Foundations for English for specific purposes: improving student’s vocabulary

Abstract

The article deals with the problem of development of lexical skills at the lessons of English language and it gives an overview of the experience of teaching General English course as a foundation English course for specific purposes to the first-year Elementary level students of International Information Technology University (IITU). This academic year, there were about 778 students who were enrolled to the General English Elementary course. Students of IITU have to study General English and Academic English courses before studying “English for Specific Purposes” courses in order to improve their levels of English. As we know, the purpose of English language teaching is the ability to communicate. In this process, learning vocabulary plays a vital role in all language skills. Learners cannot understand others or express their own ideas without enough vocabulary. Accordingly, we will outline some activities, tools for teaching vocabulary in this work. The article encompasses the activities for improving the vocabulary of learners. The activities were used in teaching English language to the first-year Elementary level students at International Information Technology University, Almaty. Forty students studied online for four weeks. They studied online using Microsoft Teams, Moodle and other platforms. Students worked with different textbooks which were listed in the syllabus. The aim of this article is to focus on improving students’ vocabulary skill and analyzing what results have been achieved in four weeks. For this purpose, every week students had to work with new vocabulary topics which were indicated in the academic program. As a result, most students have achieved the aim of the syllabus and students were able to recognize familiar words, interpret and understand authentic oral speech on the studied topics and express their opinion on them.