WORD CLOUDS IN ENGLISH FOR SPECIFIC PURPOSES FOR PROSPECTIVE IT SPECIALISTS: LISTENING, SPEAKING, READING, WRITING

Abstract

Word cloud is one of the forms of visualization of certain thematic content; a universal tool or method in teaching English for specific purposes of prospective IT professionals, in particular: listening, speaking, reading and writing. The purpose of the article is to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of word clouds in the English-speaking educational environment, the specifics of implementing the educational tool "word clouds" for developing the professionally oriented English language competence in listening, speaking, reading and writing. The advantages of a word cloud are the following: the cloud acts as scaffolding; helps to remember information; simplifies complex information; activates mental operations; contributes to the development of professionally oriented English language competence; is universal for use at various stages of classes and implementation in different training formats: individually, in pairs, in groups; promotes the development of creativity and critical thinking. Disadvantages include: oversimplification of information, subjectivity when creating a word cloud. Implementation of the "word cloud" tool in professionally oriented foreign language education is characterized according to the following parameters: place of use (in the classroom, at home); stage of the lesson (the beginning of the lesson, the main part of the lesson, the final part of the lesson); entities that create "word clouds" (teacher; student, students; teacher and students); number of participants (individually, in groups, in pairs, combined); didactic purpose (for the development of professionally oriented language competences: lexical and grammatical; for the developing of professionally oriented speech competences: listening, speaking, reading and writing); application of thinking operations (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization, abstraction, classification, systematization). The examples of tasks are given.