Methodological steps of forming non-philological students’ Grammatical competence (case study of the infinitive and the gerund).

Abstract

The formation of foreign language communicative competence is an important aspect of the preparation of non-philological students. Grammatical competence as a constituent part of foreign language competence appears as the final goal of learning grammar and, therefore, mastering grammatical means of communication. Possessing grammatical competence ensures the correct understanding of language structures and prevents students from having certain difficulties and mistakes when studying grammatical topics. It is noted that a whole system of abilities and skills must be formed in the process of performing a set of actions for mastering grammatical phenomena. The article highlights twelve methodological steps of the formation and improvement of non-philological students’ grammatical competence on the grammatical topic “Infinitive and Gerund” at classes of “Foreign language (English)”. The purpose of the mentioned methodological steps is to provide teachers of higher educational establishments with certain tips when teaching the infinitive and gerund as non-finite forms of the verb. It has been noted that the essence of the given tips is based on our own pedagogical experience. The article demonstrates the following methodological steps: establishing the difficulty of studying the infinitive and the gerund; analysis of textbooks in order to identify subtopics and consider the number and types of exercises; delineation of the semantic principle regarding the differentiation of verbs followed by the infinitive and the gerund; the introduction of theoretical material on the topic with an emphasis on the infinitive and gerund forms in comparison with the native language; determination of cases of their usage and tense forms; comparison of the gerund and the Continuous tense; illustration of verbs followed by either the infinitive or the gerund or both non-finite forms of the verb; practising the theoretical material with the help of training exercises of various types.