ORAL PRESENTATIONS “IGNITE TALK” AS A METHOD OF COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE FORMATION

Abstract

The purpose of the paper is to analyze “Ignite Talk” oral presentation as a method of communicative competence formation for effective intercultural communication at the Threshold or B1 level of learning English. The study tasks involved the following steps: 1) to define the term “Ignite Talk”; 2) to outline the requirements to the format and content of the “Ignite Talk” presentation; 3) to organize and conduct a pedagogical experiment using “Ignite Talk” oral presentation method; 4) to characterize the peculiarities of the English speaking competence formation by means of “Ignite Talk”.

Research methods are the following: a retrospective analysis, a descriptive method, and a method of complex linguistic and pragmatic analysis of the obtained data.

Results. The author defined the term “Ignite Talk”, described the historical factors in the inception of this method, outlined key structural and contextual requirements to the oral presentation of such format. The results of the study proved that “Ignite Talk” is a very effective method for learning English as a foreign language, particularly in high school. Research findings revealed overall positive attitudes and perceptions amongst the students surveyed. However, some psychological difficulties and technical literacy challenges emerged during the intervention. Despite some constraints, the students indicated their readiness for new methods in English language teaching.

Conclusions. In light of the research results presented in this paper, it is worth saying that the pedagogical experiment, conducted in terms of the English language course for 11-graders at a high school, made it possible to create an “Ignite Talk” presentation preparation algorithm in order to form communicative competences. Thus, the above-mentioned method can be used to learn/teach a second foreign language, as well as other subjects because it develops students’ communicative and public speaking skills. The prospects for further scientific research in this area might comprise the peculiarities of using the oral presentation method “Ignite Talk“ as an educational technology aimed at students-philologists’ English-speaking competence formation, including interpreters; as well as a number of other new teaching approaches to enhance motivation in the process of learning foreign languages.