FICTION IN TEACHING ESP
Abstract
The article is devoted to the role of fiction in teaching ESP at different levels. The author explores fiction’s potential for the development of students’ broad spectrum of competencies: generic, language proper, subjectand transferable skills. Among them there are ones, commonly referred to as the ‘21st century skills’ [1]. The lists of these skills and competencies vary in length and structure, but they have a common core – processing information, critical thinking, problem-solving ability, communicative competence, cooperation, team work and a number of others, embedded in MGIMO curricula. Special attention in the article is given to the vast possibilities of fiction for broadening students’ imagination, promoting creativity as well as emotional and ethical literacy. The main objective of the article is to demonstrate some ways of integrating core subject and foreign language communicative competencies at the lesson of ‘home- and individual reading’, provided the content of the book chosen is in line with the students’ field of study. The article offers various forms of studying fiction: from writing an alternate ending to a story to role-plays or project work. The author’s conclusions rest on reflective approach to the teaching practice, experimenting with various modes of teaching ‘home reading’, peer observation as well as analysis of relevant publications.
About the Author
N. A. Zinkevich
Moscow State Institute of International Relations (University)
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
76, Prospect Vernadskogo, Moscow, 119454
Nina A. Zinkevich – PhD, associate professor of English Language Department №4, Moscow State Institute (University) of International Relations. Areas of interest: British Literature and Literary Criticism; English Language Teaching Methods; Teacher Training.
References
1. Hidden curriculum (2014, August 26). In S. Abbott (Ed.), The glossary of education reform. Retrieved from http://edglossary.org/hidden-curriculum.
2. Economist.com, Jan 8th, 2016. Literature and the law: Why lawyers love Shakespeare. Available at: http://trendwave.com/supreme-court/literatureand-the-law--why-lawyers-love-shakespeare (accessed 15 January 2016).
3. Kidd, D.C., Castano E., Reading Literary Fiction Improves Theory of Mind. Science, 18 Oct 2013:Vol. 342, Issue 6156, pp. 377-380 DOI: 10.1126/science.1239918. Available at: http://science.sciencemag.org/content/342/6156/377.full (accessed 2 February 2016).
4. Ledeneva, Т.V. 2008, Posobie po domashnemu chteni’u po romanu S. Frey Pogloshchenie [Home reading guide book on S.Frey’s novel The Takeover], Moscow, МGIMO-University.
5. Zinkevich, N.A., Ivanova, B.L. Introducing CLIL at Russian Universities Through Interdisciplinary Approaches. The magic of innovation. New techniques and technologies in teaching foreign languages. Kryachkov D., Yastrebova E., Baguzina E., et al. Newcastle upon Tyne, 2015. pp. 215-236.
6. Zinkevich, N.A., Andryukhina, T.V., Ivanova, E.E., et al. English Masters Course, ed.: Zinkevich, N.A., Мoscow: Iris press, 2011, 448 p.
Review
For citations:
Zinkevich N.A. FICTION IN TEACHING ESP. Linguistics & Polyglot Studies. 2016;(5):114-125.
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