Authors’ names:
Sergey Yu. Gurov, Tatyana Yu. Gurova – Melitopol State University, Melitopol, Russia
Abstract:
The article discusses the features of conducting a practical class in lexicology on the topic “Etymology of English Words,” its goals, and its main stages. The authors propose methods for teaching students to use linguistic analysis tools. The article emphasizes that an important task in conducting practical classes in lexicology is teaching students to think productively. The authors describe in detail examples of assignments that facilitate a gradual transition from the reproductive level of thinking, where information received by students is simply memorized and reproduced, to the level of productive thinking, where students learn to find connections between theory and practice, analyze information, draw conclusions, and, on this basis, conduct their own scholarly research.
The authors describe the learning process in a lexicology class, where students acquire knowledge about the factors underlying the emergence of language descendants; learn to identify related languages using the Swadesh list; determine the syntheticity and agglutinativity indices of languages; identify international words, words with re-borrowing, and etymological doublets; and become familiar with the criteria for distinguishing borrowed words from native words. During the practical class, special attention is recommended to be given to explaining the historical prerequisites for the appearance of borrowings in the English language, as well as to introducing students to etymological dictionaries.
The authors also developed assignments for students’ independent work, during which students were required to determine the relatedness of the proposed languages, calculate the syntheticity and agglutinativity of the languages, analyze a list of English words, and classify them according to borrowing groups. The authors also conducted a survey to obtain feedback on the results of the work. The survey data and the completed independent work assignments revealed that the majority of students (86%) completed the assignments with an “excellent” grade, 11% of students completed the assignments with a “good” grade, and only 3% of students completed the assignments with a “satisfactory” grade.
The following methods were used in the study: observation, analysis, generalization, and abstraction; digital technologies, search, and analysis; and the method of information representation and interpretation.
| Section | LANGUAGE AND CULTURE |
| DOI: | 10.47388/2072-3490/lunn2026-73-1-60-74 |
| Downloads | 189 |
| Key words | teaching lexicology; practical class; etymology; English language; students of philology |