DEVELOPMENT OF STUDENTS’ COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE BY MEANS OF MOBILE APPS

Abstract

The article presents a study of the peculiarities of the communicative competence development of students of the Faculty of Foreign Languages of Pavlo Tychyna Uman State Pedagogical University with an Intermediate level of English language proficiency by means of mobile apps. The aim of the article is to determine the variety of mobile applications that can be used in the process of learning English, and the possibilities of their use to develop students’ communicative competence.The following research questions were formulated in order to develop relevant methodology and expect trustworthy findings: Is the use of mobile apps effective in learning English as a foreign language? What types of mobile apps can be used in the EFL class and autonomous learning? Can the students’ communicative competence be enhanced with the help of mobile apps?The research methodology is based on the use of relevant data collection tools, namely survey and questionnaire with the subsequent experimental intervention, as well as testing.The results of the intervention give indications that mobile apps are becoming an important feature of education as they are an immense step forward and they bring benefits to language learning. The intervention showed that mobile apps can be easily applied in the classroom, arranging group work and creating relevant context for topics under discussion. The learning process can be easily organized only with the smartphones of teacher and students and a steady Internet connection. No other additional devices and previous training are required. Another conclusion comes from the results of pre- and post-tests: students’ communicative competence can be developed and enhanced with the help of properly selected and adequately used mobile apps. It is proved by the slight increase in students’ test results in the experimental group and positive feedback from the students after the action research was completed. Keywords: English language; communication skills; communicative competence; mobile learning; MALL; mobile app; mobile device; smartphone.