STUDENTS’ COGNITIVE AUTONOMY FORMATION IN THE PROCESS OF ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES LEARNING: A MODEL OF IT IMPLEMENTATION INTO TRADITIONAL TEACHING

Abstract

Due to the rapid development of new information technologies, educational techniques require rethinking of approaches to teaching methods and tools to fulfill the needs of learners regarding their training for the future job. The educators should consider not only the interests of students but the demands of employers who are looking for quick-thinking specialists ready to acquire new knowledge and skills in short terms. The article presents a model for teaching ESP (English for Specific Purposes) which facilitates formation of students’ cognitive autonomy. On the basis of scientific and theoretical analysis of this issue, the author considers the methodological approaches to its elucidating. To clarify the structure of students’ cognitive autonomy, the author provides the components and their subjective links on the subcomponents level on the hierarchical basis. The author determines the criteria and levels of students’ cognitive autonomy as well as subjective and objective factors influencing the efficiency of students’ cognitive autonomy in ESP study which were obtained through methods of mass survey (interviews, conversations, questioning), targeted observation of the formation of students’ cognitive autonomy; methods of testing and ranking. As a result, the author designed and implemented into practice a model for teaching ESP, which represents a flexible educational environment with a suitable choice of teaching techniques, modes, strategies, tools, and resources on the basis of the integral unity of information technologies and traditional teaching technologies. The stages of the experimental teaching included the following: preparing the experiment, implementing, processing the results, and interpreting them. For the analysis and correlation of the income and the outcome sample data, the author applied statistical methods. Thus, the synthesis stage of the experiment allowed confirming the effectiveness of the implemented model for teaching ESP, which facilitates students’ cognitive autonomy formation.