students’ interaction with each other. This approach allows teachers: 1) to create a classroom atmosphere that helps to encourage students to ask questions and seek answers, take (as a basis) the following types of training that would facilitate the development of critical thinking and independent acquisition of knowledge, encourage reflection; 2) to apply existing methods, become a thoughtful professional, which means to learn how to observe carefully, identify problems and create new strategies to solve them; 3) to be a model for other students, transfer knowledge to them. In turn, students learn to think critically, solve difficult problems based on analysis of circumstances and relevant information, make thoughtful decisions, participate in discussions, communicate with other people. Participants of interactive learning set learning objectives, develop a learning activity, identify problems in the course of training, study the reflection of their training activities. The article describes the most popular interactive teaching methods (role play, presentation, conversations, brainstorming, projects, podcasting, video files, blogging, round table, discussion, situational analysis) at the English language classes with students of technical departments. The interactive learning is important for personal and professional development. Interaction helps involve students in performing activities with technical terms, and such activities can enhance vocabulary acquisition and promote the development of lexical skills. Students are able to take control of their learning process and also figure out their preferred resources with the help of interactive technology. In this way, they can choose the method to present projects and also develop important research skills for the upcoming days. Furthermore, students are able to develop their communication as well as collaborative expertise by working on shared projects or documents and this will help them significantly afterward when they mature into working individuals. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of interactive methods in teaching a foreign language to future technicians helps to organize an active interaction of all participants of the communication process which results in the exchange of professional information in a foreign language and the acquisition of professional qualities and practical skills of technical


Introduction.
In conditions of the competitive exit of Ukraine into the international educational arena, it is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure a high level of education for students of higher educational institutions, using only traditional methods of study.The involvement of new effective methods of teaching a foreign language for the preparation of technical students, in particular, has become not only desirable, but also necessary.
Among the advanced methods in the modern educational process of learning English, much attention is paid to interactive methods based on a person-oriented approach to the student, aimed at developing not only the creative potential of the learner, but also the ability to think and respond quickly, improving communication skills.
Background literature review.Introduction of innovative technologies into the educational process, an important place among which belongs to the interactive ones, is the main direction of improvement in the study of foreign language.The essence of interactive learning is highlighted in the works of N. Balitskaya, G. Voloshina, O. Glotov, N. Pobirchenko, A. Pometun, L. Pirozhenko and others.The problem of using interactive methods has been reflected in the scientific works of such scholars as N. Azarov, I. Beh, N. Matveeva, L. Nikolayev, O. Panchenko, N. Stetsur and others.
The aim of the article is to substantiate the importance of using interactive methods of teaching English to technical students.
To achieve the given aim, the following tasks were specified: to reveal the essence and peculiarities of using interactive methods in foreign and domestic literature; to find a complex of different interactive technologies in teaching English, analyze the results of research.
Main results of the study.The word "interactive" (translated from "inter" is mutual, "act" -act) means "to interact"."Interactive learning" can be defined as the interaction of a teacher and a student in the process of communication and learning in order to solve linguistic and communicative tasks.Interactive activities include the organization and development of dialogical speech, aimed at interaction, mutual understanding, solving problems, which are important for each participant in the educational process.
Interactive interaction is characterized by a high indicator of the intensity of communication of participants, their direct communication, change of used methods and forms of communication, which helps to diversify the perception of information, thereby improving its learning (Pometun, Py`rozhenko, 2004, pp. 35-37).
The structure of English classes (for technical students) with the use of interactive technologies takes place in four stages: 1) preparation (this stage foresees organizational moments, such as handouts, necessary technical means); 2) introduction (at this stage it is important to explain rules, goals, technically formed tasks, division into groups, distribution of roles and timing for the game); 3) conducting (discussion of the situations given by the teacher, independent or group search of solutions, formation of answers are compulsory); 4) reflection and results (the elements of this given stage are discussion of the results of the game, evaluation, feedback) (Gin, 2000, pp. 7-11).
It should be noted that the choice of the form of conducting an interactive lesson requires an individual approach of the teacher, taking into account the level of intellectual development, the studied theme and the objectives.
Interactive learning technologies can be used to conduct classes inside or outside the classroom in the form of extracurricular activities.The method of conducting a lesson is active, that is, no student is left without attention and, in a favorable atmosphere, even passive students tend to be active participants.
Interactive teaching methods include: presentation, heuristic conversations, role plays, discussions, "brainstorming", competitions with practical tasks and their further discussion, design of technical plans, projects, carrying out of creative activities, the use of multimedia computer programs and the involvement of English-speaking professionals.
Recently, the project methodology as an interactive learning technology has become increasingly widespread in teaching foreign languages to technical students.The project can be defined as a set of tasks that foresee an organized, long-term, independent students' study of foreign language, which is carried out at the classes and during extra hours, the purpose of which is to create a definite final product in the form of booklet, newspaper, video etc., and oral presentation on the chosen problem with the use of varied visibility.
The project methodology is effective for mastering one of the components of communicative competencethe socio-cultural component (when foreign language teaching is on the basis of the involvement of material of ethnographic character).The project methodology makes it possible to learn cultural information, draw parallels between cultures of different nations, find common features and differences, form a respectful and tolerant attitude to socio-cultural differences.
It is necessary to organize work in such a way that it will allow technical students to demonstrate creative and intellectual abilities, achievement, develop creative thinking and learn to communicate with other people (Kozka, 2013, p.44).It should be also noted that interactive online learning is becoming popular.The benefits of using interactive online learning systems are accessibility, flexibility, absence of stress, quality of learning, personalized counseling, time and place for learning, time savings and improved computer skills (Prosyany`k, 2013, p.88).
Among the methods of interactive online education, the following ones are distinguished: 1) podcastinga way of publishing media streams (usually audio or video programs) on the World Wide Web (usually in MP3 format), which are announced in a special way, which allows you to download new releases to the device automatically.For convenient reproduction of podcasts, software is created that regularly asks the website for new records to be uploaded to the user's computer.
2) video files.With video files, technical students learn the lesson better than they just read or hear it.
3) blogging.The blog is a kind of site that is occasionally filled with text and multimedia information, and the latest blog records are displayed in reverse chronological order.Technical students have the opportunity to express their thoughts about the posted articles, and the teacherto make some changes in the contents if there is a need, thanks to a quick feedback.The learning management system is specifically designed for online learning.This system allows the teacher to create, post and monitor the implementation of the course tasks, send homework and register students for the course.Students can perform tasks online, or by uploading, make and send them to the teacher's email for verification.One of the most common learning management systems is Moodle.
A role-playing game (at the foreign language classes), which simulates future professional activities, contributes to the development of the students' skills and competence as foreseen by the qualification characteristics.The game model of learning allows those who learn not only to feel themselves in a certain communicative role, but also to reveal their emotions, intellectual abilities, creative imagination (Azarova, 2011, pp. 7-13).
We distinguish such role playing as: simulation or imitation, performance (drama) and game-competition (game).Often they are identified, but in general they mean different concepts.The difference between role playing and simulation is the probability of roles played by the listeners.So, simulation is a situation in which those who are learning perform roles that are natural to them in their real life.In the role-playing game, however, they can "try on themselves" roles that they do not embody in their lives (Kodotchigova, 2002).
Role, imitation games and simulations or situational modeling are especially useful for future professional activities.The use of imitations and simulations allows not only to perform actions that repeat the phenomena of the surrounding reality, but also to recreate the real situations of professional life in specially created conditions.The topics for role-playing games, imitations in the teaching foreign language to students may be related to their future professional and scientific activities: "Job hunting: interview with the employer", "Scientific conference, symposium".
Let's consider other following active methods, which allow to plan your lesson more effective, interesting for listeners.
The method of brainstorming is a method for solving urgent tasks in a short time.The essence of the method lies in the fact that it is necessary to express ideas, as much as possible, in a short period of time, discuss them and classify them.This method is used to solve complex problems.The method of brainstorming can be used in various types of activities: in work with small and large training groups, individual work.
"Round Table " a method of conducting classes with technical students who, as a rule, have the experience of practical work on the subject under discussion.At the "round table", listeners can and should try to ask questions on the topic of discussion rationally, argue approaches to their solution seriously, and report on successful and bad experience.The "Round Table " is a kind of meeting on the exchange of experience and discussion of practical experience, achievements and mistakes.In this way, the students master the contents of the topic, its problems.
The discussion is an active method of conducting classes, designed to mobilize practical and theoretical knowledge, the views of listeners on the problem.The discussion is relevant when considering controversial issues (but in the learning process, situation of controversy of interpretations may not arise).For these reasons, it is not correct to plan lessons as discussion in advance.When discussion is a curriculum outcome, teachers have purposes for teaching discussion, and they explicitly teach students how to be discussants.Teachers report that they want their students to develop discussion skills for many of the same reasons that they teach with discussion.If students will engage in discussions outside of the classroom, then the possibility of students building knowledge and exploring multiple perspectives about issues also extends outside of the classroom.An additional purpose for teaching students how to engage in discussion related to citizenship education and preparing students to discuss issues and policies.Teachers think of discussion as a skill that requires practice sessions.At times they plan discussions so students may practice engaging in verbal interactions with one another.They believe that students become better discussants when they watch the teacher model appropriate behavior during a discussion, then receive opportunities to practice engaging in discussions (Larson, 2000, pp. 661-677).
Situational analysis means that technical students, having reviewed the description of the problem, analyze the situation independently, diagnose the problem and give their ideas and solutions during discussions with other listeners.Depending on the nature of the material's presentation, situations-illustrations, situation-assessment and situation-exercises are used.
Analysis of specific situations is the most suitable method of situational analysis in educational conditionsa traditional analysis of specific situations, including a deep and detailed study of real or imitation situation.The usage of the method of analysis of specific situations allows to solve the following educational goals: the development of analytical thinking, the application of analysis in dynamics; mastering the practical skills of working with information (selection, structuring and ranking on the importance of problems); making decisions; development of modern technologies; expansion of communicative competence; formation of the ability to choose the best options for effective interaction with other people; stimulating innovation; increasing motivation to study problem theory.
Conclusions and implications for further research.So, after analyzing the given problem, we can conclude that interactive teaching methods contribute to optimizing the learning process for the study of a professional foreign language.They are intended to put mechanisms for motivation in place and increase the efficiency of teaching foreign language communication.The advantages of using interactive methods in the process of students' learning include the maximum approximation to the real conditions of professional activity, the broad autonomy of students, decision making in conditions of creative competition and the development of skills for spontaneous speech, promoting the development of organizational skills of students, overcoming the barrier between the study of language and its practical application.
The theoretical and practical study of the problem raised in the article outlines the prospects for further research, in particular the definition of criteria for the selection of interactive teaching methods, which will increase the efficiency of English classes.