THE IMPORTANCE OF GAME TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH TO ADULTS

Yarmatova Dildora Jizzakh state pedagogical university Email: Abstract: The aim of the study is the theoretical substantiation and practical development of an invariant model of technology for organizing and conducting games in foreign language classes with adults based on linguistic material and simulating an authentic situation of communication. Research methods are complex. Among them, first of all, theoretical methods: analysis of psychological, didactic and methodological literature; analysis of the program for oral and written speech of the English language, observation and questioning, generalization of pedagogical experience; experimental: diagnostic methods, methods of processing experimental data. The results of the study is approved by efficiency of communicative games in foreign language classes as an integral element of the process of forming communicative skills which will increase both the level of communicative competence and the degree of proficiency in language material. The possibilities of using gaming technologies in teaching a foreign language to adult participants in the educational process are disclosed in detail. The main functions of games that are implemented in foreign language classes with adult students are analyzed: educational, motivational, diagnostic, correctional, organizational, developmental, educational, communicative, therapeutic, intercultural and interethnic communication, etc. The most common criteria underlying the development of a typology of gaming technologies in a foreign language lesson: type of activity, number of participants, purpose, degree of complexity, form of conduction, method of organization, orientation to the process or result, applied mechanisms. Key words: games, adults, experience, andragogue, communicative, educational, communicative, sociocultural, social skills, negotiation skills, relative complexity, psychological, pedagogical characteristics.   INTRODUCTION In response to the existing need for adults to learn foreign languages and the creation of such a scientific discipline as language andragogy, the teachers faced the acute issue of finding effective methods of teaching their discipline, taking into account the age and psychological and pedagogical characteristics of students. Thus, adults are independent, active, have deep life experience, developed character, critical thinking, and are focused on the rapid achievement of goals and the solution of tasks, the immediate application of the acquired knowledge and skills in practice. All this, of course, contributes to learning. At the same time, many limiting factors act on adults, such as work, family, lack of time, limited financial resources, previous negative learning experience, vulnerable self-esteem, and a decrease in the level of motivation for learning. One of the effective andragogical teaching methods is the game. The game method does not belong to the classical ones, however, it can be successfully implemented on the basis of the communicative method of teaching a foreign language. MATERIALS AND METHODS According to B.M. Bim-Badu, a game is a form of activity in conditional situations aimed at recreating and assimilating social experience, fixed in socially fixed ways of implementing objective actions, in subjects of science and culture [1, p. 98-99]. Moreover, initially, gaming activity was opposed to serious activities, such as work or training. However, back in the 19th century. K.D. Ushinsky recommended including the game in the process of teaching children for the most productive assimilation of educational material [2]. A.S. Makarenko believed that children manifest themselves in play in the same way that they will manifest themselves in work in the future [3]. Gaming technologies are traditionally used in foreign language classes. So, M.N. Vetchinova writes that already at the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. Lotto was used as a teaching aid in foreign language classes. Each large lotto card was a group of items united by a theme, for example, a garden, home, school, kitchen, shop, etc. Each small card was a separate item from a group, for example, a tree and a rake from of the “garden” group, a stove and a table from the “kitchen” group, a desk and a chair from the “school” group. Each student initially just listens to the pronunciation of foreign words by the teacher, in the second run he repeats after him, and the student who got a certain small card needs to repeat this word additionally. After mastering the words, the students had to make sentences, and then questions and answers to them in a foreign language [4]. Currently, games are used not only when working with children, but also when working with adults, since the game allows you to quickly involve students in learning activities, as well as motivate them for further learning, making it more interesting and fascinating. The dissertations of E.P. Ryzhikova “Scientific and pedagogical conditions for learning a foreign language in the system of andragogy” [5] and M.K. Kabakchi “Teaching adults the lexico-grammatical side of speech in English in the context of short-term courses” [6]. The famous andragogue scientist A.E. Maron believed that gaming activity contributes to the activation of students [7]. The use of gaming approaches for non-gaming processes in order to attract consumers, increase their involvement in solving applied problems, using products, services is called gamification (gamification, or gamization). I.A. Bakhmetyev and M.A. Vetlugin believe that “gamification is an environment and a strategy in which the game becomes a method and means of education and training” [8, p. 233]. We single out the main functions of games in foreign language classes for adults: 1) educational: the game should be oriented to the zone of proximal development of adults. The main features of educational games are a pre-set goal, the development of an action plan to achieve this goal, a prepared scenario, distribution of roles and obtaining the planned result [9]; 2) diagnostic: creating a game situation in a foreign language class, the andragogue checks the knowledge and skills acquired by students, highlights the main mistakes for their subsequent study and elimination [10]; 3) correctional: all players are on an equal footing, they are able to train each other, as a result, weaker students catch up with stronger ones; 4) organizational: gaming technologies are used as one of the forms of organizing the educational process in foreign language classes with adults; 5) developing: in the game, the student develops and corrects, in addition to foreign language skills, memory, speech, attention, hearing, diction, intelligence, acting, communication, cognitive, social skills, negotiation skills, compromise and etc.; 6) motivational and incentive: creating a relaxed atmosphere in a foreign language class, which stimulates interest in the subject being studied [11]; 7) entertainment or relaxation: rest from traditional education, entertainment, relaxation, stress and tension relief; 8) adaptive: facilitating the process of overcoming the psychological barrier in a group of adult students. So, the game can be used at the very first lesson with adult students so that the group can get to know each other and with the teacher, lay the foundation for trusting relationships in foreign language classes; 9) educational: game situations encourage adults to reflect, think over and analyze the problem as a whole, their own behavior and the behavior of other participants in the game and the teacher; 10) protective, or feedback function: in a playful way, students are much more comfortable expressing their own point of view without fear of being misunderstood or hurting someone’s feelings; 11) therapeutic: the game can be used as a way to overcome the difficulties and difficulties that arise in the process of learning a foreign language; 12) the function of self-realization: in the game for students, not only its result is important, but also the process of the game itself. When playing, adults realize themselves as individuals, express their own opinions, liberate themselves, express themselves, enjoy their own activities; 13) communicative: when playing in the classroom in a foreign language, students must communicate with each other in this language. However, the behavior of the players in the game is more relaxed than in the classical lesson, speech is more relaxed and free, adults do not experience such constraint as in the traditional answer. A.V. Konysheva believes that “the communicative function is to create an atmosphere of foreign language communication, to unite a team of students, to establish new emotional and communicative relations based on interaction in a foreign language” [12, p. 19]; 14) orienting: the roles that students play, orient them to planning and implementing their own speech behavior; 15) the function of socialization and social control: the communication of the members of the group among themselves in the game is subject to certain rules, the observance of which the students control independently by agreement and approval or disagreement and disapproval. Adults in the game appreciate a benevolent attitude, respectful communication, observance of the interests of the team; 16) socio-cultural: in a playful way, adult students learn the socio-cultural characteristics of the country whose language they are learning; 17) the function of intercultural and interethnic communication: skills and abilities such as the need to build a dialogue, express one’s point of view, listen and hear the opponent’s point of view, respect the interlocutor and find a common language with other players implement the interethnic and intercultural function games, because all this happens within the framework of acquaintance with a foreign language and, accordingly, a foreign-language culture. In addition, a group of adult students may consist of representatives of different nationalities, different confessions, professions, ages, social strata of the population, etc., which not only enriches the personal experience of each of the participants in the game, but also contributes to the development of tolerance and tolerance in society as a whole [13]. When using games in foreign language classes for adults, each function of the game is connected with others, flow smoothly from each other and determine the appearance of each other. When developing a typology of gaming technologies in a foreign language lesson, different criteria can be taken as a basis. Let’s consider the most common of them: 1) by type of activity (didactic with rules, situational role-playing); 2) by the number of participants (individual, pair, team, general group); 3) according to the purpose of the conduct (for the formation of special skills: reading, writing, grammar, phonetics, speech practice); 4) by degree of difficulty (games of level A1–A2, A2–B1, B1–B2, B2–C1, C1–C2); 5) according to the form of conduct (competitive – non-competitive, mobile – static); 6) according to the method of organization (active, desktop); 7) by orientation (on the process, result); 8) according to the mechanisms used (simulation, interpretation, observation and memorization, information transfer and discussion, intellectual, problem solving, creativity and self-activity). The most popular gaming technologies in foreign language classes for adults are role-playing games. A plot-no-role-playing game is a form of organization of activity that models and recreates some aspect of social life in conditional situations. R.P. Milrud believes that adults in a foreign language learning group play certain roles, and these roles do not always contribute to effective learning. Here are the most problematic types of role-playing behavior in a group: 1) housewife: people of this type consider learning a foreign language as a platform for communication, making new acquaintances and discussing personal life and news; 2) intern: people of this type study a foreign language according to their mood, occasionally appearing in classes and also quickly disappearing, they are interested in everything and little by little; 3) security guard: people of the “guard” type are rarely active, observe the educational process from the side and often make notes in their notes, but they do not speak much; 4) clerk: students write a lot and carefully, but they also prefer to answer on a piece of paper, being afraid to make a mistake; 5) director: people like “director” pretend that training does not bring them anything new, they know everything in advance, actively comment on the educational process and expect high marks; 6) accountant: people of this type especially carefully keep records of the knowledge they have mastered; 7) lawyer: when teaching, they pay special attention to the theoretical foundations of the language, quote the rules and remember well each topic they have studied; 8) secretary: this type of personality loves to talk, often interrupts both the teacher and his colleagues, leading them away from the topic of classes; 9) inspector: people-inspectors are very critical of the teacher and the educational process as a whole, have a clear idea of how and what they need to learn, graduate when their personal goals are considered achieved; 10) bulletin: this type often misses classes and does not do homework, complains to the teacher about his life and comes to classes for psychological relief [14]. Such problematic behavior of students can bring a lot of worries to the teacher. However, if classes are conducted in the form of a game, each of these roles can be quite successfully directed in the right educational direction. The creativity inherent in some problem students can be effectively used in the educational process. N.D. Galskova and N.I. Gez developed the following classification of role-playing games: – situational role-playing game – in this game, students have strictly distributed roles and act within the framework of the game scenario and its rules. An example of such a game is the Alibi game. The group is divided into pairs, in each pair there are two roles – a detective and a suspect. The task of the suspect is to come up with an alibi and convey it convincingly to the detective, whose task is to find inconsistencies in the alibi and bring the suspect to clean water. The game is suitable for training the Past Simple, the detective will ask questions, the suspect will answer them; – innovative (productive) game – in a game of this type, the goal is usually either the solution of a problem, or the exchange of opinions, debate, discussion. An example of this type of game is the balloon game. Students make a list of professions, each chooses a profession from the list. Then the leader sets up a problematic situation – everyone is flying in a balloon and one player needs to jump out, otherwise everyone will break. Each player prepares a reasoned speech why it is necessary to leave him. After listening to all the monologues, the team votes for the “extra” player. The game is fully communicative, plus it helps to repeat or learn new words; – multi-activity (festival) game is a game that acts as a stimulator and motivation for non-game activities, for example, a fair [15]. V.I. Ivanova believes that when teaching adults a foreign language, role-playing games can be successfully implemented, especially if they are about everyday or social topics and involve equal participation of all members of the group and the andragogue [16]. Board games are also one of the popular gaming technologies in teaching a foreign language. For example, to learn English, you can use the game “Taboo” (Taboo). The group is divided into 2 teams and receives a set of cards. The player of the first team takes a card and must explain to the members of his team the word indicated there without using 5 forbidden taboo words. Players on the opposing team keep track of the time and can also view the explainer card to see if the rules of the game are being followed. The move continues as time goes by. Then the move goes to the opponents. The winner is the team that guesses more cards. In foreign language classes for adults, intellectual games can also be used, such as “Jeopardy”, or “Own game”. The group is divided into teams. Each member of the team has the opportunity to choose the category and difficulty of the question from 1 to 5. For each correct answer to the question, the team receives points. The team with the most points wins. Gambling is especially popular with adult students, for example, playing cards, lotto, dominoes, checkers. The game “Monopoly” can be used in English classes as a teaching aid for training vocabulary on the topic “Buildings in the city”, “Currency”, “Buying and selling”, etc. Board games, on the one hand, contribute to the individual creative activity of each learner based on his own experience, and on the other hand – I contribute to the strengthening of the group, friendly relations between adults and with the teacher. Language learning using board games is individualized, elective, contextual and systemic. The actualization of learning outcomes occurs naturally during the game, the players act consciously, the language barrier and dependence on the social status and psychological state of the students disappear, they form positive reinforcement and motivation, which will help to achieve more high results in language learning. Another type of games used in working with adults is business games, for example, the Interview game. The group is divided into 3 subgroups: in the first and second – directors and personnel officers, in the third – applicants. Representatives of companies come up with a legend about their production, applicants – their professional experience. Interviews are held in turn, applicants move from one company to another. At the end of the game, business representatives report who is invited to work and who is rejected. Competitors, in turn, can agree to a vacancy or refuse. Creative games such as pantomime or crocodile can also be used in adult English classes. The theme is set at the beginning of the game. The host pulls out a card and must show a word from a given topic without words, gestures and facial expressions. The task of the team is to guess and name the word in English. The participant of the game who guessed the word becomes the leader. Ways and means of implementing games can be different. They depend on what aspect of the language needs to be worked out: be it grammar, vocabulary, phonetics or writing. Communicative competence is worked out during any game, because adult students in the process of playing need to communicate with each other and with the teacher if questions arise. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Obviously, the use of games in foreign language classes corresponds to all 10 andragogical principles of teaching.

1. The principle of self-learning priority. During the game, the adult learner can independently choose a role, as well as his own role-playing behavior in accordance with this role. If the game is not role-playing, independent learning within the framework of the game implies the individual creative activity of the student, contributing to the achievement of the goals of the game.
2. The principle of joint activity. The game is a joint activity of adults with each other and together with the andragogue. In the game, the teacher acts as a moderator, a judge, an outside observer and a guardian of the rules; sometimes the andragogue himself plays with the group, showing by his own example how students should act.
3. The principle of relying on the experience of the learner. The activity of the student in the game is completely based on his life experience, which he uses to choose the strategy of his own game behavior. In addition, in the game, an adult person realizes himself and asserts himself, thereby expanding and enriching his own life experience.
4. The principle of individualization of education. During the game, learning is completely individualized, aimed at developing communicative language competence, first of all, and also for training any aspect of a foreign language, whether it is vocabulary, grammar, spelling, word formation, the use of syntactic constructions or pronunciation.
5. The principle of systematic training. The game, first of all, is a systematic learning activity. Every game has rules that the andragog carefully enforces. In addition, by creating a game situation in a foreign language lesson, the teacher pursues certain cognitive and educational goals and plans to achieve clear results at the end of the game. The use of games should be included in the curriculum as an additional tool for systemic language practice.

The direct implementation of gaming activities in foreign language classes for adults can be represented by the following stages [17]: – preparatory stage: this stage includes the setting of goals and objectives of the game, the development of its plan and scenario, the preparation of additional materials; – stage of explanation: the andragogue introduces students to the game situation, selects roles, explains the scenario, goals and objectives of the game; – the stage of conducting – this is the game itself; – stage of reflection – summing up the results of the game. Both the andragogue and the students themselves share their opinions. The group discusses the impressions of the game, the main difficulties, the results achieved. The teacher, on the other hand, makes a final opinion on the achievement of the goals and objectives of the game, and also highlights the main mistakes.

6. The principle of contextual learning. The game is applied by the andragogue in a particular learning context. Gaming technologies, according to L.P. Varenina, may include various ways of organizing learning:

– the game can be used as an independent learning technology (that is, all learning is built in a game form); – the game can act as an element of the general technology of learning (the introduction of games in certain topics); – the game can be held as a separate lesson or part of it (warm-up, drilling, summarizing the learning of the topic); – the game can be organized as an extra-curricular activity (make a purchase in a supermarket, conduct an excursion, drama production on stage).

7. The principle of updating learning outcomes is one of the most important principles in learning a foreign language. The game as an active learning method allows you to practice the language here and now, without waiting for an opportunity, such as a trip abroad or chatting with a foreigner.
8. The principle of elective education. Play as an active learning method gives adults freedom of choice. The student independently chooses methods and ways to achieve the goals of the game, evaluates its results, gets the opportunity to influence the game process, gives feedback to the andragogue and his group about the progress of the game, etc.
9. The principle of development of educational needs. Play is a relaxed learning method that encourages adults to continue learning the language despite the difficulties that may arise. Traditional theoretical teaching methods cannot be applied in their pure form in classes with adults, since they are not perceived by them as very remote from real life situations and therefore not useful enough. Gaming technologies, especially role-playing games, are an opportunity to quickly apply the acquired knowledge in practice.
10. The principle of awareness of learning. An adult student needs to understand why he receives each of the tasks of the andragogue. They may have questions to the teacher, who uses games in his classes. Not every adult understands the educational, communicative, sociocultural and other functions of games. For many of them, play is an activity that children do, not serious adults, and is incompatible with learning. Students may experience certain psychological and pedagogical contradictions. Therefore, the goal of the andragogue is to resolve these contradictions as quickly as possible. The teacher needs to convey to the students that the purpose of the game is to practice language skills in practice. In the presence of trusting subject-subject relations, this will not be difficult for an experienced andragogue.

At the same time, it should be noted that with the obvious advantages of using gaming technologies in foreign language lessons for adults, the game cannot be the only teaching method, it must be combined with classical traditional methods. “Conducting classes in a game form has a number of disadvantages, such as: – the relative complexity of preparing for games, requiring non-standard thinking, creativity, knowledge and skills in game technology, a lot of free time from the teacher; – lack of formal criteria that allow assessing the actions of students in the game and comparing the result with the planned one, as well as comparing the game situation with real life; – possible lack of an algorithm for conducting the game, deviation of the game from its plan; – insufficient understanding and psychological preparation of students for the game as a form of conducting classes; – lack of interest in playing in a group, difficulties in emancipating students, fear of adults “losing face” in the game; – lack of a friendly relaxed atmosphere in the team; – insufficient language training lacks of communicative language practice in adults” [18]. CONCLUSION However, with all the shortcomings noted, the use of games in foreign language classes for adults not only helps students to master the language, but makes the lessons memorable, interesting, creative, and stimulates the motivation of students. Games also motivate an andragogue teacher to grow professionally, because preparation for such a lesson requires a high level of competencies. The lessons become non-banal, creative and interesting, and the teacher himself is constantly improving himself, improving his qualifications. REFERENCE:

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