SOCIAL NETWORKS AS A MEANS OF AGITATING COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH
AMONG NON-ENGLISH FACULTY STUDENTS
Abdimanapova L., [email protected]
Eurasian National University named after L.N.Gumilyev, Astana
The tutor - Zh. Bekzhanova
In this article we considered the following objectives:
To show social media‘s power as a one of the way to develop language of non english faculty
students .
To make them interested in English and support improving their English.
Make them freely show their ability communicating In English and critical thinking.
XXI century is the time to the highest developed technology . Everyone uses it actively in daily life
. It is the newly face of modern communication. The language will develop with communication.
New media unites us, Kazakh youth with the world. The younger generation prefers VKontakte,
and Russia's fourth largest social networking site, Moi mir (http://my.mail.ru). and Statistics say
social media sites are among the most accessed in . Alexa.com, the organization that computes web
traffic rankings, puts social networking sites as the top three most accessed in Kazakhstan. Number
one is Russian social networking page VKontakte (http://vkontakte.ru), second is world leader
Facebook (www.facebook.com) and in the third place is another Russian site, Odnoklassniki
(www.odnoklassniki.ru).Like youth anywhere in the world, Kazakhs know not only Facebook, but
MySpace, and YouTube – with YouTube being the go-to-site of choice for the latest in the Kazakh
music scene. However, also highly popular are domestic video upload and broadcast sites
http://kaztube.kz/, http://kiwi.kz, and http://podkatz.kz. cars. With a population of 16.5 million,
Kazakhstan has about one third of its population using the Internet. And then there is the
government's effort to promote use of the Internet for daily life in the form of the Electronic
Government of Kazakhstan's informative website – http://e.gov.kz/wps/portal?lang=en. The egovernment portal is making a strong effort to be well displayed in English. That is indicative of
another movement – an effort to provide the international community access to the country through
English-language information, and thereby giving domestic business-people access to global
economic opportunity. The importance of kazakh language and tree unity of language was
suggested on the Address by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Leader of the Nation,
N.Nazarbayev ―Strategy Kazakhstan-2050‖ : new political course of the established state. It is
stated on the seventh part of address‖ New Kazakhstan patriotism is basis for success of our
multiethnical and multi-confessional society‖ ‖ ...For the sake of the future of our children we
should make this decision and create it as a condition of entry for our wider global integration. This
will enable our children to have a better understanding of the English language, the internet and
reinforce our desire to modernize the Kazakh language ...This three language policy should be
encouraged on a State level .We have the wonderful chance to develop the acceleration kazakh,
english languages among the Kazakh people ,foremost users Kazakh youth.
Introduction:
The problem is the fact that English still remains a formal language taught in educational
institutions and courses, but average Kazakh student is still far from real communicative usage of
English. Though knowledge of English is agitated rapidly in our society, fluent English is still a
privilege of foreign language students or very few representatives of other departments. If we
analyze Astana communities dealing with propaganda of English among Kazakh people, we see
these facts vividly. For example, American corner Astana located in National library is one of such
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communities. There held a lot of events directed to improve communicative language skills.
According to the hosts‘ information of American Corner, 90% of all their visitors are students of
foreign languages department. The rest of them are those who develop their language in order to be
promoted in work or try to enter the universities abroad. What about simple students? Certainly the
answer is vivid. They are busy with their own profession, they don‘t have time to attend English
courses or clubs like American corner. But in fact, an average young man spends at least one hour
per week in Internet and especially in social nets, chatting, finding friends and entertaining. In our
work we tried to use social net to influence a student to communicate in English, to feel that English
is not something formal, difficult, extra. It is a real language of communication. We have analyzed
some sites in Facebook social net where we found several interesting Kazakhstani sites using
mostly English for sharing information and communicating. Fryday Astana site, for instance, is a
site of business people community. They use English because there are a lot of foreign people in
their community. American Corner site also uses only English. But all of these sites are
unfortunately not so interesting for an average Eurasian University student. We made a short survey
among the students of Economic faculty of ENU asking if they would join these sites. 8 of 10
answered that they wouldn‘t as the sites are too specialized, cover only certain limited part of
society. In our research we set up a task to try one step to involve English into the students‘ society.
So, we worked out a special way to accomplish our task. The process of the research
1. Making up the social site ― [email protected]‖
2.Investigating the students desire to learn the English
3. Working with the students on the social sites
Main Body
The first stage
We made up the social site ―[email protected]‖ to improve English of Non
English faculties students. Here they will discuss in any free topic that they like in spite of their
level. There is special condition for all students. Aimed to teach beginning level students
English with the special method. For intermediate level students the goal is to develop heir
English. For advanced level students to get them creative degree. This is a useful method to
teach beginning level students , grammatical side of using English and special phrases for
communicating. To make them interested in English , to support, to improve their English. All
the students can freely show their ability communicating in English and critical thinking.
The second stage
In the second stage of our investigation we searched special questionnaires through the internet
and hand asking some questions:
1. Faculty
2. Course
3. Do you like learning English? Yes/No
4. Do you attend any optional courses? Yes/No
5. Do you know about English courses in your city? Yes/ No
6. In what social sites do you usually sit at?
7. Can you improve your English? Yes/No
Dear student!
You have wonderful chance to improve your English. Joining with us on the social sites
[email protected] organized by us . Learning by doing! If you have desire to
learn English join us. It is not important your English level. We will discuss in free topic
which you liked. There is shown a special way of learning the communicative English in
open blogging. Be positive ! Follow us! Don‘t forget we are modern youth.
8.Yes, I read . I will follow you
The object of my investigation was to discover what faculty student English and ways of learning
the languages. The subject of my study were economic faculty students. The total number of
students 70. The result of sociological research are:
3.Yes 68/ No 2
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4. Yes 23/ No 47
5.Yes 69 /No 1
6. 90% of students Vkantakte, 70% Moi mir,50% Face Book
7. Yes 53/ No 17
8.99% was Yes
So we can draw conclusion that the students of Economic of them like English and most of
them know how are where they can improve English. More 32% attend courses at Astana. They
want to develop their English knowledge to get high degree .. And about 90% of students know
about the language courses in
Astana. The third stage
After investigation we met with them online. At the beginning 25 students joined us. The next day
up to now students of economic faculty, philology faculty students have been continuing to join
us . Today there are 900 students from different faculties . They‘ve been beginning to use this site .
They‘ve discussed different topics in internet conference. It was interesting for them to find their
voice. Because interest is an important motivation to study the language. A contrast makes to
develop them. The site of [email protected] hosts news ,articles, photos. Stu dents try to
think critically ,comment. It is useful to put their English communicating ,thinking and skills of
writing on the way .
Conclusion:
Organizing the leading conference on the common topic for everyone students have begun to
communicate in English. Training in new media through Internet conferences, mass media articles,
and distributing information using new media itself . I found that there is a potential in this project,
and I am going to develop it connecting other universities , creating the databases of trainers,
consultants and experts in this field . ENU student bloggers find their voice .Students, however, are
the ones
most
enthusiastically taking the online initiative
in
Kazakhstan.
"[email protected]" web-community by Eurasian National University (ENU) students.
This is the Internet portal – giving students the freedom to communicate and giving them access to
whatever information they need. The site hosts everything from news and photos, to a digital library
and a university forum. With the doors to the Internet opening wider to the Kazakh population, it
will be Kazakh youth who shape what form it takes in the country. After all, Kazakh young people - like young people all over the world -- want to know and share what's hot and happening now.
Stay up to date with what's hot and what's happening in Kazakhstan and world wide. To be valuable
for own country, to be responsible for the destiny of own homeland – is a duty and honor for every
responsible politician, for every citizen of Kazakhstan. Unity and accord is the foundation of our
society, foundation of our special Kazakhstan tolerance. We are creating a fair society, where
everyone can say: ―I‘m a citizen of Kazakhstan, and all the doors are open for me in my country!‖
Today indeed all the doors, all the opportunities and roads are open to our citizens to live in the 21st
century, not in the middle ages. We should demonstrate and create new Heroes of our time – those
our youth will admire and seek to emulate. Kazakhstan people and state language serve as unifying
core in the developing civil unity of Kazakhstan. As our the president stated ―What Kazakhstan do
I see in future? I am strongly confident that Kazakhstan citizens of 2050 represent a society of
educated, free people speaking in three languages. They are citizens of the world. They travel. They
are open to new knowledge. They are industrious. They are patriots of their country. I am convinced
that Kazakhstan of 2050 is a society of universal labor. It is a State with a strong economy, with
everything devoted for a person. With the strong education, and great healthcare. With peace and
serenity. With citizens who are free and equal, and the authority is fair. With supremacy of the
Law.‖ The further course of our country will be defined by us. We are educated in the conditions of
independence Our new independent vision is a factor that will lead the country to new aims that
look unattainable for us today. We must carefully transfer those values to the future generations of
our country.
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References
1. The Address by the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan N.Nazarbayev ―Strategy
Kazakhstan-2050‖ : new political course of the established state. The seventh part of
address‖
New Kazakhstan patriotism is basis for success of our multiethnical and multi-confessional
society‖
2. The magazine ― Kazakhstan edge‖ December 2011. Social media:‖ A new generation of
Kazakhs connect with the world‖ on the sixth page.