Should innovative technologies and methods of teaching replace traditional approaches?

The world lives in an era of great changes. Moreover, today those people who know how to be flexible are far more successful. Therefore, at the present stage, technology and science, used 10-15 years ago to train students, are no longer entirely relevant. Innovations are needed in all areas of human life, especially in education. Innovation activity is one of the basic concepts of modern pedagogy, which studies the processes of school development related to the creation of a new educational practice. Studying innovative processes in education, scientists came to the conclusion about their multidimensionality. Successful development of students as individuals and specialists largely depends on the quality of educational training. The success of training depends largely on the methods of teaching and lecturer, his ability to use various innovative methods and techniques in teaching.

Learning methods are often understood as a set of ways to achieve goals, solving educational problems. Many methods developed in the XIX-XX centuries are still relevant today, but the need to modernize education, integration into the global educational space makes significant amendments to the system of education. There are more and more new, non-traditional teaching methods.

In recent years, many innovative methods in the field of education have appeared. The main ones are:

– Community language learning / Counseling learning
– Consciousness-raising approach
– The method of teaching using information and communication technologies
– The silent way
– Task-based method

1. At the base of the method lies the humanistic approach to learning and the psychological theory of the “advisor”, the essence of which is that people need the help of a psychological adviser in any kind of human social activity, including education. “Advisor” (lecturer) is to assist, advice and fully support students in the learning process. A teacher only observes and occasionally supports the discussion, giving students the opportunity to fully realize themselves.

2. The method is great at learning new foreign languages or training writing skills. This method is based on an understanding of the form of a language phenomenon – lexical and grammatical – and relies on data from contrastive linguistics and the inductive method of mastering the language. The approach was developed in relation to teaching grammar: mastering grammatical skills was seen as a gradual awareness of the form. A lot of students look up to the best online essay writing service
in order to fix their writing. However, despite uk assignment writing service being really useful, students are to have alternatives and therefore consciousness-raising approach is similar to the conscious-comparative method that still exists, which states that thinking in all languages is the same and the difference lies only in its forms of expression, represented in languages by different linguistic means.

3. The use of information and communication technologies in education helps to intensify and individualize learning, contributes to the increase of interest in the subject and motivation. The first training exercises emerged as computer programs in the 60-70s of the twentieth century. Today, ICT technologies have become an integral part of any learning. For example, educational multimedia presentations developed in MS PowerPoint are convenient for both teachers and students. A comprehensive and accessible presentation of the material ensures the efficiency of perception and memorization of the new educational material; CD-ROM tutorials develop students’ hearing and speaking practice. Educational Internet resources (IR) form and develop:

-Aspects of communication competence formation in all the diversity of its components (linguistic, sociolinguistic, sociocultural, strategic, discursive, educational and cognitive);
-Communicative-cognitive skills about search, selection, synthesis, classification, analysis, and synthesis of the information obtained;
-The ability to use the resources of the Internet for self-education in order to familiarize themselves with the cultural and historical heritage of various countries and peoples.

4. The essence of the method is that the initiative at the seminars comes from students, and the teacher should not speak a lot. Teaching in silence, as opposed to repetition and reproduction behind the teacher, becomes a technique that promotes mental activity and concentration of students. The application of this method has a certain framework, as it implies a high motivation and interest of students, which is not always possible.

5. Task-based learning (Method of communicative tasks). The way of communicative tasks is the solution to a number of communicative tasks offered by a teacher. Solving these tasks, communicating with each other, students perform speech actions, trying to find the right ways to solve the communicative assignment. Thanks to this, immersion into the work environment takes place and students begin to communicate with each other, developing team-oriented skills on a practical purpose. This method is especially effective as in-group training. However, it is necessary to clarify that this method is under development, which allows making changes and refinements in order to improve the learning process.

Therefore, today there is a huge selection of methods of teaching. Each has both advantages and disadvantages. The main task of a lecturer is to be able to choose the appropriate method for his students. To choose a suitable method, the teacher should consider the following:

1. Students should feel comfortable and free, be motivated to learn and use hands-on skills;
2. Students must initiate, be active participants in the educational process;
3. A teacher needs to stimulate student’s speech, cognitive and creative abilities; should provide with various forms of work in the classroom (individual, group), stimulating the activity, independence, and creativity of students.

However, teachers, first of all, should be ready to use innovative teaching methodologies. Willingness implies sufficient creative potential. Every teacher should strive for implementing new technologies and ways to awake students’ interest, giving them an opportunity to actively participate in the learning process. In this way, the intended learning outcome is likely to be much higher.

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