Teaching a Foreign Language Using Videos

Education technology represents a system of influences on the trainee in the training process. It involves the management of a didactic process with the inclusion of stages of the trainees’ activities, organization and control. The problem of educational technology efficiency is based on strategies of representation, acquisition, storing, reproducing, and actualization of various forms of educational information. This paper considers audiovisual technologies (AT) for foreign language training in high school. It reports on a number of audiovisual activities in foreign language training. The research provides some ideas of the students’ perception of video in the education process. The classification of video materials allows consideration of the different pedagogical and didactic conditions of AT realization. The functional features of a video film in the training process and four stages of audiovisual education technology based on a video film are described. To present the process of training, the pedagogical algorithms based on the structure of the knowledge acquisition process are developed according to the aims of viewing (illustrative viewing, fact-finding, studying, critical, and search viewing. The stages of AT realization (previewing, presentation, after-viewing, and actualization) are considered. An educational intervention using AT is developed and we investigate (1) the effectiveness of audiovisual technology as a teaching method; and (2) the degree of knowledge acquisition of the language content proposed to students. The aim of foreign language training is to form and to develop foreign language communicative competence that includes different skills, abilities and knowledge of grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary, skills in reading, writing, audition and speaking. To estimate the communicative competence level, we used the calculation of knowledge acquisition factor of training material. A significant improvement was observed in the acquired knowledge of a foreign language and AT were perceived to be effective in teaching foreign languages. AT were perceived to facilitate students’ knowledge acquisition and stimulate active learning. Foreign language training based on AT positively influences students’ performance and should play a leading role in the effective communicative competence formation and development.