THE DIDACTIC POTENTIAL OF CASE STUDY TECHNOLOGY FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE OF HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS IN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING SETTING

Abstract

The article provides a blueprint for an English lesson designed to use a case study as an educational tool in order to develop high school students’ communicative competence. The introduction of the meta-subject case study technology into the educational process helps to maintain high motivation for learning, actualizes the personal experience of students, focusing on the development of practical skills necessary in real everyday communication. Along with the development of communicative competence, the case technology in teaching foreign languages can be used to develop grammar structures, expand the vocabulary, and improve auditory capabilities. A special feature of the case technology is a lack of the correct answer, since the key task of students in the process of solving a case is to come to an agreement in a team, according to which soft skills (critical and strategic thinking, persuasion, teamwork) as well as hard skills are being improved. The selected topics of the designed case studies correspond to the personal and educational needs of high school students.