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TEACHING UZBEK AS A SECOND/FOREIGN LANGUAGE IN ONLINE
CLASSROOM
Hodjaev Malik,
Senior Lecturer at CEUS, Indiana University, Bloomington, the USA
Khamidov Alisher,
Senior Lecturer at Translation Faculty, UzSWLU
Distance learning, sometimes called e-learning, is a formalized teaching and learning
system specifically designed to be carried out remotely by using electronic communication.
Because distance learning is less expensive to support and is not constrained by geographic
challenges, it offers opportunities in situations where traditional education sometimes faces
difficulties in operating. Students under the press of scheduling or distance problems can benefit,
as can employees, because distance education can be more flexible in terms of time and can be
delivered virtually anywhere.
Popular distance learning technologies include:
Voice-centered technology, such as CD or MP3 recordings or Webcasts.
Video technology, such as instructional videos, DVDs, and interactive videoconferencing.
Computer-centered technology delivered over the Internet or corporate intranet.
Studies indicate that distance learning can be as effective as the traditional format when
the methods are appropriate to the teaching tasks, there is a student-teacher interaction, and
teachers provide students with appropriate and timely feedback [3].
In
online teaching and learning
a student usually deals with a computer reading or
viewing the curriculum or completing assignments. A student is usually at home or in a computer
lab as compared to sitting in a classroom with desks and a
teacher
in front of the room [4].
So, the difference between Distance and Online language teaching can simply be defined
in the following way:
While in distance mode students and instructors see each other via a screen (computer, TV,
mobile phone screens and etc.). Students can ask and answer various questions, give/get feedback
and even make presentations on a topic. It is like talking to your friend or family member back in
your country or somewhere else via video call.
In online mode an instructor uploads the syllabus and assignments for a specific course and
students will just download them, do the exercises and turn their assignments in and an instructor
will give them necessary feedback and instructions in written form or in the recorded video format.
In this mode a teacher and students might have some designated days when they meet online and
can have a live chat with each other.
But in this article, we would like to focus on the distance learning/teaching of the Uzbek
language to foreign students.
Of course, there are several advantages and disadvantages in teaching and learning in
distance mode. First of all, we would like to point out some advantages, they are as follows:
Your course can have more students. For instance, if it were not for teach in distance mode, we
would have had only one student at our Advanced Uzbek course.
In most cases, the attendance of students is guaranteed, as they can be anywhere during the
class and still attend classes. For examples, one of our students was to leave for a conference for
about a week, but he did not want to miss classes either, so he would get in touch with us during
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the classes using Zoom Room application. All he needed was to have a mobile phone or laptop
and Internet access.
No need to spend a lot of money and time to come to the campus and attend the classes.
Your screen is your blackboard. You can share your presentations and videos with students by
just pressing a button. This can help to save paper.
The possibility of recording your lesson. Your entire class is recorded and both students and
teachers can refer them when they need to.
We can keep counting the advantages of the distance learning for a long time, but at this point I
would like to point out some disadvantages of the distance mode which we have to face during our
classes:
Students and instructors have to talk to each other face to face but without a direct eye contact.
Sometimes Internet connection might be weak and students or the instructor might not hear
what was said on the other side of the screen.
No pointing or gestures with head works to make a certain student do something. Instructor has
to monitor the flow of the lesson very carefully all the time and tell each student to answer a
specific question, otherwise the students do not know who is supposed to speak or answer the
question.
No group work. Individual or pair work can be effective.
A teacher and students have to be seated all the time unlike in actual classrooms where the
instructor can stand or students can be made move from one part of the classroom to another.
The digital technologies used in the distance learning classrooms can help an instructor to
teach the culture of a specific language/nation. As Maggie Sokolik (2014) states
“as a skill area,
cross-cultural awareness is sometimes ignored. Fortunately, digital environments give students
access to online videos, blogs, and host cultural information that can assist in cross cultural
understanding. Brinton (2008) suggests using Web-Quests, inquiry based activities in which
learners seek specific information.”
(Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A., 2014. p.
418). As we have mentioned above we also tried to follow Sokolik’s idea. As is known, like other
languages of the world the Uzbek language has got various dialects/accents depending on a
specific region and one single notion can be expressed by different words in those regions; in
addition, some gestures, behaviors or even customs and traditions might also differ based on the
region. And we were pleased when it was even mentioned by some of my students during the
conversation hours. During the conversation hour one of my students wondered what the word
we’d used earlier meant. And when I explained to him the meaning of the word he said that it was
very interesting for him to hear that, as the previous FLTA used to pronounce the word in a
different way. At that moment we understood that we were to give my students more information
about the dialects in Uzbekistan. So, we started to think how to organize my ‘Conversation’ hours
more effectively in terms of teaching culture and dialects of Uzbekistan and we decided to invite
guests to ‘Conversation’ hours who came from Uzbekistan. Unfortunately, there were few people
in Bloomington. Then we decided to invite guests who are in Uzbekistan. For that, we used Zoom
Room application which is very popular now and it is very easy to use. My friends and colleagues
join our meetings and my students have a chance to experience various dialects of the Uzbek
language, they write down the unknown words and expressions and ask us what they mean. This
approach has turned out to be very effective and my students ask me to invite various guests to our
‘Conversation’ hours. we try to invite the people who are related to our topic of the day. For
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instance, when we talked about Tourism in Uzbekistan, we invited one of my friends who used to
work as a guide or when we talked about Uzbek Literature we invited the Uzbek professor who
works as a librarian at IU. Why is it so important? Because, an instructor might not be deeply
aware of a certain topic or he/she might not be able to speak a certain dialect of a language.
As a conclusion we would like to stress that inviting a guest speaker to the ‘Conversation’
hours helps an instructor to follow the task selection criteria suggested by David Bohlke. As he
points out – an activity for oral skills should include
interactivity, productivity, challenge, safety,
purposefulness and authenticity
(Bohlke, 2014). Bohlke (2014) states “When selecting a language
activity for an oral skills class, the teacher may want to consider how many of these criteria the
activity fulfills” (Celce-Murcia, M., Brinton, D. M., & Snow, M. A., 2014. p. 125) and inviting a
guest to the conversation hours, in my point of view, can help to apply the criteria for the task
selection suggested by Bohlke, as students can interact both with each other and a guest speaker
or me; plus, they have an opportunity to ask and answer questions.
REFERENCES:
1.
Bohlke, D. (2014) Fluency-oriented second language teaching. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M.
Brinton, &. M. A. Snow (Eds.),
Teaching English as a second or foreign language
(4th ed., pp.
72-89)
.
Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning.
2.
Sokolik, M. (2014) Digital technology in language teaching. In M. Celce-Murcia, D. M.
Brinton, &. M. A. Snow (Eds.),
Teaching English as a second or foreign language
(4th ed., pp.
72-89)
.
Boston, MA: National Geographic Learning.
3.
http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/distance-learning-e-learning
4.
https://robdarrow.wordpress.com/2012/02/24/what-is-online-teaching-and-learning/
IMPROVEMENT OF LISTENING SKILLS IN TEACHING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
IN PRIMARY CLASSES
Abatov Aralbay Kuatbay uli,
Nukus state pedagogical institute named after Ajiniyaz
Summary:
The article presents ways aimed at improving the listening skills of pupils of
primary classes at schools.
Key words:
communication
,
comprehension
, interactive exercises, interpersonal activities,
video segments, technical tools.
Today, learning a language helps to develop communication and personality of learners of
any age and people in all areas of our lives. In recent years, special programs and textbooks for
the development of foreign languages have been produced in our country. According to the
Resolution of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated May 19, 2021 №5117 "On
effective measures to promote the learning of foreign languages" [1], a number of benefits have
been created and this is helping teachers to work more on themselves and provide effective
education to pupils.
Listening comprehension skills are one of the main parts of foreign language teaching
because learners acquire basic information through listening. Studies show that 30% speaking,
16% reading and 9% writing compared to the average 45% is spent listening [2]. That's a lot of
