Training as an active learning technology for effective communication of university students

• Борзова Татьяна Александровна

  Tatyana A. Borzova, Vladivostok State University Vladivostok. Russia

Abstract. The paper is concerned with the search for the latest educational technologies, meth-
ods and tools that can improve higher education quality. In today’s ultra-competitive work envi-
ronment, university graduates can succeed only if they have obtained and developed systems
thinking, critical thinking, legal and cultural awareness, leadership skills, communication and
social skills, entrepreneurial skills, personal effectiveness, and creativity; if they can learn from their
own experience and apply world's best practices, if they can set their goals and foresee the results of their
activities. To enhance students' teaching and learning and their employability, universities have to search
for, develop and employ new methods, techniques and technologies. Teaching communication skills in
modern universities is competence-based. Achieving commu-nicative competence by students is becoming
universities' top priority: students' language profi-ciency is improving during the course of their study and
is being employed in classroom set-tings, in academic research, and, what is more important, in profes-
sional settings. The paper reveals that communication skills training is one of active learning methods that
proved to be effective in helping students to acquire language skills for successful communication. The
study is based on the results of a pedagogical experiment conducted among 218 first-year students of
Vladivostok State University. As a result of the experiment, a set of exercises and assignments aimed to
build and develop communicative competence was produced. The pedagogical experi-ment has resulted in
positive dynamics of the students' communicative competence which is con-firmed by end-of-the-term test
score. The average score in the control group was 3.88, the aver-age test score for students in the experi-
mental group was 4.79. The communication skills train-ing scenario developed in the course of the study
and the set of exercises and assignments can be used in teaching all humanities disciplines.
Keywords: training, active learning methods, higher education, effective communication, communicative
competence, communication, competence-based approach