TED TALKS AS AN EFFECTIVE TOOL FOR DEVELOPMENT OF LEXICAL COMPETENCE AND LEARNERS’ AUTONOMY IN EDUCATION

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to create a new technology for development of lexical competence within the framework of teaching ESP students, employing the TED TALKS platform and App as an effective innovative tool. Global educational trends of postmodern society challenge traditional values and emphasize the predominant and independent role of a learner within the processes of acquisition of knowledge and development of skills and abilities in various spheres, including foreign languages. The conventional type of educational process as a transfer of knowledge “from teacher to student” has been replaced by the new goals of a learner’s autonomy, self-education and self-development while students follow personalized educational routes, designed on the basis of a student-centered approach. The trend for modernization, informatization and digitalization of Russian education result in the formation of an entirely new educational environment, where we can observe the overall implementation of innovations in foreign language education, highlighting the needs for new methods and forms, as well as well-developed methodological technologies for teaching foreign languages, using the online content, which can become an efficient tool only in case of an adequate level of lexical competence in each learner, thus, underscoring the highly important role of vocabulary learning as a key component of all language skills of an individual. In the course of the current study, a technology for development of lexical competence using the well-established TED TALKS platform (including its mobile app) in teaching English to ESP students was designed and tested. This platform offers an engaging and useful content to enhance learners’ foreign language skills, as well as to develop various competencies within the broader context of the foreign language communicative competence.