Independent work of students at EMP classes: experience of Voronezh Medical University

Preventive medicine training is a part of vocational medical education in Russia. Its main objective is to develop a creative personality and a confident specialist capable of self-development, self-education, and innovative activity [1]. That is why it is not enough to simply transfer knowledge from teacher to student, but it is necessary to teach a student active creativity, the ability to formulate a problem, analyze ways to solve it, and find the optimal result – develop competences. Another acute point is that currently the system of education is undergoing drastic changes due to global COVID pandemic. In this environment independent work is becoming increasingly important [2].

Independent work is an educational activity of a student managed and guided by the teacher. It is also a means of involving students in independent cognitive activity. It is in the process of independent work that students develop their skills to search for solutions to problems and methods of self-training arrangement. Independent students’ work combines all types of classroom and extracurricular students’ independent activities that allows educating future specialists either directly communicating with the teacher or without this contact [3]. This activity appears to be a cognitive activity intended not only for mastering a specific discipline, but also for developing the skills of independent work in general, in educational, scientific, profes- sional environment, the ability to take responsibility, independently solve a problem, find constructive solutions, a way out of a crisis situation, etc.

Currently independent work accounts for a significant proportion of the time spent studying various disciplines, including English as a foreign languages (EFL), in Russian medical universities [4]. Its purpose for students is to learn how to acquire and use knowledge in practice on their own, to show initiative in completing assignments, to use a creative approach to work. Its purpose for the teacher is to help students in their cognitive independence. Independent work instructions and materials should be thoroughly planned, it is necessary to interest students, draw their attention to certain points, it is very important to correctly distribute and structure the volume of educational material taken out for self-training.

Students’ independent work includes both reproductive and creative processes in the student's activity. Such assignments help students develop their research and creative activity. Naturally, both in mastering the discipline and in independent work in the discipline, students move from simple to complex. The success of independent work is primarily determined by the degree of basic knowledge. In this regard it is necessary to mention about different EFL learning levels within a group, which in turn demands multi-level tasks and exercises. In addition, students should be able to have an access to reference materials to improve their knowledge and compensate their gaps in knowledge. All the above is considered when developing the EFL curriculum for Preventive Medicine students. Below we give some examples of the materials for stu- dents’ independent work on the topic “The Respiratory System (RS)”.

The unit includes anatomy, physiology, pathology and prevention. The introductory tasks are vocabulary and reading (text about anatomy and physiology):

Vocabulary. Find the word in the dictionary, write its meaning in English and in Russian (see the example).

Reading. Read the text and do the tasks.

INTRODUCTION TO THE RESPIRATORY SYSTEM.

ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY

The respiratory system is made up of the organs included in the exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide. These are the parts: nose, mouth, throat (pharynx), voice box (larynx), windpipe (trachea), large airways (bronchi), lungs.

The lungs take in oxygen. The cells of your body need oxygen to live and carry out their normal functions. The lungs also get rid of carbon dioxide, a waste product of the cells. The lungs are a pair of cone-shaped organs made up of spongy, pinkish-gray tissue. They take up most of the space in the chest (thorax). The lungs are surrounded by a membrane (pleura). The lungs are separated from each other by the mediastinum, an area that contains the: heart and its large vessels, trachea, esophagus, thymus gland, lymph nodes.

The right lung has 3 sections, called lobes. The left lung has 2 lobes.

Task 1. True/ False.

Task 2. Use the text to fill in the gaps.

Reproductive stage consists of two steps – grammar and reading (text about pathology). At the first step students are supplied with grammar reference material and perform drilling exercises in grammar (review of Passive Voice). At the second step they read the text about the RS pathology and do the tasks (organize paragraphs in the text; ask about signs, diagnosis and treatment of the disease using Passive questions).

As part of their productive activities students should prepare an info leaflet about ways to prevent the respiratory system disorders. They are given some reference materials (ex., links to WHO site, PubMed, etc.) but they are free to choose the source of valid relevant information.

Managing students' independent work one should not forget about the timely control of the independent work performance. We announce assessment criteria and the schedule for checking the work immediately with the issuance of the assignment and didactic materials. Control is performed in the test format (grammar and vocabulary), oral speech presentation (pathology and its prevention); besides, the design of the students’ info leaflets is also assessed, this allows students with low level of linguistic knowledge present themselves in the most favorable light, increase their rating score, develop positive attitudes towards EFL learning.

Conclusion. In its sense, independent work involves maximum students’ activity in various aspects: organization of mental activity, search for information, trend to transform knowledge competences. Psychological prerequisites for the development of students' independence are in their academic success, positive attitude towards learning, interest and enthusiasm for the subject.

Importantly, the effectiveness of students' creative activity depends on the proper organization of learning activity and teacher’s personality. A teacher must be able to encourage students’ interest in the topic, motivate them for independent cognitive activity. It should be borne in mind that the success and quality of students’ independent work are directly dependent on the quality of the lesson, on the level of the learned material. The teacher must carefully prepare assignments and instructions, be sure to diversify them by type of activity, by didactic goals, the nature of the implementation and the level of manifestation of students' cognitive activity.