Types of interactive methods of teaching english for technical students
Authors: Kravchyna Tetiana 
Published: January 2019

Social, technical and economic changes that have taken place in the country in recent years make new demands on specialists in various fields of knowledge, and technicians are not exception. The English language study plays a major role in forming professional qualities of future technicians. The implementation of tasks requires the use of various methods in teaching English to students of technical departments, but the main methodological innovations today involve the use of interactive methods. Interactive teaching methods are the actual way of teacher’s work in classroom, group or any educational institution. Interactive teaching methods, in contrast to the traditional ones, are based on the active interaction of participants in the educational process, and special attention is paid upon students’ interaction with each other. This approach allows teachers: 1) to create a classroom atmosphere that helps to encourage students to ask questions and seek answers, take (as a basis) the following types of training that would facilitate the development of critical thinking and independent acquisition of knowledge, encourage reflection; 2) to apply existing methods, become a thoughtful professional, which means to learn how to observe carefully, identify problems and create new strategies to solve them; 3) to be a model for other students, transfer knowledge to them. In turn, students learn to think critically, solve difficult problems based on analysis of circumstances and relevant information, make thoughtful decisions, participate in discussions, communicate with other people. Participants of interactive learning set learning objectives, develop a learning activity, identify problems in the course of training, study the reflection of their training activities. The article describes the most popular interactive teaching methods (role play, presentation, conversations, brainstorming, projects, podcasting, video files, blogging, round table, discussion, situational analysis) at the English language classes with students of technical departments. The interactive learning is important for personal and professional development. Interaction helps involve students in performing activities with technical terms, and such activities can enhance vocabulary acquisition and promote the development of lexical skills. Students are able to take control of their learning process and also figure out their preferred resources with the help of interactive technology. In this way, they can choose the method to present projects and also develop important research skills for the upcoming days. Furthermore, students are able to develop their communication as well as collaborative expertise by working on shared projects or documents and this will help them significantly afterward when they mature into working individuals. The author comes to the conclusion that the use of interactive methods in teaching a foreign language to future technicians helps to organize an active interaction of all participants of the communication process which results in the exchange of professional information in a foreign language and the acquisition of professional qualities and practical skills of technical communication.