Analysing the use of video materials in foreign language classes at modern Russian university

The issues of teaching a foreign language to university students using video resources are considered. The main trends in the use of video materials in teaching listening comprehension are revealed: prioritized is the subject of general English in the aspects of regional studies and foreign culture communication with the presence of native speakers in the video; socially significant pedagogical content of educational video materials is also popular. Documentary video with the announcer’s voice behind the screen is not described in literature, although it plays an important role in teaching technical university students. According to the results of the teachers’ survey, the main limitation for the widespread use of video is the lack of the necessary technical basis in Russian universities. Analyzed are the main directions of pedagogical research into the methodology of using video in foreign language studies. Comparison of the results of learning lexical material in groups of students listening to the same content in the “audio only” and “audio + video” modes revealed a clear advantage of the second group. The study of video modes without subtitles and with captions also revealed a significant advantage of the second mode, which confirms the important role of additional visual supports in teaching listening comprehension. An example of listening comprehension practice drawing on ad-based professionally-oriented video in a technical university using a specially designed manual is given. An assumption is made about the possibility of using video materials in the independent students’ work.