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The introduction of information and communication technologies (ICT) in education is a necessary step in the development of a modern information society (Berndt, 2020; Chen et al., 2018; Jeong et al., 2019; Shodmonov, 2020). Today, especially in the context of a pandemic, distance learning is considered one of the most significant and popular forms of education. Distance learning is a format of the educational process in which the learning process is carried out thanks to modern information technologies such as the Internet, e-mail and other types of communication (Gorovenko, 2018; Kyzy et al., 2018). An E-Mail project is understood as the joint work of two or more partners on a project, which is aimed at solving the task in a certain period (Lewis & Peters, 2017).
The use of ICT in the process of teaching foreign languages, e-mail, in particular, creates new prospects for optimizing the educational process (Balkan, 2020; Rudeau, 2021; Ruthner, 2019). When teaching a foreign language, this means that in addition to linguistic and country-specific knowledge, communication skills acquire special value (Horno, 2018). The relevance of using the educational capabilities of the Internet, including e-mail, is beyond doubt, as it enriches the content of the educational process and promotes the use of new modern technologies in teaching foreign languages.
Digital technologies can intensify classes conducted offline and online, and, most importantly, are an effective means of learning during a pandemic (Klieme, 2020; Köller et al., 2020).
E-mail is a technology that is gaining popularity in teaching foreign languages. The importance of writing as a form of communication has changed significantly over the course of history and, above all, over the past decades. Communication by e-mail remains an actual way of communication along with other genres of Internet communication (electronic forums, various chats, video conferences, etc.). E-mail correspondence is a special communicative genre with a number of specific features that distinguish it from other related genres: a special type of interactivity, seriality, temporal deixis, punctuation features. E-mail can be considered as a process of generating written speech, in particular, spontaneous (Zaliznyak & Mikaelyan, 2006).
E-mail is an effective tool for creating an exciting, productive and real-life communication process, which is quite difficult to achieve in a school classroom or university classroom. Researchers note the positive aspects of using e-mail in the classroom: creating a situation of authentic interaction, increasing motivation to learn a foreign language; productive assimilation of educational material (Ilic, 2018).
Based on the relevance and novelty of the topic, the purpose of this study is to identify the theoretical foundations of the use of E-Mail projects in foreign language classes, substantiate the educational capabilities of an E-Mail project in the process of teaching foreign languages, develop and implement international E-Mail projects in German lessons in secondary school.
The implementation of this goal involves solving the following tasks:
* to study the practical experience of using E-mail projects in foreign language classes in the European educational space;
* identify the components of the E-Mail project: project objectives; project preparation and implementation plan; actions (of students and teachers); project results;
* to identify the factors that have a positive and negative impact on the process of learning foreign languages in the process of implementing an E-Mail project;
* determine the role of the teacher in the preparation and implementation of the E-Mail project;
* develop recommendations for the implementation of research results in the process of teaching foreign languages.