Abstract:

The article investigates the possibility of the TED TALKs educational resource in terms of its relevance to ESL teaching. The use of these videos provides students with all the communication elements that allow them to use English as a foreign language to express their ideas. The media content of TED TALKs influences the students’ motivation, which makes learning more effective. The article presents exercises that are logically and consistently built around themes which are selected according to novelty and relevance. The main criteria for selecting video materials have been formulated, taking into account the language level of students. The experiment with the TED TALKs platform involved 3rd and 4th year undergraduate students who reached the C2 level, according to the Common European Framework of Reference. The effectiveness of using authentic TED TALK videos as a means of teaching students English monological speech as well as public speaking skills was proved. We have used a variety of methods to achieve objectivity in learning and have tried to identify students' needs in many areas. An algorithm for viewing TED TALK presentations in several stages is presented, as well as a description of the type of tasks for each stage of work, the purpose of their use. In addition, students acquire valuable sociocultural knowledge, learn to identify the peculiarities of pronunciation of the speakers from all over the world, and analyse linguistic and extra-linguistic means.

Keywords:

TED Talks videos, ESL teaching, communication skills, authentic materials, communication elements.