Abstract:

The phenomenon of "microlearning" is widely discussed nowadays: being mostly covered in Western European researches, this subject is now getting popular among Russian methodologists. Initially, the microlearning concept began to be discussed in the framework of corporate training, but it seems appropriate to use it also in higher education institutions, in particular, for distance and blended learning. Particularly relevant is the use of microlearning tools in teaching a foreign language in a non-linguistic university for technical specialities where some facts (an acute shortage of classroom hours; a generally low level of a foreign-language communicative competence; no heterogeneity of groups in terms of a foreign-language communicative competence development; a general focus on learning mainly specialist disciplines, and some others) affect negatively the students' motivation for learning a foreign language.

In addition to the above mentioned local peculiarities of Russian educational system, we also need to take into account the fact that any learner is exposed to the influence of the modern educational and information environment. One of the consequences of that influence and interaction is the shift to the mosaic thinking, which is characterized by ability to work with a big volume of information, rapid transition from one problem aspect to another, preference for non-textual (visual) information, high speed of information processing, short attention span and decreased ability for analytical work. As the changes in educational and information environment led to the different way of thinking of the modern learner, it is necessary to look for new approaches and techniques in teaching.

Within the framework of the pedagogical experiment the students of the Institute of Industrial Management, Economics and Trade of Peter the Great St.Petersburg Polytechnic University (SPbPU) studied "Business English" discipline with the help of such microlearning tools such as infographics and posters, created by the professors of the department of linguistics and cross-cultural communication. The aim of introduction of this technique into educational process was to observe whether presentation of information in the non-verbal format is going to help students to expand their active vocabulary easier and more effectively, to solve the problem of lack of knowledge on their special subjects and to spur students interaction while carrying out oral tasks, such as brainstorming, dialogues, round-table discussions etc.

Although the students demonstrated overall good results in progress and final tests indicating that the used microlearning techniques could work effectively for non-linguistic English learners, the survey highlighted some areas for improvement. In particular, more time should be allocated for revision and the use of infographics as a tool for a project work, which could provide greater students engagement into educational process.

Therefore, the main objectives of the article are the following:
1) to determine the main features of the microlearning technology;
2) to specify the approaches and tools used for microlearning while teaching English to non-linguistic master students;
3) to analyze the teaching materials and approbation results, and to define some drawbacks of the method.

Keywords:

Microlearning, infographics, educational environment, educational process, visual information, attention span, mosaic thinking, blended learning, non-linguistic.