The rapid development of modern society makes ever greater demands to the level of language skills in the professional sphere. The future professional should be prepared to navigate in any problem situation of professional communication, to find quickly the most rational way out.
It is obvious that traditional teaching is no longer able to provide the students with necessary knowledge in solving the problem. Due to this there was the need to include modern educational technologies in the educational process.
The term "learning technology" is widely used since the 60s of the 20th century to refer to the set of methods of teacher’s work, through which the effective achievement of the lesson learning objectives is ensured in the shortest period of time.
The most important criteria to learning technologies are:
- Performance (a high level of achievement of the goal of teaching)
- Cost (mastering a large amount of educational material per unit of time)
- Ergonomics (no overload and overwork, training in an atmosphere of cooperation and positive emotional climate)
- High motivation of students to study the subject [1].
Most researchers consider learning technology as one of the ways to implement student-active approach to learning process due to which students act as active and creative subjects of educational activity. In the methodology of teaching foreign languages modern learning technologies include following: cooperative learning, project technology, gaming technology, distance learning, information and audio-visual technology as well as "case study" technology.
Let us consider "case study" technology in more detail. From the history of this method it is known, that it was first used in the United States in the Harvard Business School. In 1910, Dean of Harvard Business School advised teachers to apply discussions of specific managerial situations as a supplementary mean to the lectures. Since that they began inviting directors of companies and organizations to lessons who "presented" the problem and in the process of discussion students tried to find a solution. The first textbook on writing situational exercises was published by Dr. Copeland in 1921.
At an early stage of its inception, this method was widely used in the courses of post-graduate students in the MBA program. Over time, the case method began to be applied in many educational institutions not only in the US but also in other countries. In recent years it has been widely spread in the study of medicine, law, mathematics and other sciences. In Russia, the case method in teaching began to be used in the 80-ies first in Moscow State University, and then in academic and industrial institutions, and later in special courses for training and retraining of specialists.
The Harvard Business School still created most of the cases used in today's business schools. In Western business schools 30-40% of study time is paid to analysis of case studies. On an average, 35-40% of study time is dedicated to an analysis of typical situations. In the Business school of Chicago University 25% of the time is shared to "cases" , in Business school of Columbia University 30%, and in the famous Wharton 40% [2].
What is a "case study"? "Case" (from English case situation, a portfolio) is an interactive method of teaching which is used for solving educational tasks and updates certain set of knowledge to be learned.
Case study a technology based on the acquisition of sets (cases) text teaching materials on selected topic and tasks on specific problem situation and transfer them to students for self-study (with advice from the instructor), and solving problems followed by a group discussion of options for developing the most efficient and creative proposals [3]. The students together try to find a solution to the problem contained in the case.
Each "case" may be divided into three components. The first part is a description of a particular situation that took place in real life. The peculiarity of the situation lies in the fact that it contains a problem requiring resolution. In the second part of the case there is a summary of additional information that helps the student to solve the problem. This information may contain text, diagrams, tables, graphs showing the contents of an existing problem. The third part contains tasks to "case". Basically they are questions whose answers are pushing participants to discuss the solution of the problem.
In the system of vocational training practice plays an important role. It is an integral part of the educational process in educational institutions and equips students with an initial professional experience. Case method, proposed for use in the preparation of students for professional careers, teaches students to navigate the typical encountered situations, expands vision of problems, develops the ability to take decisions, forms and expands the range of future professional competences.
In order to determine the educational opportunities of case-method, it is necessary to identify its differences from other methods. Considering the essence of the case-method, V.Y.Platov (Platov V.Y. Business games: development, organization and conduct. Textbook. -M .: Profizdat, 1991) identifies the following signs of it, which help to differentiate the analysis of situations from other training methods :
- collective decision-making.
- Many alternative solutions: there is a fundamental lack of a unique solution. We have to deal with the spectrum of the best
- A single goal in decision-making.
- The presence of a group assessment
At its core, the case method is the closest to gaming techniques and problem-based learning, and can integrate the project work itself. Each "case" allows the teacher to use it at different stages of the educational process: during training, at the stage of validation of learning outcomes. In recent years the use of "case studies" become increasingly popular in exams. Students receive "cases" before the exam. They should analyze it and bring report with answers to the issues raised in it.
Using the "cases" in the learning process is usually based on two methods. The first is called a traditional Harvard method open discussion. An alternative method is the method associated with an individual or group interviews, in which students make a formal oral assessment of the situation and provide an analysis of the "case", their solutions and recommendations. This method develops students' communication skills and teaches them to express their thoughts clearly. In an open discussion, at the beginning the teacher usually asks the question, "What do you think the main problem is?" Then he directs the discussion, listening to the arguments and explanations, controls the entire process of discussion. A report on the results of the discussion is passed by students after some time, which allows them to review all of the information carefully. Working with case technology at foreign language lessons involves improving pupils’ skills as a result of participation in the discussion of the problem situation. The practice of using such technology in the language classroom, as past experience shows, contributes to the activation of the learning process. It is an effective mean of formation of cognitive and language capabilities of students. Formation of professional skills with the usage of "case-study" technology should begin with simple situations that are of interest to the entire group of students and enable everyone to express their opinion [1].
This method is complex, it includes all kinds of speech activity: reading, speaking, writing, listening. In English lessons cases can be used during and at the completion of work on a specific topic.
Case studies provide an opportunity to apply learned lexis and grammar in speech. The case can be presented in a multimedia or printed form: the inclusion of the photos, tables, charts in the text makes it more visible.
In the described situation task there can be from a few sentences on a page (short the European case) to many ones on several pages (long the American case). The problem contained in case doesn’t have a unique solution; essence of the method lies in the fact that from a variety of alternatives to select the most appropriate solution in accordance with the previously elaborated criteria and to develop a practical model for its implementation.
In conclusion, it should be noted that the case method is an effective mean of increasing the efficiency of learning in higher institution. It has significant functional opportunities, meets the needs of the revolution in education. It differs not only by an educational effect associated with obtaining professional knowledge and skills, but also by the impact on the socialization of students, formation of their personal qualities.
The main advantage of case-method is that it allows to realize the creativity of the teacher. As a constantly developing method, it needs constant interaction with the methodology, which develops its concept and enriches its content. In fact, the case method generates a progressive paradigm of teaching, which is characterized by a high level of efficiency and meets the requirements of the time. However, the case method is not universal. It must be used not instead of, but with classical teaching methods, i.e situational analysis should not replace but complement the lectures, seminars and workshops.
Undoubtedly, the use of case-method has some advantages and risks. First, the case method makes it possible to combine theory and practice optimally, to develop skills to work with a variety of information sources. Students do not receive ready-made knowledge, but learn to gain their own. Decisions made in daily situations are quickly memorized and it is better than to memorize the rules. Secondly, the process of solving the problem given in the case is a creative process of learning that involves the collective nature of cognitive activity.
However, as any other method, this method has difficulties in usage. First of all, you need a lot of time to prepare competent "case". The teacher must consider the form of its presentation and plan students’ activities, combining individual and group forms of work. The success of the case-method depends on three main components: the quality of the case, preparation of students and the willingness of the teachers to use this technology.
Keywords: «case-study» technology, "learning technology", cooperative learning, project technology, gaming technology, distance learning, information and audio-visual technology ,language capability of students
- Method O.I.Vaganova case method in vocational training: Study guide / Vaganova Nizhny Novgorod: VGIPU, 2011. -57 p.
- http://www.moluch.ru/archive/48/6005/ Educational opportunities K.A.Plankin case-method in vocational education / A.Plankin, V.A.Chenobytov // Young scientist. 2013. №1. -354-355p.
- G.Smolyaninova Didactic possibilities of the method case study in teaching students. Humanitarian Bulletin. Krasnoyarsk, 2000.-66 p.