The Chair of Foreign Languages
History of the Chair
The chair of foreign languages was founded on August 24th in 1968. Before that teaching of foreign languages was held by the corresponding section at the chair of general scientific disciplines. The first staff lecturer was Ivan H.Lukashenko – a highly qualified specialist who spoke German, English and Czechish. He began working at our university in 1960 having interpreting experience at the international exhibition in Belgium. It was he who laid foundation of the chair material resources. In 1960-61 he began forming the first language laboratory. The material about the laboratory work was often published in the central magazines.
During the existence of the general technical faculty the foreign languages were taught by N. Tarasova and M. Yurchenko (German), L. Muravyova (French). I. Tsyukhova, V. Berbega, I. Nechyporenko, I. Dvornychenko started working later.
The first head of the chair was I. Lukashenko, assistant professor. In 1974 hr defended his thesis.
Economic research work was carried under his supervision. In 1973 some patent materials from different foreign publications were selected and investigated for the Frunze building and construction department. As a result the rational construction of the drying unit sawing mechanism block was designed which allowed 48, 000 rubles save. In the same year the chair organized the inter-university scientific and methodical conference dealing with the aspects of students self-instruction in foreign language learning.
In 1975 V. Berbega became the head of the chair. At that time the chair had close cooperation links with the basic chair of Kharkiv Politechnical Institute. From 1980 the research and methodical work were actively continued. Methodical manuals for students were regularly composed and published, the lecturers took an active part in assembling of terminological dictionaries etc.
From 1987 the chair was headed by L. Voytkovs'ka, candidate of philological sciences. It was she who established close cooperation with the All-union Translators' Center. This period was characterized by the extracurricular work with the students. Optional groups were organized for the best students. In 1991 H. Lytvynenko became the head of the chair. She successfully combines pedagogical and research activity, deals with the questions of the foreign languages teaching process optimization in non-philological higher educational establishments on the basis of learning special technical literature language, using PC and other technical devices of learning. Due to the creative initiative of the lecturers the chair's work corresponds to the high demands which are needed for specialists training nowadays. The chair offered some propositions for improving the academic process in the frames of the general course. The number of students who defend their diploma papers and projects in English increased.
The Chair Nowadays
The chair staff has increased in number and qualification for the last 35 years. The chair experience in profound students training in foreign languages was used as the base for establishing of a new specialty "Technical Translation " in 1995.
Plenty of work was done in staff training. The following lecturers of the chair entered the post graduate courses and defended their theses: A. Dyadechko, I. Kalyenichenko, S. Zhuravlyova, I. Kobyakova, O. Medved, S. Podolokova, N. Mulina. And the following lecturers passed their candidate exams and now are preparing for entering the post-graduate study: senior lecturer O. Paska, lecturers T. Plokhuta, T. Alexakhina, N. Usenko.
In 2003 there are 23 lecturers at the chair.
During the years of the economic crisis the educational base didn't become worse it even became better. The chair won the grants of the fund "Vidrodzhennya" for purchasing the language laboratory equipment, modern educational literature, audio- and videomaterials. All chair lecture-rooms were repaired. Every lecture-room was provided with flowers, stands, curtains, pictures etc.
Every year the chair organizes scientific conferences in methodology and linguistics. The best students take part in All-Ukrainian Knowledge Olympiads in English, German, French, and Latin. The lecturers make reports at different international conferences, publish their articles and reports on methodology of foreign languages teaching and philology, write educational textbooks, selected texts and exercises which they use in the educational process. The lecturers' experience helps to improve the level of foreign language teaching at the city and region schools. In 1990 the chair with the USA Peace Co organized the seminar for 30 English teachers from the Sumy region village schools. This seminar was highly estimated by the teachers and they want it to be regular. The chair constantly instructs the teachers of the schools which are in the scientific and educational University complex.
Research Activity
According to the results of the chair collaborators' research more than 30 workss were published for the last 5 years. They include the articles in scientific magazines, reports theses at international and republican scientific conferences.
The following candidates of sciences and assistant professors work at the chair:
Galyna I. Lytvynenko – assistant professor of the Chair of Foreign Languages, head of the chair, author of the educational manual and editor of many training publications.
Alla M. Dyadechko – candidate of philological sciences. She graduated from the post-graduate courses of Minsk State University (Minsk, Byelorus) and defended the thesis on the subject "The Principles and Means of the English Scientific-Technical Text Semantic Modeling" (May, 1995).
Natalya I. Mulina – candidate of pedagogical sciences, assistant professor of the Chair of Foreign Languages. She graduated from the post-graduate courses of Kyiv National Linguistic University and defended the thesis on the subject "Methodical Elaboration and Use of English Distant Course" (May, 2001).
Svitlana V. Podolkova – candidate of philological sciences, assistant professor of the chair.
Lyudmyla Y. Khmelyk – candidate of philological sciences.
The chair prepares scientific staff systematically. T. Plohkhuta, T. Alexakhina, N. Usenko are working now at their researches.
Seminars in methodology and linguistics are regularly held to improve the professional level of the chair lecturers. All reports on linguistic problems are made by the chair lecturers in a foreign language.
Every year the chair prepares more than 50 post-graduate students for taking candidate exams.
Within the frames of the curriculum the students have the opportunity to learn a profound course of a foreign language – English, German, French. They also can choose the course of the second foreign language. After finishing this course a part of the students take final exam to get a special certificate. The next stage of professional skills improving is diploma papers defence in a foreign language. This type of work is done by the chair lecturers in cooperation with the lecturers of graduate chairs.
The students having high level of mastering a foreign language prepare for taking part in national subject Olympiads under supervision of the chair lecturers in spring of 2003 they took part in the Olympiads in German (Kyiv, IASM), in English and French (Donetsk, Donetsk technical University).
Apart from the traditional university scientific-technical conferences among lecturers, collaborators, students and post-graduate students the chair holds November conferences among the 5th year students of all specialties. All reports are to be made in a foreign language.
Lecturers and Collaborators of the Chair
Galyna I. Lytvynenko – head of the chair of foreign languages, assistant professor.
Lyubov P. Yarmak – deputy head of the chair, senior lecturer.
Alla M. Dyadechko – candidate of philological sciences, assistant professor.
Natalya. I. Mulina – candidate of pedagogical sciences, assistant professor.
Svitlana V. Podolkova - candidate of philological sciences, assistant professor.
Lydmyla Y. Khmelyk - candidate of philological sciences, assistant professor.
Lydmyla A. Denysova – senior lecturer.
Galyna S. Ilyna - senior lecturer.
Yevdokiya O. Marchenko - senior lecturer.
Lyudmyla D. Syelivanova - senior lecturer.
Iryna M. Terletska - senior lecturer.
Tetyana O. Alexakhina – lecturer.
Oksana R. Hladchenko - lecturer.
Maryna M. Dunayeva - lecturer.
Svitlana V. Mikhno - lecturer.
Tetyana M. Plokhuta - lecturer.
Sergiy V. Pochatko - lecturer.
Tatyana V. Pochatko - lecturer.
Victoriya E. Pronyayeva - lecturer.
Nataliya M. Usenko - lecturer.
Inna O. Khochina - lecturer.
Galyna M. Zabolotna – senior laboratory assistant.
Iryna V. Pypypenko – leading specialist.
Anna P. Ostapenko – specialist.
International Contacts of the Chair
After establishing the independent Ukrainian State the development of international contacts contributes to improving of the foreign languages level teaching. The chair lecturers are the members of the international professional union of English teachers TESOL, they take part in seminars and conferences which this organization and the British Council and Goethe Institute holds. The chair maintains contacts with the universities in USA, Great Britain, Germany.
In 1993 G. Lytvynenko visited two-month courses at the American university Old Dominion, and in 1995 she made some research at the university Texas Tech in Lubbock, Texas. In 1999 S. Zhuravlyova was at the courses in Great Britain. From 1993 till 1998 Grady Glen Bryan (a lecturer of the English language and literature from the USA) was working at the chair. From 1998 till 2000 - Jonathan Clifton (the Peace Co volunteer) was teaching Business English, and 2000- 2002 – Thomas Dorgen.
Contact Information
Address: 40007, Ukraine, Sumy, vul. Rymskogo-Korsakova 2, Chief Building (Ã 1202)
Telephones (0542) 33-42-40, 39-22-25
E-mail: info@el.sumdu.edu.ua
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