DEVELOPING ESP STUDENTS ENGLISH SPEAKING, READING, LISTENING, AND WRITING SKILLS IN INTERNET-ASSISTED PROJECT WORK

Abstract

The paper discusses teaching ESP to university students of psychology. The study researched the method and implications of teaching English professional communication skills through the medium of students’ project work conducted on the Internet-assisted basis. The objective of the study was to reveal the advantages of combining such an advanced teaching method as learners’ professionally oriented project work in the target language with their regular Internet search on professional Internet sites in English with the purpose of finding project relevant materials. Methodologically, besides observing during one academic year students’ learning when working with the authors’ ESP coursebook Psychological Matters (with both project work and Internet search included as mandatory activities into the framework of every unit), the research was based on experimentally testing learners’ English speaking, reading, listening and writing skills development in the middle and at the end of the course. Students’ self-assessment of their communication skills development was also included as a research method. The learning project done by students through the academic year was compiling in English A Short Psychological Encyclopedia. The Internet search for the project was done by them on professional English Internet sites for psychologists, and the results of their reading and listening during that search were presented in the classroom in the forms of speaking and writing in English. The study revealed great benefits of introducing the suggested method into ESP courses at tertiary schools. The learning outcomes were demonstrated to be substantially improved when using the suggested approach.