Motivation as a psychological component of foreign language teaching to students of non-linguistic specialties

Abstract

In the modern society, in the era of European integration processes, the status of a foreign language as a subject is changing. Taking into account the increasing interest to a foreign language as a means of communication, the modern methodology focuses on achieving higher results. One of the key elements of the language learning is the motivation of students to study this subject.

Accordingly, the purpose of the publication is to summarize the constituent elements of motivation while learning English. It has been established that the motivational aspect is crucial for the activation of all psychological processes of intellectual activity: thinking, perception of information, understanding and analyzing of knowledge, learning the material, developing dialogical and monologic speaking. The reasons for students’ high motivation to dialogical speaking (communication on various topics, a large number of creative tasks that make the classes interesting) are identified. It has been found that the creation of positive motivation to learn a foreign language is facilitated by the creation of psychological comfort during the organization of the educational process (atmosphere of good will in class, hand-holding to students, conversations on interesting and modern topics). Such activities as as Round Robin, Timed Pair Share, Inside-Outside Circle, Find Someone Who, Pairs Compare and Find-the-Fiction are the activities which encourage students to take an active part in classes. Based on the analysis of scientific literature, several approaches to the teaching a foreign language (behavioral, inductive and conscious, cognitive, integrated) can be distinguished. At the heart of behavioral approach is the interaction of "stimulus" and "reaction". According to this approach, the main task of learning is to get skills through intensive training, the quality of which is directly related to psychologically comfortable learning conditions. In this case the motivation is of secondary importance. The integrated application of the approaches mentioned above contributes to the creation of positive motivation, taking into account the level of students' knowledge and their psychological characteristics. Inductive and conscious approach is based on intensive practical work on numerous examples, which gradually leads to the acquisition of rules and linguistic actions. Cognitive approach is implemented via the assimilation of the elements of the theory, which is achieved as a result of studying phonetics, grammar and word-formation rules. Here the foreground is the motivation to study a foreign language. The integrated approach is put into practice by a combination of conscious and subconscious components of the learning structure.However, researchers and educators increasingly emphasize the expediency of using a differentiated approach to learning, which, in their opinion, is conditioned primarily by the existence of psychologically different types of personality. This, in turn, corresponds to a personal approach to the training of professionals-to be, which is the central one to the system of higher education