Abstract:

Communicative approach to language teaching has been widely recognized in the field of second language acquisition (SLA) over past decades. Currently, in various types of language institutions over the world, including universities and colleges, language teachers and curriculum researchers have advocated communication-oriented teaching syllabus, admitting that it is more effective ways for improving students’ communication skills. The successful language use for communication presupposes the development of communicative competence in the users of that language and that the use of language is constrained by the socio-cultural norms of the society where the language is used. The paper examines the use of educational videos from the TED-Ed platform for the development of communicative competence in students who study English as a foreign language (EFL). Effective communication is critical to building and maintaining healthy relationships. It is about how to keep your audience engaged when you deliver that presentation, a way to connect more authentically with others. TED Talks are seen as a quick way to learn from experts, and from the people who are brave enough to share what they have learned with the rest of audience.The problem of using educational videos is relevant in connection with the need to adapt and use the positive developments of EFL teachers, high priority of communivative competence in teaching English, the need to take into account the increasing role of the didactic principle of clarity as well as greater methodological potential of educational video compared to audio recordings. Some foreign researchers, for example, B. Bal-Gezegina and L. Bajrami examined the problems of using educational videos in general. J. Keddie and M. Mallinder have proven the effectiveness of using TED-Ed materials for overall development. As for Russian scientists, A.M. Ivanova and E.V. Malygina have developed recommendations for working with TED-Ed in teaching EFL. At the moment, there is a lack of technology for using TED-Ed video, which is adequate to the degree of communicative competence development in EFL students of different level. The paper aims at revealing the dual methodological potential of educational video (as a source of information and as a sample of a monologue / dialogue utterance), considering the features of video from the TED-Ed platform from the point of view of communicative competence development (features of TED-talks, features of animated video, general video features). Then the author analyzes a few domestic teaching materials for the use of educational videos as a means of developing communicative competence and collects the base of educational videos from the TED-Ed platform to develop the technology of their use as a means of developing communicative competence in EFL Bachelor students. The significance of the paper lies in a) opportunities to increase student involvement in the educational process through the use of educational videos; b) creating technology to work with a completely free and regularly updated educational platform – TED-Ed; c) the prospect of increasing the efficiency of the process of developing the communicative competence of EFL students.

Keywords:

Ted Talks, communicative competence, EFL.