Developing Future English Teachers’ Overall Communicative Language Ability: Open Educational Resources Usage

Abstract

The main objective of research is to investigate into the use of open educational resources in developing future English teachers’ overall communicative language ability. To achieve progress in attaining the main objective the researchers collect key data on university lecturers’ personal experience on using open educational resources in developing future English teachers’ overall communicative language ability. The research is nonexperimental in nature. Based on the collected key data the authors also provide a descriptive review of the open educational resources most commonly noted by university lecturers and present teaching materials aimed at developing future English teachers’ overall communicative language ability through boosting their language skills while using open educational resources in the process of teaching “The Practical Course of the English Language”. A non-random sampling technique is used for selecting the research sample. The research sample includes 128 university lecturers who teach “The Practical Course of the English Language” to students earning BA in the English language considered in our study as future English teachers. The questionnaire developed by researchers was used for collecting key data. For processing and interpreting obtained data researchers used a content analysis, a descriptive analysis and a method of discursive reflection that could be regarded as qualitative research methods. The research was conducted at six higher educational establishments in Ukraine between March 2018 and February 2019. The research findings prompt the conclusion that open educational resources play a crucial role in developing future English teachers’ overall communicative language ability since their use in instruction process gives university lecturers a wide range of opportunities to improve four language skills of their students.