FORMING FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEXICAL COMPETENCE BY MEANS OF WORD MAP VOCABULARY BUILDING STRATEGY

The article deals with the peculiarities of Word Map vocabulary building strategy use as means of forming students’ foreign language lexical competence. The relevancy of Word Map vocabulary building strategy application is proved by the necessity of building skills of autonomous life-long foreign language education as a basic capacity of successful personal and professional development. The aim of the paper is to outline the methodology of applying Word Map vocabulary building strategy to develop students’ lexical competence. The advantages of the Word Map vocabulary building strategy are based on such its features as completeness, versatility, flexibility, universality, dual coding, incorporation of objective and personal data, cumulative effect etc. The authors carefully describe the step-by-step specificity of filling in Word Map slots with relevant vocabulary data. Such slots of as Word Definition, Transcription, Synonyms, Antonyms, Grammar Form, Word-building Links, Idiomatic Meaning, Situational Illustration, Graphic Illustration are presented as possible elements of Word Map form. The possibilities of Word Map vocabulary building strategy elaboration are covered in accordance to learner’s language competence levels (beginner, intermediate, upper-intermediate). Different forms of classwork (individual, pare, mini-group, whole-class, competitions and assessment) and homework are suggested to diversify the Word Map vocabulary building strategy use. The authors also highlight the follow-up benefits of Word Map vocabulary building strategy regular and systematic classroom and out-of-school use: development of language learner autonomy, collaboration skills, critical thinking, creativity and reflective skills.