Applying online resources and peer guidance in EFL practice classes as means of leveling training in multi-level groups of students majoring in linguistics

Importance. In freshman and sophomore years students majoring in linguistics are often at different levels of foreign-language proficiency since they were provided with similar training at school. Given the fact that the foreign language will be their indispensable tool of trade in the future career, it is essential to determine the best possible way of teaching linguistic majors in multi-level groups in order to improve the quality of their foreign-language training. The relevance of research into linguistic majors’ professional development determines the aim of the study, which involvescomparing the ways of organizing the work in multi-level groups so as to level the students’ language skills. Research methods. Scholarly works which describe the complexities of teaching students in multi-level groups, as well as those which focus on incorporating online resources and collaborative learning into foreign-language teaching are analyzed. The experiment described in the study was conducted in EFL practice classes and involved 63 subjects. It was aimed at comparing two techniques of leveling training: by getting the learners to use online resources and via collaborative learning accompanied with peer guidance. In the reference group the students independently did their home assignments, which included preparing a monologue, reading comprehension and grammar exercises. In the next class these assignments were jointly checked and analyzed. In exposure group № 1 the same home assignments were done in small teams using a teleconferencing facility, the top-performing students acting in the capacity of supervisors. In exposure group № 2 the learners did their home assignments applying online resources. The CEFR level of these resources was chosen in accordance with each student’s foreign-language proficiency. Result and Discussion . At the end of the experiment the learners’ scores in the diagnostic and final classes were compared. The results illustrated that team learning produces the best learning outcomes and is more conducive to leveling training than the application of online resources. The aggregate increase in exposure group № 1, where the assignments were done in teams, was 14.7 % bigger than in the reference group and 8.6 % bigger than in exposure group № 2, where the individualized assignments were done autonomously. These results can be explained by the fact that when students work in small teams, each of them can spend more time upgrading his / her foreignlanguage skills due to greater involvement in doing the assignment. The application of individualized online resources contributed to leveling training to a lesser extent than team work with peer guidance. The results of the final class illustrate that exposure group № 1 had the smallest gap (13 points) between the maximum and minimum values, which allowed us to conclude that team work and peer guidance effectively bridge the gap between individual learners’ outcomes. In exposure group № 2, the gap between the maximum and minimum values was much more significant and amounted to 24 points. This difference can be explained by the fact that the learners with low levels of foreign-language proficiency worked autonomously and had no opportunity to hone their skills by interacting with their peers. Conclusion. The results of the experiment illustrate that the combination of using online resources and teamwork in small groups with peer guidance is the key to leveling training.