IMPROVING IT STUDENTS’ TERMINOLOGICAL VOCABULARY IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING ENGLISH

Abstract

The article deals with the ways of developing IT students` English-language competence which is an integral component of professionally directed communicative competence within ESP (English for Specific Purposes) university course. Innovative and interactive methods of studying such as students’ project work in the form of posters and oral presentations, role-play activities, conferences are analyzed. It has been substantiated that a set of such training techniques provides the IT students with an opportunity to master professional vocabulary more efficiently. The authors sort out and analyze the English on-line resources that reveal the crucial issues on Information Technologies. It has been also shown that such resources promote the effective learning of English vocabulary of specific purposes, because they motivate and stimulate students to keep in mind lexical material, as well as help to improve the level of professional language comprehension.

It is stated that the formation of lexical competence is based on the study of authentic professionally oriented texts. Such texts are considered not only the main source for building students’ professional terminological vocabulary but also a key means for developing their professional skills and enhancing the culture of terminological communication and particular attention in the process of language acquisition should be given to the development and enrichment of students’ lexical repertoire, as well as to the study and systematization of terminological vocabulary.

The authors emphasize that it should be noted that it is not enough to simply translate terms – it is important to understand their potential meanings. To achieve this, students should consult English explanatory dictionaries, study definitions, synonyms, antonyms, word-formation patterns, and common collocations in which the term functions. In our opinion, studying the lexical system of the English language is the key to mastering it fluently; however, it is equally important to actively use the acquired lexical units in real communication.