Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as Means of Increasing the Intensity of the Educational Process

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) as Means of Increasing the Intensity of the Educational Process.

The new millennium was ushered in by a dramatic technological revolution. Now we live in an increasingly diverse, global and complex, media – saturated society. The modern world is inconceivable without information technologies. Computer technology is used everywhere, in all spheres of human life and activity, from commerce to leisure and culture. Today, mobile phones, desktop computers, hand held devices, e-mails and the use of Internet has become a central part of our life. Information and communication technologies have made us a global society where people can interact and communicate swiftly and efficiently.

The use of the new information technologies in teaching opens entirely new technological options related to the unique capabilities of modern computers and telecommunication devices. They are aimed at achieving the following goals:

1. learning to work with the information, developing communication skills,

2. mastering of the educational material,

3. formation of research skills, ability to make optimal decisions independently.

4. formation of the personality of information society.

   Modern technologies provide invaluable source of information and teaching tools, and can be used not only for the realization of the main didactic tasks, but also for stimulation of the learners stable motivation and interest for the study of foreign language. Using information technologies in the class, pupils learn how to obtain and share information in different ways and how to compile, organize, analyze and systematize this information to make conclusions and generalizations. So, the use of the computer as the way of training plays the priority role in teaching and educational process. Computer training programs have a number of advantages before the traditional methods of training:

5. they allow to increase volume and durability of mastering of a studied material,

6. they help to realize the language phenomena, to generate linguistic abilities, to create communicative situations, to automate language and speech actions,

7. they allow to train various kinds of speech activity,

8. they increase informative activity of pupils and support interest to a subject,

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   and they also allow to use the Internet, which is the effective way of development of pupil’ sociocultural competence.

   Advantageous abilities of technology such as the Internet and its tools (e-mail, chat-rooms, forums, web quests, blogs, etc.) help students to develop cross cultural communication skills, raise their cultural awareness, and have a unique opportunity to use the foreign language in real life situations and to feel that their knowledge has substantial rather than abstract application and importance. Access to the Internet network practically removes a problem of a lack of the information, which is necessary for giving of interesting and effective lessons. The Internet creates language environment, it gives possibility to visit this or that country, it represents possibility of participation in various projects, offers the users the variety of information and resources, which can be used at any English lesson. But, naturally, teachers must not forget that the Internet is only assistive technology training, and for optimum results they must correctly integrate its use in the lesson.

   At present time there is a wide variety of modern multimedia tutorials, where the teachers can find enough exercises for students of all ages and different levels of knowledge. Multimedia tools allow to adjust the curriculum based on the interests and capabilities of individual pupils. In English multimedia training programs the various methodical techniques are used. They allow to spend acquaintance, training, the control of knowledge and abilities of pupils at carrying out of testing, monitoring of educational process, preparation of a didactic material at a lesson.

   But, I would like to point out that despite all the positive aspects of using computers, none of the latest electronic technologies can replace the teacher in the classroom. The main and leading figure at the lesson is the teacher and applying multimedia technologies should be treated as one of the most effective ways of organizing the educational process. And since there is a modernization of education in our country, one of the main demands to professional teacher is an information competency.