RESEARCH ACTIVITIES OF STUDENTS AS A TOOL FOR THE MOTIVATION DEVELOPMENT IN LEARNING OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES

The research activity of students of a higher educational institution is one of the directions of their independent work, an important factor in the training of highly qualified specialists as well as influences the formation of social and life competencies.

To study the primary motivation of students of a higher educational institution for research activity, determining the main trends in its transformation and effect of motivation in foreign languages learning, a study in which 147 second year students participated was conducted on a voluntary basis.

Students were asked to fill in an open questionnaire that included the questions aimed at identifying the dominant motives that encourage students to be engaged in research activities, the attitude of students to participate in it. During the next stage, the students were invited to take part in a number of research projects in the field of their future profession throughout the semester. One group of students carried out the projects together with foreign students who do not speak a foreign language. All the groups working on the projects were given the same necessary instructions. The results of research activity for each of the projects should be done in the form of a scientific article in English. All the students engaged in the projects attended elective classes during the semester aimed at developing academic writing skills in English. In order to define the presence/absence of the changes in motivation for research activities and foreign language learning, during the last stage of our research the students were asked to fill in the same questionnaire they filled during the first stage.

The results of the research showed that the main priorities of motivation for research activities prior to the beginning of the experiment were not cognitive motives, the gaining of new knowledge, comprehension and application in professional activity, but the desire to get a higher score in academic subjects, the fear of appearing to be more stupid than those engaged in research. At the end of the study, some students were so involved in the research activities that they began to fear being excluded from the research group in the case of low academic performance. The key motives such as the opportunity to put theory into practice and the opportunity to develop the competencies needed in the future professional activity were noted.

The attitude of students towards foreign language learning also changed. The latter began to be perceived not as an academic subject, but as a tool for gaining knowledge, developing competencies, building effective relationships. Participants noted that the work on the foreign articles made it possible to clearly understand the results achieved in the project and systematize its description. It should be noted that all the students were fairly fluent, at least, with lexical minimum in the language being studied, allowing them to speak on the topic related to their project (speaking in their native language was forbidden). The projects that were carried out by the students in the group with foreign students, in the opinion of the participants, significantly contributed to the development of their foreign language competence.

At the beginning of the next academic semester all the participants desired to take an active part in research projects that in our opinion, verify the effectiveness of research activities as an educational tool.