FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURSEBOOK WEBSITE: ITS ROLE, PECULIARITIES AND REQUIREMENTS

Abstract

This article proves the necessity of developing and building a foreign language coursebook website as its modern and important component that provides cross-cultural training of foreign language pre-service teachers. It is found out that Ukrainian foreign language coursebooks have no websites due to lack of research that theoretically proves their role and necessity for developing pre-service teachers' cross-cultural competency. Consequently, there are no requirements and practical recommendations for designing and building such websites. It is proved that foreign language coursebook websites are able to successfully fulfill the functions of the main coursebook components (student's book, teacher's book, audio CD), that is teaching, modeling, informing, compensatory, motivating, professionalizing, individualizing, managing, organizing-planning, controlling, optimizing and adaptational functions. Moreover, coursebook website helps to train an autonomous student and performs advertising function. 27 authentic German as a foreign language coursebook websites by Hueber, Cornelsen and Klett Publishers are examined and compared, their structure and content is analyzed and evaluated from the point of view of the enumerated coursebook functions. It is stated that one can put on a coursebook websites some components, which not only supplement standard teaching and training materials but substitute them: test booklets, glossaries, grammar reference books and so on. Special role is played by interactive multimedia teaching and training aids, which have no counterparts in traditional coursebooks. The peculiarities and the main requirements for architecture and content of foreign language coursebook websites for cross-cultural training of student teachers were specified.