Abstract:

The article reports on the experience of using news programme videos in teaching English as a Foreign Language. The use of this up-to-date information resource cannot be overestimated because videos with the factual authentic content covering various aspects of people’s lives are notable for their educational value, developing character and academic potential. All three above-mentioned components of learning with the help of news videos benefited our military students in the preparation for the Annual International Foreign Language Competition that is open to all higher military schools and to all institutions of higher education which offer educational programmes in the military faculty in Russia. The two-year practice of preparing for the competitions has come into focus of analysis in the article. The analysis reveals the most challenging issues the students have to face and the ways enabling them to overcome common language problems. The activity of the teacher as a facilitator of this process must be well thought over and organized. Various teaching techniques at each successive stage of working with the news video are examined in terms of their application to develop all types of speech activity, i.e. listening, reading, writing and speaking. Different teaching stages (pre-viewing, while-viewing and post-viewing) in watching news videos provide a wide range of language and speaking practice exercises enhancing all types of speech activity simultaneously. As a result, a training situation aimed at parallel development of listening, reading, writing and speaking proves to be highly effective because it serves a very useful purpose of simulating real-life communication.

Keywords:

News video, teaching techniques, communicative competence, a simulated training situation, effective communication, types of speech activity.