LEVERAGING AUTHENTIC MATERIALS FOR PROFESSIONAL LEXICAL DEVELOPMENT OF MASTER’S STUDENTS IN PEDAGOGICAL SPECIALTIES

Abstract

The study investigates the role of authentic materials in the English professional vocabulary acquisition by Master’s students in the field of education. It considers the problem of the correspondence of authentic specialized texts to modern international educational achievements in order to prepare future specialists for communication and cooperation with the professionals in the global educational community. The essence and prospects of authentic materials in terms of learning professional terminology are analyzed. Special attention is given to selection criteria of authentic educational texts, relevant to the learners’ specific context, in order to cover both their terminological competence and pedagogical awareness. The types of authentic specialized texts as well as their sources have been analyzed in detail. The texts in focus include official documents in the domain, academic journals, publications on educational web-sites and blogs. They all show sufficient terminological saturation and noticeable communicative value. By means of Text Inspector the outlined texts have been inspected to identify their Reading level. Most of the texts turned out to be C1 due to CEFR Level. On account of three popular methods used by Text Inspector to calculate the readability of the text, Flesch Reading Ease, Flesch-Kincaid Grade, Gunning Fog Index, they have been found to suit the level of Master’s students. The study showcases the diverse techniques for solidifying specialized vocabulary acquisition. The integration of interactive tools like Quizlet and the implementation of mind mapping are highlighted as particularly beneficial.