Case-study method in teaching English for Specific Purposes

 

Today, while implementing the third phase of National program of preparing cadres in Uzbekistan, all new specialists undergoing the higher educational system are required to know one or several foreign languages. In connection with this, huge tasks are set before teachers of English language; teachers became one of the main subjects of educational reforms. To highlight that a complex system for learning and teaching of foreign languages focused on upbringing of comprehensively developed, educated and intellectual young generation of people, and further integration of the republic with the global community has been established within the frames of the Law on Education and the National Programme for Personnel Training.

On 10 December, 2012, President of the Republic of Uzbekistan issued Decree “On further enhancement of measures on foreign language learning system” It is indicated in the Decree, that:

                   “throughout the Republic, learning foreign languages, particularly English, shall be started as games and verbal communication in the first year classes of secondary schools, and step by step alphabet, reading and grammar from should be taught from second year;

                   some special subjects, particularly technical and international specialties are taught in foreign languages in higher educational institutions;

                   students and teachers of general secondary, secondary special, vocational education institutions shall be provided with textbooks and teaching materials in foreign languages; these materials shall be published according to determined periods and funded by Republic targeted book Fund under the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Uzbekistan”.

So, if a teacher is open to welcome new pedagogical innovations, he can provide goal-oriented introduction of innovative ideas into educational process. Lately, range of significant official acts was issued on accelerating and developing the foreign languages teaching; per se they define the state policy towards teaching foreign languages.

The apparent increase in the role of communicative competence in the modern society, the expansion of international cooperation, the need to establish new business contacts have enhanced the importance of foreign language training in the system of higher education. Today experts with a high level of theoretical training and practical skills are in great demand. These skills should be sufficient for professional work in their field.

Modern education is focused on the development of the cognitive capacity of the individual, their ability to learn and master the system of knowledge, creativity of the individual. Therefore in these conditions it is necessary to find the most effective ways to improve the curriculum, identify new methods and techniques of teaching, technologies which will enable the teacher to achieve this goal in the most efficient way. One of these methods is the case-study method.

Analysis of the specific training situations (case study method) is a method of training designed to improve the skills and gain experience in the following areas: identification, selection, and problem solving work with information; analysis and synthesis of information and arguments; work with the assumptions and conclusions; evaluation of alternatives, decision making, listening and understanding of other people; these are the skills of group work.

The method of case-study or specific situations is a method of active problem-situation analysis based on learning by addressing specific problems — situations.

The method of case studies refers to the non-gaming simulation active training. The immediate objective of the method of the case-study consists in the following: a group of students work together to analyze the situation — case, which occurs in a particular situation, and work out a practical solution, the end of the process is evaluation of the proposed algorithms and the selection of the best one in the context of a given problem.

Case-studies are training specific situations specially developed on the basis of factual data for subsequent analysis in the classroom. In the case study students learn to work in «a team», to analyze and to make management decisions.

A case is a complex phenomenon and it should contain the most realistic picture and the specific facts and have a stable set of characteristics. Each case should include the following aspects: the problem, conflict, role, event, and activity, temporal, and spatial.

The students’ task is to understand the proposed situation, a description of which reflects not only the practical problem, but also updated previously digested complex knowledge, articulates and characterizes the problem and develops an algorithm of activity that leads to the problem solution.

There is a wide range of educational challenges and opportunities of the case-study method:

                   acquisition of new knowledge and development of general ideas;

                   development of students' self-critical and strategic thinking, the ability to listen to and consider the alternative views, express their points of view;

                   development of skills which are necessary for the analysis of complex and unstructured problems;

                   development of common sense, responsibility for the decision-making process, the ability to communicate;

                   skills development activities and their implementation;

                   the ability to work in a team;

                   the ability to find the most efficient solution to the problem.

                   The advantages of the method of case-study include:

                   use of the principles of problem-based training — development of the real problems-solving skills, the ability to work in a single group of the problem field;

                   development of team-building skills;

                   development of skills of simple generalization;

                   development of presentation skills;

                   development of skills of press-conference, the ability to formulate a question, reason a response

The method of case-study is a tool to apply the theoretical knowledge to solve practical problems. The method promotes students' critical thinking, the ability to listen to and consider an alternative point of view to express their arguments. With the help of this method, students have the opportunity to demonstrate and improve the analytical and evaluative skills, learn to work as a team to find the most efficient solution to the problem.

Being an interactive teaching method, the case-study method is gaining students’ positive attitude, ensuring the development of theoretical and practical use of the material. It effects the professionalization of students, promotes their maturation, and generates interest and positive motivation towards learning. Simultaneously, the case-study method serves as a teacher’s way of thinking, their particular paradigm, which helps to think and work in a different way updating their creativity.

The case-study method is most widely used in teaching economics, management science, and business abroad. The case-study method is considered to be one of the «advanced» active teaching methods.

The case-study method requires readiness of students, availability of their independent work skills; lack of students training, poor motivation may lead to a superficial discussion of the case.

The use of the case-study method at the English lessons in a professional environment (Business English, English for managers, English for economists, English for professionals in the field of advertising, for specialists in public relations) pursues two complementary objectives, namely, to further improve the communicative competence (linguistic and socio-cultural) and the formation of professional skills of students. Familiarity with the case (reading of the professionally-oriented authentic texts and their subsequent translation), an independent search for solutions (inner monologues in English), and the process of analysis of the situation at the lesson (monologue and dialogue speech prepared and spontaneous) are the examples of communicative tasks.

Foreign language activity is carried out in the following sequence: discussion of the information contained in a case, identifying the most important information, the exchange of ideas and a plan to work on the problem, work on the problem (discussion) to develop solutions; discussion of the final decision, preparation of the report; reasoned brief report. In the chart below, we can see an example:

CASE STUDY Frank Perdue entered his father’s business (egg farm) at the age of ten. At first he did not want to go into family business, but two years after college he changed his mind. In 1948 when Frank took leadership of the company, Perdue Farms had forty employees and was one of the largest chicken growers in the state of Maryland (USA). As a result of special research and breeding ad advertising campaign advertising standards advertisement advertising budget advertising agencies print program Perdue developed high-quality bird. Large meat and poultry companies bought Perdue chickens and sold them under their own brand names. Some years later Perdue decided he could market chicken under Perdue Farms label. Task: What kind of promotion of the product would you do for the Perdue Farms? Read the article to gather information on the advertising campaign of the Perdue Farms including information to answer these questions: — How did the ad agency develop an advertising approach for Perdue Farms chicken? — What did the successful TV ads for Perdue chicken look like?

 

The process of preparing the students for solving a case is based on skills and abilities to work with information tools, which allows updating the existing knowledge, stimulates research activities. For example, at the stage of collecting information a variety of sources, based on modern communications such as television, video, computer dictionaries, encyclopedias and databases available through the communication system are used. These sources often provide more comprehensive and more relevant information.

The next stage is information processing, i.e. classification and analysis of the facts to represent the overall picture of the phenomenon or event. The final phase is representation of the reasoned decision which can be submitted in the form of presentations, illustrated text messages, tables, graphs, charts, etc.

The technology of work with a case in the learning process includes the following stages:

1)                individual self-study work of students with the case study materials (identification of problems, formulation of the key alternatives, offering solutions or recommended action);

2)                work in small groups on the problem and its solutions;

3)                presentation and examination of the results of small groups to general discussion.

Classroom communication related to work on the case (discussion, argument, description, comparison, persuasion, and other speech acts) develops the skills of the right strategy of verbal behavior, norms and rules of the English-language communication. Students ‘comments on the content of the case study are evaluated on the following skills: analytical, managerial, decision-making skills, interpersonal skills, creativity, oral and written communication skills in English (lexical and grammatical aspect). Therefore, the method provides both cases and a particular type of educational material and special methods for its use in educational practice of the English language.

It should be noted that the use of case studies should be methodical, informational, organizational and pedagogically substantiated and secure. Being a complex and effective teaching method, the case method is universal and applies particularly well in conjunction with other methods of teaching foreign languages.

Thus, the case-study method facilitates the development of the ability to analyze a situation, evaluate the alternatives, and choose the best option to make a plan for its implementation. If this method is applied repeatedly, students develop stable skills to solve practical problems.

Undoubtedly, the function field of cases provides a lot of possibilities and complements the traditional classical methods of teaching English.

Today, main tendency on computerizing education is developing pedagogical programs on English language subject. From this point of view, methodological preparation of English language teacher is especially important. Along with the knowledge on the subject, teacher who applies information technologies, widely used in education nowadays, in his activity can achieve significant results.

 

References:

 

1.              Постановление Президента республики Узбекистан “О мерах по дальнейшему совершенствованию системы изучения иностранных языков” (Газета «Народное слово», 11.12.2012 г., № 240 (5630))
2.              Селевко Г. К. Современные образовательные технологии. Учебное пособие./ Г. К. Селевко — М.: Народное образование,1998. — 256–258 с.
3.              Prichard, K.W. and R. M. Sawyer, eds. Handbook of College Teaching: Theory and Applications. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 1994.
4.              Newble, D. and R. Cannon. A Handbook for Teachers in Universities and Colleges: A Guide to Improving Teaching Methods. New York: Kogan Page, 1989.
5.              Bean, J. C. Engaging Ideas: The professor’s Guide to Integrating Writing, Critical Thinking, and Active Learning in the Classroom. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1996.
6.              Pregent, R. Charting Your Course: How to Prepare to Teach More Effectively. English edition. Madison, WI: Magna, 1994.