The scientific novelty of the research lies in the fact that the methodology of the development of English listening competence of senior students of comprehensive schools with the use of podcasts, which provides for the gradual development of English listening skills and abilities using audio and video podcasts, application of a subsystem of exercises and tasks aimed at the development of psychophysiological mechanisms of listening, the formation of skills of global, detailed and critical listening, the ability to use listening strategies and the development of motivation, is theoretically substantiated, developed and experimentally tested for the first time; the essence and structure of English listening competence of senior school students are clarified and its components (knowledge, skills, abilities, listening strategies, psychophysiological mechanisms, experience, values, and motivation) are pointed out; the criteria for the selection of educational materials for the development of English listening competence of senior students have been clarified and supplemented.
The practical significance of the paper lies in creating a subsystem of exercises and tasks for the development of English listening competence of senior students of comprehensive schools using podcasts, the development of guidelines for the use of different types of podcasts (according to the author’s classification) in teaching senior students to be effective listeners.
Based on the analysis of scientific and methodological investigations carried out in the thesis, the current state of study of the development of English listening competence is clarified. The main psychophysiological and linguodidactic features of listening as a type of speech activity which is based on the phenomena of perception, memory, attention and thinking, and depends on the level of language skills of the recipient, his or her experience, emotional state, motivation and qualitative and quantitative characteristics of the text which is being listened to are investigated. It has been established that the functioning of memory is the basis for the mechanism of prediction, which includes linguistic, semantic and structural prediction and allows, by means of comparing speech signals with stereotypes embedded in the consciousness of the recipient, predicting information and compensating for the flaws in its perception to ensure understanding of an interlocutor. The processing of the information perceived through listening on various levels of perception emphasizes the need for taking into account and training the psychophysiological mechanisms involved in the listening process in order to successfully develop foreign language listening competence.
The study identified listening difficulties related to the organization of the listening process, linguistic and non-linguistic factors, individual characteristics of the recipient and the conditions of perception. In accordance with the outlined difficulties, ways of overcoming them have been proposed in order to effectively develop foreign language listening competence and prepare students for verbal interaction in course of real communication. Based on the analysis of the difficulties of listening competence development, the principles of teaching foreign language listening to senior students are proposed, aimed at achieving the practical, developmental, educational as well as linguistic and cultural purpose of listening.
An experiment was conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methodology for the development of English listening competence of senior students of comprehensive schools using the created subsystem of exercises and tasks. To diagnose the level of English listening competence of senior students, the description of English listening competence levels of senior students has been provided on the basis of four criteria (understanding the general content of the message; understanding the details of the message; analysis and evaluation of the information perceived; ability to use language skills when communicating).
According to the results of the post-experimental testing, the effectiveness of the proposed methodology for the development of English listening competence using podcasts and its feasibility have been proved. Experimental testing of the methodology developed by the author of the thesis formed the basis for the suggested set of methodological recommendations for the organization of English listening training for senior students in comprehensive schools.
Key words: English listening competence, podcasts, learning model, criteria for the selection of educational material, senior students of comprehensive schools, listening strategies, psychophysiological mechanisms of listening, global listening, detailed listening, critical listening.
