The Role of the Educational Discussion in the Development of the Unprepared Foreign-Language Speech Skills

The relevance of the problem under study is determined by the transition to active methods in the foreign languages teaching which is observed in recent years. These methods also include the educational discussion which is a subject of this research. The purpose of the article is to identify the educational potential of the educational discussion as one of the methods of formation and development of the unprepared speech skills and an effective means of the communicative competence formation in the foreign languages teaching. Based on the analysis of different approaches to the problem of teaching the unprepared foreign language speech, as well as the results of practical work, the authors of the article identify such features as spontaneity, naturalness and motivation. Authors come to the conclusion that the objective features of this type of speech activity being the properties of the educational discussion must be taken into account in the organization of the educational process aimed at the development of the free conversation skills in a foreign language. The need for the material selection and structuring for the organization of the educational discussion in accordance with its linguistic and cultural value is highlighted in the article. It also includes the tasks which are recommended for students to perform at the preparation stage of the discussion in order to overcome language and speech difficulties and the types of the educational discussions used in foreign language teaching are defined. In general according to the results of research such method of teaching as educational discussion is effective for the formation and development of unprepared speech skills in a foreign language. The article may be useful for the teachers of a foreign language working at secondary schools and in higher educational institutions, also for students, graduate and postgraduate students who are engaged in studying and research of the problems of the foreign languages teaching.