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Импровизация как инструмент развития иноязычной спонтанной речи студентов

Аблякимова Фаузия Гильмрахмановна
Старший преподаватель, кафедра английской филологии ГБОУВО РК «Крымский инженерно-педагогический университет имени Февзи Якубова», г. Симферополь, Российская Федерация

Аннотация: В статье рассматривается обоснованность использования импровизаций для развития иноязычной спонтанной речи студентов в языковом вузе. Практический опыт педагогов, исследования ученых убеждают в том, что использование реальных жизненных ситуаций, то есть импровизаций, при изучении иностранного языка, является эффективным стимулом, активизирующим приближенную к реальной жизни речевую деятельность обучаемых. Обосновывается идея о том, что импровизации, помимо использования их в качестве стимула речевой деятельности, могут служить продуктивным материалом для развития критического мышления студентов. Импровизации, часто служащие формой художественного самовыражения, целесообразно обсуждать, оценивать и анализировать на уроке, создавая тем самым материал для критического осмысления студентами. Существуют исследования, рассматривающие потенциальные преимущества использования импровизаций для развития иноязычной спонтанной речи студентов, но таких исследований немного, а вопрос преимущества использования импровизаций в развитии критического мышления студентов остается относительно малоизученным. Таким образом, целью данного исследования является изучение импровизации с точки зрения ее важности в развитии иноязычной спонтанной речи обучаемых и исследование импровизации как средства развития навыков критического мышления студентов.
Ключевые слова: иноязычная спонтанная речь, импровизация, реальные коммуникативные ситуации, навыки критического мышления.

Abliakimova Fauziya Gilmrakhmanovna
Senior Lecturer, English Philology Department, SBEIHE RC Crimean Engineering and Pedagogical University named after Fevzi Yakubov, Simferopol, Russian Federation

Abstract: The article discusses the relevance of using improvisations to develop foreign language spontaneous speech among students in a language university. Based on the practical experience of teachers and scientific research, the article argues that the use of real-life situations, or improvisations, is an effective way to activate students' speech activities and encourage them to speak more like they would in real life. The article also suggests that improvisations can serve as material for developing students' critical thinking skills. Improvisation, which is often used as a form of artistic expression, can be discussed, analyzed, and evaluated in the classroom. This allows students to critically think about the material and develop their own ideas and opinions. Overall, the article supports the idea that using improvisation as a teaching method can be beneficial for students' language development and critical thinking skills. There are studies examining the potential benefits of improvisation in developing students' foreign language spontaneous skills, but these studies are limited in number and the benefits of improvisational activities in promoting critical thinking among students remain relatively under-researched. Therefore, the aim of this study is to explore the significance of improvisation for the development of students' spontaneous language proficiency and to investigate improvisation as a tool for enhancing students' critical thinking abilities.
Keywords: spontaneous foreign language speech, improvisation, real-life communication situations, critical thinking skills.

Introduction

The development of oral skills and the practical use of a foreign language as a means of communication has become an increasingly important task for foreign language teachers. The study of students' oral skills indicates that the focus should be on improving methods for developing untrained speech in a foreign language. To achieve this, the selection of language materials and methods should bring students as close as possible to real-life language use and develop their spontaneous speaking abilities.

A body of research pays attention to the potential of improvisational communication situations. Improvisation is a subject-oriented and goal-driven activity that allows students to be creative and learn through guided and stimulating processes. By improvisation, we mean any type of oral verbal activity performed in the classroom without prior preparation. While most types of work aimed at developing students' speech skills are planned, in the case of improvisation, students are faced with communication situations where they create, implement, and manage speech acts spontaneously [1, c. 54].

The research material of this paper consists of theoretical research data on the issue of improving the quality of students' spontaneous speech in language universities. The methods used include analysis and generalization of theoretical information on this topic, as well as representation of practical techniques for incorporating improvisation into the foreign language learning process in higher education.

There have been many studies exploring the concept of spontaneous foreign language speech. According to Rachel Hawkes spontaneous talk is nor planned, nor controlled, nor restricted in form (in the sense of a grammar drill); it is communicative and meaning-focused, and responsive to other interlocutors [6, p. 51]. R. Dufour, V. Jousse, Y. Esteve and F. Bechet, G. Linar´es define spontaneous speech as unprepared speech, in opposition to prepared speech where utterances contain well-formed sentences close to those that can be found in written documents [5, p.41]. Anke Zondag understands spontaneous speech as unplanned, immediate oral communication [11, p. 2191].

Learning English language can be cumbersome to learners, unless it is taught in an interesting way utilizing appropriate learning resources. In this regard we should highlight that appropriate selection and use of instructional media by teacher to facilitate better learning of the English language is most desirable [2, p. 1]. One of the ways to apply language skills in real-world circumstances and contribute to improving students’ effective spontaneous foreign language speaking skills is to use improvisations.

Improvisation in English is the act of using alternative resources for teaching wherever there is lack or specific first-hand teaching aids. Scholar R. S. Landy [8] defines improvisation as an unscripted, unrehearsed, spontaneous set of actions in response to minimal directions from a teacher, usually including statements of who one is, where one is and what one is doing there. The focus is thus on identifying with characters, enacting roles and entering into their inner experience of imagination and fantasy. According to N. McCaslin [9] the focus of improvisation is on helping learners to discover their own resources from which most imaginative ideas and strongest feelings flow; participants gain freedom as self-discipline and the ability to work with others develops. J.Hodgson and E.Richards in their book on improvisation, define the term as spontaneous response to the unfolding of unexpected situation [7].

The results of a review of scientific literature on the concepts of spontaneous speech and improvisation and the importance of improvisation for developing spontaneous speech testify to the fact that these notions have been thoroughly examined by scholars. However, we have not found any studies that confirm the significance of using improvisation to enhance students' critical thinking while learning a foreign language. Since our study aims to explore the use of improvisation in foreign language lessons at a language university to improve students' critical thinking skills, we believe this research has a certain degree of novelty.

In a general tertiary context, Berk, R. A., & Trieber, R. H. state that improvisation can be a powerful teaching method in university, and support their view with four main didactic arguments (DAs):

1. Improvisation corresponds to modern students’ expectations towards active, collaborative, social, and learner-centered classroom experiences.

2. Improvisation uses students’ multiple and emotional intelligences for problem solving and active discovery, especially verbal/linguistic, visual/spatial, bodily/ kinaesthetic, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

3. Improvisation encourages collaborative learning by helping to build trust, respect, listening, verbal and nonverbal communication, role-playing, and risk-taking through spontaneous storytelling.

 4. Improvisation stimulates deep learning through student active engagement, as learner activity and interaction are inherent to improvisation activities [3, p.33].

An effective teacher should be able to make learning an imaginatively vital experience and seek to foster the creative engagement of both teacher and the learners [9]. As far as improvisations demand a high degree of language proficiency and imagination, they should mainly be used with relatively advanced-level English students. Here is an example of a setting for improvisation:

You are walking down the hall in an office building. A girl ahead of you drops a paper but does not realize it is missing. You pick the paper up and give it to her. As she thanks you, you suddenly realize that she was a classmate of yours several years ago.

As is seen from the example, the situation is clearly stated, easy to act out and has a dramatic story twist. When students are fairly fluent in English, they should be able to create a plausible conversation around this situation, complete with appropriate facial expressions and gestures.

When working with improvisations, a teacher might want to have a large supply of hypothetical situations on hand – situations which are simply stated and challenging to the students’ creativity. Following is the list of improvisations suitable for use in classrooms or conversation clubs.

Situations for Improvisations

1. At the theatre you discover that another person is sitting in your seat. You talk to him, explaining that he is in the wrong seat.
2. One day you get up early and go downstairs. There, to your surprise, is a stranger sleeping on the sofa. You wake your mother up and ask her who the stranger is.
3. You sit down in a chair. Suddenly you realize that you are sitting on your friend’s hat. The hat is ruined and you apologize to your friend, offering to buy him a new hat instead.
4. You haven’t cooked anything for dinner because you were at a club meeting all day. Your husband comes home and is very hungry. He wants to eat right away.
5. It is midnight. You are walking home. Suddenly you see a shadow in front of you. You hear a voice telling you to stop.
6. You bought a lottery ticket and left it in your coat pocket. Your wife does not know the ticket is there and she gives the coat away because the coat is so old. Later on you learn that you have the winning number. You ask your wife for the coat.
7. You are trying on shoes in a shoe store. You have tried on many different pairs, and the salesman is losing his patience.
8. You are at a resort. While you are walking to the beach, you see your best friend. You call his name but he acts as if he does not know you at all.
9. You are a teacher. You give a student a low grade and he becomes very angry.
10. You and your wife are returning home from a movie. You suddenly discover that neither of you has the house key.
11. You are describing your boyfriend to an acquaintance of yours. She describes her boyfriend too. Suddenly you realize that she is describing the same boy.
12. You go to a pet shop to buy a canary. The pet shop owner does not have any canaries, but he tries to sell you a parrot that is very expensive.
13. The Journalist and the Famous Actress. 1 Journalist tries to get interview. 2 Interview. 3 Actress is not at all happy with what is printed and complains (to journalist or editor, etc).
14. The Tourist. Student A goes to another country (or planet) and calls home to tell Student B everything about it [4, pp. 42-43].

Once you have made up a “bank” of the situations for improvisations, you are ready to begin their enactment. The following procedure is recommended: Call one student up to the front of the room. Ask him to draw a slip of paper containing an improvisation situation from the envelope. Have him read the situation loudly and clearly to the rest of the class. He may have to read the situation twice to be sure that all the class members understand the situation. He can then choose another student in the class to perform the improvisation with him [4, p. 45].

The two students who will perform the improvisation can either have a brief conference in English on what they will do, or they can begin the improvisation immediately. The teacher should remind the students that the major purpose of the improvisation exercise is to present a conversation in a spontaneous manner, that’s why there should be no rehearsal or fixed dialogue line. Class members, meanwhile, are instructed to be prepared to evaluate the impromptu presentation in terms of its content, overall impression, vocabulary, and resourcefulness of the speakers.

Once the two students begin the improvisation, they will probably be surprised by how well the conversation turns out. Even though a few pronunciation and grammar errors may occur, the conversation will most likely be coherent and entertaining, with appropriate sentiments and gestures.

A teacher can allow the conversation to go on as long as he feels that it achieves its objectives. The performers will naturally reach a logical stopping point or possibly exhaust all conversation potential. At this point the teacher can ask class members if they think the conversation was natural, what they would have done in a similar situation, or other questions to induce the students to evaluate their total performance. The teacher can also correct any errors in English which might have appeared during the conversation [4, p. 46].

The evaluation session is an important part of the process. It allows students to see how crucial it is to convey the meaning of the situation that is being dramatized, how significant a solid structure, vocabulary, and artistic performance are, and the impression the presenters make. At this stage, students learn to critically analyze the entire performance, which eventually leads to the enhancement of their critical thinking skills. If trained systematically, this skill can lead to the improvement of students' critical thinking abilities.

Conclusion

To conclude, the present study has deepened our understanding of the benefits of using improvisations for developing students’ foreign language spontaneous speech. Improvisations bridge the gap between course-book dialogues and natural usage, and can also help to bridge a similar gap between the classroom and real life situations by providing insights into how to handle tricky situations [2, p. 12]. Through frequent use of improvisations, students will soon be able to create more meaningful, natural conversation in English. Besides, assessing peers’ improvisation presentation, students enhance their critical thinking as far as they evaluate peers’ presentations from the angle of many constituents, such as lexicon, grammar, emotional impact on the audience, and validity of the content created. Such multifaceted approach to students’ improvisation presentation definitely contributes to the development of learners’ critical thinking abilities.

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