Abstract:

Today’s educational model in teaching foreign languages is aimed at developing the personality of the learner who is capable of interpersonal and intercultural communication in the language being studied. One of the effective techniques of involving learners into interactive process of acquiring foreign language speaking skills is discussion. It enables to integrate students’ knowledge in different spheres to solve educational problems.

The importance of using discussion at the lesson to mould learners’ communicative competence is considered by Russian and foreign scholars who point out the positive role of discussion for developing logical thinking and creative abilities, improving motivation and stimulating communication. The methodological ground of the research is based on the use of the following approaches: communicative, learner-centred, problem teaching. The conceptual basis of these approaches is to make the learner an active participant of the educational process, to enhance his capability to interact with other members. Problem teaching suggests creating problem situations and learners’ active independent working on their solution, which is expected to result in creative acquisition of knowledge and skills. The learner-centred approach places the learner in the centre of the educational process and learners themselves are responsible for the choice of learning objectives, content and methods. The idea of communicative language teaching is to provide learners with opportunities to use a foreign language for communicative purposes.

The number of tasks for developing discussion skills in students’ textbooks is insufficient. Not enough attention is paid to developing these skills at the stage of creative use of the language. In acquiring discussion skills students face a lot of difficulties.

In our research we assume that acquisition of discussion skills will enhance through the use of a special complex of tasks for developing these skills. To prove the assumption advanced the research was carried out in one of the secondary schools in Chelyabinsk. In the experimental group students were taught with the use of the elaborated complex whereas in the other group teaching did not rely on discussion methods.

The analysis of the research results demonstrated a higher level of discussion skills in the experimental group and the effectiveness of the tasks used.

The article also considers didactic conditions to guarantee success in preparing students for discussion and developing discussion skills. The article is addressed to teachers of English as a foreign language

Keywords:

Development of discussion skills, educational discussion, to acquire discussion skills, a complex of tasks to mould discussion skills.