Scholarly record

THE CONTENT DEVELOPMENT OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIAL PURPOSE COURSE WITH THE USE OF MULTIMEDIA PRESENTATIONS

M. Odinokaya, T. Panysheva, A. Bondarevskaya

Abstract

The article considers the criteria of instructional materials selection, the use of technological means of multimedia presentations for the content development of English for Special Purposes at Peter the Great St. Polytechnic University. In the article the authors focuses on Corpus software application for the analysis of structure-teaching material in engineering is described in order to assess its lexical content from the point of view of information, efficiency and relevance of professional vocabulary used with the reference to the Complete Lexical Tutor program. The concept of educational multimedia presentations is specified. In addition, causing factors for using multimedia presentation technologies are given. Also, the mandatory structural elements of the presentation, in particular, the cover; title slide; table of contents; educational material, namely, diagrams, tables, illustrations, graphics); glossary of terms; appraisal materials; information resources on the academic topic are presented. To show the effective use of multimedia presentation in teaching English for Special Purposes a representative sample of engineering students were selected for the study. In the first stage of the experiment a questionnaire survey was distributed in order to identify the students’ multimedia presentation skills. The research revealed that multimedia presentation skills were mainly underestimated. It indicated that engineering students were not getting sufficient training in improving multimedia presentation skills. The statistical data obtained from a questionnaire survey of engineering students before and after a multimedia presentation, confirm the provisions stated in the article. In order to explore effective procedure for improving multimedia presentation skills, the present study proposed some strategies for teaching it. The tools and instructions are highlighted in order to create a competent educational presentation, in particular, to master the skills of its clear structuring, to deliver them to the audience in an understandable and accessible form. The authors also consider the possibility of an author’s approach to presentations, the multi-layered skill of “creating a presentation” is brought in the form of quite practical steps. The research results have revealed that the use of multimedia enhances the effectiveness of the interactive component and promotes the disclosure of the universal and general professional competencies of engineering students necessary for personal and professional communication. It is noted that the interest of the engineering students in using of multimedia presentations reflects the depth of this phenomenon and proves the ne?essity of further scientific and practical searches.

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